Welcome!
My name is Diane, but you can call me Mama V! Thanks so much for stopping by Snowflakes & Coffeecakes! I love to create and make family-friendly food for my family and friends, and I love sharing my favorite tried-and-true recipes. I find a lot of joy in making other people happy through delicious food, and teaching them how easy and fun it is to make real food in a real world. The more I share, the more people ask for my recipes...and that is how I started blogging in 2008 - first on a site that I designed just for our family, and then a second site created to share our family favorite recipes with you. I'm a Minnesota girl at heart, with deep Norwegian roots. I met the love of my life while sailing on Lake Superior and our life has been a constant adventure since then. We have five fabulous daughters, one wonderful son, and nine of the cutest grandbabies you ever laid eyes on! We love boating and sailing on the Great Lakes, camping and hiking in the northwoods and national parks, skiing and dog-sledding on pristine snow, relaxing at the ocean shore, and discovering romantic getaways. We do family dinners, holidays, and lots of celebrating and entertaining! Feeding this big family in so many different settings can be a challenge - good thing my passion is baking and cooking! Creating our family cookbook over the past twenty years was truly a labor of love. More hours and research went into it than I could have ever imagined, but in the end, we finally had all of our favorite family recipes published and in a single location. But this created a new problem - how to keep a family cookbook current and be able to add new recipes and traditions without constantly republishing? How to tie in my favorite recipes from the hundreds of cookbooks I have collected through the years, the handwritten recipe cards that are still shared with me? I love experimenting and creating new recipes, trying new products, tweaking a tried and true ingredient with something new. And crazier yet, I wanted my kids to be able to bake and cook my favorites when I'm too old or can't remember the details exactly! As much as we all love paging through a wonderful cookbook, the world is changing - with most books now being released in electronic format and accessed on smart phones and tablets. Food blogs and shared recipe sites have also changed the way that we collect and share recipes with friends and family. Online cooking schools and dozens of cooking shows and competitions have created new interest in trying new things, while not forgetting the comfort foods and traditional recipes and foods that make holidays and celebrating so memorable. For many of us, it is still better to learn in a hands-on environment. I started cooking and baking with my kids when they were just old enough to sit on the counter and help prepare muffins, and they continue to want to learn new recipes and techniques. Snowflakes & Coffeecakes Cooking School was created to share recipes, informative cooking classes and lessons. You'll learn about favorite and new products, food ingredients and the latest in cooking trends. If you love eating, you will find the best of the best recipes. If you love baking or cooking, want to learn new things, create holiday or special menus or foods, you have found your new favorite place! New recipes and ideas are added continuously to this site, so please visit often! Pull up a chair, sip on a cup of coffee or wine, and take a trip down food memory lane or create new traditions. If you have stories or recipes that you would like to share as well, please let me know! Whether we are enjoying a meal at the cabin, on a boat or at the shore, celebrating a big occasion, or spending a quiet night at home with family, Snowflakes and Coffeecakes...is a state of mind! Love, DIANE VANDENPLAS SNOWFLAKES & COFFEECAKES COOKING SCHOOL A Cooker, A Baker, a Recipe Creator! (Known as "Mama V" to everyone!) |
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"You have given me such inspiration with your fabulous recipes and photos. Some may think, it's just a recipe, and that's okay, but for me your art, talent and fabulous treats have pulled me through some very hard and dark times. Following your website has been a big part of my life for the past ten years. Every recipe I have tried has been exceptional! I wish you many years of new recipes, cookies and adventures in life. Have a wonderful Christmas and Happy New Year!"
