After celebrating Lake Lanier’s 50th anniversary this summer, the Lake Lanier Association is celebrating something else — a new cookbook.

"The Lake Lanier Association Cookbook: Celebrating 50 Years of Recreation on Lake Lanier" is now on sale at local stores, marinas and online.

"The idea actually started a couple of years ago," said Vicki Barnhorst, executive director of the Lake Lanier Association. "I’ve wanted to do one (a cookbook) as a fundraiser for a while, and we kind of started and never really got it going. We got something like 225 to 230 recipes and most of the recipes come from people that live around the lake or boat on the lake.

The number of submissions allowed for a variety of recipes, she said.

"There are some very easy recipes in there and there are more complicated but great recipes," Barnhorst said. "I’ve got to tell you, I’ve put on a couple pounds by trying some of these."

Barnhorst added that one recipe was submitted separately by two lake lovers: Melinda Blankenship and Marilyn Wilson. She was intrigued, so she recently made it at her daughter’s birthday party: Mexican corn dip.

"It was easy to make and delicious," she said.

The dip recipe includes Mexi-corn, canned jalapenos, black olives, pimentos, Monterrey Jack and Parmesan cheese and mayonnaise. All ingredients are mixed together, poured in a round glass pie dish and baked at 350 degrees for 30 minutes, until golden and bubbly.

The cookbook boasts recipes from local restaurants like Grapes & Hops in Flowery Branch; Poor Richards, Two Dog Cafe and Home Sweet Georgia, all in Gainesville; and The Oar House in Dahlonega.

"The cookbooks are $15 and they are for sale on our Web site," Barnhorst said.

They can also be purchased from downtown Gainesville businesses Frames You-Nique, Home Sweet Georgia, Across the Pond and the Corner Cottage in Mainstreet Market. Barnhorst also said Grapes & Hops will be carrying the cookbook. Holiday and Aqualand Marinas also have the books for sale in their gift shops.

All the proceeds from the cookbooks will benefit the Lake Lanier Association, which was created in the mid-1960s as an advocacy group working to protect the quality and quantity of water in Lake Lanier.

"We tried to time it so people would buy these for Christmas gifts and it would be great if they would buy them this year for the 50th anniversary," Barnhorst said.