In the beginning...

Welcome to my Cookbook Blog! This project that I am about to undertake is a long time in the making. Okay- well it’s been in my mind for quite some time, at least. So , without further intro, here are my stories, which when combined, help better explain what exactly I am doing…

Story #1: About a year ago I convinced my husband (whom I ADORE) that I wanted to take a course to become a medical transcriptionist. I was so psyched, and LOVED the idea of making money from home. I had all these goals and dreams about becoming an MT. So after much persuasion, I convinced my husband that it was a good idea, and I paid for the tuition to get started.

About 7 months into the program I found that I HATED it. I mean, not just a little hate. I loathed the training course! The problem was that I had paid a sizable chunk of money to this course and wanted desperately to make it work so I wouldn’t waste that money.

Yeah- that didn’t happen. I tried, I mean, REALLY I did! I tried to keep with the program, but it was not something I wasn’t even kind of enjoying. Now, I am usually the first one to speak up when someone says they aren’t enjoying school. I am a firm believer that nothing is easy, and learning a skill isn’t always going to be fun. But the difference that I see here is that what I was doing was exactly what I would be doing when the training course was over. I was listening to tapes, transcribing what was being said and hating it. If I hated it while training, what would make me like it when I finish the course?! So, with much regret (and shame) I dropped out. Since that time I have been trying to devise a way to make up the money I paid.

So here I sit. Money paid, course 2/3 finished, and a total drop out. Of course, my wonderful husband has been very supportive of my decision to stop the course. But he is concerned (as am I) about the money I spent. So I have since spent a considerable amount of time devising a plan to make up the lost money.

Story #2: About a year ago I was placed on the Activities Committee for the women’s organization of my church. In fact, I was made one of the Committee Leaders (They must not know me well, LOL!) At our first meeting, after the introductions were made, the very first thing out of my mouth was, “We soooo need to make a cookbook!” And with that I was placed in charge of collecting the recipes, typing them up, organizing them, and publishing them. I took this call very seriously, and found a great publishing company. I then proceeded to collect a BUNCH of REALLY GREAT recipes, and spent numerous hours of my own time (totally unpaid) putting this cookbook together. And you know what? I LOVED it. I learned so much about cooking and baking that it became a bit of a passion for me!

Last month the cookbook was finally proofed, RE-proofed, sent in, typed up, published and delivered. And the book looked FANTASTIC! I was so proud of it, and so happy with the final product, and so were the ladies at church. The cookbook was a HUGE success!

Combining the two stories: So, about 2 weeks ago I was talking to my husband and told him I was contemplating making a food blog. But what could make my blog different from all the other food blogs out there? Why would people want to read mine? And I puzzled over it for a few days. Then it hit me! Maybe- JUST MAYBE- I could store all of these recipes I publish on the blog (both mine and those sent in by contributors via email or comments) and turn it into a full-fledged cookbook! And to make matters even better, I could then SELL that book to try and recover the cost of my MT training gone bad.

Have fun perusing the recipes, and please help me pay for my stupidity, by eventually buying this cookbook!

(OH- and in case you want to know, this cookbook will run less than $10.00)