I think I was about 8 years old when I first started to learn to cook.
Mom had gotten me a baking set for Christmas. It had little minature
bake pans and mixes. Similiar to those oven bake set they sell now,
but at that time you did your thing and got to bake it in the "big" oven,
with your Mom supervising you, of course.

By the time I was 12 I prepared my first holiday dinner,
Thanksgiving dinner. I remember Mom instructing me on how to baste the
turkey. I was so proud of myself. Since I got married, my mother-in-law
introduced me to using an oven roasting bag and now I never would
go back to basting a turkey. Even convince my Mom to switching.
So much easier. It is funny - now as much as I used to love to cook and
bake- I don't do alot, except at holidays. Working the off shifts for the
first 12 1/2 years of our marriage, my husband took over alot of the cooking.
Being part-time now, I am starting to slowly take some of it back over. LOL-
I do have to refer to my cookbook from time to time.

When the girls were babies, I still did a fair amount of baking. To save time
I started a notebook back in July 1985 for Jessica. I wrote recipes
frequently used by our family. It slowly grew in numbers. I found I used
it often myself. My Mom would come borrow it from time to time.
It started to get worn. I went an bought a typewriter. It took quite a while,
but I typed all the recipes, then made photocopies. I presented each family
member with a copy of The Family Cookbook.
I also have two copies set back to someday give to the girls, when
they go off to start their own homes.
There was no rhyme or reasons to how I arranged the recipes in the book.
I did type an index that told you the names and where to look.

In some of these recipes you will see reference made to
Grandma "Jeff" and Grandma "John".
These are names Jessica used for her Grandmothers when she was a
toddler so she could convey which one she was talking about.
At he time my brother, Jeff, lived with our Mom - hence - "Grandma Jeff"
and Jim's brother John lived with their Mom - hence " Grandma John".
Sadly, we lost my mother- in- law to cancer 2/28/94 amd now there is just
"Grandma". Both Jim and my Dads died when we were both seven
years old, so my girls have never fully known the pleasure of a Grandpa.

On this page there is no rhyme or reasons. LOL- I have 130 recipes typed
into that book. I may eventually type them all here. I also want to include
some that were shared with me by friends. How many I end up with -
who knows, but I hope you find some you may like and be able to use.
Feel free to email me if there is a question about any of the recipes.them.

Hugs.............Jeanne