family cookbook (with my lemon bars)

Grammie reminded me in the comments of the last post about my lemon bars in our family cookbook. It was compiled and put together by my mom and aunts in 1981. I was 9. I thought it was the coolest thing ever. (I still do.) My mom's side is full of artists, hence the wonderful illustrations and lettering.

You can click on the photos for more detail and to actually read the recipes. When it came together I thought it was the slickest thing ever. A book! Laminated! Bound!  I was so proud I had 2 recipes in it. There are so many recipes in this from people I had never met, my aunts really dug deep in the family tree, so the recipes are from all over, including in-law's families from the Midwest. . .

Here's my lemon bars.

And here's a random page. My god, Dandelion Wine?! I don't flip the pages of this book often enough. This blows my mind, my grandma and great grandma right here on this page. The girls are so lucky to have this book. I have been making the same things from it for years. Our family Christmas Braid bread is from here and my great aunt Mickey's Jello Salad is in here, too which I don't make, but am so happy it's documented here, cause dang—it was so freaky!

I would love to make a new family cookbook. I know my Aunt has started compiling recipes for a second one. If I make one, I will have everyone write the recipes on 3 x 5 cards—to preserve their handwriting. You can make cookbooks all fancy now on various sites and all that (Blurb and some other one I forget) but the typed out ones like this, or scanned recipe cards with handwriting would be so wonderful. I need to try my lemon bar recipe again. This one from the 8 year old me.

Comments

[Yvonne]

What an amazing keepsake! Inspires me to start putting togther one for my own family. Thanks so much for sharing!

[Girlymonster]

De-lurking to say that this post hits close to home for me. The women in my family have been passing down family cookbooks (painstakingly hand-written until me)for generations.

I myself, save every single recipe that I use more than 5-10 times in a (rather large)cookbook/scrapbook for my children. I also try to take pictures when my daughter and I cook new things together. She has become quite the accomplished food stylist now, thanks to of all my fussing to make the end product look as perfect as possible.

[Dyan]

That's so cool. The art is beautiful and I think knowing all the pages are filled with reciped from family members makes it really special, connecting you all.
Dy

[Dyan]

That's so cool. The art is beautiful and I think knowing all the pages are filled with reciped from family members makes it really special, connecting you all.
Dy

[Steph]

Your cookbook is awesome! I actually had the brilliant idea last night to make a cookbook on blurb. I have all of my husband's grandma's old cookbooks. I thought it would be a good Christmas gift for his mom. Now you have me thinking I should do handwritten recipes. It's a brilliant way to keep everyone's handwriting. I love looking back at relatives handwriting.

[t]

OK, now we must have Great Aunt Mickey's Jello Salad recipe. If it involves jello, cool whip, cottage cheese, and fruit, that is a Midwestern staple!

[Alicia P.]

Thanks for being so kind the other day hunny. The cookbook is so awesome. I will make Andy's grandma's rice pud tonight, written in her handwriting on a 3 x 5 card. Thank you for the reminder. xo

[amanda]

amy! this cookbook is incredible! What a treasure to have! And yes, you must make a 'new' one with handwriting and all. Oh so good!!!!

[Grammie]

Did anyone pick up on the reference to Sally Rand in the intro to the cookbook? She was a relative of Amy's...about a third cousin. You might know her better as the fan dancer from the 1933 Chicago World's Fair. Her fan act "costume" consisted of two giant seven-foot pink ostrich feather fans. Sally kept dancing, in spite of several arrests, until just before the cookbook project started. She was in her 70s. You can Google her.

[La Woodstock]

I have always wanted to start a recipe family book, but i've never been patient enough to continue. Your is amazing and gives me great inspiration to continue mine!! I adore cooking and that's a sort of therapy for me when I feel blue... :)

[Moonbeam]

What a treasure! I absolutely adore the front illustration! At first I thought this was a store-bought vintage cookbook - it is so much better that it's illustrated by your family! How very special.

[Elizabeth]

Love the old recipes. Copied down the fudge recipe. Give us some more when you have time.

[Lisa M]

Lemon bars..mmmmm. There are so many recipes I wish I had. My dear great grandmother never wrote them down :(
I guess I can always enjoy the memories of her yummy cookies! It was so nice of your family to make a keepsake book! Very sweet idea :)
Have a lovely weekend
♥Lisa

[Bettsi]

Amy, this is really awesome. You ARE lucky to have it. I'm going to try your lemon bars tonight! They look easy and yummy.

[Marta]

Great book.
Dandelion wine?! It makes me want to try it out just to find out what it tastes like, I really can't imagine!
I'm starting one myself, I'm not that good in ilustration (I wish I was)so I stick with pictures.

[sandie]

Wow - I got so excited when I saw this that I emailed my huge family yesterday and offered to put one together if everyone would work with me. It's a new project! Now I'm excited about getting back in touch with aunts, uncles, and cousins who are now EVERYWHERE. Thank you for this!

[Kathryn]

I remember a similar, if not so accomplished family cookbook - I wonder where it is now?
Anyway, what I wanted to say is I love your blog. I have nominated your blog as a blog that “brings me inspiration and makes me appreciate the blogosphere”. Now it´s your turn to do the same for 10 others who inspired you if you want … and may your blog run and run

[Jill]

This is a great family keepsake! I like the idea of having recipes in everyone's hand writing. Everything is done with word processing these days very little is handwritten anymore. By the way I wrote out the Kahlua recipe and might have to try that one out.

[Laura]

I must say, I am very impressed that your grandma uses the internet and reads your blog!

This whole entry is full of win. The family cookbook is amazing.

[celia]

What a keepsake!
Oh, this is so sweet. I love family recipes and traditions and this book is a real treasure!
Congratulations for having it in your hands and to be able to enjoy it forever!