Yep. OK. I seriously can be put into "bad blogger" mode now. No excuses, really...other than I I've been sick three times since September (thanks, kids, for bringing home the germs). As we speak, I am dealing with congested lungs and woke up this morning unable to talk (just whisper). How do I yell at my kids???????
Well, anyway. My parents went to visit my uncle yesterday. He still lives in my grandmother's house, which is a whole other ball of wax for another time. She retrieved my grandmother's recipe box for me.
The one thing I remember and always cherished was my grandmother's cooking. RARELY was anything from a box. RARELY. Most things were from scratch. Yea, truly a concept in today's society, but those cream cheese christmas cookies were to DIE for. That potato salad? TO DIE FOR. And although I was never a pork fan, those PORK CHOPS were AMAZING...and nobody has been able to duplicate them for me no matter how "to the T" they followed my grandma's instructions.
I am not sure if anything can be duplicated the same way she made things, but I, at least, can give it a shot now. Not sure if I should be stoked about this or curl up in a ball and sob. Either way, I would not EVER be without many of these things that were hers. It was all so much a part of ME, as well.
I really think the recipe box dates to the 50s....EASILY. The box is powder-pink, but my kitchen is a cranberry red so it's hard to get accurate pictures with the reflection:/
If you look CLOSELY at the above picture, you can see the word "LARD" written out. LARD!!!! Does ANYONE use lard, anymore?? Man, I LOVE having this in my possession. REAL food:)
Going through it, I found those cream cheese cookies recipe. I found the pumpkin cookies that were terribly SINFULLLLLLL. I found a recipe for homemade (like SCRATCH) biscuits. Date Nut Bread. Peanut Brittle. Easter Salad Surprise. Pineapple Upside Down Cake. Frosting (SCRATCH!). Dill Pickles. Chili Sauce. I mean...name it..and it's in there. She had clippings from seriously old newspapers (before I was even born!), magazines, food boxes. How to make jams, and RASPBERRY GLAZE??? And GOD BLESS this lady.....many of the recipes have dates on them and who she got them from (some even from HER mother!)
I don't think I will be able to reproduce my grandmother's cooking, by any means, but, as she always told me when I always said there was no way I could cook like she was able to, "Have you ever TRIED?".
I love you, Grandma!!!!
