With the holidays approaching, you may be looking for gifts.
Since The Cooking Channel and cooking shows have become so popular, cookbooks
have become prized gifts. I have been involved with three of these.
My first venture into the world of cookbooks occurred 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.
A friend and I edited the recipes, and then Larry did the
layout. The completed book was copied at a local copy shop and spiral bound. A
church member designed the cover. This book contains 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, a friend asked if we had an extra copy. We decided
to re-publish it in both Kindle and print form as a fundraiser for the church preschool
and kindergarten. So, it is available once again.
The second cookbook in my life came about when my friend and
fellow author, Ilene Schneider, suggested creating a cookbook of the recipes
featured in our books, to be published by Oak Tree Press. The book was to
include author photos and information about our books. I did the layout for
publication, but the book was put on the back burner because of health issues
of the publisher.
It languished for a couple of years until we decided it was
time to get it out. 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.
This one is also available for Kindle and as a print book.
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 was published so long ago, even Marilyn had
forgotten about it. I ran across an old 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.
Larry produced the covers for all of these.
So if you are considering a cookbook as a holiday gift, take
a look at these. All of them contain great recipes and much more.
