Cook creates home base for trove of recipes

Robyn Thibodeaux’s collection of more than 300 kitchen-tested recipes is a modern marvel – the kind of thing that happens when the computer age meets an old-fashioned love for feeding others.

Inside a bulging ring binder, its contents beautifully arranged by food category and encased in plastic sleeves, the diary-like volume intersperses cooking-related anecdotes from Thibodeaux’s childhood, marriage and life as a mom with her favorite, go-to recipes.

“My sister’s oldest child was saying, ‘Momma, where’s your recipe for this? I want to learn how to cook this. You need to write down your recipes,’” recalled Thibodeaux, 52, who worried that her own three children would face the same confusion when they left the nest.

So in 1998, also driven by a need to de-clutter her kitchen, Thibodeaux began culling recipes from her massive cookbook collection and typing them into the computer.

Although many of the recipes were gleaned from outside sources and thus cannot be published as a cookbook, more than 50 are Thibodeaux’s own creations.

“It’s evolving,” said Thibodeaux, explaining that she maintains a folder called “Recipes to Test” on her computer desktop. “If I come across something, I put it in there and I work with it, and maybe change it a little bit before I add it to the collection.”

Thibodeaux’s round-the-year focus on maximizing flavor with fresh herbs, vegetables and whole grains makes the meatless requirements of the Lenten season a lot less jarring to her family

For example, Thibodeaux’s lemony Israeli Couscous Salad, a staple at family picnics, incorporates mint from her home garden and is a satisfying meatless entrée that’s even yummier when served at room temperature. While developing the recipe, Thibodeaux learned thatadding lemon zest and fresh black pepper to the couscous when it’s still warm coaxes out the natural oils.

“I fell in love with Israeli couscous. I tasted it and thought, ‘Why didn’t I know about this before?’” Thibodeaux said, noting how the sweetness of the raisins in her rendition balances out the tartness of the dried apricots.

Exotic flavorings also go into Veggie Breakfast Pie, a chunky tart that benefits from the addition of small amounts of allspice and caraway seed.

“Mushrooms don’t have an in-your-face flavor, and sweet potato is mild as well,” Thibodeaux said, “and (the ingredients) really go well with the smoked cheddar cheese.”

Thibodeaux’s Eggplant with Tomatoes and Beans was created when the family garden yielded a bumper crop of white eggplants.

“We shared many of them, but still had an abundance,” writes Thibodeaux in the recipe’s introduction. “We ate a lot of roasted eggplant with green peppers and Vidalia onions. I made baba ghanoush for the first time. I also came up with this recipe, which is very tasty.”

At Christmas, Thibodeaux packages the ingredients for her hearty 9-Bean Stew to give as gifts. A recent Christmas also marked the debut of Nut Loaf – a dish Thibodeaux originally created as an option for her vegetarian daughter-in-law, but which ended up getting a major thumbs-up from the men in the family.

“The texture and the look is very similar to meatloaf, but the taste is nutty as opposed to meaty,” she said. “Mushrooms are wonderful if you’re eating vegetarian because of the way they feel in your mouth.”

Ever the experimental cook, Thibodeaux concocted her Honey Muffins recipe after receiving a jar of marmalade, and put her own spin on cole slaw the year Granny Smith apples became popular. The slaw is a favorite of Thibodeaux’s granddaughter, with the recipe’s notes declaring: “Gumbo, turkey, lasagna – it doesn’t matter what else is on the menu, Ellie is going to want cole slaw. She probably would even request it with sushi.”

Thibodeaux, whose nearly 20-year career in teaching included stints at Immaculate Conception in Marrero and St. Margaret Mary, recalls growing up in Marrero as the family baker. Early in her marriage, she turned to “The Betty Crocker Cookbook” – because her own parents never wrote down their recipes.

“It started with my little yellow Easy Bake Oven when I was in second grade,” she chuckled. “My father would say, ‘Those are the best biscuits I’ve ever eaten.’ I doubt that, but it meant a lot to me!’”

In her culinary compilation, Thibodeaux recalls how she would teach her children to count in the hundreds while hand-beating cake batter in the kitchen, and how PawPaw Thibodeaux would synchronize the cooking of his chicken spaghetti to airings of “Bonanza.”

Future generations of Thibodeauxs will also know that their ancestors were a “Blue Plate  Mayonnaise” family, and that the family recipe for mint fudge was a happy accident in which Robin Thibodeaux grabbed the bottle of mint extract instead of the vanilla.

Thibodeaux, a resident of Covington who worships at St. Joseph Abbey, sees cooking as a ministry.

“One of the things that I really like to do is cook for people – if you’ve just had a baby, if you’re sick,” she said. “That’s what we’re supposed to do; we’re supposed to help each other.”