We are greeted at the door by Camo J. Handy, a fluffy miniature goldendoodle who answers to an acronym drawn from the first names of the family’s five children: Catherine, Adam, Madelyn, Owen and Julianne. The pup is only slightly interested in a guest. His extended clan and an open-door policy have blessed him with a lifetime of friendly visitors — and, possibly, tasty treats. That’s because everybody in this family except for Camo cooks and shares, as proved by a much-loved cookbook compiled by Jamie Handy’s mom, Candy Bingham Hanis.

Jamie lovingly describes her mom as an “excessive collector” of recipes inherited from family and given to her by friends. It’s a passion that in the ’80s motivated Candy to install on her first computer some software designed for creating cookbooks.

As we visit, Jamie flips through the 119 seasoned pages of the second edition of Thru the Years… Hanis Bingham Cookbook. Given the amount of annotation in the spiral-bound, food-splotched (the ultimate endorsement) cookbook — including a number of new recipes handwritten in — it is clearly time for an updated version.

The oldest of five siblings, Jamie grew up in Houston, where she and Trent, her husband, began their family before following his CPA career to the Northeast. They moved 10 years ago to Southlake’s Clariden Ranch. Jamie says she has been planning a third edition of the family cookbook for a while, but life is busy for the mother of five, who is also a Carroll ISD substitute teacher, professional photographer, avid tennis player and community volunteer. She thinks that this year, with three daughters now off to college and only two sons in the nest, she might find the time. “I’ve tried four times. Until you take it on, you really don’t know how much work it is.”

Recipes in 22 chapters range from appetizers and dips to soups and casseroles and lots of sweets. Jamie admits that despite a table of contents, the sheer number of recipes gathered — sometimes as many as five per page — means she can never recall whether a favorite crepe batter is in “Pies & Pastries” or “Foreign Dishes.”

“When I am looking for something, I stop and try to get in Mom’s head. ‘What would she have thought when she placed it?’ ” says Jamie. The crepe recipe is actually in both chapters.

The collection leans toward fast and easy dishes, and re-creations of restaurant favorites are welcome. But all of the recipes, which include attribution to the creator or contributor, are time-tested and tasty (except perhaps the one for red velvet icing that Jamie has crossed out alongside her penciled-in comment: “Did not like at all.”). More often, her remarks include shortcuts and substitutions. Ranks of mathematical equations resolve how to increase servings exponentially.

Jamie is making her mark on the collection, but she says the recipes in steady rotation often reflect watershed moments in family history. The one simply called “Beef Brisket” is a favorite.

Jamie lovingly describes her mom as an “excessive collector” of recipes inherited from family and given to her by friends. It’s a passion that in the ’80s motivated Candy to install on her first computer some software designed for creating cookbooks.

As we visit, Jamie flips through the 119 seasoned pages of the second edition of Thru the Years… Hanis Bingham Cookbook. Given the amount of annotation in the spiral-bound, food-splotched (the ultimate endorsement) cookbook — including a number of new recipes handwritten in — it is clearly time for an updated version.

The oldest of five siblings, Jamie grew up in Houston, where she and Trent, her husband, began their family before following his CPA career to the Northeast. They moved 10 years ago to Southlake’s Clariden Ranch. Jamie says she has been planning a third edition of the family cookbook for a while, but life is busy for the mother of five, who is also a Carroll ISD substitute teacher, professional photographer, avid tennis player and community volunteer. She thinks that this year, with three daughters now off to college and only two sons in the nest, she might find the time. “I’ve tried four times. Until you take it on, you really don’t know how much work it is.”

“The original brisket was gifted to my mom by a Houston neighbor named Helen Viola when my fourth sibling was born. I love that it honors the traditional Jewish preparation but has a Southern touch with the use of preserves.” Jamie remembers being impressed that by freezing ready-to-bake briskets, Helen could provide dinner to any family in an instant, whether as a celebratory gift or to lighten the burden of illness or grief. The gift of the brisket keeps on giving through Jamie’s generation, but it also created a meaningful friendship. “Mom moved to Texas with my dad, but she was from California and he was from Washington. She didn’t even know what a brisket was. Helen became a sort of adopted mother for her and showed her how to cook it.”

The first edition of the family cookbook appeared in 1995; Candy worked diligently over the next decade on the second version and gifted almost 40 family members and friends with a copy for Christmas in 2006. “I’m sure she had plans for many more editions, but she received a tragic ovarian cancer diagnosis in 2010 and passed in 2011,” Jamie says. “Her efforts on the cookbooks now seem almost prescient.

“This is how all of us stay in touch with her. But it might have been most important to her that my youngest brother, her surprise baby — he is 21 years younger than me and was only 14 when she died — have a copy. And now his wife, who never knew our mother, cooks Mom’s recipes.”

The cookbook reminds Jamie about her mother’s taste preferences, too. “She obviously was not a fan of cheese,” she says. “When it’s in the recipe, it is only a scant amount.” She references the recipe titled “Lasagna (Not Too Cheesy),” which calls for less than a cup. Continuing the dialogue with her mom, Jamie has written in a recipe called “Easy Lasagna.” Its 22 ounces of cheese reflects a different attitude toward noodle dishes.

“Exchanging recipes is an ongoing conversation,” Jamie says. “And in our family, cooking has just always been such a good way to connect with one another.”

She pulls out two more spiral-bound cookbooks, both filled with recipes from her husband’s family. “Obviously, I married the right guy,” she says.

The chocolate chip cookie recipe that Trent has been making with their children every Sunday since the firstborn was old enough to participate has already been handwritten into Jamie’s copy of her family’s cookbook. It will be included in the third edition. We ask if anything will be dropped.

“Nothing is static. You don’t think about food going in and out of style, but it evolves. When I get around to the third edition, I will drop any recipe I made that was terrible. Like that red velvet frosting.”