PUBLISHED BY TWO Battle Ground sisters, Ellen Halberg and Marita Levanen, the Oh My Goodness! Food + Family Cookbook is filled with 71 family friendly recipes, beautiful photography, Levanen’s popular illustrations from her FAMILYlife blog and tips for making the perfect pot roast and chocolate chip cookies.
BATTLE GROUND – Much like a slow-cooked soup, sometimes the best ideas are those that need to simmer on a low heat for a while. That’s certainly the case with the newly released Oh My Goodness! Food + Family cookbook, written and photographed by two Battle Ground sisters.
“It all started as a joke about three years ago,” Ellen Halberg says of the cookbook she and her sister, Marita Levanen, recently published. “We were sharing things that we’d made in emails and one of us said, ‘We should do a cookbook!’”
Of course, back then, the sisters — neither of whom have any professional culinary or photography experience — didn’t realize that their inside joke would soon become a reality.
“We really were just joking,” Levanen says. “We were never thinking that we’d really do it.”
Flash-forward two years and the sisters found themselves neck-deep in recipes, cover art and layout ideas. By that time, Levanen’s illustrated blog, www.theFAMILYlife.us, had gained a loyal following, with readers all over the world logging in to view Levanen’s illustrations and read her humorous take on the funny, everyday moments that are part and parcel of being a mother, sister, wife and daughter.
By 2014, the sisters’ joke had gelled into a vision. They collected recipes from their family members, taking favorites from their mother, mothers-in-law, sisters and sisters-in-law and sending them out to Levanen’s FAMILYlife subscribers for feedback.
“We would ask them to stick to the recipe and give us their suggestions,” Levanen says. “And we asked their permission to use some of their quotes in the book.”
As a thank-you, the sisters sent their volunteer recipe-testers little gifts like mini prints or greeting cards of Levanen’s FAMILYlife illustrations.
“We couldn’t have done this without the Internet,” Levanen says. “The subscribers had a lot of suggestions and tips for us.”
One thing that pretty much everyone agreed on was this: pictures are they key.
“People wanted to see pictures with the recipes,” Levanen says. “We heard, ‘If there’s not a picture, rarely do we make a recipe.’”
That’s when Halberg started experimenting with more than food.
“I wasn’t a photographer before this,” Halberg says. “I started taking pictures of food and experimenting. It was fun and I could kind of do it, but I had a cheap camera. As we go going with the cookbook, I got a better camera and I sort of kept learning as I went along. It was a lot of trial and error!”
Looking at the finished cookbook, most readers would never guess that the photos weren’t created by a professional photographer. Halberg has managed to create artistic images that enhance the recipes and give the cookbook a polished look.
Inside the book, 71 recipes for wholesome family favorites like Pumpkin Pancakes, White Chicken Chili and Oatmeal Cream Pies mingle with Halberg’s photos and Levanen’s illustrations.
On the back of the cookbook, the sisters sum up their creation with their final recipe: “71 recipes + 13 illustrations + 3 hand-lettered (frameable!) quotes + 10 tips for perfect chocolate chip cookies + 1 game of substitutions (Mother, May I?) + 10 simple steps for a tasty & tender pot roast + 12 money-saving tips + 1 handy guide (How to Enjoy the Dinner Hour) = 130 reasons for you to cook, smile and laugh awhile, love bake, eat and repeat.”
Much like Levanen’s FAMILYlife blog, the cookbook is a testament to the the joys of having – and cooking for – a big family.
“Between the two of us, we’ve spent exactly zero hours in a culinary classroom,” the sisters write in their cookbook introduction. “We’ve never-ever taken an art nor digital photography … The only thing we’ve got is family. And lots of it! (Between) the two us: nine children, 10 sisters, two brothers and several handfuls of in-laws. We’d tell you how many nieces and nephews we have, but unfortunately we lost count around 46. So, yeah. LOTS.”
The sisters say their own immediate families – Halberg and her husband, Carl, have four children: 10-year-old Jeb, 8-year-old Ruby, 5-year-old Carlo and 3-year-old Martin; while Levanen and her husband, Lance, have five children: 11-year-old Alton, 9-year-old Milo, 8-year-old Julia, 5-year-old Van and 3-year-old Leo – inspired the cookbook and helped move things along.
“Our husbands were really wonderful throughout this whole process,” Levanen says. “Especially this summer when we were down to the deadline. They would do whatever we needed. They even took the kids camping so we could concentrate. This would have been possible without the help of our family.”
The theme of family resonates throughout the sisters’ cookbook, too. None of the recipes are overly complicated, and many can be managed by teens and older children.
“I think it’s a cookbook for anybody in a family,” Halberg says. “One mom said she was buying it for her 13-year-old daughter.”
The cookbook has already proved to be a popular gift idea for local families and subscribers to Levanen’s FAMILYlife blog. At the sisters’ first book-release event in early November, they sold more than 330 cookbooks in less than 12 hours.
“We’ve heard from people who took it home, that their husbands and kids liked it, that there was something in it for everyone in the family,” Levanen says. “We’ve had some very good feedback.”
Asked if they’re relieved that the book is finally done, the sisters laugh.
“Somebody told us publishing a book is five percent of the work,” Levanen says. “The other 95 percent is getting out there and selling it … so we’re realizing that we still have a lot of world to do!”
Interested in getting your own copy of the Oh my Goodness! Food + Family cookbook? Look for the book at local shops throughout Clark County, including Rusty Glamour, at 403 E. Main St., in Battle Ground and the Little Bo-Tique Resale shop, at 7708 NE Hazel Dell Ave., in Vancouver. The book also is available on Amazon.com, where it’s getting rave reviews from customers. In just a few weeks, 45 people have commented on the cookbook’s instant appeal and given it five out of five stars.
Illustrator produces follow-up to popular FAMILYlife calendar
Looking for a gift that will keep on giving all year long? Battle Ground illustrator Marita Levanen has just released her 2016 FAMILYlife calendar. Equal parts sweet and funny, peppered with clever illustrations of children and mothers, the calendars include a classic, 12-month wall calendar; a 12-month perpetual calendar for tracking birthdays and anniversaries; and a variety of one-sheet “poster calendars,” which feature a large illustration at the top and all 12 months’ worth of dates at the bottom.
The Battle Ground illustrator comes from a large family that includes 10 sisters and two brothers, and she and her husband, Lance, have five young children at home. In her popular blog, www.theFAMILYlife.us, Levanen writes and draws those funny, everyday moments that are part and parcel of being a mother, sister, wife and daughter.
“Drawing and writing gives me a reason to laugh at life’s shabby and crabby days,” Levanen says. “You have to let go of the small stuff. In my illustrations and writing, I poke fun at myself and at the frustrating situations that come with a big family.”
The 2016 calendar is a companion piece to Levanen’s recently released Oh My Goodness! Food + Family Cookbook, which she wrote and published with her sister, Ellen Halberg. The 2016, 12-by-18 inch wall calendar features 12 illustrations from Levanen’s Food + Family collection and retails for $26 on Levanen’s Etsy shop. For more information, or to purchase the 12-month illustrated calendar, visit http://www.thefamilylife.us/shop.
