The Home Cook Kitchen

This idea is not new, but can be very lucrative: cook for 20 to 30 people a week and deliver their meals to their doors daily. 

Clients fill out a weekly menu, with 2 to 3 entrées, sides and starches, and even desserts.  Each day you cook 20 to 30 well-balanced, healthy meals, wrap, chill and deliver them in individual ice chests to the clients’ doors and pick up yesterday’s ice chest. 

Check with your local health department to find out what it takes to have a health permit to have a home kitchen.  The added benefit is your family eats for free, and your dinner is done.

Join 4-H and give your kids the opportunity to learn, and even get a scholarship for college. 
www.4-h.org

Simple Soap Making
Fun for the whole family, and if you get really creative you can turn this idea into a business!

Go to any supermarket and you will find glycerin soap bars!  You can also “google” glycerin soap and come up with other options.  We use the colored, pure glycerin soap in our local market—and most of the time it has a fragrance.  You can buy fragrance-free glycerin soap bars and add your own essential oils, which even adds quality to the soap.

Melt glycerin soap bars in a glass-measuring cup.  I like to use the 4-cup Pyrex glass-measuring cup so that I can make more bars at a time. Pour the hot soap into the mold and let cool for at least one hour, and then carefully pop out the soap out of the molds!  You will start to see all of the possibilities and will go wild with molds, colors and fragrances. 

The fun part of the project is that you can use just about anything as a mold.  My son used a plastic cover of a toy truck he bought, and the plastic had been heat-pressed around the toy truck so the shape was perfect.  If your kids want to make soap, please help them, the glycerin gets very hot and can burn them! 

Have fun!

1.  Don’t doubt your dreams and ideas
Write down all of your thoughts, ideas, and stories as they come to you.  Don’t let anyone tell you that your story won’t sell or that your ideas aren’t good, just write them down every day.  At the end of a few months you will have compiled a small book.

2.  Find an editor
One of the most important steps in publishing your own book is to have it professionally edited.  Spelling errors and typos are a no-no.

3.  Find an artist or illustrator
It is important to find an artist or illustrator with your style, but don’t expect him or her to see things exactly as you see them if you want to maintain a good working relationship.

4.  Find a graphic designer
Your graphic designer, like your artist, must have your style.  You will need to work closely together while your book is laid out.

5.  Copyright your book
Go to www.copyright.gov and copyright your manuscript even if not finished.

6.  Purchase an ISBN number
Go to www.bowker.com  and purchase an ISBN number.  This number is used in your bar code to identify you and all of your information.

7.  Find a printer 
Start with local printers and ask for bids.  I always buy as many copies as I can to bring down my unit price.  The more I can save, the more I can make.  Also check out www.booksondemand.com.