Put Some Fun in Your Recipes

The following story is a great illustration of what is fun about community cookbooks. We all have routines; while comfortable they can get boring. Cathy Ropp tells us about how she got out of her routine and had fun doing so. Thanks Cathy.

"I recently had a breakfast to attend on Sunday morning before church. Instead of making one of my standby breakfast recipes, I decided to try something new. In The Junior League of Columbus, Georgia cookbook "Pull up a Chair" I found the perfect recipe. The Overnight Pecan French Toast was not only easy to make but it was also delicious."


Overnight Pecan French Toast

Serves 4

1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1/4 cup (1/2 stick) butter, cut into cubes
2 tablespoons corn syrup
1/2 cup chopped pecans
8 (1-inch-thick) slices French bread
4 eggs
1 1/3 cups milk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/4 teaspoon salt

Combine the brown sugar, butter and corn syrup in a small saucepan and mix well. Cook over medium heat for 3 minutes or until thickened, stirring constantly. Do not overcook. Pour into a greased 9X13-inch baking dish. Sprinkle with pecans. Top with the bread. Whisk the eggs, milk, vanilla and salt in a bowl. Pour evenly over the bread. Chill, covered, for 8 to 10 hours.
Remove from the refrigerator and let stand at room temperature for 30 minutes before baking. Bake at 350 degrees for 35 to 40 minutes or until set. Invert onto a serving platter.


Cathy Ropp

Cathy's story is not unusual; food is such a big part of every occassion. What a great idea to put some fun in your food preparation and selection by using your community cookbook collection to research new and interesting dishes to try--if a recipe comes from a community cookbook you can bet it will be a good one.

Bringing Back Old Favorites Can Bring New Funds

This week, I was out traveling in Florida meeting with good folks who have a need to better their communities or simply have a story to tell and wish to do so through a cookbook publication. The week was filled with questions and answers, and hopefully, excitement about a project that will keep contributing into the future.

An example is the Junior League of the Palm Beaches. This Junior League currently has an active cookbook titled Worth Tasting. Worth Tasting focuses on the unique architecture and historical buildings that exist in the Palm Beach community by focusing on foods that have been served in these homes or buildings for special occasions through the last 100 years.

Little did the League realize in previous years that they were creating assets that could be leveraged in 2011 by creating earlier cookbooks. The League’s original cookbook, Palm Beach Entertains was created 50 years ago and the League is considering reprinting this charming and storied title. In addition to this book, the League published a 2nd title in the 1990’s titled A Slice of Paradise, which has been out of print for some time. The current consideration is to keep at least 2 of these titles active.


This same process is happening in other communities throughout Florida, and it is exciting. We all eat three meals every day—we entertain with food—we conduct business with food—we talk about food. Food is the sustenance of our lives and for many communities the sustenance for sustaining special projects that need funding.

If you are part of an organization or community that loves your culture, your special traditions, and have a need for funds, please consider developing a community cookbook as one source of your income.

More Gameday Recipes: Fried Pickles & Guacamole

If this trend hasn't hit your area, you are missing out! What must have been created from a kitchen mishap, is now a very tasty appetizer - Fried Pickles.

Fried Dill Pickles
Perfect served with ranch salad dressing

1 quart dill pickles
1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
1/8 teaspoon cayenne pepper
2 teaspoons red pepper
2 teaspoons black pepper
2 teaspoons garlic salt
1/2 teaspoon salt
3 dashes of Tabasco sauce
1 cup beer
Vegetable oil for deep-frying

Drain the pickles and cut into thin or thick slices. Dredge in 1 cup of the flour and set aside. Combine the remaining 3/4 cup flour, the cayenne pepper, red pepper, black pepper, garlic salt and salt in a bowl and mix well. Add the Tabasco sauce and beer and mix well. Preheat the oil to 375 degrees. Dip the dredged pickles into the batter to coat. Deep fry in the hot oil until the pickles begin to float to the surface and are golden brown. Drain on paper towels and serve immediately.

Makes about 2 1/2 dozen





from My Mama Made That - The Junior League of Hampton Roads

Now, what's a party without guacamole? Whip this up and watch it disappear!

Roasted Corn Guacamole

1 cup fresh or frozen corn kernels
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
2 large avocados, chopped
1 large tomato, chopped
1/4 cup chopped cliantro
2 tablespoons finely chopped red onion
1 teaspoon minced jalepeno pepper
1 teaspoon minced garlic
2 tablespoons fresh lime juice
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
1 teaspoon white wine vinegar
1/4 teaspoon cumin
1 -1/2 teaspoons sea salt

Toss the corn kernels with 1 tablespoon vegetable oil in a bowl. Spread on a baking sheet and roast at 450 degrees for 7 to 8 minutes or until golden brown, stirring frequently. Cool to room temperature.

Combine the corn with the avocados, tomato, cilantro, onion, jalapeno pepper and garlice in a bowl and mix well. Stir in the lime juice, 2 tablespoons vegetable oil, vinegar, cumin and sea salt. Chill, covered, for up to 6 hours. Serve with tortilla chips.

Serves 12







from Notably Nashville - The Junior League of Nashville, Inc.

Another Football Favorite Recipe...

You have to try this recipe for yourself. You will see that there are two versions--one is the original recipe that first appeared in The Gasparilla Cookbook and was featured in Recipes Worth Sharing. The second is the "New and Improved" ham-wich that appears in Capture the Coast. Both options are, without a doubt, the most wonderful combination of flavors ever to touch your lips! Further giving them credit, both are super easy. You probably have the ingredients in your kitchen right now. Tasting is believing!

Ham-Wiches

1/3 cup butter, melted

2 tablespoons prepared mustard

1 small chopped onion

1 tablespoon poppy seeds

6 hamburger buns

6 slices ham

6 slices Swiss or American cheese

Combine butter, mustard, onion, and poppy seeds. Spread on inside of hamburger buns. Place 1 slice ham and 1 slice cheese on each bun. Spread sauce on top of buns. Heat in oven on cookie sheet 15 minutes at 350 degrees.

TIP: This recipe freezes well. Simply assemble the sandwiches, top with sauce and freeze!

from The Gasparilla Cookbook and Recipes Worth Sharing

Ham-wich (new)

3 tablespoons butter, melted

2 teaspoons mustard

2 teaspoons poppy seeds

1/3 cup chopped onion

Dash of Worcestershire sauce

1 (16-ounce) package frozen dinner rolls

1/3 pound shaved ham

2/3 cup shredded Swiss cheese

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Mix the butter, mustard, poppy seeds onion and Worcestershire sauce in a bowl. Remove the rolls in one piece from the foil pan and cut into halves horizontally. Replace the bottom half in the foil pan and spread evenly with the poppy seed mixture. Layer the ham and cheese over the bottom half of the rolls. Replace the top half of the rolls cut side down over the cheese. Cut into individual servings. Bake for 20 to 25 minutes or until light brown. The rolls may be frozen before baking.

Yield: 16 servings

from Capture the Coast

Are You Ready For Some Football?

With the start of both college and professional football upon us, I'm ready to plop on the couch and cheer on my favorite teams with some delicious eats! There are certain foods that just go hand-in-hand with football, and I'd like to pay homage to a few of my favorite recipes over the next few posts. Today's recipe: Chili--I don't use the beans in my chili as original chili didn't call for beans. Beans were added as filler to make the food go further. However, I left them in this recipe because some people like them--I am "old school" and prefer to have real food rather then just filler.

Route 66 Truck Stop Chili

from Famous Dave's Backroads & Sidestreets

Don't let this recipe's hefty ingredient list scare you away, it is worth every single dash of seasoning. The author, Dave Anderson, knows chili like no one's business!

3 lbs (80/20) coarse ground beef

2 teaspoons Famous Dave's Steak seasoning

1/4 cup plus 1 tablespoon chili powder

1 teaspoon coarse ground black pepper

4 teaspoons ground cumin

2 teaspoons Maggi seasoning

1 tablespoon basil

1 teaspoon garlic powder

1 cup chopped celery

1 cup chopped onion

1 cup chopped green bell pepper

1 large jalepeno, finely chopped

2 (16-ounce) cans hot chili beans

1 (22-ounce) can tomato juice

1 (15-ounce) can diced tomatoes

1 (15-ounce) can tomato puree

1 (10-ounce) can beef broth

3 tablespoons Famous Dave's BBQ sauce

2 tablespoons Kahlua

2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce

Combine ground beef, steak seasoning, chili powder, black pepper, cumin, Maggi, basil and garlic powder in a stockpot and mix well. Cook until the ground beef begins to turn a crusty brown, stirring frequently. Add celery, onion, green pepper and jalepeno. Cook until the vegetables are tender, stirring frequently. Add undrained chili beans, tomato juice, undrained tomatoes, tomato puree, broth, BBQ sauce, Kahlua and Worcestershire sauce and mix well. Simmer until the desired consistency, stirring occasionally. Ladle into chili bowls. Serve with shredded Cheddar cheese, minced onion, corn bread and/or crackers.

Yield: 6 to 8 servings

An Idea for Non-Profits

In the current economy non-profit organizations across the US are hurting for revenue. The US has a 9% (I am probably being generous here) unemployment rate and it is not unusual for those currently employed to have taken a pay cut or freeze within the last few years. Just today, there was an article on the internet regarding call centers in India now moving back to the US due to the fact that any job, regardless of level of pay, was in demand.

What does this mean for non-profits? It means that the demands for their services are increasing while giving to non-profits (income) is going down. In this dilemma, I see a golden opportunity for both the non-profits and for companies managing their ever-shrinking marketing dollars while seeing less donation dollars roll in.

If I were an Executive Director or President of a Non-Profit Board, I would begin to look for a company who would like to enhance their brand and approach them about developing a cookbook and donating the profit dollars to my non-profit. This process worked backwards for the Susan G. Komen Foundation because Calico Corners decided to create a cookbook and sell it in their stores and donate the profits to a non-profit funding breast cancer research. After they had raised their first $100,000, the Komen Foundation became the recipient of the funds.

Think about this idea—cookbooks are one item in our society that are selling better (up over 9%) than in the previous year. Companies are looking to get their brands identified and what better vehicle than one consumers are buying anyway and that can benefit a need in society. It allows a company to support the non-profit by using marketing dollars that result in creating revenue rather than just giving profits away off of the top.

Recently, Kroger developed a cookbook by conducting a recipe contest among employees and then sold the book back to their employees and used all of the profits to fund the employee assistance fund. Kroger is a smart company—they created a product that their own employees could have fun with, feel a part of, and yet rather than pocket the profits they gave it back to the employees own assistance fund.

What ideas do you have that create a win/win for companies and needy non-profits?

A Great Product Without Great Service is Useless

Most of my writing has focused on specific cookbook titles, recipes and food. That being said, there is one other HUGE ingredient that every organization should focus on in successfully marketing and selling their cookbooks.

I have had 2 recent “run-ins” with companies where I was the customer and they ran me off. Where is customer service these days? Do companies not understand that they lose revenue when they make a customer mad over some bureaucratic policy?

Experience # 1.)

Last night my wife, youngest daughter and I pulled into Outback Steakhouse for a nice, casual family dinner. I dropped the girls off to get us checked in and drove off to look for a parking spot. The weather was stormy so I wanted to park close by. I circled the lot twice only to discover that the only single parking space (other than handicapped which I would never use) was in the “Take Out” area. I pulled in since there were NO other spots available. As I got up to the front door I was about to explain to the hostess what I had done and to suggest that I would come out in 10-15 minutes and look for another available spot—before I could even begin discussing another employee who had followed me around the building said I couldn’t park there. I explained twice my challenge and suggested solution only to be told I should park at the overflow lot in Rooms to Go 50 yards away. I told her I wasn’t eating at Rooms to Go but rather at Outback and needed a spot to park—she again told me I had to move. What did we do? We went to Logan’s and spent our $100.00 there.

Experience #2.)

Last week I had booked a non-refundable room at a Hampton Inn for 2 nights on a business trip. A new appointment came up that required me to be 3 hours away from that hotel. Logically, I needed to cancel 1 night in that hotel and re-book in another hotel (same chain) in the other city. After making multiple calls to both the hotel and my “diamond” membership service center, the hotel refused. Therefore, I had to reschedule my meeting, thus inconveniencing a prospective client. I will not be spending my usual $3,000--$5,000 in hotel stays with that company going forward.

The point I am making is that we often forget how important customer service is until we experience awful customer service. I encourage you to run your cookbook sales efforts with the customer in mind—put them first. Exceptions can always be made to any rule if legitimate circumstances exist to do so. I am not suggesting that you let someone fleece you, but keeping an open mind and treating others as you expect to be treated should be rule # 1.

Simply to illustrate that this is not just a theory, but what we have practiced since 1982 when we launched the current business model, I would like to share with you a note I received from our good friend and client, Holly Clegg. Unfortunately, when we printed Holly’s latest and greatest cookbook, Too Hot in the Kitchen, there was a small ink spot that should not have appeared on one of the pages—not a huge issue, but nevertheless one that should not have happened. Here is what Holly wrote to me regarding our handling of the situation.

“Dave,

I just wanted to tell you what an excellent and above average job everyone is doing in spite of all the problems. I am so impressed with Powell that he was so conscientious and didn’t let my book be not the best it could be with catching the printing error. Anne is almost a step ahead of me as she is on top of everything that I throw at her….and then extremely helpful and communicative…they have been a pleasure to deal with even under these circumstances. It is important to me as a long standing client that you are behind me with all this. Please know that Anne and Powell really rate in my books and represent FRP in a way you would want it to be recognized.

And, you know I wouldn’t even be there if it wasn’t for Sheila…so you know how much I adore and think of her! Now, here’s to a glass of champagne to celebrate!” -Holly Clegg

Interestingly, in my meeting with the prospective client I mentioned in Experience # 2, I learned that I had been invited because we had received such excellent recommendations from other clients for quality service. Keep AAA Service as one of your top goals in any business dealings, and you will be rewarded.