6 days. 5 women. 78 recipes.

I wouldn't believe myself it if I hadn't been there.

That averages out to an incredible 13 recipes a day. Prepped, cooked, styled, propped and shot. If you’ve ever been on a food shoot, you know that’s an insane schedule! But we did it and it was a blast!

And we definitely made time for a few cocktails, laughs, and girl time over the course of the week, too. And there were flowers. Flowers make everything more fun!

I’m proud to say that was the final photo shoot for my new cookbook! I know I’ve been talking about about it ad nauseam, but honestly, now that the photos are done, and the title and cover are being finalized, you won’t hear a peep from me about it until I can reveal the cover and title - and it goes up for pre-sale and I can officially announce it. (Hey, if you want to sign up to be the very first to be notified, you can do that here.)

But for now, I’ll just share some of the fun BTS shots of some of the recipes. This cookbook isn't an egg cookbook per se, but there are still loads of egg recipes in it, because of course, they’re the most complete protein and versatile ingredient you likely have in your kitchen!

Vital Farms generously donated all the eggs (and butter!) that we needed for the shoot. For my first cookbook, we used eggs from my chickens. I think I brought more than 400 of our own eggs to that shoot. But this time around, 4 years later, my chickens are older and not laying as well, so the donation from Vital Farms was much appreciated to pick up the slack!

Big shout-out to Tina Rupp, the photographer (she’s responsible for the gorgesous photos from my first cookbook also) and Cyd McDowell, the food stylist (also styled my first cookbook). And Star and Cindy who assisted the shoot. All of these women were an absolute dream to work with.

Authors sometimes aren’t there for their cookbook shoots, but I think it’s one of the most fun parts of writing a cookbook. I learn all kinds of food styling tips and photography tips from professionals. I also check each recipe before it’s shot to be sure that all the garnishes are there, and “approve” how each dish looks, etc.

As we’re shooting, I also make notes to my recipes. Details about how each one looks and smells. Things that hopefully will help the reader - things that I might not have noticed while I’m creating the recipes. I had some company for that, as you can see. The set cat hung out with me!

Since I’ve been back, I turned in these last, final edits to my publisher, so the manuscript will go through one final high-level round of edits, then the art department will get it formatted and the photos added and it will go off to the printer.

Stay tuned for the big cover and title reveal as well as details on how to pre-order your copy soon!