While most 8-year-olds are only beginning to imagine what they might become when they grow up, Lizzie Marie Likness is already the head of her own company. The Creative Culinary Officer of Lizzie Marie Cuisine, based in her Woodstock, Ga., home, Likness started out as a kitchen helper while still a toddler, helping her mom, Doreen, make applesauce. At 6, she graduated to making treats to sell at the local farmers' market. The impetus was finding a way to pay for riding lessons.
"We had a family talk about it and my mom asked me what product or service can I do that would also be of value to people," says Lizzie Marie. "I can cook is what I told her. She asked me why my cooking was different. I said it was because I only use fresh and healthy ingredients."
By 7, Lizzie Marie and her mother, with the help of Lizzie Marie’s father, Jeremy, an IT director, launched a website, lizziemariecuisine.com, so she could film her own instructional cooking shows and inspire others, both kids, parents and grandparents, to adopt a healthy lifestyle.
"I guess you could say our mission is to inform everyone about the importance of eating healthy foods and exercising,” adds Lizzie Marie’s mom. “My husband and I have never told Lizzie Marie she can’t do anything or [that she] is too young to try new things,” adds Likness, 41. “She is a very ambitious young entrepreneur who is on a mission to educate the world about how important healthy eating is.”
 Lizzie and her mother |
Although Lizzie Marie's classes are often geared toward her peers, she hopes to appeal to "both adults and kids because," she says, "I don’t want to be just a kids’ chef, I want to involve the whole family."
For Lizzie Marie’s grandparents, who live in Sebring, Fla., her website serves as a personal way to stay connected. "Sharing recipes by video is so much fun," she says. "My grandparents get so excited when they see a video of me making one of their recipes." Some of her grandparents’ recipes that she has adapted include a chili vinaigrette for salad and a variation on her grandmother’s chop suey that had used canned bean sprouts. When they are together, Lizzie Marie says that she loves to whip up breakfast, especially bacon, eggs, and pancakes, with her grandparents.
Mature beyond her years, Lizzie Marie hopes her business will grow and that she will become a household name. She also wants people to realize that it is ok to make "bloopers" in the kitchen and that grandparents should not be afraid to experiment with their grandkids. "Sometimes, a mistake in a recipe can end up creating a better- tasting result," she says.
Read Lizzie Marie's tips for healthy eating and her blogging ideas here.
Continue to the recipes: PB&J Sushi Rolls and Gourmet Greens Eggs and Ham
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