I am experimenting with recipes. In my recipe, I create a view with a block and was hoping to add that block to a layout during the install process. 

Here is the solution I found. 

    $layout = layout_load('<machine-name-layout>'); 
    $layout->addBlock('<module-that-created-block>', '<machine-name-of-block>', '<region-to-insert-block>');
    $layout->save();