The Sweet Life Chef

Annie Greenslade is a degreed Culinary and Pastry Chef. Currently, she is the Private Chef and Owner of The Sweet Life Chef. She won Texas Pastry Chef of the Year, 2020, for the entire state of Texas (which is a huge honor)! She competed at Nationals, against other state winners, to vie for the most prestigious title of Pastry Chef of the Year for the United States through the American Culinary Federation. Although she did not win, it was the experience of a lifetime for her, her apprentice, and her daughter. The services offered by this business include private dinners, private cooking lessons, shopping and nutrition lessons, consultation (including restaurant and corporate), extravagant custom cakes, wedding cakes, childrens' cupcake decorating or milkshake parties, brand representation, mixology parties, spirits and wines pairings with gourmet food for high-end clientele, and cooking lesson parties. Chef Annie teaches Pastry Arts and Advanced Cake Decorating at Collin College, part-time. She also teaches Culinary Arts at Grayson College.           
    Prior to this, she was the head Culinary Instructor of Blú Community Bistro, a restaurant run by Allen High School students that is opened to the public. Upon her hiring, she took a failing restaurant and turned it around with thoughtful direction of the students. Chef Greenslade also implemented a program to teach special education students life skills within the restaurant. The special education students are now involved with the restaurant to not only launder linens, but to roll silverware, to bus tables, to wash dishes, and to host and greet guests. She conducted caterings for up to 800 people, using only her high school students as staff. A full-page article was written about Chef Greenslade's restaurant in the state’s largest newspaper (Dallas Morning News) (https://www.dallasnews.com/food/cooking/2019/02/04/these-north-texas-high-school-students-run-a-restaurant-that-rivals-any-hot-lunch-spot/). The same article was featured in Guide-Live (an internet subset of the Dallas Morning News).                 
    Annie Greenslade is also a decorated Iraqi war veteran (US Army Reserves from 1998-2005), a Le Cordon Bleu honors graduate (Associates degree), an University of Oklahoma honors graduate (Bachelors degree), and a board member of the Les Dames d'Escoffier (an invitation only philanthropic organization that provides college scholarships to women in the culinary and hospitality industry) - International Liaison and PR. In 2019, she was the National Leavey Award recipient, nationally recognized teaching skills relating to entrepreneurship. She is also a 2016, 2019, 2021, and 2023 Texas State Fair Celebrity Chef.  Formerly, she served as Secretary of the Board for the Texas Chefs Association (Dallas Chapter), which is a subset of the American Culinary Federation.  She was a chair person who spear-headed the organization of Chef Fest 2019 (a charity fundraiser for the North Texas Food Bank), a Celebrity Chef contestant of Okrapalooza (the fundraiser for Promise of Peace Gardens), a Celebrity Chef of Edible Dallas and Fort Worth (the publication), and a Celebrity Chef selected to judge the annual cookie competition for the Dallas Morning News. Currently, she is the Fundraising Head Chair for the Texas Chefs Association Red River Chapter, in which she won "Pastry Chef of the Year" and "Contributor of the Year."  She is also on the board that planned and hosted the state convention for the Texas Chefs Association 2022.    
    In her free time Annie enjoys traveling the world (she has visited 35 countries) and studying international cuisine, wines, and cooking techniques. She recently attended a culinary school in central Italy.  For spring break 2020, she took 10 students to France to study their local gastronomy. She also grows her own food and enjoys studying organic gardening. She is a proud mother to a wonderful daughter. Currently, she is working on ways to help food-insecure people.