Cookbook In Review

Some of you may be getting tired of hearing about my cookbook, though many more of you continue to overwhelm me by your requests and comments. Please indulge me one more time as I share my heart.

I feel truly blessed with the opportunity that I have been given to produce something of this magnitude, but I stress, it would not have been possible without your help. Thanks to each of you who submitted recipes and ideas, to those of you who are purchasing them for your home and gifts for others, and to those businesses who have agreed to place them on your counters, and have hosted my book signings. It was great to see friends, new and old alike, at the Avery Journal last Thursday and again on Friday at High Country Media in Boone.

Getting this book published turned out to be a huge project, though like most everything we do in life, not without error. Even after I corrected numerous typos on the proof-copy and returned it to the company, my finished product still returned with several small errors. A friend said that I was being my own worst critic, and assured me that nearly every cookbook one picks up has problems, but I know that little details can make a big difference. The first couple hundred were sold prior to my recognizing the errors. While I have attempted to include corrections with the books I have personally sold, and will make sure an insert is included in every one from here after, I want to provide these corrections here for the early birds, especially, who shared my initial excitement.

Considering nearly 400 recipes are included, I guess the error rate isn’t bad, but I just can’t ignore them.

Now, make sure you mark your books with these notes:

Page 4 – Cheesy Bacon Bites – should say: roll out crescents; cover with other ingredients, then roll up and slice.

Page #5 –Fried Onion Rings - missing ½ cup cornmeal

Page #17 –Cherry Salad – last ingredient should be 1 cup chopped nuts, not crushed pineapple

Page 24 – Greek Salad – dressing ingredients missing (original has never been sent back to me, so I am not sure what the dressing is)

Page 91 – Quick and Easy Rolls
Directions should say, “Add to yeast and water mixture, 3 cups self-rising flour…

Page 99 – Candy Bar Cake – in directions near end, “Chop remaining two candy bars……..not “cans bars”

Page 125 – Just Like Baby Ruth Bars: Layer topping ingredients and bake another 15 minutes or until set. (note the additional time needed)

Page 128 – Home Made Oreos – Directions begin with “blend all ingredients.” Should say “blend cookie wafer ingredients . . .”

Page #133 – Pralines – 4% milk may be confusing, but is equivalent to whole milk

Page 140 – Nancy’s Spaghetti Sauce – should say 2 lbs. ground beef, not round beef

This is embarrassing to me, but I realize that no one is perfect, not even the publishing company, who promised me a 99% error-free cookbook!! My devotion this morning talked about the pain of admitting when we are wrong, and it couldn’t have been better timed!

I apologize for any inconvenience this may have caused, but I do hope you are enjoying your book and that it will bring you many years of “lovin’ spoonfuls.”

They are available at Boone Drug locations, Black Bear Book Store, Trailway Laundry, High Country Media Offices – Boone, Banner Elk and at The Avery Journal in Newland; also from Gail Polson in Crossnore, Vera Buck in Elk Park, and now at Wilcox Emporium in Boone, where they, along with Donna Nealy’s unique Brag Bangles, can be found together on the second floor at booth 312-W. Thank you once again for your support and encouragement. It means more to me than you will ever know.