My Favorite Cookbooks of My Life
These are the cookbooks that have actually shaped and continue to shape my life in the kitchen. They will forever be my favorites and I foresee others in the future... but for the past 50+ years I have first of all referred to the first cookbook...
Betty Crocker's Cookbook for Boys and Girls - page stating the publishing date is long-gone, but I know my sister and I used this little book when my youngest brother was born in 1961. Saucy Hamburger Crumble - yum!
Better Homes and Gardens - 1968 - This book was a wedding gift. Eggs Goldenrod - so very good.
Nanny's Texas Table - Texas Country Cooking at the Houghton Ranch by Larry Ross - great reading about a young bride learning to cook on the frontiers of Texas. It was inspiring enough to my mother and me that my mother then compiled a cookbook in 1988 dedicated to my grandmother, Ruby Boykin, whom we called "Mother 'B'". (The book in green velvet.) Too many great recipes to begin to list... but if you could only have tasted her "Chow-chow"!
Cooking from the Heart was also inspired by Nanny's Texas Table. My cousin and I compiled a cookbook of our family favorites in 1988. This is my mother's copy as mine is too worn and stained to be seen in public. My cousin actually stitched each person's first initial on each book! Amazing!!
Who's Your Mama, Are You Catholic, and Can You Make a Roux? (1991) by Marcelle Bienvenu is not only a fabulous cookbook, but fun to read as she recounts her growing up years in New Orleans. All I have to do is just flip through this book and I am inspired to do Cooking from the Heart II. This is the book where I got my fabulous BBQ'd Shrimp recipe that I have posted here earlier on this blog.
Bruculinu, America (1998) by the late Vincent Schiavelli is a cookbook and, again, a life story, that I absolutely had to ration out... allowing only one chapter a night. Outstanding, heart-warming, mouth-watering... and the recipe for green bean and potato salad, the recipe I failed to get from my mother, is in this book! The value has sky rocketed, making me feel so fortunate to have bought the book at a decent price - autographed too.
I hate to admit that I cannot master a mosaic on a blog. Someday! For now my cookbooks present my best for "mosaicing".
Enjoy TRUE mosaics for Mosaic Monday at Little Red School House
Thanks, Mary!
6 comments:
I am a cookbook-a-holic. I can't stop buying them, and just when I say I am going to stop buying them, I find some new (or old) I can't resist! Thanks for sharing!
Smiles, Nancy
I like cookbooks, too! I'm always interested in hearing about favorites. Have a happy week!
Karen,
Love your cookbook post. I think we shared once our love of old cookbooks. My favorite one I found is called 'Three Meals a Day, Cooking, Table, Toilet'! They were pretty obsessed with the potty thing in the 30's. I also love my Mothers old Betty Crocker. It is stained & has her notes written in it. Lisa
Karen- I still feel very lucky to have a copy of Cooking From the Heart. The girls even used it during 4H foods and nutrition days.
Happy New Year1
Laura
I just found your blog and feel a kinship coming on :) I am also a cookbookaholic and really enjoyed this post. I had to go out and purchase two of the books you featured!
Oh Karen, my mouth is watering just reading your post! What treasures you have collected! Thanks for sharing your "almost mosaic" at MM. :)
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