Melissa Gift

“I love people; they energize me,” says Melissa. Although currently a bank supervisor, she would love to own and operate a bar and grill with the help of her husband and sons.

Melissa already has some impressive grilling experience. On one memorable Christmas Day, her house ran out of gas. Not to be deterred, she successfully baked bread and lasagna on her propane grill.

Heide A. Invidiato

Heide calls herself an “import from Germany who married into an Italian family.” Now she cooks Italian food almost exclusively. One exception is the dish she recently tested for the Cooking Club, Warm Crab-Stuffed Eggs, which instantly became her favorite.

Although retired, Heide keeps in touch with the wide world of cuisine. She explains her European vacation by saying, “We were in Italy and ate our way from Rome to Taormina (to die for).”

Mindy Moon

If Mindy wasn’t a proud homemaker, she might pick a career in toy testing. “I have two boys who always want toys, and I’m stuck trying to open, assemble, put away and organize them,” she says. “I have become the ‘toy fixer’ in their eyes.”

When she’s not fixing toys, Mindy is fixing great food. Even then, however, she’s able to involve her kids. “My youngest son, Jack, loves to help me cook and bake.” She adds, “My oldest son, Dylan, loves to eat the food.”

Melissa Moore

Before she measures a single teaspoon, Melissa likes to know how a dish will turn out. “I have a fetish for cookbooks, but only with pictures,” explains this young grandmother. “It has to show me how good it will taste in my mind before I’ll make it.”

Of course, even with the best planning, some things can go very wrong—as they did when Melissa made peanut brittle. “I tried to scrape the bowl and my hand slipped and the knife went through the palm of my hand.”