Mother Lode of Recipes

[Alix]

I just discovered a VERY old cookbook. Looks self published. Might have been my gramma's so say about 40's or so, possibly older? It has some killer recipes in it for all kinds of baking. Things I've never heard of like Graham Crumb cake and other cool things. Anyone looking for a really old recipe that I might be able to locate in this book?

[jabbur]

My sisters and I just went through Mom's cookbook collection. Dad finally decided he wasn't going to be cooking from them since moving to the independant living condo and eating most of his meals in the dining hall there. We found several that were old church cookbooks from Grandma's time too. We're in the process of copying them so we each have the recipes. It was a great walk through memory lane though!

[Alix]

Pretty cool huh? I have seen a few recipes that made me raise my eyebrows. My husband says, "they actually ate that?"

[SierraCook]

Alix, I have two cookbooks that are my favorites to browse through. Both have been in my family for a long time. The first one is from West Bend and it is called Cooking Magic. My mom and I have made a blackberry pie recipe from it that is the best I have ever tasted. It is published in 1955. It was my great great aunt Edna's. She was from Kansas and everytime we visited her she cooked lunch: baked ham or fried chicken, mashed potatoes and gravy, lima beans, and rolls. For dessert we usually had peach pie and ice cream.

The second cookbook was my grandmother's. It is a Betty Crocker cookbook from 1950. Inside the cover it says: To LaVern From Mother and Daddy, Christmas - 1953. It is loaded with her notes and other recipes that she has tucked into the book.

I know if my house was burning down, if I could these would be some of the things that I would grab first if I had a chance. I probably should store them in a fireproof container.

Enjoy your cookbook that was your Gramma's. I love to look at mine and think of how many times their hands of turned those pages while making meals and desserts for their families.

[JPolito830]

I actually found 100 or so notecards with recipes from my grandma when she was in Italy. They are about 60 yrs old, and every one of them is amazing. Nothing beats this homemade sauce.

[Alix]

I have a few recipe books from my Gramma. Its kind of neat because they are all handwritten and most of them have nothing but ingredients listed. No method, no nothing. Some of them are incomplete ingredient wise too. For example, the spice cake I made yesterday says to pour the boiling water over the margarine and rolled oats, but nowhere in the recipe does it tell you how MUCH boiling water to use. LOL, you just have to guess and pray!

[Jeekinz]

LOL - How many of those recipes require a bundt pan or jelly mold?

[Alix]

None of the baking ones I have seen. I think that was later than my Gramma's era. My MOM'S recipe books would likely feature a few of those. I know my MIL has a few.

[Jeekinz]

I meant those old recipes that used molds for meatloaves and gelatenous thingys. Usually the garnish was put in the mold first, lol, then the filling. Like from the 40's.

[Alix]

Nope, this is strictly desserty stuff. (Pssst...thats why its in the baking section Jeeks! )