Starter Cook: A Beginner Home Cook's Guide to Basic Kitchen Skills & Techniques

Linda Larsen is a cookbook author and Home Economist who has created and tested recipes for major food companies like Pillsbury and Malt-O-Meal since 1987. She is the Guide for Busy Cooks at About.com (http://busycooks.about.com), providing cooking lessons, recipes, menu ideas, and information about food science and food safety. 

She was a member of the Bake-Off Staff at Pillsbury, Manager of Search in 1992, and Manager of Internet Recipe Search in 2000. She developed original recipes, conducted tolerance tests, presented recipes to taste panels, styled food for photography, and conducted trend research. At Malt-O-Meal, Linda developed quick and easy recipes and held cooking demonstrations for health food fairs.

Linda has written articles for Woman’s Day magazine, and her recipes have appeared in Good Housekeeping’s Quick and Simple Magazine.  Linda has been interviewed on several radio programs, including the Ask Heloise nationally syndicated show.  In summer 2007 she was a panelist for About.com’s Under One Roof event, meeting editors from magazines and publishing houses.

She has written The Joyce Lamont Cookbook for Voyageur Press, to be published April 2008.  She has just finished writing Back of the Box Recipes cookbook for Rowman Littlefield, publication date unset.

She has done numerous cookbooks for Adams Media.

Linda holds a degree in Biology from St. Olaf College, and a degree with High Distinction in Food Science from the University of Minnesota.