Thimbleanna » Houston, We Have … a Recipe

Houston, We Have … a Recipe

April 18, 2010 on 10:29 pm | In Family, Recipes | 64 Comments

We’ve had a lovely, relaxing weekend here in ThimbleannaLand and I hope it’s been the same at your home! On Saturday, I dropped in on MeMum and BigDaddy, and MeMum was sitting at her kitchen table, attempting to weed out a few of the recipes from her out-of-control collection. She was sorting them into piles — the various stages of “keep” and a throw-out pile. The throw-out pile was pretty much empty, which prompted lots of laughing and joking about her little obsession.

We thought you might like to see the depths of the problem. (Or, rather, you might like to see my inheritance. The family joke is that MyDadLovesMeBestSister gets everything — but I get the recipes.) Here’s the cupboard under the telephone desk. Nice and neat and tidy — the two books contain recipes that MeMum has clipped and deemed good enough to keep and make again. The box under the books contains clipped recipes.

And, before we continue, you should just see the contents of the average dress box in the collection. Full of clipped recipes.

Here we have a drawer in the kitchen. I think these are the most recent recipe clippings.

This is the pile in the pantry. The manilla envelopes are all full of clippings too. The clear plastic box is typical of what’s inside all of the other boxes.

In MeMum’s defense, she’s an amazing cook. She tries new recipes ALL the time. I’m typically stuck in a menu rut and I’m always amazed that when I talk to her, she’s trying a new recipe. BigDaddy is a VERY lucky guy.

Back to the collection, here’s the pile on top of the microwave. (Excuse the torn wallpaper, a kitchen re-do is in progress.) I think these are recipes that MeMum currently has on audition.

But wait! Just like the ginsu knives, there’s more.

There are probably more boxes in the basement, but you get the idea. Am I lucky or what? Do you think this is a problem? Hoarding? OCD??? We think it’s pretty funny. And, at least it’s kept us all well fed over the years. While we were sitting at the table laughing about this “problem” I happened to notice a recipe for Almond Bars that caught my eye. I had some raspberry jam and almonds left over from the macaron experiments, and I needed to use them, so I brought the recipe home to try.

Hey — did you notice the date on the recipe?

June 27th, 1966. We were living in Lancaster, California and I wonder if it all started with the LA Times. I’ll bet there are hundreds of SOS and My Best Recipes in the collection. At any rate, the obsession runs long and deep. Back to the Almond-Raspberry Bars, this recipe is a keeper. Thank you Mrs. John De Groot, wherever you are.

You can click on the recipe to make it more readable. Just in case you’d like to try Mrs. De Groot’s recipe too.

I’m glad I could do my part and save this recipe from the dark depths of a cardboard dress box. Every little bit helps. If you have any suggestions or organizing tips for MeMum’s collection — we’re all ears!

XOXO,
Anna

64 Comments

Wow, what a generous inheritance you will receive! Your mom must be such a great cook. Looking at all of those recipes reminded me of the yarn I have stashed all over the house.

The Almond Bars look so good. That recipe is from the year I was born. I have never been to Lancaster but worked for someone who grew up there.

Comment by Stacy — April 18, 2010 #
Hey, I need to clean up my recipes, too. I’m glad you get the recipes :)

Comment by Karen — April 18, 2010 #
Sooooo close. I was so close to being number one.

Comment by Karen — April 18, 2010 #
The inheritance thing makes me laugh since my mom had bookcases full of cookbooks and clipped and hanwritten recipes to boot when we went to clean up her house when she move to an assisted living facility. between the recipes and the gardening books there were 6-6ft tall bookcases stuffed to the gills and sporting books on top. We all took lots of recipes, books and memories from that cleanout. By the way – our favorite recipes were no where to be found.

Comment by Penny g — April 18, 2010 #
How wonderful that you are going to inherit her recipe collection. Maybe you need to buy her some recipe boxes to put them all in and label them in her favourite categories. Your slice looks very nice indeed!

Comment by sue — April 18, 2010 #
Absolutely no hints on the taming of the recipes. However, if you get some hints, please pass them on! I have a smaller version of your Mom’s problem. Since everybody in this family likes to cook – AND scours recipe books and magazines – our house has recipes everywhere! Might have to try that recipe too! Looks very good! :)

Comment by Kristy — April 19, 2010 #
Oh Lord. I think MeMum is my long lost twin! Does she have as much trouble finding a recipe she knows “is in here somewhere, I saw it just the other day!”? My collection is bad, but I think I have to concede that she has me beat! But then she does have a few years on me……Those bars look good….no calories I presume? I’m trying to encourage skinnyness in the OC. Which would beg the question “Why did I make an apple pie today?” Answer: I live here too.

Comment by molly — April 19, 2010 #
Okay…your post has inspired me to go through my existing recipe stach and weed some out…and think twice about how many I clip in the future. I already have a TON of recipes…and my kiddos are 1 and 3. I can’t imagine how many I might have by the time they go to collete ;) Thanks for sharing a glimps of MeMums stach!! And June 27th is a great day…my birthday…so obviously you choose a wonderful recipe to try. Have a great week!!

Comment by Amy — April 19, 2010 #
Holy Cow. That’s all I can say…Holy Cow.

Comment by Julie Isa — April 19, 2010 #
I find the best method for storing and retrieving papers you want to keep is to scan it into PDF form then sort as you save onto a USB drive (jump or flash drive in some countries) or email it to yourself at a free email account (Hotmail or some such).

As a quilter I have folders labeled stars, houses, kids, easy etc, you get the idea.

I believe it can also be saved to a Flickr account but have not done this so cannot be certain.

The benefit of this is that you can ALL inherit a copy! :) And no more boxes!! Yay!!

Lushess
Sydney, Australia

Comment by Lush — April 19, 2010 #
Oh. Wow. Somehow this post is amazingly inspiring. I want to cook. Now. I know what you are saying about getting in a cooking rut. I have periods in which I try out all kinds of new things, but then somehow we pick our favourites and stay with them for a while. And I like to experiment in the kitchen, just throwing things together, trying out combinations. But now I want to take some recipes, or some of my big collection of cooking books (that are being pretty on the counter right now, but not doing else) and start trying out recipes!

I think my family will thank you tonight, Anna :-)

Comment by Karin — April 19, 2010 #
You’re going to have a job one day. How about the family get her a filing cabinet and then she could get her hands on the recipes by category. I don’t buy the magazines with recipes anymore but sometimes I want to rip them out when I’m in a waiting room. I just read food blogs now.

Comment by Janet — April 19, 2010 #
What fun to keep all those recipes from your mom.

I have some boxes and books filled with recipes, but not from my mom. She never liked cooking. I inherited my love for food from my grandmother. She always let me help in the kitchen cutting herbs and telling me about ingredients.

Mrs John de Groot sounds like a real Dutch name!

Comment by nicolette — April 19, 2010 #
That’s a lot of recipes to sort through! Most people have entire attics to look at but I think sorting the recipes could take just as long. The raspberry bars look fantastic!

Comment by Di — April 19, 2010 #
Wow! I thought I clipped a lot. But I do toss the duds straight away. And paste the yummy ones into a book.

I generally only allow myself to keep them if I’ve tested them too.

Comment by Ali — April 19, 2010 #
Every so often I sort through the recipes I have accumulated, and paste the keepers into a book – but I think your Mum’s collection is way beyond that!! I saw Janet’s comment about wanting to tear recipes from magazines in waiting rooms …. as I always have my camera with me, I take a photo, then print it out later.

Comment by frayedattheedge — April 19, 2010 #
Have you completely given up on macaroons? Only BBC Good Food has a really easy looking recipe for cchocolate ones. Google BBC Good Food and enter macaroons onto the search bar.

Loving Lush’s idea for storage.

Comment by trash — April 19, 2010 #
I think your mum and my mum may be long lost sisters …

Comment by dottycookie — April 19, 2010 #
WOW! I’ve never seen so many recipes! That’s awesome. I’m like you…I make the same things…I need to be more like your mom and give new ones a whirl. Those almond bars look delish!

Comment by Carol — April 19, 2010 #
What fun to look through! Although there’s nothing like looking at and feeling the original – I vote for scanning into files sorted by category. You could then make a CD collection for the entire family. When you have time. Someday. I will have to try the raspberry bars. Yum!

Comment by Gurney — April 19, 2010 #
That made me laugh. I’m always clipping recipes and hoarding them but nothing like that scale!

Comment by Gina — April 19, 2010 #
That is so funny and is such a treasure trove. You can tell all the places we’ve lived by the recipe clippings – LA Times, Washington Post, Boston Globe, Huntsville Times. I put mine in a 3 ring binder. One for sweets and one for everything else. They are separated by category, eg appetizers, etc.

I have started making notes by them about any changes that I make or how the recipe turns out so that our daughter can have the info when she copies them. I’m also weeding out a lot that I’ll either never make or that weren’t successful.

Those almond bars look absolutely delicious!

Comment by Anne — April 19, 2010 #
Whoa there Nellie!! Mom said I could have those recipes!! I guess since you are a better cook, you should get them. Although, if I got them, maybe I would become a better cook! I can vouch for the raspberry bars – Mycrazybil loved them too!

Comment by MyDadLovesMeBestSister — April 19, 2010 #
Wow. I thought I had a lot of recipes! WOW!

Comment by Jen — April 19, 2010 #
That recipe looks good! And no, I got nothing. I have a large collection of recipes in waiting myself. Like your mother, I periodically go through a weed out a few, but those still left are multitudinous. (Don’t you like that word?)

Comment by Elaine/MuddlingThrough — April 19, 2010 #
At least you have a great sense of humor! How sweet to be able to have the things that your mother thought necessary to save. The bars look fabulous! I’ll have to give them a try. You know, I was 7 when this recipe was published. ha.

xo
becky

Comment by Sweet Cottage Dreams — April 19, 2010 #
this is such a great post & i think that with most home bakers & cooks ( i know i do this as well) we have a tendency to earmark recipes to try & with the internet (i must confess) that i have tons & tons of recipes waiting to try… so i have done basically what your mum has done…but now i am going a step further…@ organize.com or the container store online i am setting up metal shelves in my basement & putting all those binders downstairs with each binder spine labeled with what’s inside!!…hope this works!
…& anna, i am definitively going to bake those almond raspberry bars…
speaking of old recipes & cookbooks…i had my local library secure a copy of “the american woman’s cookbook” first published in 1938…this copy is from 1943 & is a treasure to read… :)

Comment by linda — April 19, 2010 #
That’s about how my recipe cupboard looks! Those bars look yummy. Isn’t that funny that back then (40s thru 60s) people put their address in the paper for all to see? Crazy!

Comment by MJ Smith — April 19, 2010 #
Raspberries and almonds… mmmm delicious! Well worth a bit of a tidy up. Glad you had a good weekend Anna (and no hint of a mashed potato either, well done you!)
kimx

Comment by kim — April 19, 2010 #
I’m glad to see it isn’t just me that has clippings living on the microwave! I’m always on the look out for a new recipe to try. Old or new.

Comment by Sew Create It - Jane — April 19, 2010 #
My stepmom is a recipe clipper too, but nothing like your mom. Wow! My stepmom laminates her recipes, punches holes and inserts them into 3 ring binders.

Thank you for sharing this recipe. My husband will love it. His favorite is raspberry anything.

xo
Lena

Comment by Lena — April 19, 2010 #
That’s like a recipe museum Anna – is there a recipe in there for a fossilised crocodile? That’s what Mr P and I saw when we went to Whitby museum. Ggggrrrr.

Seriously though – that’s an amazing recipe archive isn’t it?

Comment by Emma — April 19, 2010 #
Oh my gosh,I love almonds and raspberries, I will give that one a try for sure,they look extremely yummy. Anna please tell you Mom thank you for letting you share her photos, I am feeling a lot better about my clipped recipe collection and you are one lucky lady to inherit all of her recipes. Oh and …. Sweetwater has a new flicker group, I think you should add your ironing board cover and bunnies, just sayin…..

Comment by Shawn — April 19, 2010 #
not much of a cook here, not that my children would eat it anyway…but as for your mom’s issue…im speechless. wow.

Comment by Jenny — April 19, 2010 #
I have all my Mom’s hand written recipes, they are so special to me.

Comment by Shawn — April 19, 2010 #
I lived in Newhall in 1966 and we used to go to Lancaster all the time because my dad was working on a project there…isn’t that funny? We were there from 65 to 68. So when I saw the first picture of recipes I thought oh that’s nuthin’. But omg, holy cow that Memum has a slew of recipes….and here I thought I was bad…I feel much better now, thank you.

Comment by Tammy — April 19, 2010 #
I think I belong in the same category as your mum. I just cannot toss out a magazine with a recipe in it and I’m constantly asking people for recipes. Luckily we move quite regularly (not only house, but country) and that forces me to downsize and to get rid of stuff ;).

Comment by Vreni Kohler — April 19, 2010 #
About 10 years ago, my daughter and I typed all my recipes onto 4×6 index cards. Over the years, i started saving/clipping recipes, and things were getting out of hand. I just finished typing all the new recipes (organized the Word directly by type – desserts, main dishes, etc.) It’s so handy when someone wants a recipe, and I just print one up! I am vowing to never get so far behind again…..we’ll see how that goes!

Comment by Darlene B — April 19, 2010 #
Hi Anna….I just took a couple of days and organized my recipes…it was good times. I had thought about putting them all on a flash drive or something, but where is the fun in that? I still love looking through my little recipe box. Maybe you should get MeMum a new recipe box (or twenty :)

Love,
Amy

Comment by Amy — April 19, 2010 #
Amazing! I absolutely love this post. I’m sure there are dozens of treasures hidden in those stacks. Thank you so much for sharing MeMum’s story.

Comment by Andrea Q — April 19, 2010 #
Holy Cow! That is a LOT of recipes! Can I borrow your Mum???? toni xxx

Comment by toni — April 20, 2010 #
Mrs. John DeGroot, wherever you are? She’s dead. She died of old age. That was over 40 years ago, and she was old enough to use her husband’s first name instead of her own, which makes he older than MY mom, who is in her 70′s… so this woman would now be roughly 107. Good thing you saved her recipe though, since she’s been gone now for 35 years.
I love your mom’s recipe collection.
My mom was a terrible cook. I’d suggest that you type them all up for her and put them into binders, but we wouldn’t see you for decades.
And how did I miss this post?
I’m slacking off I tell you.
I’ll have to join blogland again soon.
:waves madly

Comment by b-b-b-bu-brigita — April 20, 2010 #
To funny, I thought I had a lot, no way MeMum is certainly by far the winner. BTW, were they good?

Comment by Jewels — April 20, 2010 #
Ahh, thank you so much for posting about MeMum’s recipe stash. Knowing I’m not the only one makes me feel SO much better! I was trying to tackle a bit of the mountain today, organizing clippings and chucking out food magazines from, ahem, 1999 or so and practically choking on the dust in the process. So much fun!

That’s a great recipe, I’ve used a similar one minus the almonds many times. Also great with an apple, raisin or rhubarb filling or just with any lonely jam sitting around in the fridge.

Comment by christina — April 20, 2010 #
Wow! That’s an amazing collection of recipes, Anna. I like the look of the almond & raspberry bars. :o)

Comment by Anne — April 20, 2010 #
I inherited my grandmothers collection of recipes. I really need to do something with them. They look like that second picture.

Comment by Judy — April 20, 2010 #
Wow. That looks like my craft stash . . . except it’s not nearly as homogenous as MeMum’s recipe {ahem} collection.

And how times have changed. Nowadays, any Mrs. that has a recipe published in the paper is usually hesitant to have her name published, let alone her street address! I hope Mrs. John DeGroot got lots of lovely thank you notes for her yummy recipe. :o)

Mmmmmm . . . and I love the title: “Almond bars for Lunch or Snack”. That’s MY kind of lunch!

Comment by Annalea — April 20, 2010 #
Will my children post pictures of my patterns that I’ve downloaded or my out-of-control fabric collection in the years to come? Probably, since I only have one small box of recipes. My patterns, on the other hand, are well on the way to rivaling MeMum’s recipes. Just give me a few more years. LOL!

Take care, Anna~
Cassie

PS–That recipe is older than I am, not that I’m a spring chicken or anything. I’m just saying…that’s a long time to be collecting recipes!

Comment by Cassie — April 20, 2010 #
I laughed all the way through your blog! I have cutout recipes everywhere, along with magazines and cookbooks too! You just never know when you might need a good recipe. I keep thinking I’ll write my own “Favorite Recipes” cookbook someday. Oh, by the way I printed out the Almond Raspberry Bar recipe…

Comment by Karen — April 20, 2010 #
How wonderful! She has a ‘stash’ of recipes like my stash of fabric! I must admit I also have a manilla folder of recipe clippings as well. This is a great post, Anna – thank you. You made me smile :) x

Comment by Kitty — April 20, 2010 #
LOLOL!! That’s funny. She collects recipes like I collect fabric. It’s stashed everywhere.
The Raspberry bars look so good. I swear you always make food look so pretty.

Comment by sharon — April 20, 2010 #
Oh deer… that’s a LOT of recipes. Like a lot a lot. Whew… you are going to have your hands full!!!!

Comment by LollyChops — April 20, 2010 #
Oh. My. Goodness!
I’ve never seen the likes of it.
Memaw must have a brain of steel to remember if the recipes go in the “keep” or “discard” piles. How do you remember ALL those recipes?

The raspberry almond bars recipe looks like a keeper. Is it?

Jody

Comment by Jody — April 20, 2010 #
Your mother reminds me of my beloved mama. My mom has some drawers of recipes but even more so, she is a newspaper clipper. She is passionate about genealogy and has boxes of information that needs some organization besides the things she does have organized. She often jokes that we can have the biggest bonfire possible when she passes away. She has taken thousands of pictures over the years- some in albums and some not. My grandmother was also a collector of paper memorabilia – I have tried to avoid the disease LOL
I am a collector of fabric and beads and quilt magazines- collecting is in my genes.
I love your almond raspberry bar recipe. I am sure my mother and gran have made a similar recipe.
Happy reading Anna.
Warmest regards,
Anna

Comment by Quiltmom ( anna) — April 20, 2010 #
oh wow what a gorgeous pile of old recipes! I must admit I’m really bad but mine only date back to the 90′s and every now and then I cull and think why oh why did I save that recipe! it’s bad!

love the look of that slice, yummo

corrie;)

Comment by corrie — April 20, 2010 #
The trouble with excellent filing systems is… they are usually so efficient, they are not user friendly.
I gasped when I saw your mother’s collection! I have to say, it does beat mine, hands down!
May we never tire of trying new recipes!

Comment by meggie — April 21, 2010 #
I have never seen so many recipes in my life!! I have a shoebox from my Mom and thought that was a lot. Imagine the ‘treasures’ you will uncover!

The bars look yummy-in-the-tummy!!
Joni

Are you on Facebook? Just joined the millions yesterday. (Joan lacey larson possin)

Comment by jonipossin — April 21, 2010 #
Wonderful! When Mama passed away at the age of 94, my oldest sister inherited the ancient cookbook. I inherited all the wonderful loose clippings of recipes…clipped all through the years from so many different sources. There were also recipes that she had written in her own hand…some were written noticeable after her stroke. As my way of grieving, I compiled the recipes into a cookbook with a story as a foreword and gave to the members of my family.

Someday, you’ll treasure these recipes…

Comment by Dianne — April 21, 2010 #
Awesome! I mean – scary, too.

My method involves multiple staging areas as well, but no recipe goes into the plastic sleeve in the recipe binder (which lives with the cookbooks in the kitchen) until it’s been tried and approved by both Bubba and I.

Then, if I don’t use it during its season (my recipes are organized by season), it gets chucked unless it’s RULLY good.

If a recipe sits in the staging area (on the cookbook stand) too long, I either toss it or make it immediately to make sure it’s not worth it.

I can’t wait to see how these all get organized. You could have a new menu every week FOREVER.

Comment by finnyknits — April 21, 2010 #
Wow, what a collection! How amazing!

And it’s so funny, I was reading along, when I came to the name and address at the bottom of the recipe…I used to live in Cerritos, very near to that address listed! What a small world. The name sounded familiar as I read through, it’s entirely possible I went to school with someone from that family. :) How funny.

Comment by Jennifer — April 21, 2010 #
What a yummy mess to have to deal with xoxoxo Clarice

Comment by clarice — April 22, 2010 #
Isn’t that sweet, the good old days when recipes were in the newspaper and our moms clipped them. Well, who reads the paper anymore? Not me. And I haven’t had a recipe from there for years. But I will say I have some oldies but goodies shoved here and there myself. Your mom is a sweet heart from the old school. You’re so blessed to have her and your dad around.

Comment by nanette — April 22, 2010 #
All of the hyperlinks on your shop website are broken.

Comment by Caro — April 22, 2010 #
All those recipes bursting out are so fab! And those almond bars look delicious! Lucy x

Comment by Lucy Locket-Pocket — April 26, 2010 #