Colorado Classique

For the past 2 years I have been on the steering committee for the new Junior League of Denver cookbook, Colorado Classique. It all started back around my 30th birthday when I answered a JL (short for Junior League) eblast asking for people who were interested in heading up the new cookbook. I submitted my name as one of the chairs of recipe collection and testing and waited. Just a short two weeks later I got a call from our VP on Fundraising to let me know that I had been choosen to help head up the 5th Junior League of Denver, yet unnamed, cookbook. I was so excited and also really nervous.

The Colorado Classique steering committee: Kristen Busang, my co-chair for recipe collection and testing, Nadia Hartman, design and editing chair, Patricia Bainter, sponsorship chair, Stephanie Duncan, cookbook chair, me, Becky Seely, marketing chair.

My interest in cooking and being creative in the kitchen as been steadily growing since I graduated from college and realized that fast food and "quick casual" was not a healthy way to sustain my single self. When I met my hubby we found part of our great match was "cooked up" in the kitchen (pardon the pun; I had to take advantage of that one). We both liked to cook and it was so much fun to cook together. In my opinion I have evolved quite nicely from Kraft mac & cheese to being a subscriber and avid reader of Gourmet magazine. Now, don't get me wrong, I am no Julia Child and certainly will not be opening a restaurant or catering business anytime soon, but I enjoy to cook and the food I cook isn't half bad. Baking is still my favorite but let's be honest, all those lovely, buttery baked goods do not keep me in my yoga pants or skinny jeans! I try to keep the baking to holidays and events I host at the house so I don't have 2 dozen cookies or a whole pie staring me down all day and night.

For those of you unfamiliar with the JL cookbooks, you should get familiar with them. As a shameless solicitation you can buy any of our five award winning books at www.jldcookbooks.com. Our books are delicious and timeless with all of the recipes being triple tested by our league members which range from those that are gourmet chefs and those that have issues boiling water. With the publishing of this fifth book, which we named Colorado Classique, the JL of Denver become not only the most published JL but also the best selling. Props to us!


Beginning work on the new cookbook was a daunting task. We asked our membership and sustaining membership to submit recipes over a four-month period and ended up with 1050 recipes. My co-chair, Kristen, and I divided these recipes into 10 sections and handed them over to the 18 section heads and their committees of 20 - 25 women who tested, re-wrote and re-tested all the recipes. After three months of testing, we narrowed it down to a magnificent 210 recipes! This was no small feat with the cooperation and work of 250 women and over 6000 cooking and eating hours. All those recipes are what make up our beautiful new cookbook!








On Wednesday, June 24th, 2009* we officially launched our new cookbook at an amazing launch party held at Second Home at the JW Mariott in Cherry Creek. My fellow steering committee members and I are so proud of our accomplishment and so pleased to give our book to the public. Please take a browse and add it to your collection!
*I backdated this post so I wouldn't forget that day!