LANARK — In the time it takes Sarah Brennan to cook one of her unique culinary creations, she’s already thinking about how she can bring something new to the mix.

Even as she’s preparing a dish, she’ll find herself jotting down ideas or making an audio note — “What if I did this,” or “If I added a little of that ...” — ideas and inspirations that can turn up on the tables at her Lanark cafe or make it onto the menu of a catering job.

Brennan owns Hilldale Cafe and Catering, where she serves up a variety of lunches and desserts that treat customers’ taste buds to something different, recipes made with a mix of the familiar and a dash of something different that have helped her stand out among local dining and catering businesses.

The cozy cafe is located in the town’s oldest building, giving it a historic flavor and a welcoming atmosphere where Brennan enjoys meeting and greeting people who enjoy eating — the kind of folks who speak the same language she does: Where “Mmmmm!” is universal.

“I get to bake, I get to show my love through my food and through my creations,” Brennan said. ”Food has always kind of been a love language to me.”

Whether it’s a grilled balsamic peach and feta cheese flatbread sandwich or cinnamon rolls with caramel apple flavoring, Brennan and her staff like to find ways to turn something good into something better — and she knows she’s succeeded when she’s passed the test.

“I love to see people’s reactions. Watching people take those bites and giving me feedback is so empowering to me. It’s like having taste testers, and people are always amazing about being that.”

Her cafe has attracted its share of repeat customers — some of them in the same day, who stop by early for a breakfast dessert and then pop back in again for lunch. A private room on the second floor is also available. The cafe has become a popular stop for groups of friends who like to gather for a bite to eat, like a Bridge group that meets weekly and enjoys trying what’s new from the kitchen.

Brennan likes to pick apart recipes and put them back together with her own twist, or make up something completely unique. The Carroll Street melt, which leads the lunch menu, is named after the street the cafe is on; it consists of cheddar bacon bread, with roast beef, cheddar cheese, caramelized onions, and her own ginger sweet and smokey mustard. “Toast it up and, chef’s kiss, it’s delicious,” Brennan said.

The Sweet and Smoke Show flatbread — one of her favorite creations, she said — has a sweet and smokey honey barbecue sauce base, grilled chicken and caramelized onions, all topped with mozzarella cheese, and then sprinkled with goat cheese crumbles and a balsamic drizzle after toasting.

Other menu items include soups, coffee (iced and hot), and lemonade.

“That’s kind of pushing the envelope of flavor,” Brennan said. “It’s one of the good flavor profiles that people may be afraid to try, but once they try it, they’ll bloom and go, ‘That was delicious!’ Your taste buds are thanking you.”

That same philosophy carries into dessert, where Brennan lets herself experiment with flavors that surprise and delight her customers. One of them that’s caught on is the fruit-stuffed croissant, which lives up to its name; It’s stuffed with blueberries, raspberries and strawberry slices and whipped cream and topped with a sprinkle of powdered sugar.

“People love when the envelope is pushed with sweets, and if we’re going to do it, we’re going to make it count,” Brennan said. For her, food is a lot like life: Do what you enjoy and do things your own way. “Enjoy having the life you want to live,” she said, “and if that means eating dessert first, then eat dessert first.”

While some people may be reluctant at first to push the envelope, once they see what’s inside, they’re sold.

“Sometimes it’s just opening customers to a flavor profile that they never thought,” she said. “People can be kind of afraid of something like putting fruit on pizza, but I can make an amazing grilled balsamic peach feta flatbread, and people are like, ‘Peaches and feta?’ I’ll be like, ‘Try it, it’s amazing!’ I like opening their eyes.”

Eyes aren’t the only thing she’s opened. On June 17, she opened the doors to her new location in Lanark, where she moved her business after nine years in downtown Freeport. While the move has introduced a whole new audience to her menu, it’s also given her some other perks: Carroll County’s tax base was a better fit for her, and the new location also gave her a chance to hit reset button, after she struggled with her work-life balance in Freeport, where she also had a second job as a counselor.

While it may have seemed like a good problem to have — her business had become a growing success — trying to juggle a a cafe, catering and counseling wasn’t a recipe for long-term wellness. That’s when the counselor in her kicked in, and last year she told herself she needed to turn the page and start a new chapter. Her nonstop schedule had delayed her honeymoon with her new husband Matthew for two years, but when they finally got a chance to get away, it gave her the time she needed to relax, rethink and reset.

“We grew and grew,” Brennan said. ”I couldn’t be as creative as I wanted to be with the day-to-day business. I knew after a few more years of doing 100-hour weeks, I could not live my life. I sat on the beach in California and I thought, ‘Something’s going to have to give or I’m going to have to shut my doors. That’s not something that I wanted to do. I wanted to be able to run a business the way I wanted to, and that’s what I did — I created this. I wanted to be creative and I wanted to be me.”

It was a big decision, leaving the counseling job and dedicating herself to her business full-time, but for all the time that she had invested in building it up, she knew she couldn’t just turn her back on it.

“For what I poured into this, it has to be right. It has to feel right for me,” she said.

The business has also given her more time with her family. Brennan’s mother Denise Sorn and aunt Debbie Yoder — who are identical twins — help her out with the catering.

When it comes to catering, there’s no set menu. Instead, each job is a custom order, with Brennan working with customers to determine what they want. She’s done everything from weddings — a big part of her catering business — birthdays, bachelorette and divorce parties, and other gatherings.

When it comes to catering a special event, she likes to work with customers to help them tell a story through food — finding what they, and their event, is all about.

“I’ll tell them to please be as candid as possible, because I want to know a little about them, especially when we’re doing a wedding,” Brennan said. “You’re trying to impress 200 people, but it’s not about those people, it’s about the two people who are getting married. I want to find out how I can express their love story over food. That’s kind of my magic, it’s digging those little details out.”

Like her cafe’s menu, Brennan’s catering jobs give her a chance to bring something special to the table.

“I like being around all different types of people,” Brennan said. “Not every caterer is remotely the same. Everybody has a different personality, even if I’m getting a referral from someone I’ve worked with 10 times, that person could be completely opposite and I could have way more fun with that person than I thought I could have. It’s nice getting to know different people.”

Brennan, whose business cards bill her as her cafe’s “chief visionary officer and culinary architect,” is enjoying her business’s new home in Lanark. She likes to think of HIlldale Cafe and Catering as more than just a place to eat, but a place where inspiration meets encouragement — whether she’s encouraging customers to try something new or they’re encouraging her — and where each plate is more than just a meal, but a reminder that creativity and connections are always worth savoring.

“I wanted to create a space where people come and feel empowered and feel welcomed,” Brennan said. “That’s my whole goal — and, of course, to leave satisfied and full.”