Butter

I knew that would get your attention...who doesn't love a dab of good old salty butter.


The 'butter' I'm talking about is in the low calorie form of an old Land O'Lakes tin recipe box. 

After cleaning out my closets a few weeks ago, I came across both my grandmother's and my mother's old recipe boxes.  I sat down with a tall glass of iced tea, peaked inside and began thumbing my way through...digging into their treasured yellowed recipe cards, torn out newspaper clippings and vanilla sugar and molasses stained cookie recipes.

 

I have been through these boxes a million times, but each time I find something a little different.  I also forget how much I miss seeing these ladies and their handwriting. They both had beautiful penmanship and it's nice to run my fingers over what they wrote so long ago.  It let's me step back, see their recipes, notes and let's me connect with them all over again.  In a small way it brings them closer to me.

I also find my self laughing my head off because my grandma, bless her heart, a widow of many years, used to write menu's of lunches she attended with her friends.  She would write down what the woman served and then grade it and comment if it was good or bad.  Too funny!  I never get enough of reading those comments and hearing her voice in my mind. 

I never usually make any of these recipes...not any true award winners or old traditional family recipes in here.  No, it's more just enjoying seeing what they kept, what they found important enough to cut out and save.  Recipes that today seem so outdated for our Ipad-Food Network generations.  I think at some point, I'll try to switch a few recipes around and come up with healthier versions. 

However, for right now, they feed my soul with memories of these beautiful women in my life.  So I celebrate Doris and Ethel today and thank them for passing on not only these little boxes of love, but all the other lessons and gifts they so lovingly shared throughout my life.  And I enjoy a quiet afternoon of fun, laughter and maybe a few tears looking back into their past.  Thanks ladies! You are never far from my heart. 

Do you have any old recipes from women and/or men in your family? What  family treasures do you enjoy looking through?

Is there someone that you're missing today?