Welcome to our family cookbook, including recipes we have developed ourselves, plus tried and true recipes we have used for years. We both enjoy cooking, and have shared a fun kitchen rivalry during our 50+ years together. We also have had the pleasure of preparing large group meals for our church family on fellowship nights.

Lea is a classic Midwestern cook with cooking experience starting with meals for her family of five brothers, a sister, while her mother worked outside the home. Her father was a former farm laborer before entering his career as an hourly worker on the railroad, and favored hearty meals of meat and potatoes. A part of the skills Lea learned as a young girl was how to get the maximum number of portions from what was available, and how to flavor it for everyone’s palate. She learned recipes and techniques at her mother’s side, and developed a free form cooking ability that requires no recipes, just a good memory for what ingredients go well together.

Larry, on the other hand, is a recipe cook, although he enjoys experimenting, and often stretches the boundaries of the culinary imagination and challenges the palate. No one will ever forget his green St. Patrick’s Day gravy, or blue mustard cream sauce for Independence Day! His cooking experience spans many years of special grill and roasting techniques, unusual (while tasty) flavor combinations, special basting and flavoring steps, and precise temperature control. His favorite perspective on cooking is pretty presentations . . . good food served with lots of eye appeal. Many of his sauces and rubs have been developed to deliver a complimentary flavor to a dish while adding  just the right splash of color.

To browse our collection of recipes, simply click on the category links at the top of any page. “Entree” means “main item,” (often meat), while Side means something to accompany the “main item,” such as a vegetable. Enjoy! And, please, let us hear from you! If you’re fairly new to cooking you might enjoy browsing our page on spices. Wonder about what spice goes with what? Just click here for some helpful detail.

By the way, for home cooks, keep in mind that when we say a “large” pot, we may mean a LARGE stock pot, because we also provide a site with recipes for large groups. The photo at the right is our oldest grandson, who accompanied us on a visit to a restaurant supply house a few years ago, and was taken with the size of the equipment. He couldn’t help but try to lift this stock pot, which as you can see here, even at age seven, he could do. He has always enjoyed helping with prep for making cookies and mixing batters, so he’s going to be a great help in the kitchen one of these days!

Surviving God’s Woodshed, a Blog

Lea and Larry underwent a terrible health ordeal in 2005 when Lea spent 78 days in a coma during 180 days of emergency treatment in Hartford Hospital. Read about her miraculous healing and eventual return to an active lifestyle. Click here.

Recipes for Large Groups

Looking for recipes for a large group? Lea and Larry cooked for 50-100 at church functions. Find their large group recipes here

Other content by this author:

Grandad’s Letters on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/GrandadsLetters
A Testimony About Miraculous Healing: https://www.godswoodshed.com/
Creative Writing: https://larryevaughn.com/
Lea and Larry Cookbook: https://vaughnkitchens.com/
My Vaughn Family Historiography: https://larryvaughnjr.com/
Lea’s Tate Family Genealogy: https://tateinfabiustownshipfamily.wordpress.com