It is my "Mom's Cookbook"! The recipes she collected over the years from friends and family. From potlucks and church socials. From tv shows and copied from magazines. Many of the recipes in this cookbook were made frequently. Others would be popular for awhile until they were replaced by a new popular recipe. A few made their way into the book, probably obtained at a potluck, never to be made (that I recall!)
I pulled it out because my brother was looking for a particular recipe. Sadly, many of the dishes that my mom was known for - her meat pies, her bread and biscuits and her baked beans were never written down. They were kept in her head, made so many times, she no longer needed a written recipes. Including the Lemon Snow recipe that my brother was looking for. (Though we did find it in an old cookbook)
With her meat pies, she just adjusted the seasoning and the ingredients based on the amount of meat she had - it was never a set amount. My mom was an old school cook, she often measured ingredients in her hand. As a kid I would try to follow along, she had portioned the salt in her hand for whatever she was making; when I asked how much salt she was using? She told me 1 teaspoon, not believing her, I questioned the amount in her hand. She found a measuring spoon, poured the salt that was in her hand into the spoon. It measured exactly 1 teaspoon - not one crystal over! I have spent the last few years trying to recreate her meat pie, I've almost got it, but I know it will never be the same as my Mom's. A common refrain from anyone who tries to recreate their mother's (or grandmother's or father's or who ever) recipe.
I had to change up my menu a little bit from my usual routine. Appetizers were not something that made it into Mom's Cookbook, so I just made a main course and dessert this time.
The main course is a dish I don't really recall - I think it was one that ended up in the category "never to be made again " It was simple called "Ham & Potato Casserole". Not sure if some ingredients were missed when copied over because it seemed to be missing something.
The dessert was a very popular, frequently made recipe. The name in Mom's Cookbook is "Confetti Squares" I have also heard them called "Tweedie Squares". They are a very nostalgic square. I brought them into work and one person was in heaven, as she was overcome with childhood memories of eating the square at her grandmother's at Christmas. She told a story that her grandmother would hide the squares in hopes of saving them for Christmas day, but she was always able to sniff them out!
I noticed the writing on some of the pages has started to fad. I will have to do some work to preserve the book. It is not enough just to type up the recipes. It is not the same thing as looking at perfectly types recipe on the computer, as leafing through a book in your mother's own handwriting, stained with bits of food showing which recipes was most popular.
My mom has been gone 11 years, but looking at her recipes brings her just a little bit closer to me.
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