12 in 20/Betsy

Welcome to 12 in 20! Once a month this year I will highlight a woman who has found and followed her passion! Enjoy their stories, find yourself in them, they are wonderful women. It’s a blessing to highlight them, thank you for joining me for my first post in this series.

Isn’t it serendipitous when life offers you your passion as a child?

Some can go their entire life and not recognize the call from their soul, this was not the case for Betsy. Betsy was one of five children from our little neighborhood in Illinois. All us kids were fast friends spending many hours being silly and carefree.

I’m sure that I couldn’t recall a day that I haven’t know her. Being the same age as my sister Patti there’s no doubt that the two of them spent most of their days together. I’d tag along as the younger sister and Betsy’s sister Debi was in the mix as well.

No stranger to being her mom’s helper in the kitchen, Betsy found herself being in charge of family dinners at a young age when her mom took a job outside the family home. Betsy scoured cook books at the library, jotting down meticulous notes as she filled notebooks with recipes, and would play restaurant with us friends creating menus before preparing and plating the meals.

Her passion was born!

Preparing fantastic food, and sharing wonderful recipes. When you’re used to preparing food for a busy family of seven at a young age, what comes next? Well, for Betsy it was working at a popular fish market with her mom and sister before the age of seventeen. Betsy had faith in her abilities and asked to be a chef at a banquet hall called Judds Red Derby in Alsip, Illinois. Although the owner, Mr. Judd had laughed at her, he took a chance on this passionate teen allowing her to cook… so cook she did! Unfortunately, our passions don’t always pay the bills.
When college wasn’t an option, Betsy took an office job in Chicago, she would never return to a commercial kitchen again.

Life happened and the pages on the calendar changed. Finding love, Betsy married, and shared with her husband her passion to be in the kitchen. He encouraged her to attend culinary school, so she did just that! Working full time while she attended the Culinary School at Kendall College in the evenings and weekends. By this time Betsy found herself in her thirties, with plans to start a family, this would mean that her mad culinary skills would be put to use on family and friends. Hosting dinner parties and joining cooking clubs. Her love for recipes never faded and she spent hours thumbing through cookbooks or surfing the internet for the next recipe she would share with her family. Cooking soon gave way to her favorite passion, raising two boys. As a stay at home mom she found new joy. Once the boys started school full time she decided to start a website which incorporates her other passion, quilting. ( I tell ya the talent in this gal is never ending!)

So what’s Betsy up to these days now that her boys are college students?

Well, she’s spent much of her time perfecting the notoriously finicky French cookie, the macaron (insert happy dance for our bellies). Once done perfecting the cookie, a task that took a full four months, Betsy’s time was spent developing delicious fillings! Macarons whose flavors include ~ Blueberry Lemon Cheesecake, White Chocolate peppermint, or the new flavor Peanut butter and jelly made with whole shelled peanuts, the results are a beautiful work of art.

With each taste test her family, friends and employees at her husbands business would ask “When are you going to sell these?”. “Well, I’m thinking of selling them, but I’m afraid nobody will buy them” was her answer. But, people know quality, they taste the effort, and the passion. So with twenty one boxes filled with eighteen macarons each she posted them for sale on Facebook~ they sold out in an hour! This was eight months ago and the creating and selling hasn’t stopped. Life is good for Betsy’s Macarons!

Once again, the pages on the calendar are changing and Betsy’s youngest son who is a college baseball player will be playing ball in the spring, and will also play summer ball. The passion of motherhood has not diminished, and she will spend time following the team and enjoy supporting her son. She plans on baking from home (an incredible kitchen for which I have high envy issues) but she’s feeling the need to find a commercial kitchen and get her business registered. She’s loving that people are enjoying her macarons, word is spreading!

Thanks to Betsy for sharing her journey to fulfilled passion. Please visit her at:

www.quiltandcafe.com www.bestsysmacarons.com

Please check out Betsy’s links and support other passionate women.

Till next time- Erin