Joni MacFarlane has been in love with cooking for a long time.

That love turned into creating cookbooks to share recipes and ideas with others.

"I have three cookbooks now. I'm very proud of them. They're a lot of fun to do and a lot of work. I did my first one with soup in 2016. It's called 52+ Weeks of Soup. I realized I was making soup all the time. I love soup and had a million recipes. I started writing them down and then I started taking pictures of them. My husband said why don't you put them in a book. I did and it went crazy. People love soup. I've sold a lot of books."

After seeing the success from her first cookbook, MacFarlane decided to create a second one.

"I created a salad one next that came out in 2018. It's called 52+ Weeks of Salad. They're not just lettuce. There are grains, beans, fruits and vegetables and all sorts of stuff. That one did really well too. That was also a lot of fun."

MacFarlane's next idea for a cookbook came from her joy of entertaining.

"Before Covid, I used to entertain a lot and have parties and dinner parties. I was always making appetizers and party foods. That stuff is a lot of fun to make and people love eating it. I did a third one and it's my brand new one that's just out. It's 52+ Weeks of Party Foods and Appetizers. It's available throughout the Crowsnest Pass and in Pincher Creek. People can also get it through me."

MacFarlane says she added something to this cookbook to help people remember to stay safe.

"I had this book ready in February and I was going to do all the summer markets and then Covid hit and put a kibosh on everything. I thought that I'd still go ahead with it. Christmas is coming and we might not be entertaining the way we used to but these books make great Christmas gifts. I did put a little section at the beginning about Covid and realizing people don't entertain the way they used to. I also provided some tips on how to serve food and host people and be safe. I did put that in the book so that people recognize that I'm not advocating that we ignore the safety rules but you still have to eat and you might as well eat well."

The idea for these cookbooks came from MacFarlane's love of food.

"I love eating, I love cooking and I love cooking for people. I do a lot of it and I just have a lot of recipes that I've either created or have come my way through friends and family and I just wanted to put them all together in a book. Really it was the soup one that started it all and I had no intentions of writing cookbooks for the rest of my life but that was just so much fun and was so well received I thought why not carry on."

MacFarlane says there's a little bit of everything in her cookbooks.

"There's something for everyone in these cookbooks. I'm a vegetarian and have been for almost 40 years but they aren't vegetarian books. There are meat recipes in them. The other thing about cooking is that you can be creative. If there's an ingredient you don't like, you can substitute something else in. I just want people to enjoy them, have fun and eat well."

Anyone interested in purchasing one of MacFarlane's cookbooks can do so at the Crowsnest Pass Public Art Gallery Gift Shop, Crockets trading Company, Crowsnest Museum, Crowsnest Cafe and Fly Shop or in Pincher Creek at the Kootenai Brown Pioneer Village.

The books are also available through MacFarlane by email at joni.macfa@gmail.com or by phone at 403-563-7725.

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