Scrapbook cooking-related memories for future generations
By MARIE HOYER, Columnist
With the popularity of scrapbooking and card making, many people have enjoyed the creative process of expressing themselves through this art medium. We can carry this project one step further with the approaching holidays.
Many family traditional recipes will be made and different dishes incorporated into our meals. One may come across old recipes in the recipe box. Many were written by hand and there is a story behind them. Perhaps something different happened at a meal - a loved guest attended or a glass of milk was spilled over the special tablecloth.
A suggestion would be to contact, if possible, the person you received a recipe from, or your own special traditional one and relate the story behind it. You can then either incorporate the recipe, story and a photo of the loved one on a scrapbook page or compile the items and frame them. What a conversation piece they would be hanging in your kitchen! One can add different embellishments to liven up the page. Adding a recipe on the front or inside the card may make greeting cards. With copiers and computers, these may be quickly made.
The special handwriting is something personal even if it is shaky. Part of a person’s personality comes through in the handwriting. So many of us do not think to ask for or to relate stories until it is too late. Coming across handwritten recipes in the recipe box brings back memories of people and events.
Although cooking may not be something one would think is too interesting and just a part of our life, many women of past generations spent long hours in the kitchen preparing meals for their families. Some recipes used ingredients we do not use today. There were meals made during the wars with rationed ingredients. Some women cooked on wood stoves. It will be a story from a real person between the dates and the dash. With so many processed foods available to us now, cooking from scratch may become a lost art!
A favorite story of mine is about my mother. She worked full time and raised seven children. She loved to cook and bake and always had some goodies for us whenever we came home from school. My dad loved homemade bread, but with her schedule, mom did not have the time to bake it. Dad was always so pleased whenever he came home from work and the house had that special smell that baking bread brings. He never did know about the Rhodes frozen bread wrapper that had been placed into the garbage.
All of us have stories about different foods and the memories they bring back. But unless we talk or ask about them, the stories will be lost like so many things we didn’t get around to asking our parents or loved ones about while they were still here to relate them.
Something to think about: “Let me do it now for I shall not pass this way again.” AU
Char’s Cinnamon Nut Bread
I associate quick breads with Char. She always has small loaves of quick breads on hand and shares them whenever the occasion calls.
1/4 cup butter
1-1/2 cups brown sugar, packed
2 eggs
2-1/2 cups all purpose flour
2 teaspoons cinnamon
1-1/2 teaspoons baking soda
3/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1-1/2 cups sour cream
1-1/2 cups nuts, chopped
Cream butter, gradually add sugar, beating until well blended. Beat in eggs, one at a time. Combine flour, cinnamon, baking soda, baking powder and salt. Add to creamed mixture alternately with sour cream. Stir in nuts. Turn into a greased 9×5x3″ loaf pan. Bake in preheated 350 degree oven for 55 to 60 minutes. Cool in pan five minutes. Remove from pan to wire rack to cool completely. Wrap in plastic wrap and store for one day for ease in slicing.
Irish Raisin Scones
My straight-from-London, Irish sister-in-law called me “Homely” within hours of meeting her for the first time (she meant easy to know, etc. ). I pretended I did not know what she meant and teased her.
3-1/4 cups flour
2 teaspoons baking soda
4 teaspoons cream of tarter
1 teaspoon salt
6 tablespoons butter, well chilled
1 cup golden raisins or currants
5 tablespoons sugar
1 cup milk
2 tablespoons milk
Combine dry ingredients. Cut in butter. Stir in raisins and sugar. Mix in enough milk to form a soft dough, but not sticky. On floured surface, knead dough gently several times. Roll or pat out with fingers to about a 1/2″ thick circle. Cut each circle into 6 or 8 pieces. Place wedges on ungreased baking sheet. Brush with 2 tablespoons milk. Bake at 425 degrees for 12 to 15 minutes. Serve with butter and jam.
Mom’s Buttermilk Spiced Donuts
These never lasted very long. I have her doughnut ‘turning’ tool.
1 cup sugar
2 eggs, beaten
1/4 cup soft shortening
4 cups flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
3/4 teaspoon nutmeg
1 cup buttermilk
Gradually add sugar to eggs, beat well. Cream in shortening. Sift together dry ingredients. Add dry ingredients to sugar mixture alternately with buttermilk. Chill dough two hours. Roll dough 3/8″ thick on lightly floured surface. Cut with floured doughnut cutter. Fry in deep 375 degree oil turning once when bottom side is lightly brown. Drain on paper towels. Shake warm doughnuts in sugar or cinnamon sugar.
http://www.theprairiestar.com/articles/2006/10/25/recipes/marie.txt