Found Some Treasure Today

Today I found some truly remarkable treasure. I was merely sorting through things trying to prepare for our upcoming yard sale, and I stumbled across hundreds of handwritten recipes, literally generations old.

When I got married back in the year 2000, my Mammaw (that's my grandma, folks) gave me the recipe box on the left, filled with hand-written recipes from the many women there in TX who touched my life growing up.  It is a treasure that I hold incredibly dear to my heart, especially because most of those people are now gone.

On the right is another recipe box that I came across today as I was sorting through things for a garage sale.  I didn't recognize it, and thought it might have been something I bought years ago from a garage sale or thrift store.  When I opened it up to take a look, it took my breath away.  It is filled with hand-written recipes from my ancestors, dating back to my great, great grandmother.  They are noted with names and the year they were written at the top, and have obviously been well loved and well used.

It was absolutely breathtaking to thumb through these, written out by women decades gone, and recognizing some of the recipes as ones that I ate in my own family growing up.  There is a strange and beautiful connection that happens with food and tradition. I cannot wait to someday pass these on to my own daughter, and watch her carry forward the legacy of generations of kitchens before us.

As if that wasn't enough, I found some other special cookbooks that I had all but forgotten about.  The first here is one called "Fort Sill Entertains" and is filled with recipes, memories, and Menus from the Spouse's Club there at Ft. Sill.  That is the base where we were stationed as hubby served nearly 7 years of his Army career.

I met many of the most incredible women I have ever come to know during my time at Fort Sill. It has been years since I've seen many of them, but we stay in touch, a bond of sisterhood and friendship that spans both space and time.

Next is a church cookbook from the First Baptist Church in Seguin, TX.  My grandma's recipes are published in here along with many of the other women that served as role models, friends, and honorary family in my growing up years.  Many of those recipes are for meals that we shared in the courtyard at the church, during an Ice Cream Social or at a Sunday Banquet.  Even just reading about them takes me back to hot summers when I would go and visit and the sound of hymns as I listened to the rumbling baritone of my grandfather's singing.

Last amongst my treasures for today is the American Woman's Cookbook.  The book itself is in poor shape, but there's a part of me that loves it all the more for being so.  Someone should love it- it's lived a long and valuable life, right? Published in 1957, this book is filled to the brim with recipes, guides, ads and coupons.  It is a treasure trove and a snapshot of life nearly 60 years ago.  The pages lay flat when you open the book, which tells me it has been used over and over and over again.  As I thumb through the recipes I wonder what this book has seen, how many tables it's recipes have graced as families have built memories together over new and old traditions.

Do you have any special recipe books, or family recipes that mean something special to you?  Please comment below and tell me all about them.  I would absolutely love to hear about it.