Tossing my oven mitt in the ring...

This is a long, picture heavy post, folks!

I read "Mason-Dixon Knitting" blog. Since the most interesting things I had to talk about today was my llama wearing a fashionable blackberry bramble behind her ear, and the fact I cleaned out the chicken house again, I figured this HAD to be an improvement, blog fodder wise...

So, they have a contest. (That, of course, encouraged me, too...) To fulfill the qualifying part, here is a picture of my recipe box:

It will not win any awards for beauty, it has that certain Soviet Efficiency Box look. I just haven't done anything with it. I keep thinking I will decorate it later. Yep, later. Will definitely get to it then.

Maybe I should put my Soviet Boy Scout pin on top. But that is a story for later, too...

And a 'recipe' that I love from said box...


In case you have trouble reading it, it says: "When your hubby wants a cookie, and you are tired- go to Roth's or Big Cookie (local stores) and get some delicious treats he will love."

This was one of many cookie recipes I received at my shower, Husband LOVES cookies. To the extent I rarely make a batch of cookies. No. I make double or triple, minimum. (My fraction skills are improving a lot, thank you for asking...)

My mixer is a powerful one, but when it goes to the big kitchen in the sky, I am aiming my sights on a commercial grade mixer. Six cups of chocolate chips plus dough are just a bit on the waaay too much side for my old gal.

It's a trip down memory lane, too, old friends wrote most of them. Some have moved, some have died, some I still see regularly. And still occasionally trade recipes with!

Now for another, which is a real recipe, with an ironic twist.

See the name? Mom's Zucchini Bread? You know the little green harbingers of "How can I hide this in my neighbor's mailbox, because I am freakishly SICK of zucchini?" You know...

Since I have had this recipe, I have not been able to grow enough zukes to MAKE THE RECIPE! I grow them, and I might get 3. If I am lucky. There is just enough zukies that I won't give them the Darwinian Gardener's shove, but there is just not much in the Thrive department. God bless the supermarket, I guess. But just WAIT until next year. (Yes, hope springs eternal. Hush...)

Now as for books that are special to me:

It's a book I have had from early high school, and I don't get it out all the time, but this has "Oh, crap, what is a replacement for buttermilk?" type info. It's all in one place, covers most of my cooking, and actually has some fairly nice food ideas.


Ok, yes, I AM a geek, hush. There is a recipe for Romulan cookies (big surprise, more cookie recipes), that is quite good. And for any other geeks, yes, it does have a recipe for Plomeek Soup. I don't have the stomach to try the Haggis, however.

Klingon recipes aren't bad either. And yes, they do involve cooking, it's not just... Ok, never mind, Non-Trekkies, just realize, Klingon cuisine is... an acquired taste.

This book has lots of family stuff in it, it's from where Grandma S. and Dad used to live, so I know most of the names, (Dad has a recipe for Gingerbread in it.)

It isn't exactly edited as well as it could be, I have twice found recipes that go "add 2 teaspoons of", you turn the page, and it's another recipe... But it's still fun to go through.


Haven't made anything from this book. Let's categorize it under "Chocolate Porn." But it is fabulous to leaf through, if you aren't hungry.


This is my very own collecting style cook book. These are the recipes I know work, I like, (or Husband does), and make on a very regular basis.

It has these special printable pages if you follow the directions for running through the printer:

"Insert sheet. Present smoked offering of caviar, foie gras and exactly 3 and 1/4 ounces of Brut champagne to the printer gods, Shake boa (your choice of feather or snake) over computer while singing 'Aquarius', and wait 10 seconds before touching finished printing or it will dissolve like the tape on Mission Impossible".

Or something like that. So I usually type or write it out long hand, tape it to a sheet of typing paper, and put it in. Involves much less hassle on my end. And things actually even get put in!



This. This is my crown jewel. Published in 1935, it was my Biological Grandma M.'s (she died when my Dad was 2), and was Grandma S.'s, until recently, when it was given to me. This book has Grandma M.'s handwriting. Grandma M's handwriting would be an advanced course in Eloquence in Writing.

Both Grandmas put thoughts about the recipes, (too much salt, add extra sugar, and one with a cryptic NO! above it), and added some of thier own. Family history, and ideas of where some of my family came from, cooking wise.

Now isn't this better than chicken house cleaning?