Preserving family recipes

A few years back my sisters and I realized that every time we wanted to make an old family favorite in the kitchen we were having to place a long distance call to my mom. We'd pick her brain and get things like, "Stir it till it's thick but not too thick", or, "Add about half a handful of flour". She had all these great recipes stored in the recesses of her mind from helping her grandma in the kitchen and then making it herself hundreds of time. But somehow we had missed the boat and knew nothing.

So we sat her down one day for an official interview. We thought of all the standard meals we ate as children and those special dishes that appeared each Thanksgiving. We quizzed poor Mom until she about threw the book at us. "Well, how much do you think is half a handful? Would you say 1/2 cup or 3/4 cup?"

After we had extracted all the information we could, we typed up the recipes, pasted them on 3x5 cards, laminated them and bound them together with a ring. Of course we couldn't resist animating each cover with a picture of of mom's head saying things like, "Get to work girls!!" and other famous phrases.

It took a little work to get this project done, but it was so worth it. My little recipe ring is kept right next to my stove in the recipe box and I use it regularly. I'm glad to have access to these simple recipes that are such an important part of heritage. I smile when I think of my great grandma standing over her stove stirring noodles made just the same way. I think it will be time soon to add some more.

Our recipes include:

Homemade noodles
Fresh Peach Cobbler
Kidney Bean Salad
Cranberry Salad
Pie Crust
Apple Pie filling
Pumpkin Pie filling
Turkey Tetrazinni
Bologna Salad
Corned Beef and Cabbage
Corn Bake
Corned Beef and Noodles
Curry Chicken Broccoli
Snickerdoodles
Bread Pudding with Vanilla Sauce
Blueberry Torte