This is my favorite cookbook. This is the Better Homes and Gardens cookbook, copyright 1953. From the time I was a little girl, this is the cookbook I remember my mom using to make many of our family favorite recipes. From cream puffs to snickerdoodles, this became a fixture in our kitchen growing up. My very favorite recipe is the amazing apple dumpling concoction she would make. It would come out hot from the oven and we would pour milk over the top to cool it down just enough to eat.
I am thankful for my mom and how she would spend time with me while I was growing up to teach me how to cook and how to follow recipes. I love that many of her well-loved recipes have worked their way into our home to become dishes my husband and children love and request just like we did when we were young.
I asked if one day, mom would pass her beloved cookbook onto me and she gave it to me a few years ago. I use it all the time. Everytime I pull it from the shelf and flip through it, I can feel flour granules on the cover, see the stains of vanilla on the recipes of well-loved desserts, and the memories of my childhood with each turn of the page.
Thank you, Mom for teaching me how to cook.
Thank you for passing on a great heirloom and a wonderful memory from my childhood.