Good Medicine recipes now in cook book
After sharing hundreds of recipes over
the years to guests at the Good Medicine Lodge, co-owner and cook
Betsy Cox is finally publishing a book of her famous breakfast
creations.
The hardcover book “Good Montana
Morning” features more than 100 dishes she’s used to tantalize
guests at the lodge since she and her husband, Woody, took over
ownership in 2002.
“The book mostly consists of our
guests’ favorites,” Cox said. “It’s beautiful, and I think it
represents our lodge very well. That was the goal.”
Before taking over the lodge, Cox wrote
an infant nutrition column for a newspaper, taught art for
elementary through high school, and has written and conducted wine
and food-pairing seminars for adults.
It took Cox more than a year of
planning, photographing and editing before “Good Montana Morning”
was ready to go to print. From a database of about 1,000 recipes,
she chose the ones that best spoke to the flair of Whitefish and
her lodge.
“I wanted it to be local and unique to
here,” Cox said. “The connection to Whitefish is what makes these
recipes significant.”
The book is divided into sections that
include fruit, syrups, eggs, French toast and pancakes, cereal and
pastries. Cox notes that the book and recipes are crafted with
simplicity in mind. Anyone with basic cooking skills can make these
breakfast dishes.
“I wanted it to be a simple as
possible,” she said. “Hopefully, you can measure things,
though.”
One of the recipes is “Going to the Sun
Eggs,” which happens to be the first breakfast she ever served
guests at the lodge. There’s also the famous granola recipe that
Cox says is “highly sought after,” and there’s the French toast
strata that is one of her most frequently requested recipes.
The largest chapter is about pastries,
scones, muffins and biscuits. Cox says she only included the scone
recipes that are “100 percent guaranteed to work,” noting how
difficult scones can be to bake.
The 128-page book shows off nearly each
dish with photography by Megan DiTizio, also of Whitefish. Cox
hired DiTizio because of her ability to shoot food naturally
without fake enhancements.
Over all the years of giving out
recipes to guests at the lodge, Cox has never asked for money, only
that the recipient makes a donation to the North Valley Food Bank.
She’ll continue that practice by giving a portion of book sales to
the food bank.
Cox is already planning her next book,
which will be about cooking with children, based on experiences
she’s had with her children and grandchildren.
The Good Medicine Lodge will host a
book release reception on Wednesday, April 20, from 6-8 p.m. “Good
Montana Morning” will be available at the lodge, local bookstores
and online at www.farcountrypress.com. For more information, call
the lodge at 862-5488 or e-mail info@goodmedicinelodge.com.