The Christmas gift that keeps on giving!

Like a lot of folks, I come from a family that knows their way around a kitchen. And everyone of them has a dish that they consider their own speciality that they like to make when people gather. Does this sound familiar? 7 years ago I got to thinking about this and came to the conclusion that all of these special family recipes are in fact, family heirlooms to be passed from one generation to the next along with the jewelery and photo's and etc.. So I compiled a collection of some of these recipes, put them in sheet protector's and then into a 3 ring binder. I made 30 of them and sent them to family members for Christmas. Now, throughout the year, I receive more recipes from the family members to include in the next Christmas edition. So every Christmas everyone gets another batch of old and new family favorites.

The hardest part of doing this project is just getting started....I'll share the first 2 introduction pages of my "Family Recipe Book" with you and maybe it will help you if you're interested in starting one for your family.


Page 1

FOOD
Creator of Memories and Traditions

Over the years we have all collected recipes that we enjoyed enough to make a part of our culinary lifestyles. There are those dishes we eat regularly and those we like to share with company on special occasions. Most of us have one or two that we are proud to have as our own unique specialties. And lets not forget those very special memories of wonderful visits to Grandma's house and the marvelous treats that it seemed like only she could make.

I am always interested when I hear phrases like "An old family recipe" or "My Grandma gave this recipe to me". These are part of our family's heritage and should be passed on to succeeding generations along with the paintings, photograph albums, jewelry and other treasured momentum's. I have memories of sweet dinner rolls that my Grandma Lorenzo used to make and of the dozens of sausages hanging from the rafters of her back porch air-drying while emanating the heady aromas of the spices she used to make them.
My Aunt Bea made fabulous sauerbraten and potato dumplings and Uncle Don had his spaghetti sauce that would simmer with it's fantastic aromas beckoning all day. My Grandpa Cottrill had a much anticipated tradition every fall for making carmel popcorn balls and with everyone he gave me he also administered a playful admonishment to keep my ears clean or I would have spuds growing out of them in the spring. Debbie's dad Ken, made excellent chili rellenos and had a knack for making it fun to help him as well. He also contributed regularly to the art of perfecting wine coolers! And when it comes to 3 bean salad nobody could top Mema's (Debbie's grandma).

All of these people are gone now and I certainly remember them for more than just the food they made. But I can't eat any of those foods without thinking fondly of the times we had together that created all those memories.

It is in this spirit that we encourage this sharing of favorite recipes with our families and friends in hope of building stronger relationships and the creation of more memories that our younger generations will inherit and hopefully continue to pass on.



Page 2

This initial collection we have chosen to share with you represent some of our current favorites. Some are original and some are our efforts to reproduce a dish that we may have had at a restaurant. The rest are recipes that we found in cookbooks or were shared with us over the years.

We welcome you to share a few of your favorites with all of us next year. Just send us your recipes and we will include them in next year's collection. We especially encourage you to send those "Old family recipes" that were passed down to you. There are several I could have included in this collection but felt that there are other family members more qualified than I to present them at this time. I am hopeful that they will participate in this undertaking.

Not all of the recipes in this collection will appeal to everyone but we would like to hear your opinions, good or bad, on those you try. Submit your comments along with a * rating. *= Hazardous Waste **= Maybe the dog will eat it ***= Not bad, I'd eat it again ****= Hey, this is pretty good! ***** = Oooh Yeah! This one's a keeper!

We'll pass the civil one's along to everyone!

Have fun. Eat well. Live well. Prosper!

I rewrite all of the recipes (just so they all have the same text) as they are given to me and then at the bottom of the page I list the person that submitted it and the year of the collection. Frequently the recipe is prefaced with comments about where the person submitting it got the recipe from and any history associated with it. Once the collection is completed I make a Table of Contents page for them and send them out to everyone. Generally there will be 15 to 25 recipes each year.

I'm sharing this with you now because I'm starting the collection for this year now. It takes me a couple of months working at it a little here and a little there. I generally like to finish the collection right after Thanksgiving (in case something new comes up).