The founder of Gigi’s Cupcakes shares her personal success story, her hard-won business acumen, and the life-changing inspiration that has helped her follow her dreams in this warm-hearted and encouraging memoir that “will inspire savvy entrepreneurs to invest in their own dreams” (Daymond John, star of ABC’s Shark Tank). Featuring delicious dessert recipes for cupcakes and more in each chapter. As a young child, Gigi knew that if she wanted to succeed, she had to work hard and offer a service that people wanted to buy. At age seven, she sold eggs out of her little red wagon to neighbors. At age fifteen, she bought cleaning supplies and started a cleaning service out of her rural California home. When she moved to Nashville at nineteen, she had her heart set on becoming a country music star. Cleaning houses by day to support herself for over a decade, she realized that God had other plans for her. If she wouldn’t be a successful singer, she decided she would grow a business that she could be proud of. An extraordinary baker throughout her life, she decided to open a cupcake shop with all the money she could pull together. With the help and support of her family, she was able to open her first store in a prime Nashville location. The news of her cupcakes spread quickly, and the franchise became a huge success. Now, in The Secret Ingredient, Gigi reveals how her failure led her to explore her passion for baking and how she became a successful businesswoman. With spunk, humor, and insight, she weaves her hard-won wisdom and business acumen into the fun, fascinating, and instructive stories of her life. Each inspirational chapter concludes with a treasured family recipe for cupcakes and other scrumptious desserts. For anyone with big dreams, Gigi’s message is simple: believe in yourself, walk with integrity, work hard, and trust in God. Your life may not turn out exactly how you expected or hoped, but it will be so much better than you could have ever imagined. “If you ever need to feel inspired by a dreamer, this is a must read” (Tony Brown, music producer).

After a chance meeting with a psychic, Olivia, a teen cook living in Los Angeles with her two dads and misfit brother, finds a vintage cookbook with handwritten notes inside and pieces together a story that turns a normal summer into a search for her birth mother.

NOW A HALLMARK CHANNEL ORIGINAL MOVIE! Love is like a perfect recipe… You never want to lose it. Years ago, Kelly McIntyre and Andrew York were engaged and dreaming of opening a restaurant together. Then he chose an opportunity to study in Paris over the small-town life they’d planned, and their romance came to a bittersweet end. But Kelly’s doing fine. She’s not only the owner of a potbellied pig named Gray, but also of her own bakery. Business is good—so good that she’s invited to compete in a Valentine’s Day bake-off. As she prepares for the contest, she tries not to get distracted by Andrew’s visit to town. When Andrew sees Kelly, it stirs up his old feelings. Little does he know that soon, in New York, he’ll compete against her in the bake-off…and they’ll both realize how much their past is a part of them still. This irresistible romance includes a free Hallmark original recipe for Honey Almond Cake with Berries and Mascarpone Crème Fraiche.

26-year-old Rachel Monroe has spent her whole life trying to keep a very unusual secret: she can make wishes come true. And sometimes the consequences are disastrous. So when Rachel accidentally grants an outlandish wish for the first time in years, she decides it’s time to leave her hometown—and her past—behind for good. Rachel isn’t on the road long before she runs out of gas in a town that’s not on her map: Nowhere, North Carolina—also known as the town of “Lost and Found.” In Nowhere, Rachel is taken in by a spit-fire old woman, Catch, who possesses a strange gift of her own: she can bind secrets by baking them into pies. Rachel also meets Catch’s neighbor, Ashe, a Southern gentleman with a complicated past, who makes her want to believe in happily-ever-after for the first time in her life. As she settles into the small town, Rachel hopes her own secrets will stay hidden, but wishes start piling up everywhere Rachel goes. When the consequences threaten to ruin everything she’s begun to build in Nowhere, Rachel must come to terms with who she is and what she can do, or risk losing the people she’s starting to love—and her chance at happiness—all over again.

While working at her grandmother's Madison, Wisconsin, teashop, fourteen-year-old Annie hears of a scone cook-off, for which the prize is an all-expense paid trip to London for tea, and enlists Genna and Zoe to help her win. Includes proverbs, quotations, and brief stories about tea, as well as recipes.

A DINNER TO DIE FOR Summoned from her Arizona ranch to take charge of her teenage great-nephew and his twin sister, Genia Potter takes a rental on the Rhode Island coast. Old acquaintance Stanley Parker is only too happy to welcome her. And soon Genia is busily preparing for the tasting party that she and Stanley are hosting that evening at her cottage. An avid cook and recipe collector, Stanley has already roped Genia into collaborating on The Secret Ingredient Cookbook, chock-full of Rhode Island culinary mysteries. Now is their chance to test some recipes and solicit others from each of the invited. Stanley has carefully selected six guests. And each has been asked to contribute a recipe with one secret ingredient. Genia asks no questions–until the lobster bisque is cold and all but one are present. Where is Stanley? Dead. And unlamented. Has one of the guests concocted a secret recipe for murder? Everyone has a motive. And everyone has a secret–including Genia’s troubled great-nephew, the prime suspect. . .

When Shelley Leroux first visited her fiancs parents, they were eating hare. After her future father-in-law took one bite, he said to his wife (while still holding his knife and fork), I wanted a Saskatchewan hare. This is an Alberta hare. While Leroux wondered if she should marry this picky mans son out of fear he would be the same, she had no idea she would soon learn how one man distinguished the difference between two haressimply through taste. And so began Lerouxs foray into the international world of cooking and tasting fabulous foods. In her collection of recipes and stories spanning more than eighty-five years, Leroux shares not only entertaining anecdotes about her life, but also simple recipes that tantalize the palate and celebrate flavors from around the world, including Belgium, Asia, and the United States. From Waterzoie de Volaille to Oriental Meatballs to Cape Cod Turkey, Leroux provides a delicious recipe for every palateall while amusing with stories about unsuccessful dinner parties, yacht club sailboat races, the Pygmies, and vintage airplanes. The anecdotes and recipes included in The Secret Ingredient will encourage both novice and experienced cooks to explore international flavors right in their very own kitchens!

"Taste was such an evocative sense; Andie had closed her eyes, with the scone melting in her mouth, and been transported back to her grandmother's kitchen..." Nourishment is nurture. That's what Andie learned from her grandmother and what she's always believed about cooking. But somehow, since marrying Ross, she's allowed her love of food to take a back seat and given up her dream of becoming a chef. Lately she's been craving more. And when her marriage falls apart, she's determined to find herself again and take back control of her destiny. TThe first step is taking a job in the kitchen of renowned chef Dominic Gerou. The brooding Englishman is more than Andie bargains for, but the new Andie is ready for anything, even a bad-tempered chef who makes it clear he won't tolerate mistakes. In this beautiful new novel, Dianne Blacklock takes us on a sumptuous journey of the heart as Andie uncovers the secret ingredient for her new life, and shows that no matter how many false starts you may have, if you hold on to your passion and your dreams, anything is possible.

A collection of recipes using familiar ingredients in an unexpected combination. Some are tried & true favorites like Apple Pie with Ketchup, Chocolate Mayonnaise Cake, Cola Sloppy Joe's & Popcorn Salad. Others are new concoctions like Pork n' Bean Bread, Cheesy Chocolate Fudge, Tomato Soup Crock Pot Cake & Twinkie Ice Cream Shake. More than 90 recipes for beverages, appetizers, soups, salads, breads, main dishes, sandwiches & desserts. You'll want to try them all.

At first Katie Lynn is excited when people start buying the walnut chocolate chunk oatmeal cookies she is baking with her grandmother's secret recipe, but then things get terribly complicated.