Alecia combined her passion for cooking and need for healthy eating into a year-long SMART goal project to create a cookbook.
Alecia’s Favourite Recipes features 15 recipes, conveniently grouped into five appetizers, five meals and five desserts. Alecia prepared each and every recipe from scratch, several times, before giving them her seal of approval.
“It was a lot of work, information and research,” Alecia said this week, after delivering the first cookbooks for sale to the RC Store.
The cookbook fulfilled Alecia’s 2018-19 SMART goal (Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Relevant and Timely), which she set with her Intervenor Services team last April. The goal morphed part way through the project. Originally, she was gathering and transcribing recipes into large print for herself to use. Later, she chose to publish and sell the cookbooks.
Alecia’s Favourite Recipes sells for $15.
The cookbook comes in two formats. One version is bound and the other features the recipes in plastic sleeves in a three-ring binder. Alecia explained that the binder helps keep the recipes clean in the kitchen and also allows people to add their own favourites to the collection.
Intervenor Brenda, who worked with Alecia on the project from the start, said Alecia surveyed her intervenors and others about which cookbook format they preferred. When the results came back evenly split, she decided to make both versions.
Roommate Connie was a happy beneficiary of Alecia’s project.
“Connie ate like a queen,” intervenor Deb said, laughing. “Connie loves Alecia’s cooking.”
The Apt. 5 roommates plan meals together and take turns cooking.
The SMART goal project also helped Alecia improve her computer skills. Intervenor Taylor taught Alecia how to insert a photo into each recipe and Alecia learned to work with Google Docs.
Using her cellphone, Alecia took photos of each dish, making sure that they showed all the major ingredients. She also decorated a colourful plate to showcase each finished dish
Alecia said her personal favourite from the cookbook is the recipe for Rice Crispy Cookies, which she has made and enjoyed since she was a girl.
The cookbook includes two other family favourites: her mom’s Afternoon Tea Scones and dad’s Oatmeal Raisin Cookies.
The cookbook features one bonus dog treat recipe, Fido’s Favourite Treats, which Alecia makes for family pet Loleeta.
Alecia said proceeds from the cookbook sales will go into her savings for a trip to Disney in Florida.
