This and that: Grandma's cookbooks

Tuesday, May 14, 2013

Grandma's cookbooks

I love cookbooks and recipes and I think I got my love for them from my Grandmother.
Grandma Johnson gave me cookbooks for my birthday and for Christmas for many years.
Each book that she gave me, she would sign it with her name and the year she gave it.
These cookbooks are a great memory.

Grandma's Cookbooks



My grandmother loved to bake and always had a freezer full.  Most of that time those bakings from the freezer would end up at our house.  I remember my dad telling grandma that she should bring her baking over as soon as she made it instead of freezing it and then bringing it over after it has been in the freezer for a few months.  But she always had to freeze them first.  
She always made me an Angel Food Cake for my birthday.  She knew that it was one of my favorites and for years she would make it from scratch. As she got older she would start making it from a box.  I always knew that I would get an Angel Food Cake and a cookbook for my birthday.  
Now I can read those cookbooks and remember her.  When Grandma started downsizing she asked all her grandchildren what they wanted from her.  My request was her cookbooks and I got them.  She also made sure that everyone knew they were all mine and I got more after she passed away.  Her books had some notes written in the margins and her recipe cards always said who the recipes came from.  I can tell which recipes were her favorite by how worn the cards or pages were or how stained they are.
   



As I was going through her recipe box, I came across one recipe that was named Mimmie Buns.  This recipe is my mom's and you can see by the card that there isn't a lot of directions.  It is to the point.  Just the way my mom cooked.

I love having these recipe cards and when I bake or cook from them, I feel that I have Grandma cooking beside me.  Telling me what to do.  
Do you have any cookbooks or recipes from your loved ones? 
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4 comments :

  1. Fantastic to have the handwritten recipes! I have only a few but do treasure them. Cheers

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  2. This post is so precious! I loved seeing the recipe cards. I have a cookbook that my mom got back in 1950 for her wedding. The covers are gone and I keep it in a ziplock bag. Her favorite recipes are stained and worn. One of them is filled cookies. My husband has an old cookbook from his mom. He found our recipe for the bread that we make. We only changed it by using the sourdough starter in it instead of the regular yeast. Your grandma sounded so awesome. She may be baking with my mom up there in heaven :)

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  3. I love this post. The foods we love to cook and eat today is from the love that was put into the meals that our moms and grandmothers made for us. I only wish my grandmother wrote out her recipes. Everything she made was just a little of this and a pinch of that. All her dishes were made using her instincts. She passed that on to my mother and I too cook that way most often. I just found out from my niece that she has a few of my mom's handwritten recipes. I'm hoping she will have a chance to copy them for me.

    In the words of Jacques Pepin "Happy cooking"!

    Joanne

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  4. This is my favorite post I have read in such a long time. Thank you for sharing your memories with us! What a treasure!

    ReplyDelete

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