What's Grandma Cookin'?

There is nothing like taking the time to find a good southern biscuit recipe, getting the ingredients, following the instructions  to the T , putting them in the oven, waiting, and then taking a bite only to realize that your biscuits are more like crackers and lack any flavor at all and your wife smiles and nods to be supportive (because she loves you, just maybe not your biscuit skills) but secretly never wants you to attempt  THAT  again. Enter the story of me. This has been my life: always wanting to get a biscuit recipe that actually worked. Wanting to make them for breakfast; quickly throwing everything together, the house filling with the warm aroma of fresh baked dough making the mouth water with anticipation for that first bite. But no. I was denied this feeling time and time again. Sure I tried every recipe promising “even a fool can do it” only to be left feeling like less than a fool for my crusty failures. However, I could have probably gotten a ...

Every recipe has a name. Coq au vin. Le Poisson a la Maison (queue "The Little Mermaid" Le poisson, le poisson, ha ha ha, hon hon hon ). But we all have that recipe that specifically came from someone, and that recipe now bears the name of that person: "Have you tried Linda's Mac & Cheese ?" " Pam's Gumbo is the best around!" Enter Pat's Cake.   That simple title graces the top of a handwritten recipe card found inside Nana's recipe box. And its intriguing. For me, I don't know who this Pat is. But they must have had a really good recipe for this cake. Also, with this kind of generic name, you can only guess how its going to taste in the end based on the clues from the ingredients. But what consistency will it be? How much is supposed to rise? How do I know that I have completed this task successfully when all I have a handwritten card and no photos? This is something I knew from the beginni...

This is a recipe that used to hang on Nana's fridge. Jenna remembers it always being a special treat when they would come to visit and indulging on the huge slice of pie that they would be given. As in, quarter-of-the-pie slice. And being the good pie that it was, there wasn't a complaint about this portion size to be heard! And now here I am, trying to take this nostalgic, liquid stained, annotated recipe that holds a place near and dear to my wife's heart, and remake it. Tough act to follow for sure. But try we did. And here are the results. This recipe gives quite the claim: it is self-proclaimed "Amazing". It even says that some people call it the "Impossible Pie" due to its self-crusting powers. "Impossible" doesn't seem to bode well for our efforts. So we gathered all our ingredients, and thankfully we already had most of them in our pantry save for some coconut flakes and some biscuit mix. So just a quick ...

Going through to pick out the recipes for our list of "What's Next" on the page (link is at the top of the page), I came across a few things that are not so much recipes as they are just good household ideas. And part of this blog is seeing how things hold up over time. Enter this gem of idea here: I have to say, this one really has stood the test of time. I use this pretty regularly, not just to unclog a sink, but to help get the gunky smell of a garbage disposal a odious make-over. Do I really measure my baking soda-to-vinegar ratios all that meticulously? (Or, for that matter, felt the need to clip something that only has two active ingredients and add to my recipe book?) Nope. But in case you do, this has the recipe for you right here. 1/4 cup baking soda 1/2 cup vinegar Put both in the drain.  Boil some water and use to rinse it away.  Have you tried this technique out yourself? How'd it go for you? Any other "drain-clog-releasing...

So. The here and now of the matter. Not too long ago, while going through many things during a move for my in-laws, my wife was able to get her hands on something that many hold near and dear: her grandmother's recipe box. Having many memories of visiting her grandmother (who is still alive by the way) and having the various bakes that she would have for them. My grandmother-in-law, before coming down with dimentia which she still struggles with today, used to be quite the avid bread maker and loved to get her hands on various recipes for bread both for a bread machine and for hand making. Me, being the bread lover that I am, was therefore very excited to see some of the recipes that she had kept away in this coveted recipe box just waiting for someone to pull back out and bring new life to again. I was not disappointed. Breads and cakes galore! Some handwritten on scraps of paper; some are typed up (typewriter typed of course) on index cards; some are clippings fr...