About the Author

I was born in El Dorado, Arkansas in August 1951 to Ernest Eugene Lloyd and Bertha Jean “Russell” Lloyd, and raised in the country with all my neighbors being relatives of my maternal grandmother, Bertha Mae “Phelps” Russell or “Mamaw” as all the grandchildren called her. Mamaw came from a long line of great cooks. Actually generations before her had made original recipes and have handed them down through the generations. Each new generation would make variations to a few of the recipes, but never destroyed the integrity of the original recipe. This is where I got my love for cooking, and the influence on my cooking style giving me the basic training I needed to become the cook I am today.

Mamaw, Mother, and Daddy had an influence on my cooking style giving me the basic training I needed to be the cook I am today. In fact my first memories of cooking was standing in a kitchen chair stirring dishes that Mamaw was making for the family; then when I was old enough to read a recipe, Mamaw would always let me cook in the summer when I was out of school. Of course desserts were my favorite things to cook, but I would also help cook dinner or “supper” as we in the south call our night meal.

This book is filled with the ultimate collection of more than 350 of my favorite recipes. I hope you enjoy these recipes as much as I have through the years.

Vicki Lloyd Lyons