Ashley Miller: From Catering to Carryout
Chef Ashley Miller had her eyes set on Ivy League law schools, but her passion in the kitchen superseded her desire to work in the judiciary system. In 2014, armed with a degree from the Niagara Falls Culinary Institute and chef experience at a local golf course, Miller followed her dream of cooking for the masses and founded her own catering company, Ashley’s Culinary Creations. Her special event dishes were, and are, imaginative, bountiful and memorable. Her charcuterie boards featured local cheese alongside seasonal fruit and vegetables, and were embellished with sprigs of ingenious ingredients like fresh herbs, seeds, sunflower shoots and figs. The edible art lured guests to gather while her delicious selection kept them grazing.
With more than 60 catered events in 2019, Miller was yearning for more. She added a new brick-and-mortar space to offer a small lunch service and dine-in parties for special occasions and created a healthy yet hearty meal prep service for those who are looking for fresh, fast, wholesome food. “I want to make healthy eating accessible to all people but I also want it to be delicious,” says Miller. Included on each meal is a list of ingredients, calories, carbohydrates, fat and protein information. Every recipe is cooked and proportioned in collaboration with a licensed nutritionist for accurate reporting.
Miller makes meal prep purchasing casual, welcoming and undaunting. She cooks for a variety of diets including low calorie, gluten free and keto, and features savory family favorites like chicken Alfredo, pulled pork with cornbread and veggies, and tortellini. Her unique “good when cold shelf,” perfect for warm days, includes chicken salad wraps with pasta salad, lettuce wraps with fresh fruit, and Greek salad with spring mix and pita. Miller even offers to-go dishes for the most important meal of the day: breakfast. Her filling yet nourishing breakfast options include scrambles, overnight oats, parfaits, and chia seed pudding with fresh fruit.
Fortuitously, Miller established her meal prep service in 2019. By March of 2020, her annual catering season was over before it started due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Luckily, her meal prep service kept the lights on. While many feared the grocery store, she was able to provide her local community with home-cooked meals. Her online ordering system, curbside pickup, and safe, clean, in-house pickup experience left shoppers at ease and void of the chaos.
“Our meals are great for a situation like this because they are all individually portioned and ready to go. We’ve enjoyed taking some of the stress away from our customers throughout the pandemic and during the heat waves over the summer months,” Miller remarks.
Dishes offered at Ashley’s Culinary Creations are easily reheated, can be popped in the freezer for future meals, or stored in the fridge for a no-fuss meal throughout the week. You can find the café nestled in Lockport’s Town Square Plaza on Dysinger Road. Don’t worry about getting tired of seeing the same meals; Miller’s menus rotate each week, offering dozens of plates to choose from each month.
“We’ve been trying to use local produce as much as possible as well to help support the local farmers,” Miller adds. “In times like this, if we all work together, we can make it through, and our local community is doing just that.”
