The Recipe Box

Way back when, I didn't have many cookbooks.  In fact, the Better Homes and Gardens Cookbook was the only one I had for the longest time.  Its pages got sticky from gooey cooking fingers and hanging around in the kitchen for years.  It was a good guide, but limited.

The way we all got new recipes in those days was sharing.  "Oh, what a wonderful casserole!"  "Wow, what yummy cookies! "  "Mmmmmmmmm. What a great cheese ball!  Can I have the recipe?"  Of course.  And we put them on little recipe cards - 3x5 index cards. (For some reason, I seem to have an abundance of cheese ball recipes.  Let me know if you want one.)

Sometimes you had your own cards printed.  This one is from nephew Johnny's grandmother.  1976 or so. Never did make those Cheese Krispies.

Sometimes they were in magazines - always in this 3x5 format.  Lee brought this to me to do for a dinner with a friend, girl variety, before he even turned 21.  I've done this lots of times since. 

I love this one.  NO IDEA who it's from, but you can make this sweet hot mustard if you dare.  At the bottom it says "We don't believe this is right.  Give it a try."  Right!!

I've collected a lot of cooking books since the recipe file - and they're wonderful.  Some more well-used than others, but each has a place in our repertoire.

The house I used to live in was full of Danish modern furniture and I loved acrylic stuff - clear and clean.  I had an acrylic recipe file - 3x5, of course.  It held a treasure of recipes. The other day, it fell and fell apart.  Geeezzz. What a mess. No fixing it.

Toss it, Werner said.  But that is just impossible.  I don't think I've transferred this recipe for Toffee Bars to any other medium.  The card, all yellowed, reminds me to use butter, never margarine, in the recipe, a Christmas tradition.

And here, a chicken recipe from the Olney Inn in Maryland, Julia's incredible Pound Cake, and a squash casserole recipe from Michelle's first friend's GeeGee.  I would never do her recipe these days - the poor squash was cooked to a fare-the-well and then baked more!  But it is such a nice reminder of such nice exchanges.

 

I'll just have to find another home for all these recipe cards. Who could toss out such wonderful old friends and memories??