I Found A Treasure

I hope you don't mind if in between recipes I throw in a little story I'd like to share about a cookbook I found as a young bride which is special to me. Since the time I was young and had my first recipe card box I have collected interesting cookbooks as a lot of women do.



One day many years ago an older friend of my Mother's happened to be having a yard sale so I went. There laying on the table was an old worn out thick paper parchment recipe booklet bound together with string. A good old fashioned cookbook indeed ! I couldn't contain my excitement at such a find so I grabbed it up and as I opened it I could see it was comprised of many many recipes that a lot of woman had contributed to long ago. Of course we all know they are the best !



As I was thumbing through it she walked over and explained to me that it was her very first cookbook when she was a newlywed long ago. She has since passed on but if I had to take a guess I would say that cookbook would be at least 65 to 70 years old.



It called for a pinch of this and a dash of that in many of the recipes but I was thrilled to get it and over the years many of the cookie recipes have become my favorite ones. One recipe described the molasses cookies as the kind like the bakery makes with the crackly tops.


The fried cake(donuts) recipe became a favorite for our family tradition every fall . We head to the cider mill for a couple fresh jugs of cider to go with them.



Needless to say it had become really brittle over the years though I kept it in a freezer bag to protect it so a couple of years ago as a birthday surprise my dear daughter Traci asked me if she could borrow it if she promised to take care of it and then she took it to the local printer's and had it copied for me page by brittle page so should the book fall apart I will have those recipes. She's so thoughtful and...... she cooks ! I am truly, truly blessed !!!!


Anyway I may just post a recipe or two from that book in the future so stay tuned...... lots more recipes to come and thanks for stopping by.

Childhood Memories With Creamed Macaroni

I believe cooking was in my blood from a very young age. I didn't have the opportunity many young ladies from large families have to learn along side their Moms or older siblings in the kitchen because my Mom just felt like it was easier to just do the cooking herself. Although we all had chores to do such as mopping and the dreaded dishes,(which one time my sister tossed out the back window to get out of doing) the cooking was her job.

She had lost her own Mom as a very young child and was raised by her Dad who was away working on the railroad a lot and so she never learned by a Mother's example either. She did the very best she could to see we had hot meals and at times she struggled to just get food on the table for her eight children . And I'm sure stretching a dollar wasn't always easy either.

I recall a screened in porch with my imagination running wild going through an entire calendar simply picking out all the holidays that you could plan a party around and making menu's and themes to go along with each one when I could barely spell. Of course there were never any of those parties but I sure had fun planning'

It was kind of a challenge in our house to see who could make cocoa fudge turn out amongst my brothers and sisters. Needless to say there were many pans of fudge eaten with a spoon !

But with just one cook book in the house, one burnt hand later I had made my first batch of Rock Candy from sugar ! It was the start of a love for cooking for me which lasted all through my school years with home economics being my favorite subject. I still have some of those recipes from thirty something years ago.

Growing up in a large family was great but times were tough because my Dad worked construction but had to go on unemployment in the winter. She somehow made meals out of the simplest things. Which leads me to the next recipe I am posting. Although it 's not exactly the healthiest recipe I have yet to find any kids that won't eat it. Try it out on a blustery cold day but don't skimp on the butter or salt and pepper or it won't taste like it should.

We loved this growing up and when my older brother left home would still request this for his birthday which we found so humorous. Now I make it for my grandchildren once in awhile too.

When I think back now to the foods we were brought up on I know we were actually eating foods that were so good for us but at the time we didn't quite appreciate the things like beans or rice.

Creamed Macaroni

Cook 1/2 lb. elbow macaroni according to the package and drain well.
Put back in the pan and cover with milk. Add a whole stick (yes a whole stick) of butter.
Add lots of salt and lots of pepper and heat until it's hot but do not boil ! Ladle into bowls and add more salt if it needs it. If your cooking a larger batch you will of course need more of everything.
Hope you at least try it once. And thanks for taking a trip down memory lane with me.