This file includes Cooking and Recipes.

Also see Misc Food, Main Dishes, Vegetables, Desserts and Snacks, Beverages, Domestic Engineering, and Grandparents (for aprons).



Cooking


Page Toppers


Quotes


Songs about Cooking


Food-Related Team Mascots

There are many of these but here are a few I ran across during other research.


It's All in the Presentation

"Well, Abigail, back to work tomorrow...Another day, (sigh), another dollar . . . and that reminds me, all the guys laughed at my lunch today."
"Why? What's wrong with cheese sandwiches and coffee?"
"Nothing . . . but you put them in Dawn's Sesame Street lunch box!"


Where's the Fire

A young husband came home from work and his wife said, "Honey, I'm afraid your dinner is a little burnt tonight."
He replied: "Don't tell me they had a fire at McDonald's."


Come Back Tomorrow

This kitchen is closed,
it's been a long day.
The dishes are done
so please go away!


Did You Ever Wonder...


Xmas Dinner/Picnic Page Idea

Cut three 1 1/2" squares each out of cranberry gingham and evergreen gingham and then cut the same number of 2" squares out of the solids (or vise versa). Put the smaller squares on top of the larger squares and trim the edges of the large square with scallop or deckle edge scissors. Adhere the squares down the edge of the page point to point (diamond shaped) to look like "napkins". Now take six sets of silverware stickers and "tie" them with the photo essence Christmas bows (or regular Christmas bows). Place them on the squares.

By changing the colors of the paper and bows and you can use this idea for a retirement luncheon, Mother's Day Tea, Picnic, etc.


Tips for a Recipe Album

(most of these were compiled by jtc and LindaG)


Graduation or Wedding Shower Gift

This is a fun gift for a high school graduate or bride-to-be. Send out a request to families and friends of the honoree, asking them to send back a photo (either of them alone or with the honoree.
Also ask them to send a favorite family recipe--possibly one they know the honoree likes. (You will probably get a better response if you provide a return envelope.) Gather the photos and recipes and place the photo on one side and reprint the recipe on the other, decorate, etc. It would also be fun to request a funny story or memory about the honoree--especially one pertaining to food.


Kitchen Prayer

God bless my little kitchen
I love its every nook
And bless me as I do my work
Wash pots and pans and cook.


Like Mother Made

(Hariett Ford)

Of all things said about the cake
Unkindest were the words,
"It's not like Mother used to make."
I wish I hadn't heard.
Like Mother used to make indeed.
Of course not, you forget,
Mixes, Teflon, microwaves were not
invented yet!

But just to please my gourmet groom,
I baked a cake from scratch.
No mixes, nothing artificial
Went into the gooey batch.
It had the strangest sunken place,
The center was a pool of runny
frosting poured thereon
Before the cake was cool.

I stood with rolling pin in hand and
dared him to criticize my cake.
"Why, Darling," said he, "this is grand."
"It's just like Mother used to make!"


Use a Recipe?

I guessed the pepper,
The soup was too hot,
I guessed the water,
It dried the pot.

I guessed the salt,
And what do you think?
We did nothing else
The whole day but drink!

I guessed the sugar,
The sauce was too sweet,
And so by my guessing
I spoiled our treat.

And now I guess nothing,
For cooking by guess
Is sure to result
In one heck of a mess!


Preservation

(Darla Wagner)

My daughter finds a Ball Canning book
In the back of the cupboard,
The one above the stove, the useless cove.
I sigh as I look over her shoulder
As she glances through faded pages
Curious about the women in starched white aprons.

For a brief moment, I can smell
The steam from tomatoes
Bubbling like thick lava,
Feel the stickiness that lingers
After golden peaches are showcased
Behind tinted glass,
The soothing crispness of
Snap-snap-snapping green beans,
Pinched between thumb and forefinger,
White paraffin settled atop
Strawberry preserves.

My basement shelves
House empty, dusty jars
Rows of forgotten images, left unfilled,
A barren legacy from my past to hers.

I recall generations of women
Who lined glass treasures upon fruit cellar shelves,
Preserved mid-summer's harvest
To soothe her family from winter's harshness,
And I think of generations of women
Who will never know.


Grandma's Recipes

This has always puzzled me, just how much is a pinch?
These recipes of dear Grandma's surely are no cinch.
A "snip" of this, a "dab" of that, a "lump" of something else,
Then "beat it for a little while", or, "stir until it melts."
I have to be a wizard to decipher what she meant,
By all these strange proportions in her cookbook worn and bent.
How much nutmeg in the doughnuts? Grandma wouldn't flinch,
As she said, with twinkling eyes, "Oh, just about a pinch."
There must have been in her wise head a measuring device,
That told her just how much to use of sugar, salt and spice.

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Recipes

(great to use at an open house)

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