With the holidays coming up, I thought this was a great time to mention some of my favorite ways to honor the memories of all the fabulous cooks and food lovers who have gone before me. I come from a long line of wickedly good cooks and thankfully, I have many of their recipes in my cooking arsenal. One of my most treasured possessions is my great-grandma's old recipe box. At first glance, it's just a rusty metal box in that popular 1960s shade of olive green, but it holds a treasure trove of delicious recipes that my grandma collected and perfected over the years.
I know many folks want to have their recipes in electronic format these days, but I prefer a 4x6" index card any day. Call me old fashioned (I know it's true). Besides having recipes on cards, I also love cooking from vintage cookbooks, especially Junior League and Ladies Auxiliary versions, the more grease-stained and well-worn the better.
I've always loved church cookbooks too. There are several websites that let you create your own beautifully-bound cookbooks, many that don't require a minimum order. This would be a great way to share a bunch of family recipes with several people...by creating a custom family recipe book as a holiday gift.
I guess I'm a total foodie, but I think recipes are pure art and my next couple of ideas definitely elevate recipes to a more artsy level. I took my great-grandmothers' handwritten southern biscuit recipes and put them in a shadowbox. It's just a simple project but it means a lot to me each time I see it. For something a bit more large scale, I scanned a recipe card and printed it poster size. Then I mounted it on a cheap canvas I picked up at an art supply store. I love this wall art with my great-grandma's scribbled notes about how to make the perfect cole slaw.
These are just a few simple ideas that you can do without spending much (if any) money. As southerners, our recipes are part of our history and I think it's really important that we preserve this history for generations to come.
