Nancy Skee loves to cook, and now she's passing that passion along to others. The owner and innkeeper of Olde Square Inn, 127 E. Main St., Mount Joy, released a cookbook in late 2020 and will release an online cooking course soon.

"When COVID-19 hit in March, it affected my business, and I was looking for a way to keep my brand out in the public eye," Skee said. "Over the years, people had asked me if I would ever do a cookbook, and this seemed like a great time to do it."

Working with Dave Schell of Main Street Mount Joy, Skee won a grant to help fund her project. Skee won the grant through the Hartbeat of Main Street Grant Program, created by The Hartford Small Business Insurance and Main Street America. She used the money to publish "Let's Cook! With Nancy" and to create the website https://letscookwithnancy.com. She also created Let's Cook! With Nancy aprons that are for sale on the site.

The cookbook features 40 recipes for everything from breakfast to dessert, and it also includes stories and anecdotes about Skee's life.

"I wrote all of the recipes for the book, although I have to say, are there really any original recipes?" she said. "I am a home chef. I get my cooking sense from my little Hungarian mother, who could make shoe leather taste like roast beef. She just had it when it came to cooking."

A retired teacher who taught arts as well as home economics, Skee purchased the inn six years ago. "It had been a dream of mine to own an inn for a long time," she noted.

When the pandemic began to impact her business, she had to think outside the box.

"I started doing cooking demos on Facebook, demonstrating the recipes I used at the inn and some others," she said. "Our posts reached more than 3,000 people a week, and we have people watching from across the country."

Inspired by the success of her Facebook demos, she started exploring the idea of launching an online cooking series. Her first series will feature The Science of Cookie Baking. It includes four lessons on topics including reading recipes and measuring correctly, the purpose of ingredients and the chemistry of baking. Registration is currently open for the classes, which are set to start later this month.

Skee said she's grateful for the positive feedback she's received about her cookbook and cooking demonstrations.

"All small businesses appreciate the support of the community," she stated. "We are all going through trying times, and to have people embrace what I'm doing has been a blessing."

For more information on the cookbook or cooking classes, readers may visit https://letscookwithnancy.com.