Scrapbooking Family Recipes

By using your scrapbooking techniques, you can develop an interesting recipe scrapbook or journal to use currently and to preserve cooking memories for future generations. My aunt saved recipes in a notebook, handwritten and frequently with notations of the person from whom she acquired it.

I’ve began to consider making a scrapbook or picture journal of some of the recipes, photocopying them in her handwriting, then attaching it to the page of a scrapbook. Illustrations and photos could accompany these, perhaps with journal entries about the person whose recipe it is.

Grandma Coon’s Recipes

With the recipes Auntie noted as Grandma Coon’s, I could post a photo of this lady. I have one of her with her husband and son (my grandfather) in front of their farmhouse. There’s another of Grandma posing for a photographer.

Since the scrapbook will consist for family information and pleasure, I’ll include some details about Grandma, gleaned from family research, my grandfather’s writings, and memories told by my mom.

Nanny’s Recipes

These recipes were referred to as “Ma’s Recipes” by Auntie and my mother. I always called her Nanny. So I can include my memories of food prepared and served at her home and at ours when she visited.

I have numerous pictures of this lady, both as a young woman and as the grandmother I recall. They will add interest and memories for my family.

Other Relatives’ Recipes

The list could go on, since I’ve collected, over the years, recipes from relatives on both my mother and father’s side of the family. There are cousins, aunts, and close family friends.

“And don’t forget yourself,” my daughter often reminds me when we’re collecting family memories and pictures. This would include the picture my mom took of me holding the first loaf of bread I baked….all by myself when I was eight years old.

Do You Have Family Recipes for a Scrapbook?

Almost everyone has recipes memories they could include in a scrapbook. These might trace back for several generations, or they may be recipes you’ve collected and found favorites.

Do you have recipes you accumulated in your travels? My daughter asked for a Sweet Potato Biscuit recipe where she and her husband dined on their honeymoon. This could be included on a scrapbook page along with a photo of their trip.

We have family favorite acquired on a backpacking trip into the mountains of Wyoming. The outfitter’s cook created a dish of sausage, potatoes, cabbage, and onions that tasted delicious after a day of trekking at 10,000 feet. He didn’t have ingredient amounts, so we, by trial and error, came up with a version at home that tasted almost like his.

MOTHER’S CINNAMON ROLLS – My nephew asked for my mother’s (his grandmother’s) recipe for these that he recalled her making in his childhood.

Stir up your usual white bread recipe. Instead of forming it into a loaf for the second rising, roll one or both loaves (most recipes make two loaves) into rectangles about 1-inch thick. Spread with butter, sprinkle with cinnamon/sugar mixture (sometimes Mother used part white sugar and part brown); distribute ½ to 1 cup raisins over each.

Roll up as you would a jellyroll. Then cut in 1-inch slices. Place on greased or spray buttered cookie sheet. Let rise, as you would bread.

Then bake, about 350 degrees F., 10-15 minutes, until golden brown. When done, remove from oven and cookie sheet.

If you desire, frost with a vanilla confectioner’s sugar/butter icing. My mother never frosted hers, but some people prefer this.

©2005 Mary Emma Allen

(I write, journal, and scrapbook from my multigenerational home in Plymouth, NH. If anyone is interested, I will teach workshops in scrapbooking your family recipes and memories. E-mail me at: me.allen@juno.com )

Where Do I Get Ideas for Country Kitchen?

Frequently I’m asked, “Where do you get ideas for your ‘Country Kitchen’ newspaper and online columns?”

I’ve been writing them since the early 1960s for various newspapers, sometimes only one and occasionally for two or three at the same time. Since it’s an area I love and have pretty much free rein with my topics, I usually have no problem coming up with ideas.

When I started writing this column for my hometown weekly in 1963, I had no idea I’d still be producing it more than 40 years later! Also, no idea of the enjoyment writing it would be throughout the years.

The ideas come from my daily life, children and grandchildren, my travels and foods I find in other parts of the country, books I read, history I research, family cookbooks and journals I browse. One might think I’d run out of ideas, but somehow they keep coming.

Chatting with my readers or sharing my ideas and philosophy, one might describe the columns. One reader said reading my columns was like chatting with me over a cup of tea. Another called “Country Kitchen” homespun philosophy. Still one more said my writing brought back memories of good times in her childhood.

If I can help brighten my readers’ day with my musings and sharing, I’ve discovered the secret for my writing.

©2005

Introduction to Country Kitchen

I've been writing Country Kitchen columns for newspapers and online pulbications since the mid-1960s. This has been a very enjoyable aspect of my writing. In fact, Country Kitchen, written for my hometown newspaper in Poughquag, NY, was my first published writing. I never imagined, at that time, I'd be writing this column for so many years.

However, it's been a way to share my thoughts and recipes, to reach out and encourage readers.
One reader mentioned that reading my column was like sitting down and chatting over a cup of tea with me.

Another reader said she enjoyed my "homespun philosophy." Someone else mentioned she enjoyed recalling incidents in her life that my column brought to mind.

I hope my Country Kitchen blog will bring enjoyment and inspiration to my readers, too.

(c)2005