Tales of a Junior League Drop Out

Cookbook: Las Vegas Glitter to Gourmet - Savory and Sensational Recipes from the Junior League of Las Vegas
Availability: amazon.com, or various bookstores in Las Vegas
Shelf Factor:  Will be on the shelf FOREVER!  Keep reading to find out why.

Sad but true, I failed at being a member of the Las Vegas Junior League. Twice.

Yes, friends... twice. This is not necessarily something I am proud of, and I of course have excuses for.

But before I get into that, you must know that my mother, a.k.a. Martha Stewart, a.k.a. succeeds at all things, a.k.a. one of the most wonderful people you will ever meet, was a STAR Las Vegas Junior League member. My brother and I grew up going to committee meetings and helping out at the thrift shop. She lived and breathed Junior League for a while and almost became president.  This makes me practically a member from the womb!  I had to be a natural, right?  Wrong.

In my early twenties, I just started in advertising, and a lot of my friends at work were either in, or were joining Junior League. It was the societal thing to do, you know. So, I decided to give it a whirl.  I went to the meetings, I joined a committee, and while I was busy involving myself with the league, I was also busy involving myself with young men and dating. You can guess which won out.

I re-joined years later as a young wife and mother, but my little baby boy at home while I was at Junior League meetings won out. He was in the very capable hands of his daddy, but as a full-time working mom, I didn't want to have to part with him anymore than I had to. Hence, fail #2.

I know now that Junior League and I were just not meant to be... not then. Junior League did leave one long-lasting impression on me though... an absolute downright OBSESSION with their cookbooks! I happened to be on the cookbook committee during my first go-around, and was able to look through other league's cookbooks. They are all fabulous, and I have a theory that you will rarely ever find a bad recipe in a Junior League cookbook. It is an honor to have your recipe printed, and contributors being their A-game dishes. Before the recipes are even considered for printing though, they are all taste tested by about 50+ people, ranked, and hopefully deemed worthy of being a contender.

My goal (compulsion, maybe?) for quite a while has been to collect a Junior League cookbook from every state. After that, I want one from every city that has a Junior League. Once that is accomplished, I want a copy of every single one ever printed. Hm... I see a new bookcase dedicated to Junior League books in my future. I hope my husband isn't reading this.

I will eventually go through all of Junior League cookbooks I own and share them here, as they are the pride of my obsession, er... I mean collection. 
But, I have to start out with Las Vegas!

Why?  Not only do I live in Las Vegas, but lookie here... my name is IN the cookbook!

That's right ... above is my crowning moment of my Las Vegas Junior League experience.  Read it and weep.  Then, come back next week to see the delish dishes I am going to cook!

Mormon Meals

Cookbook:  The Essential Mormon Cookbook: Green Jell-O, Funeral Potatoes, and Other Secret Combinations
Availability: amazon.com or your local Deseret bookstore.
Shelf Factor: This one holds a lot of memorable food for me, so it's a keeper!

Let me start off by saying, I am not Mormon.  My mom is Mormon though, and I was raised Mormon when I was very young.  My mother's whole side of the family (well, just about) are still practicing members of the LDS church.  LDS members are some of the most down-to-earth, friendly, give until it hurts people you will ever meet.  And oh yeah... most of them really know how to cook!  Sometimes I want to be one of them... I really do.

I came upon this book while perusing my local bookstore.  I always like to look in the regional/American cookbook section, and I stumbled upon this one because of the spiral binding.  I pulled it out, and as soon as I read "Green Jell-O and Funeral Potatoes", I was hooked.  I hadn't come across these recipes in years, and boy did I ever miss them!  Well, one of them at least.  Hint: Green Jell-O will not be making an appearance on Cookbook Confessions anytime soon.  Or ever.  EVER.  Did I say "ever"?  Just want to make sure we are all clear on that matter.

Warning: This cookbook does not contain pictures.  Nope, not a single one of them.  Why that bothers so many people, I'm not sure.  So, if you want pictures of these recipes, the only ones you are getting are pictures of the ones I'm posting here.  Now onto the good parts of the book...

The book is set up to have the recipes divided into four seasons.  Above is a sample of the summer season header.  I love this!  Each section also has subsections that break out recipes by theme or by occasion.  It is a very family centered, celebration oriented book.  The recipes are simple, and the ingredients can be found at your grocery store.  They are also very yummy, and unique (hello... Funeral Potatoes???)!  I could review this cookbook for a month, there are so many great recipes... the winter section alone is a goldmine for sweet treats to give away as gifts.

Follow me this week as I visit the summer section of this book and cook up some goodies.  And speaking of sweet treats, I will be skipping ahead to the "Winter" section to make some addicting candy!

First and Favorite

Cookbook: Recipes Shared
Availability: At my house only!
Shelf Factor: Will ALWAYS have a spot on my cookbook shelves!

My first cookbook is, and always will be my favorite.  My mom made it for me when I got married.  I was lucky enough to have four bridal showers,and at two of them the guests were asked to bring a favorite recipe for me, the bride-to-be.  My mom then painstakingly put this book together with a lot of work, love, creativity, memories, and embarrassing photos.  It is a book I will always hold dear to my heart, but I will never know if my mom came up with the idea out of her love for me, or out of sheer terror that I may kill my soon-to-be husband within our first year of marriage with my atrocious cooking.  I prefer to leave the answer to this question a mystery.

Even though I have had this book for almost 8 years now, I still haven't made every dish.  This week, I will pick a couple of family staples and try some recipes that I am not familiar with.  But for now, let me share some of the contents of this book with you...

The first page of the book is R's (my husband) famous, secret bean dip.  His mom shared one of her coveted recipe's with his dad's secretary way back when in order to obtain this.  Randy has since taken full credit, and since I believe very few recipes should be "secret" (especially one this good), I have shared it with everyone who asks.  The photo at the bottom of the page was taken on the first family trip I ever brought R on.  My mom took the photo and didn't realize that at that very moment, R and I were discussing the possibility of marriage one day.  I love that she unknowingly captured this.

 

This is the BEST meatloaf recipe.  This is also the WORST photo of the best meatloaf recipe.

My beyond adorable (still!) Godmother holding a very little me.  She decided to share an "old 70's recipe".  Hm... don't know if I'll be trying this one this week... or ever.

Why... WHY was this photo ever saved by anyone? 

One -year-old me with Gram.  The recipe written below in her frail handwriting is for her fruit salad that was served every Thanksgiving and Christmas.  I was never a huge fan, but the rest of the family was!

Twenty-something me with an eighty-something Gram.  You can see little changed over the years.  I only knew her with one type of hairstyle, and one style of glasses... the Jackie O. style.  Very fitting for her, as she was very classy and always put together.  She wouldn't even let me, her granddaughter, in her house if she didn't have lipstick on.

Not all are recipes for food, but are still just as special.

I had to laugh at my mom's note here.  We did have this dish a lot while I was growing up.  Little did my mom know though that I used to douse the chicken in Ranch dressing because the chicken in this casserole is so darned dry!

My mom wrote a lovely note to me here.  This note though does not undo the damage that was done by putting me in this bridal shower bonnet get-up that is on my head.  Mothers... no matter how cute you think it is or how great of a photo you think it will make, don't do this to your daughters.  Love you, mom!