The New Recipe Box

My cherished recipe boxes from my grandmother Leak (left)  and grandmother Zachary (right).  Look at their handwriting, it tells so much.  Guess which one was the 1st grade teacher and which one was the artist?

One of my most prized possessions are the two recipe boxes that belonged to my grandmother's.  Each is overflowing with handwritten, food stained, index cards and newspaper clippings. These boxes are time capsules, perfectly showcasing the trends of the day as well as long cherished family recipes. Several times a year, I pull out these boxes and take a walk down memory lane.  

I love perusing the old index cards and clippings.  Feeling grateful for the many wonderful family meals  I enjoyed at each of their dinner tables.  I fondly remembering the fresh baked apple pie and my favorite chicken casserole.  I went in search of my grandmother Zachary's chicken casserole recipe last week, when I was in desperate need of some comfort food. I decided to make up a batch for myself.  It hit the spot, but I know it used to taste even better surrounded by family, as we sat at my grandmother's lace-covered dining room table.

Look at this collection of dinner party menu's.  Certainly, I have no recollection of what was for Christmas dinner in 1975, but it's nice to know we had oyster dressing, which is still a staple at all of our family holiday meals

Over the years, I have also, kept a record of my dinner party menus and have several journals dedicated to menus and party ideas.  I have never started a recipe box, but do have folders full of magazine clippings and recipes printed from the internet.  Of course, my newest "recipe box" is my blog and website.  It may not be as quaint, as an old handwritten box of recipes, but it is my way of preserving my family favorites, as well as my original creations.   I can only hope that one day, my grandchildren will be appreciative of the history I am collecting in my virtual recipe box.  

Below is the neatly written index card recipe for the favorite chicken casserole of my childhood.  It's not health food, and quite honestly, I would never even try to recreate this in a healthier version.  Sometimes, fond memories are all the nutrition your body and soul require.

Don't forget to make every plate something to be passionate about!

www.thepassionateplate.com