Story Cookbook by Jo Ann Bender

Story Cookbook is a self-published title featuring Jo Ann Bender's family favorites and recipes from her B&B, the Lazy Bee located in Colville, WA. Alongside each recipe contains an introduction or paragraph story, thus the name.

The names and variations of the recipes range from interesting to unique: Five-Star Zucchini Chip Cookies; Pretty Anytime Rhubarb; Chicken So Good I Stole the Recipe; and Devil's Chicken Sealed the Deal. Since it is sold as a cookbook, the addition of a table of contents or creating chapters to separate the recipes into different categories would be helpful, and would make subsequent editions much easier to navigate for the reader. As it reads now, a Honey Mustard Salad Dressing is alongside recipes for white fudge and leg of lamb, and the individual stories get lost in the mix.

There are over 120 recipes included in Story Cookbook. In each of the recipes, Bender writes where the recipe came from, why it is special, a story involving the recipe, or something completely different. Bender seems friendly in the introduction and entertains the reader with her tales of past guests at her B&B, and even includes directions on how to get there in the very beginning of the book. I appreciated the cover design being adapted from a crewel embroidery piece done by the author's daughter when she was 11 years old.

Book Information:

• Story Cookbook: Featuring Americana Basics from the Northwest Mountains; by Jo Ann Bender
• Bender & Assoc; 2012
• ISBN13: 9781475161267
• Paperback, 128 pages

Disclosure: This book was given to me by the author, and any opinions are my own.