Judkins releases Southern cookbook

LeAnn Judkins, right, signs a copy of her cookbook, “Cooking with Family & Friends,” for JoEllen Huffman.

A new 1150-recipe cookbook, entitled “Cooking With Family & Friends,” is now available for purchase, just in time for the upcoming holiday season, and is unlike any cookbook ever compiled and published in DeKalb County and surrounding areas.

Authored by LeAnn Foutch Judkins, a Smithville native, it is a historically diverse compilation of genealogical recipes taken from the kitchens of her family and friends. In keeping abreast of the ever-changing times, it also features modern recipes geared toward today’s fast-paced lifestyles.

Judkins said, “In an era saturated with fast-food snacks and entr?es, plastic and cardboard dinnerware, and microwaveable foods, it is a welcome relief to turn back the pages of time, and to re-enter our kitchens again, savoring the dishes which our ancestors, friends and family members have made possible.”

“I decided to write the cookbook when I found a need for true local Southern recipes, especially the techniques involved in preparing simple dishes, such as turnip greens, turnips, cornbread, mashed potatoes, cream and red-eye gravy, fried pies, home preserving corn and green beans, etc.,” she commented.

“There are simple recipes, and there are ones requiring more effort. The book, truly, encapsulates every area of cooking, from the easy to the more difficult, and covers dishes geared toward family meals to the more elaborate dinners,” Judkins said.

The book is padded and three-ring with non-continued recipes and recipe notes, tabbed section dividers, and cooking guides, among other features.

“I trust these recipes will add another, yet familiar, dimension to our family’s table, ever mindful of the labors of others, past and present, who are sharing their culinary talents with us,” Judkins concluded.

The retail price per each book is $20 and can be purchased directly from Judkins, or it can be found at F. Z. Webb & Sons Gifts, Public Square, Smithville, TN 37166. She is taking orders for the cookbooks, as well as offering gift certificates. The shipping and handling cost is $4.

For more information, you may contact her by e-mail at [email protected], or by mail at 408 N. Mountain St., Smithville, TN 37166.