Jaycee ladies whip up another batch of recipes with new cookbook

SIKESTON — The ladies behind the Sikeston Jaycees are serving up another helping of their favorite recipes along with rodeo history and fun facts in a new edition of their cookbook.

In previous years, the Sikeston Jaycee ladies — wives, mothers, sisters, daughters and girlfriends of Jaycee members — compiled a cookbook with their favorite recipes to share with the community while raising money for a good cause.

This year the ladies decided to bring back the tradition with proceeds from the cookbook sales benefitting the Sikeston House of Refuge.

“We got the idea to try it again after my mother-in-law, Michelle Fayette, and Nancy Driskill were talking about how the Jaycee ladies used to put together a cookbook each year,” recalled Brittany Fayette, whose husband, Zach Fayette, was the 2016 general chairman of the rodeo.

Fayette said she talked to her Jaycee lady friends, and they began compiling recipes in February. By the time August arrived, the cookbooks were ready for sale at this year’s rodeo.

“We have sold quite a few, and we want to get the word out that they are available,” Fayette said.

The cover of “Jaycee Ladies Cook Book 2018” depicts the 1958 cookbook’s cover art of a cowgirl on a horse, according to Fayette. A foreword by the Jaycee ladies reminds readers that “behind every hard-working Jaycee man is a strong wife, sister, mother and/or daughter.”

Recipes are divided into the following categories: appetizers, main dishes, crock pot, sides, desserts, beverages and “cowboy’s kitchen.”

The “cowboy’s kitchen” features recipes from Sikeston Jaycee Bootheel Rodeo’s favorite participants, Rick Young, Dale Brisby, Chuck Swisher and Cody Webster as well as recipes for the Jaycee crawfish and the rodeo barbecue sandwich.

Throughout the 83-page book, rodeo history, fun facts, true rodeo happenings as well as cooking tips and tips from the Jaycee ladies on “how to beat the heat, keep the mosquitoes away and have fun with the kids” are offered from page to page.

Kaleigh Merideth, whose husband, Ross Merideth, served as the 2018 general chairman, said she was excited the ladies brought back the cookbook this year.

“Brittany came to me and a few other girls with the idea,” Merideth said. “We hadn’t had a cookbook in a while so we thought it was a great idea. We wanted to make it unique.”

Merideth provided several recipes for the cookbook, including ones for crockpot macaroni and cheese, Mexican chicken casserole, hamburger tortilla casserole, pretzel dip and more.

“Most of those came from my mom and they’re the recipes she cooked when we were growing up,” Merideth said.

Among her favorites is the banana pudding recipe, which is something her mother always made, she said.

“My favorite part about the cookbook is that we put in some of the rodeo facts,” Meredith said. “I learned a lot, and it was really fun.”

Merideth said she was happy to learn that people still prefer the old-fashioned, hard copy of a cookbook.

“A lot of people go online for everything, but I had a lot people who wanted to make sure they purchased a copy of the cookbook,” she said.

The endeavor has definitely a team effort between all of the ladies and the Jaycees, Merideth said. And it’s something they hope to do again next year.

“The Jaycees were more than willing to fund the cookbooks,” she said.

Merideth said she hopes the cookbooks inspire more people to gather for home-cooked meals and enjoy a sense of family.

“We love what our guys are out there doing, and we love they are supporting our community in return,” Merideth said. “We wanted to do make the cookbook for the fun of it and for the memory of it. And the fact that proceeds go to the House of Refuge make it an even better reason to purchase one.”

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The “Jaycee Ladies Cook Book 2018” is available for $15 at Sam’s Fine Jewelry in Downtown Sikeston and Blaze in Historic Downtown Sikeston and also via the Facebook page: “Jaycee Ladies Cook Book.”