For Wendy Snyder, La Grange resident, Brookfield native and popular radio personality at WGN Radio AM720, life isn't as much about a box of chocolates as it is a spaghetti sauce she makes from scratch. It's a family recipe, but one that includes ingredients from multiple family members, shared, sampled and perfected over time in that way that family recipes are savored for more than just the taste.

"Growing up, we had a big extended family. We'd go to church together and have a big pasta dinner every Sunday," Snyder recalls. "My grandmother and her sisters had their own spaghetti sauce and each had their own ingredient that they didn't share with the other." Snyder recalls one used cinnamon and one used chicken livers. A cousin later put together a family cookbook, after getting the recipes from all of the sisters.