For the past few months, my sister, Shara, (with the help of her mother and sisters) has been putting together a cookbook. Last night, I got my copy and early this morning (since Baby J didn't want to sleep after 2 am), I put the dividers in and read through it. It was bittersweet. Bittersweet because it brought back many pleasant memories of our life as a family as we shared meals together and because many of the recipes were from my Grandma S. who passed away in November. I miss her.
I like Shara's quote from the front:
There is a unique marriage between food and relationships. I felt happy as I entered recipes that were in my Grandma Steidinger's handwriting, imagining my mother requesting recipes after she was married and in her own home, just like my sisters and I have done. There were recipes from my Grandma Dotterer which made me glad to think that she and my mom could share family favorites, maybe recipes my dad had loved growing up.And
Once again, we're a family, and we're keeping ourselves bound together by shared meals, even if we aren't eating them together every night like we used to.
The cookbook has over 400 recipes from the basic to some of Shara's knockout desserts. The cookbook is illustrated by my sister, Jenna, and has delicate, watercolors marking each new section.
In celebration of my first mother's day, I am giving away a free copy on this blog!
To enter, please leave a comment with your favorite recipe memory (something like, I always drank mint tea (recipe in the book!) at my Grandma Steidinger's out of plastic cups or, we drink mocha punch (also in the book) at every family Christmas).
You just have to enter by 11:59 PM on Monday, May 14.
And if you don't win, Shara is selling them for $15 each.
Happy Mother's Day!
What a sweet tribute! :)
ReplyDeleteI always got to help Grandma make her sugar cookies with almond bark icing and help decorate them for Christmas! Such memories!
ReplyDeleteAwww...would love to get a copy of this recipe book sometime if I don't win! LOL! Sounds like a keeper! We did a book like this in honor of my mom's 50th birthday! I love looking through books like this because memories are on every page! I made my mom's famous AuGrautin (SP) for Easter this year because it was a favorite of mine growing up. Our kids were very interested in the potatoes I was going to serve because of course they were Grandma Mary's!
ReplyDeleteMy favorite food memory...coming home from school to fresh baked applesauce cake. I make it with and for my own kids now! Here it is (I can't help myself ;) it's The Bugle in me...
ReplyDeleteApplesauce Crazy Cake
Ingredients
1 1/2 cups flour - whole wheat, gluten - free, oat, all-purpose
1/3 cup sugar or honey
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
3/4 to 1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon cloves
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/3 cup canola oil
1/2 cup water or fruit juice
3/4 cup applesauce
1/2 cup raisins
1 apple, chopped
Directions:
Preheat oven to 350ยบ F. In 8 or 9-inch square pan, combine flour, sugar, baking soda, cinnamon, baking soda, salt, cloves and nutmeg; blend well. Stir in apple sauce, oil, honey (if used) and vanilla; mix well. Stir in raisins. Use a rubber spatula to scrape any ingredients clinging to sides, corners or bottom of pan into the batter and even the batter in the pan. (Mixture may seem watery.) Bake at for 25 to 30 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Makes 9 servings.
Mom Kup makes this slushy, pineappley, orange, banananee so tasty drink every Christmas! I don't know what would happen if she decided to not make it...I can't fathom the thought! :) I love traditions and I think this one is my favorite! I would love to own a cookbook either way...winning or purchasing!! :)
ReplyDeleteKathy
I have so many food memories!!!! Some of them are you and I Lisa in 6th grade standing in your kitchen in smithville making our "special" chocolate chip cookies for school to sell. Also my mom making over 2000 Christmas cookies each year to give to people (including you!) and not being able to eat any till Christmas! Also my grandmothers hamburger gravy over her creamiest mashed potatoes you ever ate! Plus visiting her in Pa and her making fresh cinnamon rolls and homemade bread. It was all so good! One other thing I remember and loved was her making communion bread for church. She made bread for over 40 years for the church! I treasur all these "food" memories and so many more! If I don't win I want to buy a copy please! Put me down for 1!!!!! Amber sayre
ReplyDeleteHmmmm...I guess the food memory that sticks out the most in my childhood is when mom made her "super skillet supper!" I know it's a made up name and you probably won't find the recipe in any cookbook! One night Mom decided to take a whole bunch of food leftover and canned stuff and mix it all together in a skillet and call it supper! I guess she had to come up with a fancy name "super skillet supper" to get us all to eat it!:) Actually though we had it other times as well but I don't think it was ever the exact same ingredients. Just throw in a little of this and a little of that and rid the fridge of any food that wasn't being eaten. Mostly like some kind of meat, some random veggies, and possibly noodles or whatever was on hand, or some soup! Pretty good if you put foods together that you like!
ReplyDelete-Karla Z.
I always like the story of our "brave casserole". Lynn or Carrie were nervous about one of the church programs so the Easy Hamburger Casserole that was supper became the "Brave Casserole". We all still call it brave casserole.
ReplyDeleteMyra M.
The cookbook looks gorgeous! My mom and her siblings have just had to go through my grandparents' house because they moved to the nursing home...we've talked about many memories, and SO many of them center around the kitchen! For me, the strongest one is sitting in the kitchen, watching Grandma work, and drinking strawberry milk out of one of the yellow Disney cups (Donald Duck, to be exact) that had a built-in straw. :)
ReplyDeleteSharing memories is such a sweet thing to do! My unfading memory of my Grandma Zimmerman is her lamb cake. Every year at Easter she would make a red velvet cake (the part I loved :)...from scratch! :) Bake it in a lamb mould and then she would frost it and decorate it with shredded coconut! (the part I didn't love ;) Perhaps it was the love/hate thing goin there that made it such a lasting memory! :D Thanks for stirring that memory to the top! :) ~Brenda
ReplyDeleteThe cookbook looks fabulous! What a perfect idea! When I read one of the other comments, it made me remember our root beer floats on hot summer evenings. I thought we had the perfect special cups for them...until I was old enough to realize they were the cups out of bags of milk replacer! :) They really were the perfect size!
ReplyDeleteHeidi
P.S. Glad you could put Baby J's lack of sleep to good use! :)
My favorite memory is going to grandma steidingers and she would make us creamed spinach over mashed potatoes. Nothing can ever compare.
ReplyDeleteAshley z
My recipe box has many recipes from my mother and I remember eating several of them with my parents.
ReplyDeleteLou Ida
I think one of my favorite "food" memories is making candy. First with Grandma in her basement with all the aunts and way too many little cousins :) (how did they ever accomplish anything?!?), and now with Mom and seeing my nieces and nephews interested in it too.
ReplyDeleteLooks like a lovely cookbook!
Lori
Looks like an awesome cookbook....how special! My favorite memory as a child was our lamb birthday cakes made by my Grandma Kilgus. She made every grandchild a lamb cake for every birthday and we got the honor of choosing the color we wanted our lamb cake to be. She would always tint coconut green for the grass and made little frosting balls for the candle holders. Then she would tie a ribbon around it's neck. Yesterday we had the privilege of celebrating the first American birthday of our niece from Ethiopia. Since I was in charge of dessert, I decided it would only be fitting to make her a lamb cake. I tried to make my lamb cake as close to my Grandma's as I could. It was very fun and very special!
ReplyDeleteRonda Stoller