I was looking through my cook books this morning and became a little bit nostalgic. I have 4 generations of cook books in my kitchen, and some recipes that go back even farther than that. So, I thought I'd highlight a few of those for this week's Tuesday Treasures post.
These are just three of the cookbooks that originally belonged to my maternal great grandmother, Della Mae (Swinford) Kephart. She was born in Vandalia, Missouri on May 13, 1888; she died in Wellston, Oklahoma on April 7, 1976. These cookbooks were passed down to her daughter, my grandmother, Della Maxine (Kephart) Hammersmith, who then passed them to my mother, Carolyne (Kephart) Gould. My mom gave them to me many moons ago, and they're always in my kitchen. And every once in awhile I like to pull some out and see what looks good to make. But the history in these cookbooks is also really cool, so I thought it'd be fun to share them here.
Let's start with this one: The Extension Homemakers Cook Book of Lincoln County, Oklahoma. According to the note my mom left in the cookbook, my great grandmother was a charter member of the Extension Homemakers.
It's a shame that there's no date on this cookbook anywhere. But my guess would place it in the 50's or 60's. There is a notation next to a recipe for Apple Butter Cake that says, "Try," which looks to be my grandmother's writing. There are also a couple of recipes from other Swinford women in there too.
This is a recipe by Agnes (Green) Swinford,
my great grandmother's sister-in-law.
This one is a recipe from Nora (Crawford) Swinford,
another of my great grandmother's sisters-in-law.
I was kind of surprised that there weren't any recipes from my great grandma in there. But it's still a neat little cookbook with lots of good recipes in it. And I tend to think that somewhere there is probably a similar recipe book floating around in someone's home that does have one of Grandma Kephart's recipes in it. I also found one page that has a lot of spots on it--from food--that looks to have been used quite a bit. And it's right on a recipe that my grandmother made quite often: Cherry-O Cream Pie, which is basically like a cheesecake, but creamy instead of dense. Nana even wrote that exact recipe down for me after I got married. I still have that recipe card. This was always one of my favorite pies that Nana would make.
Next is the Country Cookbook of the First Baptist Church in Wellston, Oklahoma.
There are some recipes in here from my great aunt, Ruby Christina (Kephart) Stephens, along with one from her daughter, LaVern, and LaVern's daughter, Jeanette. Ruby was another daughter of my great grandmother, and I was named for her. Aunt Ruby's recipe looks yummy!
This cookbook also includes a little history of the First Baptist Church of Wellston.
And finally, we have a little something from a gal named Betty Crocker. This little recipe booklet has only about 48 pages and doesn't have any kind of hard cover. The copyright on it is 1943, which my mom noted was a First Edition.
This ones is full of recipes, but also menus, tips and hints on buying food, meal planning, serving, etc. There are things in there like Meat Ball Pancakes, Toastwiches, and Nut Burgers. It was created curing World War II, so all the recipes and tips were designed to help women stretch their food supply during wartime meal planning and cooking. Notice the red, white, and blue cover; very patriotic.
So, these are just a few of the little cookbooks I have that belonged to my great grandmother and eventually made their way down to me. Definitely some of my favorite treasures. And a great little peek back into what cook books were like in previous generations of my family.
