Hungry Enough To Eat This: A gift!

A good friend shared this amazing gift: a custom book of some of her favorite family recipes.

I received this lovely gift from a good friend! Natalie is a second teacher at the school where I work and I had the pleasure of helping in her classroom last year.

When not distracted by... whoops, I mean helping students, the topic of our conversations often turns to food: the recipes I make for my blog, her searches for good, gluten-free recipes, our love of pumpkin-spiced coffee love, and much more.

She surprised me with this amazing gift: a collection of her family's favorite recipes gathered together for me, and sweetly titled, "Hungry Enough To Eat This?" How cool is she? (Very!)

What's in this book

After gathering recipes from her family Natalie typed them up, added pictures, and created a book through Shutterfly. It is such a touching and thoughtful gift! There is a beautiful message from her in the forward, too.

It has twenty recipes, including breads, desserts, and two recipes for margaritas. It's well-known that I'm a fan of margaritas, and it seems that Natalie's family is too!

I tried some recipes!

Cream Cheese Cool Whip Pie

Two desserts caught my eye and I couldn't wait to make them. The first is Cream Cheese Cool Whip Pie, consisting of a thick, creamy vanilla filling inside a graham cracker crust.

I also made a cinnamon version of this pie. Both versions were quite well received by my family and our friends at a recent gathering to watch Captain America.

Lemon Squares

The other recipe is for simple Lemon Bars. This dessert is a favorite of mine, and it's always a treat to come across a batch at potlucks and work breakfasts! The bars are so full of sweet and vibrant lemon flavor. I made these to share at a Friend's Thanksgiving gathering.

Make your own cookbook

I was blown away by the thoughtfulness of this gift from sweet Natalie! Thank you, my friend!

If you have some food-loving friends, or a collection of family recipes that you'd like to pass on to your kids, nephews, nieces, or grandkids, consider creating a book like this one. Websites like Shutterfly, Vistaprint, and MixBook make it super easy to gather recipes and photos into a beautiful book.