Stir Laugh Repeat

About Stir, Laugh, Repeat

Finding Joy While Playing in the Kitchen

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  1. Most women have tons of cookbooks but how many have more than 2 or 3 recipes that we actually use? None of mine do. They either have at least 1 ingredient I don’t like or they’re too fancy to feed the meat and potato man. I bet I’ve gone through my cookbooks at least 100 times each trying to come up with the perfect recipe for dinner that wouldn’t require me spending most of my afternoon in the kitchen. But I would like to have something different now and then.

    Most of the recipes I found either had that one ingredient I didn’t really care for or an ingredient that I don’t keep on hand which meant a trip to the store to buy, use once and a year later when I ran across it in the pantry, throw it away because it was out of date. So started making up my own recipes. I would find one that sounded ok, add a little of this, or take away a little of that. Sometimes I would find two recipes for the same dish and combine them into one. But I never wrote anything down and never measured.

    One day my oldest daughter came to me and said “Mom, if you don’t do anything else before you die would you at least write down your recipe for Banana Pudding.” I tried to explain to her that I had been making banana pudding since I was a child and had no recipe. I just knew the ingredients and added what felt right. That answer wouldn’t work for her. So I made the pudding, measured and wrote it down. She then asked for more of my recipes. How do you give something to someone when it’s all in your head? But, she is my daughter and I wanted to make her happy.

    I started working up my “head” recipes, measuring and writing them down. Well, my handwriting isn’t that great so I decided to put them in the computer for her. After entering a few I had an idea. Why not make up a little cookbook for all three of my kids for Christmas?

    I wanted this little book to be special so I started working up other recipes to add to my book. But being single made it hard to cook a dish that would feed at least 4. I would have to sample it and then decide what to do with the rest. I didn’t want to throw it away. Another idea appeared. I had a friend who loved to eat so she became my 1st “Food Tester.” I would cook up a new idea, taste it and pass it along to her. She tested so many of my new dishes that her husband started asking if Martha had been by yet. He too enjoyed my leftovers.

    But there were times when she wouldn’t be home so I started taking the dishes to another friend. Before it was over I had about 25 Food Testers. At times I would have to sneak around so one neighbor wouldn’t know the other was playing Tester.

    One day my #1 Tester was reading over my little book and told me that I didn’t need to limit it to just my kids. She said I needed to publish it so others could enjoy it too. I thought, why not? I really didn’t expect it to go anywhere but why not? I went to the internet and pulled up cookbook publishers. I tried contacting the 1st publisher that came up and not being that bright on the computer I found myself getting nowhere. I told my friend and she took down the name to see what she could come up with. The next day I received a phone call from the publisher. She had actually called them, told them about my book and how different it was from any she had ever seen. They wanted my manuscript.

    About a month later I received a package from the publisher. I assumed it was a rejection but opened it and found an acceptance letter and contract. Thus started my first book! Stir, Laugh, Repeat.. Finding Joy While Playing in the Kitchen

    What makes my book different? Some of the recipes reminded me of forgotten times, so I started adding stories about the dishes, I added the mistakes I made while working up the dish and added suggestions to change ingredients. My youngest daughter had told me one year that she couldn’t bring deviled eggs to our Thanksgiving dinner because she couldn’t peel the eggs without tearing them up. So I started adding helpful tips. I wanted a cookbook that the “offspring” of us “baby boomers” could pick up and use without feeling they were in over their heads.

    Stir, Laugh, Repeat is made up of recipes that are simple and basic, using common ingredients that are found in most kitchens and ingredients that will be used over and over before the expiration date.

    For more information about my book, visit my website which is also the holding place for my 2nd book Stir, Laugh, Repeat….Again

    Comment by Martha A. Cheves — September 22, 2008 @ 10:11 pm

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