Mary Kay Gill

About Me

The kitchen is my happy place!

It starts with confidence. You too can be a confident cook! My classes are designed to teach tips and techniques for preparing delicious and nutritious food at home.  Think of me as your culinary coach. Whether it is a hands-on class or demonstration, 2-3 recipes are cooked together with step-by-step instructions in a fun and approachable setting where you can ask questions and understand what works (and doesn’t!). Of course, you’ll taste everything prepared and will be able to repeat the dish at home.  Just as important, you will have fun learning!

Cooking at home is the biggest contributor to building healthy habits related to food.  

The recipes selected for each food theme will incorporate elements of the Mediterranean diet such as whole grains, fish and lean meats, vegetables and fruits, healthy fats and herbs and spices as seasonings.   I love variety so the whole globe is our inspiration.  We may occasionally splurge with a good chocolate cookie, elegant cake or seasonal fruit pie!

I have been feeding family, church-goers, neighbors and friends since I could boil water.  Truth be told, baking as a teen was my way of avoiding clearing scrub pine off the family home site in Northern Wisconsin.  My early career was as a financial professional for Price Waterhouse and Baxter Healthcare.  In 2008, I put my culinary interest on the front burner and earned a Professional Cookery Certificate from Kendall College.  My passion and my mission are and continue to be to share my knowledge and excitement with home chef enthusiasts.  I got my start as the Director and culinary instructor for the Thyme in the Kitchen program at Sunset Foods, a family-owned grocery store chain.  Until the pandemic shut down most communal events, I was the lead instructor of the Adult Education Cooking program at the Chicago Botanic Garden. In all settings, I learned to work in teams, to be organized, and to continue to learn from and share knowledge with others.  These skills have been the recipe for success in finance and the kitchen BUT recipes and cooking are much more fun than accounting rules.

Contact me to design a private event or sign up for a scheduled class and let’s cook better together!

I am fully licensed, insured, and Serv-Safe certified.  I am an honored member of Les Dames d’ Escoffier, an international philanthropic group of female leaders in the food, fine beverage and hospitality industries. I serve on the Green Tables committee and in 2019 we developed six basic cooking skills videos to share with the home learning program of the Boys and Girls Clubs of Chicago.  In 2020, I led three hands-on lessons with BGC teens in Hilton Head.

When you leave a culinary event, I want you to have the chef “know-how” to achieve success and to feed good about what you are serving. 

A few items of note:

• Hand's on classes allow participants to fully participate in cooking.  Demonstration classes include some interactive portions.  All classes include take-home recipes and tastings.  
• For hand's on classes, closed-toed shoes are required.  Long hair should be tied back.
• Depending on availability, some ingredients and recipes may change.
• I will every attempt to accommodate participants with food restrictions by substituting alternative ingredients as available.  Kindly consider your dietary needs before enrolling.
• No refunds will be made within 48 hours prior to the class date.  Courses cancelled due to low enrollment are refunded automatically to the original method of payment.