{"id":42833,"date":"2022-01-08T04:16:45","date_gmt":"2022-01-08T11:16:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/how-a-cortez-woman-transformed-a-garage-into-a-high-output-kitchen\/"},"modified":"2026-03-31T03:09:44","modified_gmt":"2026-03-31T09:09:44","slug":"how-a-cortez-woman-transformed-a-garage-into-a-high-output-kitchen","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/how-a-cortez-woman-transformed-a-garage-into-a-high-output-kitchen\/","title":{"rendered":"How a Cortez woman transformed a garage into a high-output kitchen"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Kristen
Kristen Dellinger and Mona Snyder of Mona Makes prepare their flavorful concoctions in Chris Snyder\u2019s garage, which has been converted into a licensed kitchen.<\/span>Courtesy Kristen Dellinger<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>\n

Chris Snyder\u2019s garage looks a little different from the average person\u2019s. It doesn\u2019t hold cars, or sports gear or boxes of old holiday decorations.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s for a good reason \u2013 to support his sister, Mona Snyder, and her budding culinary career.<\/p>\n

His garage is a kitchen.<\/p>\n

Longtime experimenters with food, the Snyder siblings crafted soups, breads and other baked goods at the Four Seasons Greenhouse and Nursery market in their free time away from their full-time jobs.<\/p>\n

Both are self-proclaimed \u2018foodies,\u2019 and, if you ask Chris, Mona said, she learned everything she knew about cooking from his unique eye for fine-tuning recipes \u2013 although she would never admit it, for fear of inflating his ego.<\/p>\n

But, as fate would have it, Mona\u2019s office was closing, and she didn\u2019t want to search for another job.<\/p>\n

Thus, Mona Makes was born in February 2020.<\/p>\n

She has found success in her brother\u2019s renovated and licensed garage, preparing hundreds of meals a week for nightly dinners available for pickup and catering orders.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s been very positive,\u201d she said. \u201cPeople been very kind with their feedback, and they\u2019ve been very generous as well in getting the word out to friends and everyone.\u201d<\/p>\n

Among her ever-changing and innovative menu are the likes of crispy coconut chicken with Key lime coconut sauce, Frito pie with hearty homemade chili, dessert nachos and cinnamon and orange rolls.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s been almost two years since the launch of Mona\u2019s gourmet venture, and she\u2019s looking ahead to expansion.<\/p>\n

She\u2019s now in the beginning stages of opening a brick-and-mortar location.<\/p>\n

\"Mona
Mona Makes<\/span>Courtesy Kristen Dellinger<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

Not only has she received the backing of the Cortez community, but her family has stepped in to make her rich dreams a reality.<\/p>\n

Her sister-in-law\u2019s sister, Esther Taylor, moved from Utah to be by her side in the kitchen.<\/p>\n

Snyder\u2019s brother also frequently pitches in.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s really funny to watch us in the kitchen sometimes because he always turns into the head chef,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Not to mention, her nieces and nephews are always eager to lend a hand in plating the sought-after spreads.<\/p>\n

Cooking is rooted in the fabric of Mona\u2019s family, she said.<\/p>\n

Mona\u2019s great aunt on her mother\u2019s side was a well-known chef on a Mississippi River barge.<\/p>\n

\u201cGrowing up we would always be like: \u2018I hope it\u2019s as good as Aunt Re\u2019s,\u2019\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

\"A
A meal from Mona Makes.<\/span>Courtesy Kristen Dellinger<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

That always stuck with her. And on her dad\u2019s side, her aunt was skilled at making doughnuts and cinnamon rolls.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe kitchen is kind of where my family congregated, and that\u2019s how we just kind of spent time together,\u201d she said. \u201cIt was just trying new things and creating those bonds \u2013 not just within my close family but extended family as well.\u201d<\/p>\n

Snyder\u2019s favorites are her smothered sopaipillas with chili verde and her cranberry citrus glaze pork.<\/p>\n

Her brother often sends her recipes, and she researches variations before making them her own.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ll just kind of try my hand at it and see if it\u2019s good,\u201d she said. \u201cAnd then if it\u2019s something I think people would like, I\u2019ll put it in the menu and see how it goes.\u201d<\/p>\n

She\u2019s also experimenting with homemade pasta and different fillings for ravioli.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

To see what\u2019s on the menu, go to facebook.com\/MsMonaMakes<\/a>. To place an order, call or text 970-560-2615 by 10 a.m. the day you\u2019re picking up dinner. Dinners are ready for pickup between 4 and 6 p.m., and come in small or large portions.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

engineers flavorful concoctions available through catering and dinner services <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":42834,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[431,21,438,439,28,167,29],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-42833","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-business-general","tag-cortez","tag-food","tag-food-drink","tag-headlines","tag-local-news-lead","tag-newsletter"],"acf":[],"author_name":"dh_admin","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42833","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=42833"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42833\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":85471,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42833\/revisions\/85471"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/42834"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=42833"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=42833"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=42833"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=42833"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}