Tuesday, September 29, 2009

The Better Homes and Gardens Cookbook "Rescuer"


I call myself the Better Homes and Gardens Cookbook "Rescuer". Almost all of the Better Homes and Gardens Cookbooks you see on my hutch belonged to either Mother "B", Dorothy, my mother-in-law, Rosemary, my mother... or me! They are basically "retired" books. I love to read through them though and see how much the eating habits of Americans have changed. Wow! There is a huge, huge difference in the way we eat.. thank goodness. Gone are the rich sauces and much of the frying that used to go on in our kitchens.
I rarely can resist a Better Homes and Gardens Cookbook  in an antique store. I have to go through one page by page and if the former owner of the book has written any notes and drawn a star by a recipe, I have to have it! I invision a Betty Crocker-type woman in her Better Homes and Gardens kitchen preparing the recipe for a perfect family, waiting not so patiently. Oh well... it's only a vision and I do realize that the woman was probably a lot like me, desperate for something new, a little different and not terribly complicated... and something I already have all the ingredients for in my kitchen. The books usually cost only about $12, so it is not a major expense. I just feel that this faithful cookbook needs a good place to retire. Don't we ALL!

My cookbooks


I have this thing about cookbooks. If it's all neat and pretty... couldn't be all that good! Know what I mean? It needs to be stained with tomato, oil, chili powder, vanilla... the common ingredients for mixing up some favorite and tasty delight. I like to make notes on some of my recipes... when I prepared the dish and for whom.. and if it was someone's favorite. This particular picture shows a page from Cooking from the Heart and it is a recipe that belonged to my paternal grandmother, Mother "B".... who when I was a very little girl, would call "Bum Bean". She was a great cook! And in future postings I will feature a cookbook that my mother made just with Mother B's recipes. It's a lovely cookbook, full of great Texas recipes and old pictures. So be sure to check in periodically since I'm not sure when I will highlight this wonderful cookbook.