My name is Karen Phyllis Norheim. I am named after Phyllis Emogene Payne (PEP) also know as Phyllis Gleason. What I remember most about my grandmother was her bubbling and never ending energy. She was my favorite to sit next to at family dinners and I loved her dearly.

About 15 years ago when my mother, Colleen, was moving to a new smaller home, she gave me all of our family recipes. At that time they were a mess of files in boxes. As I started to go through them I realized it wasn’t just our family recipes from home, but all of the recipes for my grandparent’s restaurant, over 3,000 of them. As I started to rummage through and organize, I began to feel incredibly close to my grandmother, feeling her beside me again.

In addition, I got reacquainted with my grandfather and learned about his amazing personality and sense of humor through my adult eyes. I also learned more about my grandparents restaurant, Fagleysville Hotel. I remember my sister and I playing in the kitchen. I remember going there for dinner and wandering through the rooms upstairs.

I realized I need to share this with the rest of my family. These recipes, and the food create from them, transported me back to some of my fondest memories. Each recipe was a story about our family that I wanted to share. This website is dedicated to helping you tell the stories about your favorite family recipes.

The cookbooks I have made via RootsinRecipes.com (and the many more I plan to make!), bring my family and friends together in the kitchen (where we all end up anyway.)

I encourage you to create your own cookbook that tells your family memories as only the taste and smell of our cherished recipes can.

My mother passed her recipes and her mother’s recipes(“the baton”) to me, the granddaughter. I created our collection for our family and now I pass “the baton” back to my mother as a website that everyone can use to, then,  pass “the baton” to their next generation.

Our family recipes represent more than just our favorite foods, they represent our family story. RootsinRecipes.com is dedicated to helping you pass them on to future generations.

With Love XXOO,

Karen