Family Recipes, Old and New
Passing down a family recipe - and making new ones of your own - creates wonderful, nostalgic memories for the next generation.
The Sweet Laurel recipe book is included in our Warm Welcome curated gift box.
I still keep a recipe box. An old-fashioned box filled with recipe cards - some over 20 years old, some torn out of old Martha Stewart Living magazines. It’s an outdated habit, I know, but I can’t seem to get rid of them. When you look at an old recipe card with stains from splatters and a big, worn crease where it’s been folded, you can’t help to smile as you think about the wonderful person who passed that card on to others.
Here are just a few from my recipe box (and I’ve made all of these recipes, several times…):
My college friend, Keri, gave me the cherry pie filling recipe when I bought my first house. There was a sour cherry tree on the property and I had a bounty that summer. I made a pie for me and for Keri!
I worked with Joanie from England and she gave all the women the pineapple casserole recipe after we tasted it at our staff potluck holiday party. It looks like an odd mix of ingredients, but it is delicious. I make this every year at Christmas and it goes perfectly with ham.
Grandma Chiz (actual last name was Chizmadia) was an amazing baker and her apple pies were the best I’ve ever tasted. She wasn’t my grandmother, but we were family friends with the entire Chiz family. Her daughter (Betty) is my mother’s very best friend and Betty’s daughter (Chrissy) is both my friend and the wife of my step-brother. We live in a small town - there are many stories like this!
When I was young, my small hometown of Orrville, Ohio, created a cookbook every year filled with local resident’s recipes. I’m sure my mother still has her cookbook! The recipes are so fun to read - and some are very outdated! - and we love to see people we remember from long, long ago.
I found a few pages of the old cookbooks online. Oh, how I remember these ladies! Sondra Downend owned a sportwear company in town and I worked for her during my summers in high school. I would be remiss to not mention her gravity-defying hair…she was famous for it! Ruth Draman was my brother’s kindergarten teacher (she retired the year I started school). Ruth Handwerk was my uncle’s mother and even though she wasn’t my grandmother, my brother and I still knew her as “Grammy".
So, even though it’s an outdated practice to keep handwritten recipe cards, I would encourage you to create some, keep some, and give some. Maybe even start a recipe swap with family and friends! They will most likely stay tucked away in the box on a shelf in your kitchen, but that day when you revisit those old recipes will bring you a warm hug from your past.
You can start your own “signature” recipe collection by using our Sweet Laurel cookbook for inspiration. It is full of gluten-free dessert recipes (and gorgeous photos). It’s currently featured in our Warm Welcome curated gift box, but we’d be happy to create a custom box for you if the reason for your gift is something other than housewarming. Let us know how we can help!
