Two win spots in Wal-Mart cookbook

Two employees of the same Wal-Mart were featured in the store's annual cookbook for the first time.

Evans Wal-Mart Supercenter employees Jan Lorek of Augusta and Rosemary Luby of Martinez had their recipes chosen from 5,500 entries from Wal-Mart employees nationwide to be included in the 2004 Wal-Mart Family Cookbook.

It is the first time both ladies entered, and both have worked at the Evans location since it opened early last year.

Luby's Festive Nacho Cheese Rice recipe was published in the side dish section.

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"My family loves nacho cheese and rice," Luby said. "My family is always telling to put cheese in rice every time I cook it. It turned (out) tasting really good. They loved it."

After testing her new recipe including three sponsor products - Campbell's soup, Kraft cheese and Success rice - Luby sent her entry in over the summer.

"I was surprised, and I was so excited," Luby said when a letter showed up in her mailbox months later announcing her recipe as a winning one.

For the third year, Wal-Mart published six regional editions of the cookbook stocked with recipes from region store employees.

Entries were judged based on originality, ease of preparation and taste by an independent panel of home economists and food specialists.

Quick and easy is what Lorek is glad to see in the cookbook. She entered one of her mother's dessert recipes and the winning Taco Beef Soup recipe she got from her 45-year-old daughter, who is also a working mother.

"Today everything is so fast," Lorek said. "It's all about how fast it is. (The recipes in the cookbook) are all easy, inexpensive and quick to make.

"(The Taco Beef Soup) is wonderful. Add a dollop of sour cream on top and some grated cheeses on top, and you have a great meal."

The ladies autographed copies of the cookbook at a signing at the store before it went on sale Dec. 1 in the deli section.

The cookbook has been so popular, store officials can't keep enough in stock, manager Patrick Clifford said.

"They are really grabbing them off the shelves," Clifford said.