SMU’s new ‘Hilltop Courses’ cookbook

DALLAS (SMU) – Savor more than 400 of SMU’s smartest recipes from the University’s top foodies in the new cookbook Hilltop Courses: Then and Now, a delicious compendium of recipes collected by the SMU Woman’s Club to benefit the group’s scholarship fund – and just in time for SMU’s Centennial Celebration.

The 260-page book (Morris Press, $20), is available online and at the SMU Bookstore, 3060 Mockingbird Lane. It also will be sold during Homecoming festivities on Saturday, Sept. 26, along the SMU’s Bishop Boulevard. (Look for the “walking cookbook” who’ll point prospective buyers to nearby sales tables.) Proceeds will benefit the SMU Woman’s Club Scholarship Fund, providing an annual stipend to help an SMU sophomore through her graduation year.

Nearly 100 contributors include current and retired SMU faculty and staff, as well as parents, friends and alumni. Worth noting: Readers will find the recipe for Cowboy Cookies from First Lady Laura Welch Bush ’68 on page 213.

The durable, easy-care cover, styled to look like parchment paper and linen, features an original watercolor illustration of SMU’s iconic Dallas Hall by “First Lady” Gail Turner, wife of SMU President R. Gerald Turner. Eight tabbed sections within the three-ring binder offers quick access to chapters ranging from appetizers to desserts. There’s even a section with recipe ideas for “Boulevarding” (that’s “tailgating,” for those who don’t speak “Mustang”).

Each section, depicting of each of the University’s seven degree-granting schools, was digitally designed by John Gibson before Mrs. Turner added colorful finishing touches. Other visual treats including decade-by-decade history vignettes, the SMU seal (old and new), photos of historical landmarks and two indexes – one of recipe names, the other of contributors.

This is the first time the SMU Woman’s Club has published a cookbook. "We’ve been overwhelmed by positive comments,” says cookbook committee chair Kathy Barry, helped by committee members Judith Banes, Angela Cheves, Martha Coniglio and Carrie Hunnicutt. “We thought it was good but had no idea people would love it so much!”

(l. to r.) Melanie Enriquez, director of administration for Student Foundation; SMU Woman’s Club Cookbook Committee Judith Banes, Martha Coniglio, Gail Turner, Chair Kathy Barry,  Angela Cheeves and Carlton Adams, SMU student body president.

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