Hi there! I'm thrilled to be sharing my love for cooking with you. I live in Idaho. While it's true that Idahoans adore our potatoes, I also draw inspiration from the beautiful Great Northwest and my own family history to create recipes with all kinds of ingredients, especially those ingredients that we are likely to have on hand in our kitchens.
My ultimate goal is to help everyone feel confident and capable in the kitchen, no matter their skill level.
Cooking has always been a passion of mine.
Back in my teenage years, I worked as a prep cook in a restaurant and learned valuable techniques and recipes that I still use today.
Since then, I've pursued other career paths, including working in television broadcasting for 15 years, where I even had the chance to share my favorite recipes with viewers.
Here's my recipe for Idaho Beef which won the top prize at a beef cookoff.
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Why a Crinkled Cookbook?
Recipes you find here are befitting of the well-worn paper and pages that "crinkle" in family cookbooks thanks to years of loving use.
They are recipes that are prepared time and time again and help bring family and friends close.
Here are two recipes that definitely fall into the category of a crinkled recipe card:
I'm a firm believer that we can all make great food at home and my goal is to share recipes to help you succeed in the kitchen.
My Experience
No matter what my day job has been, I've always been drawn to the kitchen. I love to cook and create recipes. I also collect a lot of cookbooks.
Today I work in higher ed marketing and I enjoy applying what I call the tricks of the trade here in my little corner of the internet.
I work full-time so developing recipes for the Crinkled Cookbook is what I do on evenings and weekends!
I was thrilled to be a guest on the Eat Blog Talk podcast to share insights on brand and marketing and this year I was invited to contribute a blog post to the Tastemaker Conference website to discuss the process of building a brand for a food blog.
Surviving Cancer
Sometimes life throws us curve balls. And as any cancer survivor can attest to, cancer is one of those curve balls.
I'm a two-time breast cancer survivor and consider myself very fortunate to be celebrating good health today. I've had five surgeries since my initial diagnosis in 2014, including a double mastectomy after a recurrence in 2020.
I am extremely grateful that in both instances my cancer was caught early and it was a type of cancer that responded to treatment.
In October of 2022, I was happy to donate 100% of my food blog's proceeds for the month to a local non-profit called Stampede for the Cure.
Their mission is to help make screening mammograms possible for all women, especially those who live in rural areas. I was a guest on KTVB's morning news broadcast to help spread the word and to share my recipe for No-Peel Apple Cake.
My Family
I'm a proud wife, married 30 years, and mom to a 26-year-old daughter and a 20-year-old son. Everyone is so grown up now!
My family loves the outdoors and we've been camping for more than 20 years. We started with tent camping, but for the past 19+ years, we've been RVing in a little trailer.
I post pictures from some of our adventures on Instagram. Especially when it comes to cooking and baking in that tiny RV kitchen. Please follow along!
What are Auntie's Favorites?
You may have noticed this category of recipes on the Crinkled Cookbook. In short, they are family-favorite recipes that have been prepared for years by someone special.
Be assured, any recipe flagged on the Crinkled Cookbook as an Auntie's Favorite is going to be great.
Where do my recipes come from?
My recipes come from so many places. My kitchen, my recipe cards, my cookbooks, from friends, acquaintances, and from family.
Many recipes on the Crinkled Cookbook are new because I'm always coming up with something in my kitchen, but I will ALWAYS let you know the origin of a recipe and will give credit where it's due if it isn't an original from my kitchen.
Sharing Recipes
Sharing is great! I LOVE to share my recipes with you and linking from this website to your social media platforms or as a text or in an email is encouraged!
But reposting my photos or recipes on another blog or website is a big no-no. Unless we've talked about this, please ask for permission first or follow the rules below.
The content found here is protected by copyright.
Rules for Sharing
Here's how you CAN share things from this website on another blog or website:
You're welcome to link back to a recipe or post, but please don't recreate the post's content in a new location. Doing that impacts how search engines find and rank my recipes, which is a real bummer.
If you'd like to share my content... please use a double link back to this site. For instance, you could say "I enjoyed Crinkled Cookbook's (link to the homepage for this website) recipe for Orange Sweet Rolls (link to the specific recipe that you enjoyed)."
Sharing Photos
As for photos, you are welcome to use a photo without the associated content/recipe, but you must credit the picture with a double link. One that goes back to my homepage and another that links to the post where the photo originated. For example, you could say "Find this recipe for Orange Sweet Rolls at the Crinkled Cookbook."
Contact Me
If you have any questions please feel free to contact me: melinda @ crinkled cookbook .com (Remove spaces.)
Stay in Touch
I'm happy that you've landed here!
Homemade food is the best and I'm excited to share my recipes with you. Subscribe to my mailing list and I'll send you new recipes.
Use the search button below if there's something, in particular, you are looking for.
Thanks for stopping by.
Let's make great meals at home!
Melinda
she/her