Our story

First off, we are three sister-in-laws who share a true passion for cooking and baking. We can only thank our wonderful mothers for teaching us at a young age that being in the kitchen can be so enjoyable. They are all wonderful cooks and taught us most of what we know now.

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We were raised in large families, enjoying a childhood rooted in family values and where the kitchen was the heart of the home. Now, as wives and mothers with growing families of our own, we strive to carry the tradition and share a way of life that might be considered old-fashioned in today's world: homecooked meals, kids that live their best lives running barefoot outside, chasing the farm animals around and living for the family gatherings with cousins. Our love of food grew from the start of our childhood but really blossomed when we started feeding our own families. It's like a personal challenge to make food that all ages enjoy.

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We started this cookbook with a simple idea in mind, perhaps naively thinking it would be a quick and easy project. Instead, it became a labor of love, taking over a year from start to finish. We sacrificed quiet dinner times to test recipes and capture the perfect photos. Not to say that it wasn't fun, we thoroughly enjoyed having a reason to make dinner pretty and tastier than ever before. It took many months to decide on each recipe, perfect them and stage them for the perfect photograph. After this was close to done, we started the editing phase. We read and reread each recipe, asking anyone and everyone to try out our recipes and let us know how we can improve them. This part was rewarding, hearing the feedback and seeing the book really take its shape.

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After we felt confident that the book was the best it could be, we started researching publishing options. As it turns out, there are many options to sift through. Unfortunately, we chose to go with one that promised a lot, and wouldn't you know, it was a scam. This was incredibly discouraging and cost us a lot of time during the publishing process. Once we figured it out, it was so clear that it was a scam but during the process we really thought things were making sense and going how they should. We finally got things sorted and found the right people we were trying to use to begin with and got our first sample book. Seeing something that started as an idea become an actual book that could live in people's kitchens was really exciting!

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We hope Gather to Graze becomes a resource for families everywhere. We want everyone to be able to experience great food around the table with the ones you love the most! With easy to follow (but never boring!), simple recipes, you'll feel so confident cooking the best meals for your family and friends.

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Again, we are happy you found our book and are so thankful for your time and support!

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Love, the Norris Girls: Hailey (left), Carmen (middle), Alyssa (right)

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