November's lesson on Choosing a Financial Professional will be given on Tuesday, October 7 at 10 a.m. following the board meeting. Everyone is invited to come out for this fun-filled day of events! Come for the board meeting, stay to hear the lesson and pick up a couple of books to take home and read! It'll be a fun day!

On Monday, October 20 from 1 – 6 p.m. is a blood drive at the Robinson Community Center. Everyone is needed to give blood. The month of October – the Red Cross is promoting cancer awareness and the amount of blood a cancer patient will need. For each treatment – a patient with cancer may use the following: 10-20 units of Red Blood Cells and 10-50 units of Platelets. So one person could use 20 units of blood – that is 20 people that will have to donate for one cancer patient…Please help out! We are all in this together.

Going Green with Evergreens on Tuesday, September 30 at 1:00 p.m. will focus on a variety of evergreen plants suitable for growing in Illinois. Chris Hilgert, U of I Horticulturist will discuss many evergreen trees and shrubs that will give your landscape year-round interest. If you would like to learn more about these plants and expand your landscape using evergreens please attend.

Backyard Composting does not have to be rocket science, but it does take some management to make good compost. Duane Friend, University of Illinois Extension Educator will discuss the do's and don'ts of composting on October 14 at 1:00 p.m. Also address how composting works, factors that influence composting, what materials can be composted, and how to blend materials. Troubleshooting and uses of compost will also be discussed.

These programs will be offered at U of I Extension office. The presentation will be via the telenet system and local computer PowerPoint presentations, allowing live discussion between the instructor and gardeners throughout Illinois. If interested please call U of I Extension office at 618/546-1549 and reserve a seat and packet of information. These classes are offered free and open to the public. Pre-registration is required to have seating and informational handouts available.

This lesson comes as a booklet and you can pick one up at the U of I Extension office.

In our mothers' and grandmothers' day, daughters usually learned to cook by watching their elders – and family recipes rarely were written down. Today, many families are spread out all over the country. And even those who live close to grandma may be so busy that learning to cook "from scratch" just isn't a priority at this time. Creating an heirloom cookbook may be one way for you to provide future generations with a lasting piece of their family's culinary history.

In this lesson, we will take you through the steps involved in creating an heirloom-quality family cookbook with recipes that are so foolproof, even a beginner can master them.

You will learn:

• Steps involved in producing an heirloom-quality family cookbook, and the kinds of decisions that should be made consciously at the beginning of the process.
• The difference between writing recipes and developing them – and why it is important for an heirloom cookbook's recipes to be developed, not just written.
• How to make recipes (nearly) foolproof, so that even inexperienced cooks can be successful with them.
• Pros and cons of various "hard copy" and electronic options for recipe storage/publishing.
• How choices of fonts and other design considerations may affect the usability of the book.

This lesson is one that may spark a lot of good discussion and many fond memories!

Set Realistic Goals - Creating an heirloom cookbook can be an overwhelming project, but it doesn't have to be. The key is to start small, on a modest scale, with realistic goals in mind.

One goal may be to complete the project by a particular date – maybe a wedding or a family reunion. Another goal may be to ensure that the recipes are as foolproof as possible – so that each recipe will turn out perfectly every time, regardless of the cook's skill level.

If you plan to create a large or general cookbook – or work with several contributors – you may find it useful to tackle the job in well-planned stages: perhaps developing a casseroles chapter this month, a desserts chapter next month, and other chapters in future months. Or you may produce a modest-size booklet this year – and if/as time permits, surprise everyone with a "Volume 2" next year.

Either way, your family will have something tangible to use and cherish – sooner rather than later! And you will have a sense of closure as well as a feeling of having accomplished something really special.

Choose a Theme - Begin by deciding what kind of cookbook you want to write, and whether you want the recipes to relate to a specific theme. A well-defined theme isn't absolutely necessary, but it may help keep the project manageable by limiting the number of recipes you are tempted to include:

• Grammy's Christmas Cookies
• Sunday Dinner at Crooked Creek Farm
• Fresh from Grandpa Gil's Garden

An ethnic or historical cookbook may include snippets of family history along with recipes handed down through the generations. It may also feature information on traditions from "the old country", or stories told by parents and grandparents.

You will also learn:

• How to get started
• Determine the scope of the project
• Select a binder
• Putting your recipes into print
• Writing vs. developing recipes
• Ingredients and Method
• Design and layout of your book
• Organize and assemble your cookbook
• Test your recipe – editing skills

Here are a few suggestions:

• List ingredients in order of addition
• Specify size of cream cheese package
• Specify room-temperature cream cheese, eggs, and butter in ingredients list
• Express butter measurement in sticks as well as cups
• Include "do not substitute" note in ingredients list
• Ingredient list says "flour" and text says "cake flour" – which one is correct?
• Specify sifted cake flour in ingredients list
• Direct that flour and salt should be combined before adding to butter/cream cheese mixture
• Specify how to alternate dry/wet ingredients
• Spell out cup and teaspoon measures
• Place preheating temperature at the start of the instructions
• "Grease loaf pans" should appear early in the instructions (may also need to describe how to grease pans)
• Specify size and number of loaf pans
• Instructions for cooling and removing cakes could be clearer
• Because the baking temperature is unusual, consider acknowledging it and/or giving instructions for non-digital ovens: "If your oven does not have a 320 degree setting, set the dial just a little below 325 (but still higher than 300) degrees."

This lesson can teach us ALL great things. We hope everyone is inspired to create some sort of Heirloom Cookbook for their families, whether it is small or large, many categories or just one – we wish that every HEA member puts something in writing for the generations to come!

We would encourage all of you who are thinking about creating an Heirloom Cookbook to visit with each other as a group to share ideas and suggestions.

Be sure to let us know if you are contemplating this task. We can schedule a group discussion.

Pick up a booklet - We have a booklet in this office for EVERY member so don't hesitate to stop in and pick up one. We can also e-mail you the booklet if you would like. Just e-mail me, Hope Dennis, at hdennis@illinois.edu and I will send you the file. You will need the "Adobe Reader" on your computer to be able to open it.