Maple Sirup from Funks Grove and the Historical Pioneer Family of Central Illinois

     I love putting my illustrations with recipe books. At first thought it seems a bit odd, but many people that I discussed this topic with mentioned that they, more than likely, bought recipe books to read the recipes. That seems odd also. But thinking it out, folks that like to cook learn about cooking by reading ingredients of recipes. Perhaps they feel that they can learn more about cooking and discover an idea or method to employ in their own dishes. 

     My first recipe book was entitled, "Wineries and Bed and Breakfast Recipes of Illinois," published in 2006. It was created by going to wineries and bed and breakfast, asking them to submit two recipes and a brief history of their business. I in-turn would creat a drawing of the business building and publish the book. It was an immediate success and I was off hatching new ideas to mix my drawings with recipes. Fast forward to 2019 and I have numerous recipe books and each on has it own theme and the recipes were garnered in the same manner. 

     Maple Sirup Recipes has its own genesis. For several years I have been asking Debby Funk at Funks Grove Pure Maple Sirup to put together a  group of maple sirup recipes to publish. She gave me the name of person who works with them at special promotional events. Debby arranged a meeting at the  Funks Grove Maple Sirup kitchen. At that time, Ann brought with her several samples of her cooking. Among the offering was her Savory Maple Glazed Pecans. They were very tasty. Then she introduced me to her Smoked Gouda Cheese Dip. Mixed within the dip was chopped Maple Glazed Pecan. All the tastes of the ingredients came together nicely. I knew I had found the person to create the recipes for Funks Grove Pure Maple Sirup.

 Coming up soon I will tell more about putting the book together and other details about Maple Sirup Recipes by Ann Ellis.
The recipe book is now available at Funks Grove Pure Maples Sirup in Funks Grove. Also, I will have the book available at my November Studio Open House.