The Cookbooks

I have been fortunate to have been involved in the publication of three cookbooks through the years.

The first was in 1996 when Community Presbyterian Church of San Juan Capistrano decided to collect members’ favorite recipes as a fundraiser for the Friends of Music. The result was The Gift of Christmas.

My friend, Anne Larson and I copied, standardized, and edited the recipes, and then Larry did the layout in a now-obsolete publishing program. The completed book was printed at a local copy shop and spiral bound. Margaret Stephenson, whose idea this was, designed the cover. This book contained not only some of my recipes, but also those of my mother, grandmother, and mother-in-love. Many of them were favorites at church dinners and potlucks.

In 2015, friends asked if we had any copies. We re-published it in both Kindle and print forms as a fundraiser for the church preschool and kindergarten. It is available on Amazon and other online sellers as well as through the church office.

The second cookbook came about when my friend and fellow author, Ilene Schneider, suggested creating a cookbook of the recipes featured in our books published by Oak Tree Press. The book included author photos and information about our books.

It languished for a couple of years due to illness of the publisher. We decided it was time to publish it. Another Oak Tree author, Mary Montague Sikes, allowed us to use her beautiful artwork for the cover, and Recipes by the Book: Oak Tree Authors Cook became a reality. It is also available in a full-color edition. This one is also available as an ebook and in print.

The most recent one I have been involved with is the resurrection of Marilyn Meredith’s Cooking for a Big Family and Large Groups.

This one had been published so long ago, even Marilyn had forgotten about it. I ran across an old used copy on Amazon, or I wouldn’t have known about it. The only copy she had was a three-hole punched copy typed on a typewriter.

I scanned the old one and converted to an electronic file, then edited and formatted it for publication. The cover is a photo of our dining room table.

This has been a surprise hit! For a couple of months, it was Marilyn’s bestselling book!

Larry produced the covers for all of these.

Now all three will live on in perpetuity. Makes me feel really good.

If you like to cook, check them out!