First Annual MacDill Family Cookbook

  • Published
  • By Senior Airman Shandresha Mitchell
  • 6th Air Mobility Wing public affairs
MACDILL AIR FORCE BASE, Fla. --  Rusty Evers, Aramark food service director, hit the ground running upon her arrival to MacDill. With new fresh ideas, Evers has kept her staff at SeaScapes Beach Club busy.

From "Friday Crab Night" to "Saturday Steak and Date Night", Evers' ideas have increased the club's traffic; however, her bread and butter idea was the "First Annual MacDill Family Cookbook".

"I came up with the idea to publish a cookbook for MacDill because I know the retirees and families on MacDill have family recipes that date back over 100 years," commented Evers. "I figured the best way to go about receiving those recipes was to host a series of recipe contest over the next year."

Evers envisions the cookbook containing a wide variety of culinary styles and recipes. It will feature brief background information on the family and the recipe; the proceeds of the cookbooks sold will be donated to foundations such as the Wounded Warrior Foundation and Operation Helping Hand.

To kick off the of the first stage of the cookbook, SeaScapes Beach Club hosted Evers' first contest on Jan. 23, 2014, the First Annual MacDill Pie Contest.

The contest consisted of a variety of pies, ranging from "Carmelicious Apple Pie" to "Tropical Pie".

"This is the first of many contests to come," stated Evers. "Cakes, candy, pickling, and jelly contests are a few of the ideas I have."

Evers hopes to have the cookbook completed by the end of 2014.

"It's not about me, it's about MacDill; my name won't be anywhere on it," stated Evers. "The idea is for it to share not only recipes, but memories as well."