Bridget Lancaster and Julia Collin Davison have been showing their television fans how to cook for 17 years. Now they're excited to share their favorite recipes with them.

I know that I am blessed. I have a loving husband, two beautiful sons, and a big, handsome hunk of a dog. We live in a close-knit community where folks still visit their neighbors and parents look out for the kids. Think Mayberry-by-the-Sea.

Before I started at ATK, I worked two jobs—as a restaurant pastry chef and as a stock worker at Williams-Sonoma, where I assisted with celebrity chef visits. Once a winter ice storm threatened a visit from Julia Child, so a coworker and I set out to retrieve her. Julia’s driveway was a sheet of ice, and we literally held her up as we slid to the car. I was terrified that I would be known as the person who let Julia Child fall. We arrived unscathed, and Julia’s wicked sense of humor solidified her as one of my idols.

To have an interesting, challenging, and, yes, fun job where I get to talk food with some of the most fascinating people that a person could meet, I’d say that I am blessed, indeed.

I come from a long line of great cooks (and good eaters). The best cook of them all is my mother, Winifred, who has always been a bit ahead of her time, growing organic vegetables, grinding her own meat for hamburgers, and steering clear of processed foods. My love of cooking really came from hanging out with her in the kitchen as I grew up in upstate New York.

Whenever I taste a recipe, I ask myself how it will work for folks at home. Will it solve a common cooking problem, help get dinner on the table, or offer some solid advice on a tricky topic? For this collection, I’ve chosen recipes that taught me something; I’ve grown so much as a cook since I began working here nearly two decades ago. These recipes regularly grace my table at home, and I hope you will enjoy them as much as I do.