Judie Steeves has been sharing her recipes for a long time. And now, the former Penticton resident has created a cookbook, drawing together recipes from more than a decade of columns she has been writing for the Western’s sister paper, the Kelowna Capital News.
“My mom is a really good cook. All my friends in Penticton would always come over and she would serve them cookies,” said Steeves. “She was a real cook, so I guess it just comes naturally, enjoying cooking.”
Jude’s Kitchen is focused around the seasons, starting in the spring and featuring whatever is fresh in B.C. at that time of year. Fresh asparagus and prawns, for instance, are available right now.
“Simple ingredients just put together in a way that tastes good. Family recipes, not fancy ones,” she said, adding that it is a challenge creating a couple of new recipes every week for her column.
“They do sometimes come from a root of something my mom used to make. Other times, they are just a combination of flavours that I really like,” she said. “For quite a few years, people have been asking me where they could get the book … long before there ever was one.
“The kids, when they were younger, used to get their dinner photographed before they ate it.”
Steeves also writes about farming, agriculture and the wine industry, an important factor in how she creates her recipes.
“To me it is very important that we support our local farmers or we won’t have the fresh local food left to enjoy,” she said.
Jude’s Kitchen is available in Penticton at Hooked on Books on Main Street.
“I autographed a bunch for them when I was down there,” she said. “I am sure there are some left.”