Aren’t beloved recipes that make it down the family tree — or across the backyard fence — the best?
Over at A Way to Garden, my friend Margaret is focusing all week on putting up the harvest. She started by showing off these Mrs. Whitacre’s pickled cukes, made from a 1952 recipe card. Margaret got these pickles and the recipe from her friend Nancy, who explained:
“Mom got it from our over-the-back-fence neighbor in Michigan. Viola Whitacre and her husband, Archie, lived in the house behind ours. Archie was the gardener; Viola kept the house and was the kind of neighbor who made us special cookies and shared jars of these wonderful bread and butter cukes, as she called them…
Over the Labor Day weekend, Retro Renovation readers shared 133 photos of their favorite recipe cards and/or cookbooks and/or photos of the delicious results. Continue on to see their photos and stories about collecting recipes, too. –>
Tips to view slide show: Click on first image… it will enlarge and you can also read my captions… move forward or back via arrows below the photo… you can start or stop at any image:
nina462 says
My Mom has the box of handwritten cards – so I don’t have any to send pictures of. I do have a box of old recipes that my Grandma cut from magazines instead of the handwritten cards. For now at least –
I did upload two really sweet notecards that I found this summer –
Just a Line & Between my ‘Pressing’ duties -…they are almost too cute to use. Set of 20 cards 🙂
So-speaking of recipe cards, I also uploaded a pic of a checkerboard cake – so delicious & easy to make. If you have the pans (another vintage find). So far, I’ve made this milk choc & vanilla cake, and a strawberry & lemon cake…delish!
Patty says
I gave a friend the checkerboard cake pans back in the 80s for a shower gift. Also saw the pan in the box at Goodwill last week. Suspect those pans were used rarely – more trouble than they are worth.
nina462 says
a checkerboard cake is just as easy as a regular cake. you should really try it. it’s also a great math lesson for kids – how to turn a round cake into squares.
Natalie says
I just brought some hand typed recipes cards in a vintage box from an estate sale a few weeks back. I can’t wait to try some of them.
Chutti says
Some of those are going to have to be good.
I’m a huge fan of church cookbooks for the same reason!
Kim says
Love, love, LOVE vintage recipe cards and cookbooks, have a good collection of both. But my favorite is the recipe for Christmas fudge that I cajoled out of my great-aunt nearly 20 years ago. When I begged, she sent me a neatly hand-written copy of her legendary secret, on pink stationery. But when I went to purchase the ingredients…I discovered that it’s just the recipe off the back of the Kraft marshmallow whip jar. 🙂 Still darned good, though, and I laugh and think of her every year when I make it!
LauraL says
Kim, my father’s legendary recipe for fudge was also from the jar. I asked him for the recipe and he told me it was on the marshmallow creme jar. However, Dad’s secret for making the fudge is to leave it to set in the coolest room in the house. Works great every time!
Suzanne says
My best friend, Marlene is someone from another era. She grows her own cucumbers and pickles them. If she gives you some, you better send her back the jars if you want more. I wish I had saved the recipe cards my mother-in-law had given me before she passed away.
Janet in CT says
Suzanne, I make an almost identical recipe for these pickles and give alot of them away, and almost everyone gives me the jars back so they get more! I think mine doesn’t use cloves and has a bit less sugar – that is ALOT of sugar. I posted a bunch of my recipe books and I have alot more but I think that is enough to bore everyone! My favorite is the Swan’s Down one with the lithograph art work, followed closely by the calendar with “Recipes from the Stars” and photos of the contributors! I have never heard of most of them! My mother’s famous Pineapple Upside Down Cake is out of this calendar and I make it all the time; it’s the best one I ever had.
Chutti says
Recipes from the Stars is GREAT!
I have an old cookbook from the Hollywood SPCA. Lots of starts with ‘when the maid is out” entries. Men lean towards anything fried or made with beer.
The best was from Agnes Moorhead (my fashion idol from Bewitched!) :
Parfait with- ONE raisin, ONE Nilla Wafer, ONE Spoon of Creme Fraiche, And TWO shots of Rum.
Hmmmmm. Guess Endora had her priorities!
pam kueber says
*Luv*
Janet says
What a fun project! I was stunned to see the bread and butter cuke recipe. Years ago when we first got married, Phil’s Polish mother had a similar bread and butter pickle recipe that is wonderful. She said it came from her Bobcia who brought it over from Poland at the turn of the century. I love to pick up those little cookbooks from churches or ladies’ guilds or food companies so I have quite a few of them. Imagine my surprise to find the almost exact same recipe in one of the church cookbooks! So either the submitter of the recipe had a Polish grandmother too, or the recipe is right out of the old American recipe books!
Suzy says
Oh Pam, how terrible of you to not flip the cards over and capture the backs! I know the cards are very pretty, but I’m actually pretty interested in the recipes themselves!
Jason says
Hey! Maybe someone has Aunt Bea’s homemade pickle recipie from that famous Andy Griffith episode!!!!
Eartha Kitsch says
That’s one of the best episodes EVER!
LarsErik says
There is a book called Aunt Bee’s Mayberry Cookbook, which is still available on Amazon. It is chock-ful of wonderful recipes (Coca-Cola Pork Chops is a favorite in our house)… though I don’t know if there’s actually a recipe for her homemade pickles in it.
lexavline says
Charming 🙂
Ima Pam says
Such a fun idea! Vintage cookbooks are a weakness, I can’t resist them. I’m also fortunate to have dear older neighbors who share favorite recipes on handwritten cards.
hannah says
Ima Pam! lol – I just uploaded a pic of the same Hostess Cookbook. I had to have it too, the cover is just too awesome.
Pam K, since it’s already represented, don’t have to use my photo. But, I DO have one that’s a must see. Lemme snap a pic. 😉
Ima Pam says
hannah, are those your tantalizing food pictures? I especially love the sloppy joe and potato salad setting. That tablecloth! and what are the placemats, orange lucite?
hannah says
Ima Pam – YES! Those are my “Plate Shots”. Thank you for gushing. 😀
Since I finally got my own home, and we are going all MCM on it, I decided that on Saturday or Sunday we’ll have a ‘sit down’ meal like we did at my Grandmothers growing up. I take a ‘plate shot’ of every meal…and have an album on Facebook titled “Adventures in Cooking” which houses all the photos. It’s even fun for me to revisit and look at the display.
The tablecloth is believed to be by Parisian Prints, and the title of the pattern is “Glass Shelf”. There is one on Etsy now (from the same seller I got this from) but it’s reserved. Plus, it’s more than double what I paid (but I think it’s mint with tag, which mine is not). The place-mats are like ones my Grandmother had. I found a set in orange on eBay years ago and had to have them. They’re plastic, flexible and wash up nicely and dry well since there are little holes throughout the things. I’ve since found a set in pink like Grandma’s, and 2 random yellow ones with an orange one as well (one of my orange ones hasn’t surfaced since our move, so it’s all good). One of the yellow ones is larger, a bit stiffer and has GLITTER! OMG! 🙂
My place-mats cost me $9 for one set, $11 for the other two plus shipping. There is a blue set on Etsy for a couple months now, but they’ve got stains (I think from light damage, not sure – as food shouldn’t stain these) and they are WAY overpriced IMHO. I do searches for them frequently as I suppose they came in a range of colors. Still looking for blue and green.
hannah
Ima Pam says
Hannah…Did you say some have GLITTER? 🙂 that would be just perfect! One more thing to be looking for! I think it’s great that you set the table all nice and take plate shots. 1.) because I really like seeing them here and 2.) because now I can prove to the kids I’m not the only one. HAHAHA. I have so many vintage dishes, flatware and such! I like to set a pretty table and take photos too, but we’ve been soo busy and have gotten away from having the family sit down to dinner lately. This inspires me to get started again. Recently got a nice display cabinet to keep some out for show as well!
Marion says
what a coincidence – Webstaurant Store also just posted that they are starting a listing of vintage recipes (not vintage recipe cards)
http://www.webstaurantstore.com/blog/postdetails.cfm?post=974