Gracious Goodness Around the Table: Breakfast

Welcome to Gracious Goodness Around the Table: Breakfast. This is our first in a series of cookbooks focused on serving others from your kitchen. Lunch and Dinner will round out the series with each book focusing on specific techniques and methods of taking care of people by serving them delicious food. After all, good food served by those with loving hearts nourishes not only the body, but the heart, mind, and soul as well.

Darlene and Kelly worked together at Butterfly Meadows Inn & Farm in Tennessee for several years. Thousands of guests were served around the table there. You may have been among them. If so, we are pleased to welcome you back to the table within the pages of this book!

Whether you are a new cook or seasoned chef, we have written this book with you in mind. You will find here great and proven recipes that have been adapted from the kitchen at the inn for your home kitchen. Our goal at the inn was to ensure that every meal came out consistently delicious and on time each morning. We know that is your goal as well!

We are sharing with you our comprehensive timeline method for pulling everything together effortlessly. This system was the backbone of our kitchen manual at the inn used to train new cooks and to give seasoned cooks an organizational framework. We know it can work for you too. The timelines have been customized for you to use in your kitchen. Following the timeline will allow you to work at a steady pace instead of a frantic one. Whether you use this book to serve your family, overnight guests, holiday gatherings, or reunions,

the timeline method we share here will allow you to enjoy the process and

enjoy your guests.

All without setting your hair on fire!

The book is organized into sections by menu. Each menu includes a complete meal with all the recipes to make each dish. The recipes have ingredient charts with serving sizes calculated for you. At a glance you will be able to plan your meal for a few people or a small crowd. You will also find a complete timeline to assist you as you put together each menu.

We always called this system our "paper brain." If you have a good method to follow, you don't have to use brain space to keep the process in your head. You can concentrate on what you are doing and the people around you. And when the people around you ask how they can help, you can assign them a task from where you are currently working in the timeline.

Darlene Bobo began her journey of sharing with others the gift of good food long before opening an inn in the hills of Middle Tennessee. The inn is where Darlene and her coauthor Kelly Cox met, sharing their mutual love of food and serving others with the thousands of guests who stayed there.Darlene's curiosity about food and its preparation began at home, cooking with her mother and grandmother. Reading recipes in the newspaper and imagining the results fueled a desire to learn more. She completed several culinary courses to inspire her creativity and give her a better understanding of how to prepare delicious food to share with others, and years later, with guests at the inn.

Kelly grew up enjoying meals cooked at home and watching her mom experiment with food preparation in the family kitchen. Kelly began making wedding cakes for friends and family while she was in high school. She worked as a pastry chef for several years, then decorated wedding cakes professionally. She operated her own bakery in upstate New York before moving to Tennessee. She is a graduate of the Culinary Institute of America.