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Did we ever start a JPF Cookbook?

Some of our members have shared delicious recipes before, especially our own Ms. Tricia who is such a good cook, I am glad I don't live near her. ( Her Southern hospitality would double my girth in no time.)

I think it sounds yummy and would tickle our tummy!

Would it be called "Just Plain Food"???

Cool, Lynn. That would be neat. I wonder if we could take photos of the dishes and then sell the cookbook as a fundraiser for JPF.

Wow...that sounds like an awesome idea.i love to cook,and one of my favorite hobbies is collecting all of the fundraising cookbooks that different organization put out...please keep me informed..i would definitely love to be a part of this wonderful idea.

Of course, it would be up to Brian. I am thinking it might be OK as long as he wasn't burdened with the details. There is no reason why we couldn't start putting up some recipes is there? Probably should include a copyright symbol if they are original recipes.

Wifey has some Muffins that will knock your socks off so if this gets going I'll post the recipe.

Oh, take a picture of them, Dak. Put your wife in the picture holding them. That would be so cool.

I'm a pretty decent cook and have several original recipes. I'll keep an eye on this thread. If the idea takes wings, I'll post a couple of them.

Alan

Oh, this sounds like so much fun! Even if it turns out to be an online collection, it could still generate traffic for our site and people could find out about our talented members. Of course, I would love it if we could get JPF some money as a result.

Well heck let me see I have at last one or two I can add I'll have to think about how to explain my version of our family (see the last name) lasagna. (the gravy, or sauce part might end up as a list of ingredients saying season to taste) The one problem is I almost only cook in the Italian family of 4 and enough to get 2 suppers and a lunch out of.... well at least one and the lunch, but plenty of leftover gravy for pasta that night. Mmmm that makes me think I have been working so much I haven't had time to cook and I could use some comfort food.

A cookbook would be a fine idea. (And "Just Plain Food" is a great title.) I do cook, and I have a couple of recipes I could contribute.

My cookies are to die for (there was a song about that), but I also have a fish lasagna that's not bad, and recently a couple of black-bean experiments that turned out pretty good. Let me know when y'all are ready. I might try to cook them again, and take show 'n' tell photos. (Except for the cookies. Those ingredients may be better left up to the imagination.)

Joe

LOL, Joe. I believe I saw the lyrics to the cookie recipe you are referring to.
Fish lasagna? Intriguing.

Hey Jeanie B...count me in. I have a lotta good recipes I would be happy to contribute. I love the title..Just Plain Food!! Are you willing to be the collector of the vittle visuals? I have a potential publisher but I know there are companies that specialize in helping publish fundraiser cookbooks. It'd be terrific to get some international "flavor" from some of our JPF friends around the world.

Who knows...maybe we could get our own TV show in the Food Network. LOL We could feature JPF music and food...and songs about food. LOL Don't think anybody has done that theme yet.

Lemme know what I can do to help. My Havarti and Sourdough grilled cheese is beckoning!!

Hugs,
Bobbie

I'm told that I'm a pretty darn good cook....especially with soups and baked goods. Let me know....I'd love to contribute some of my original recipes. That would be fun.

Jan

Ooo, Havarti and sourdough... Bobbie, it's too bad you live so far away. I'd come over for lunch a lot oftener.

A TV show would be a lot of work, but also a lot of (shall we say) just plain fun. The cookbook does take less resources. You don't even need a professional bookbinder; any good print shop can do it (I've done it, when I worked for a newspaper that did a lot of job printing--but I don't have the machinery myself). Beyond that, it's a matter simply of typesetting the product and getting it to the printer in a form he or she can use.

When I was city manager in Union, OR (2004-06), the Grassroots Festival committee put out a local cookbook as a fundraiser. We sold 'em for $4 each (which I think means they cost $2 each to produce--so it doesn't cost that much to do). My cookies and my fish lasagna were in that one, too, by the way.

Joe

Thanks, Bobbie! I was hoping you would volunteer. Sure, I would be happy to collect everything and format pages and so forth. I was also thinking that we could make it an e-book which would have very little production costs and people could download. The cool thing about an E-book is we might be able to imbed some of our JPF members music in it. We could also have a physical book that people could order.

Thank you, Janice. MMMMM soups.

Joe, that fish lasagna sounds delish. My son would love that one. This is going to be sooooo cool.

I'm a good cook, but I don't even think about standing anywhere close to some of the folks around here whose culinary talents would make me want to crawl under a rock and fade away....

So, in light of all that, I do want to cast a vote for the development and publication of said cookbook, I sincerely hope that it does come about, and soon.

Here's a song recipe:

Ingredients:

2 or 3 fresh verses
A catchy chorus
1 heavenly hook
A sprinkle of rhymes (identical or soft)
1 well basted bridge (optional)
1 memorable melody
1 large heaping of heart and soul

Marinate just long enough and mix all ingredients in a melodious fashion. Bake until the song is well done. Serve warm with love.

If we do pursue this, I was thinking it would be neat and give the book more interest if we could sprinkle some clever, funny, or trivia/fact type quotes/lines maybe next to the recipe to give it alittle more interest.

For instance maybe next to a recipe that includes tomatoes one might say:

"did you know tomatoes contain lycopene which is a very powerful antioxidant that may help prevent prostate cancer, heart diesease and other serious diseases"

or something funny like "caution when preparing this dish do not dip your fingers in the batter because you won't be able to stop",

or "my mother gave me this recipe the day I got married", etc. etc.

Maybe the person who writes the recipe could offer their own personal quote if they chose to.

Yes, the trivia is a good idea. I've got some related to every recipe, I think (like whoever finds one of the bay leaves in the lasagna gets to make a wish--no guarantee it'll be granted, but you get to make one). And of course, there are all sorts of things one can do with cookies--but maybe I don't need to mention that any more.

Joe

Exactly Joe that's great, I love the bay leaf line!!

I've got a recipe blog with pictures. Your're welcome to use something from it.

http://southerncookingeasyrecipes.blogspot.com

I love the trivia concept also. I always wanted to create an interpretive cookbook with heritage recipes handed down through families, with fun info and illustrations about the featured families. It was just one of those projects I never quite got to...yet. As a fundraiser for JPF...I think this makes great sense and would be as someone else said..Just Plain Fun!! I've been getting inspired by watching the Food Network while I was under the weather. Because we are all over the place...it'd be great to have some regional specialties included. I love being adventurous with food...but I don't think even Big Jim's powers of persuasion could get me to sample haggis.

Hugs,
Bobbie

Yeah, I was thinking Ben would be a main author! I gained 10 pounds just looking at his past avatars.

Fish lasagna....hmmmmm. Never really pictured those two words together.

I've got A TON of recipes. I love to cook. Next to music, I love talking about food!

Lynn, that was a good idea, little personal infos about the recipes.

Sure thing, Ms. Jean. I'd be honored to participate.

Here's a food related song if need be...(needs a fun uptempo melody w/some italiany instrumental flavor)


"Lasagna Love"
(c)2007 Lynn Orloff

There once was a lady named Linda
She cooked at a restaurant in town
And one day a patron named Vito
Smelled her cooking, came in and sat down

Well he ordered a plate of lasagna
A salad some vino and bread
It wasn’t the wine or the music
But the lasagna that went to his head

Chorus
Vito was fond of lasagna
Lasagna was the way to his heart
So Linda would make it and then quickly bake it
As long as she did they never would part

Yes Linda continued her cooking
And Vito continued to eat
Their relationship grew, his waistline did too
But lasagna and love tasted sweet

Then one day he asked her to marry
To give up her job and stay home
He begged her to still make lasagna
He promised he never would roam

Oh Vito was fond of lasagna
Lasagna was the way to his heart
So Linda would make it and then quickly bake it
A long as she did they never would part

Bridge
She made capellini, she made bolognese, (pronounced bowl la nase)
She made scallopini, but what can I say…

Her Vito just wanted lasagna
Lasagna was the way to his heart
So Linda would make it and then quickly bake it
As long as she did they never would part
As long as she did they never would part

Here I thought we were the only ones who use Havarti and Sourdough for grilled cheese sandwiches. Try 'em with a wee bit of chilis/peppers either in the cheese or added to the sandwich.

They are good, aren't they?

Or don't stick your finger in your eye after peeling and chopping onions or chilis????

Lynn, I'm going to cook lasagna for Andy when he comes here...that'll be his first dinner! It'll go to his head, and I'll be "in" forever!

Yeah Dak, no fingers in the eyes! Bad idea!

Well, since y'all are lollygagging about...I'll post a fun appetizer. It's called "Nacho Boat".

You'll need:

1 pd. ground beef
1 diced tomato
1 chopped onion
1 chopped green pepper
cheese sauce
2 cups shredded cheddar cheese
Lots of tortilla chips

Brown the ground beef, spoon off the excess grease. In a baking pan, crush a thin layer of tortilla chips in the bottom. Spread cooked ground beef evenly over the crushed chips. Layer onion, tomato and green pepper evenly after that. Spread a can of cheese sauce over all. Sprinkle 2 cups of shredded cheese on top of that. Bake at 350 degrees for about 20 minutes, or until cheese is bubbly but not brown. Pull out baking dish, and place whole tortilla chips around the entire 4 sides of dish plus some in the middle, vertically, and serve more chips on the side.

This dish is a bit messy, but really good!

The wife works mostly evenings. That leaves me to cook for teenager son. Favorite recipe, Irish Stroganoff.
1 pound ground beef
1 box of hamburgerhelper stroganoff
1 can of peas and carrots
cook by directions, add peas and carrots, stir well.
We both hate it, but in a little over 20 minutes, hot food...
I'll save my spam recipe for later.

Paul, you could name the recipe: Endless Lasagna.

Thanks, Ben. Those buns on your blog look yummy. Hmmm. A blog. I wonder if putting up a Google blog with those moneymaking Ad things might make generate more income. We could still have the book available as well.

Thanks, Polly. Could you make it and take a photo of it. Also maybe specify the kind of cheese sauce you use and the size of the can.

I would like the recipes to feature a picture of the cook, a picture of the food, a statement about the recipe, and a little blurb about his or her music activities would be nice. Also it would be cool to have some testimonies from others who have tried their recipe. You could say nice things about the person too. I hope there will be enough room for the recipe, lol.

So I should send this stuff to you, Jean? I don't know about pictures of myself--I doubt looking at me is going to make anybody want to eat. (Remember what was said about Keith Richards and 50 miles of unpaved road.) Could take pitchers of the food, though.

Joe

Aw, come on Joe. Be a good sport. We want your picture. Or you could send a picture of a loved one eating your yummy food.

I don't know exactly yet how we are going to do this. I do want to hear from Brian to see if the idea is OK.

Mr Heenans recipe for Irish Stroganoff reminds me of a qick and easy recipe that I use to feed the army of children
that take over my house every weekend.My house has become the local hangout spot for ages 10-17 and its very hard to come up with something to feed 10 or 12 hungry kids when you are on a very tight budget.this is a recipe for "semi-homemade"beef noodle soup to feed a small army...and the kids love it(and i have very picky kids)
Beef Noodle Soup

2 boxes Hamburger Helper Beef Noodle(not stroganoff)
2 lbs lean ground beef
1 lg onion (chopped)
4 cans mixed vegetables
6 cans diced tomatoes
15 cups of water
2 tsp salt
In skillet,brown ground beef and chopped onion.drain.transfer to large stock pot.add water ,seasoning packets from hamburger helper package,salt,and diced tomatoes(do not drain tomatoes).simmer for approximately 30 mins.add canned vegetables(do not drain).bring back to boil.add both packages of noodles from hamburger helper pkgs.cook for approx.10 mins more.
Serve with crackers.

This is a very hearty and flavorful soup and have found it a great way to get my kids to eat thier veggies.

also if anyone has any magic bullet recipes,that would be great.i'd look to find a cookbook of nothing but magic bullet recipes.i love my Magic Bullet!!

Jean, a blog would be free, but recipe web sites are a highly competitive niche. It would take an SEO expert to get it to page 1 of the search engines to gain enough traffic to monetize it with ads. That would take at least six months even with an expert. Not that it can't be done, but it would take a lot of work building links and targeting key words. A direct anchored text link from the JPF web site would help a lot. You need lots of traffic. The average click through rate of an ad may be 5%. So if the blog only gets 20 visits per day you may get 1 ad click that could pay $.40. You would need thousands of visits per day and that means being in the top three of page one of Google.

Hmmm, that's true. Not only would there need to be a lot of traffic but also the ads that are presented need to be those with great appeal that visitors would click on.

I will have to go back and find him but there is this one blogger who writes about technology (I think it may be Apple related) and he is a terrific and knowledgeable writer. Anyway, he is so sought after that sponsors pay to be featured on his blog. He only allows 1 sponsor per month and the sponsors sign up and pay in advance. I think he only allows sponsors whose products he thinks are valuable.

Sounds like a cook*book* would be better as a fundraiser, then. I like the idea of an e-book, though I haven't the faintest idea how to proceed. (Hey, I can cook and I can write. I leave the miracles up to the Big Folk.)

Joe

Starting this month Google is initiating "Interest based ads". That means that they put a cookie into your computer and base the ads that they display from previous sites that you have visited. That means that the ads that you see on your computer are no longer based on the key words that you typed in. They are based on your interests and surfing history. They will not display sensitive ads dealing with sexual orientation, porn sites, political views, etc. You can opt out if you choose to. Go to Google for more info. They have high hopes for this to bring in revenue for themselves advertisers and publishers.

Thanks, Ben. I will check that out.

Joe, I like the idea of an E-book too. One of the reasons is that it may allow us to add some music snippets in the book (at least I think it can.) and also it cuts down on the costs of publishing the book. I am surfing right now to see the ins and outs of that approach.

If anyone else had ventured into the realm of E-book publishing please let me know.

Son in law self published Jean but that's rather expensive
Wy

For self-publishing, a lot of people swear by www.lulu.com, which is free.

Still a lot of work involved, though, I would imagine.

Donna

That wasn't the route he went cause it cost him considerable but paid off well
I didn't know about LULU--maybe the way for JPF if someone can do the work
Wy

Thanks, Donna! Looks interesting.

sorry to deviate for a minute or more like 2:41....but when Donna mentioned a publisher lulu, I immediately thought of Lulu the singer/actress and a a very special song/movie "To Sir With Love", so thought I'd share it. Always loved this song!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xrjxMg2IiGA

Lynn, love Lulu. She is just as beautiful today as she has ever been.
She is featured on the "Duane Allman Antholigy II" album.

Just thought I would weigh in with what I think is an important consideration. For most kinds of books which may only be read once...an e-book might work well...but for a cookbook...consider how it would be used. How many times do you look through a cookbook? I have an enormous collection of cookbooks that I peruse on a frequent basis looking for a new recipe or a favorite one. If I use my computer, it is only to search for a specific recipe which I then must print off and take to the kitchen in order to use it. My computer is not in the kitchen. So...for ease of use...I much prefer a hardbound cookbook that I can keep in my kitchen and use over and over. Others may have different preferences...but I would pay far more for a cookbook I can physically hold in my hands than for an ebook where I have to suffer through advertising I don't want, an e-dress I will probably forget and other issues. I may be old fashioned...but I love cookbooks...if they are real books.

It may be a good idea to offer options in order to accommodate the preferences of different folks.

Hugs,
Bobbie

I use cookbooks and I use the internet to search for recipes. Like Bobby, I thoroughly enjoy holding a cookbook in my hand and perusing it for recipes.

I use cookbooks and I use the internet to search for recipes. Like Bobby, I thoroughly enjoy holding a cookbook in my hand and perusing it for recipes.

The thought of Havarti and Sourdough together sounds divine.

I see no reasons other than possible financial, that would preclude offering both a hard copy and an ebook.

Oh, just occurred to me, DOH, one could easily use a three ring binder to hold the pages of an ebook.
I know we have on binder chock full of recipes.

I agree with Bobbie. I keep the cookbooks in the kitchen. Recipes I find online I print out and then stick to the 'frigerator (which is in the kitchen). No computer in the kitchen. We ain't that high-tech, and probably never will be. If I had the e-book, I would end up printing out the recipes I wanted. If it was already printed, I wouldn't have to.

Joe

Mama Lisa's Blueberry Banana Walnut Muffins

Just the best darned muffins you will ever eat.

2 cups white flour
½ cup wheat flour
½ cup white sugar
½ cup packed brown sugar
1 tsp baking powder
¼ tsp salt
6 Tbsp cold unsalted butter, cut up
1 cup roughly chopped walnuts
2 med bananas
2/3 cup milk
2 eggs
½ tsp almond extract
1 pint fresh blueberries

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Grease a LARGE 6 muffin size tin. In a large bowl
combine flour, sugars, baking powders and salt. Cut in butter until mixture
resembles course crumbs. Stir in walnuts. In a separate bowl, mash bananas
and mix in milk, eggs and almond extract. Fold in blueberries. Fill muffin tins
all the way to the top. Bake for 30 minutes. Immediately remove muffins from
tin and cool on wire rack. Makes 6 large muffins.

Looks like a print book is in order. Three ring? I don't know.

This thread is only prelimenary. Brian has not weighed in yet.
We started talking about recipes, then the thought of raising money came in later. I'm all for it, but someone besides Brian ( working in conjunction with Brian) needs to spearhead the project and take it to a serious level.
It will require money that will need to go into a different account than the general JPF fund. Of course all of the monies will eventually end up with JPF.

We need to think of a way to do this without spending any money on overhead.

Ben, a 3-ring binder is ideal from the user's standpoint (my opinion, now). However, that is *not* an inexpensive way to produce it, particularly if it's going to be in quantity. Lot of hand-work involved in doing a 3-ring binder; I've done it (I produced The Joe Songbook that way), but unless you've got a passel of fast, competent peasants who will work for nothing (which I did not, by the way, in case anyone's curious), it probably doesn't pencil out. "Normal" paperback bookbinding is cheaper, albeit less user-friendly.

joe