By Virginia MacDonald
It began as a love of her Mother’s love of cooking.
It has evolved into a way to share recipes with her daughters and everyone else, said Tammy Heinss who last week, for the first time, clutched her brand new 260-page cookbook.
She took the name of the cookbook, “Cook With Love,” from an inscription her mother wrote in a cookbook she gave her daughter when she graduated from Booneville High School in Booneville, Mississippi. The book inscription read: “Cook with love. Love you, Mother.”
Heinss, now a Shelby County resident, was raised on a Polled Hereford cattle farm in Booneville.
“I grew up watching my mother cook,” she said. “There was something about her in the kitchen that was warm and inviting. She really loved cooking for us and making things that we all enjoy.”
Heinss’ daughters, Kelley of Huntsville and Sarah of Chicago, have asked her through the years for recipes. So when she compiled the recipes for her book, she said, she thought it would be cool to include a history of the family.
“That was my way to give them a flavor of their heritage.”
Heinss started her own interior design business, Moon Interiors, in 1999. She was the visual merchandiser and buyer for Urban Home Market when she left her job in 2016 to focus on writing a cookbook.
The work was put on hold when Heinss’ mother, who suffers from dementia, moved in with her.
“Her dementia made that year so hard that it nipped my creativity,” she said.
After her mom was moved into memory care, COVID hit.
“I worked on the book for two years straight, collecting new stories to go with those that I had already written,” Heinss said.
The book was finished in March.
“I had it completely compiled and sent it to graphic designer and photographer Kelsey Justice, who used to work for Birmingham Magazine. She put the compilation into a layout and design format.
“We went back and forth editing and putting in pictures. I am so pleased with it.”
The book includes a recipe for brined turkey that Heinss claims is the best she has ever tasted. But she will not be cooking it this Thanksgiving.
“We are not having anyone for dinner this Thanksgiving. My daughter Kelly and her family are spending the holiday with his family in Huntsville. Daughter Sarah is not coming home for Thanksgiving but will be home for Christmas
“There will only be the two of us, and I will not be making a gigantic turkey. I am not exactly sure what we will do.”
Last year, the turkey was the hit of her Thanksgiving dinner, along with mashed potatoes, broccoli casserole, frozen cranberry and fruit salads, pecan pie and double-layer pumpkin pie.
Heinss is back at Urban Home Market part time doing social media and helping with merchandising at the 17,000-square-foot store. She also continues interior design for clients whom she has worked with previously.
“I don‘t want to take on new clients,” she said. “And I can leave that job at the end of the day when I am done. When you are an interior designer and working on a project, you never really leave that when you go home.”
And what is the cookbook author’s favorite food?
“I love Italian food,” Heinss said. “There are good recipes for lasagna and spaghetti in the cookbook.
“But I gravitate toward homey things in the winter like chicken rice soup and dishes like that.”
She said the best part of writing the book has been that it is a labor of love and fun.
“It’s a personal gift to my children … for them and everyone else.”
“Cook With Love” can be pre-ordered from tammyparrheinss.com/shop
