"I started making pasta sauce when I was working and going to school. I was very busy and I didn't want to spend too much time in the kitchen. I needed something healthy that we could eat all week long," she says. "When I had children and started serving it to play groups, the kids would eat all of it and ask for more. Their moms were asking for jars of it to take home. I invited them over to show them how to make it, but it was too much work. They just wanted to buy it." Response to her sauce planted the idea, but it wasn't until Yassin got a similar response to her holiday biscotti that she decided to research the idea of turning her recipes into a food business. "I took a class and learned about how to do it. I didn't know that you had to rent a kitchen and get so many permits," she says. After a year of research, Yassin decided to take the leap. "I had to get a permit for my car and a business license, everything. Everything costs money." Since she pays a $600 per month to rent the kitchen six hours per week, she makes every minute of her time there count — arriving in the wee hours of the morning and triple-tasking as she cooks up two varieties of sauce at the same time as she mixes, forms, bakes and bags several varieties of biscotti.
"At first, I didn't understand why I needed the kitchen, but it's good. There is so much room and no interruptions," she says. Nearly every week, Yassin sells out of her organic, small-batch sauces and biscotti at farmers markets. She also delivers product to several specialty stores.