Recipes from the past - mostly dessert
Jan 25th, 2008 by Laura
My mom and I were talking a few weeks ago and she mentioned that she had my great aunt Audrey’s recipe box. That she’d gotten it when she passed away a few years ago but hadn’t done anything with it. Then she offered it to me since I’m the “cook” in the family. Scary thought that.
Anyway, she shipped it out to me this week and here it is. It’s almost 12 inches long and full from end to end. The recipes range from hand written on fading scraps of paper, to typewritten on notecards, to clipped from magazines and gifted from friends.
At first I thought it was the best organized recipe box I’d ever seen in my family. But after spending an hour or so flipping through it tonight I realized that the organization is an illusion. And that almost half of the recipes are for desserts! There must be 20 for using rhubarb alone!
I can’t wait to have time to start sorting the hundreds of recipes back into categories. And then to start choosing which to make first. I’m also considering keeping only her recipes that aren’t based on jello and canned soup in the box and putting the rest in the safe. Then I could start filling it with the rest of our family recipes and Mike and I’s favorites.
At the moment it’s looking beautiful on the shelf in the kitchen. Hopefully soon it will look beautiful on the shelf in our farmhouse. And we’ll have a hundred new desserts in our repertoire.
What a great gift! It will be like reading a bit of your family history when you go through all the recipes. I have a handful from my Grandmother (the one who cooked from scratch, not the one who was keeping Sara Lee in business) and a few from my Mom. Rhubarb figured prominently in my grandmother’s cooking also, because she had a lively crop in her backyard. Even some of the old ones I used a lot when we were first married (34 years ago) seem like historical artifacts now! Have fun trying them out.
So cool! I wish I had all my grandmothers’ recipes - both of them were great cooks. Lots of rhubarb made in our family, too, as it is so easy to grow in Seattle. LOL, and lots of casseroles made with canned soup. Heh.
Have fun looking through them!
What a treasure. Your picture makes it look just beautiful. A couple of years ago after visiting my aunt in OK, I discovered she’d made recipe books for my cousins with family favorites, including some from my excellent cook Uncle Bud (now deceased). I promptly borrowed it and copied the recipes. Since then I’ve discarded some that I know I won’t use (I’m not really a fan of Velveeta or Jello salads - love those midwest, “I live 50 miles from the nearest grocery store” recipes) but kept others like the awesome broccoli salad. Have fun!