Today was a rainy day and I love rainy days now. They comfort me and fit my mood. I felt much better than yesterday and decided to cook this afternoon. I was in the mood for old fashioned cooking, not the fat-free, processed food we buy now for convenience. I cooked fresh green beans with a ham hock to flaver them. I baked two sweet potatoes and they perfumed my whole house with a familiar and friendly aroma. While I was feeling so well, I put a beef stew to cooking in my crockpot.
I have a wonderful collection of old cookbooks from back in the sixties and seventies. I pulled out a stained and worn copy of one called Cook and Tell, published by the Noweta Garden Club of Cedartown, Georgia. On the inside back cover I recognized my mother's handwriting. Lois Robison Council, 1970, bought from Joyce Hancock Barbre.
Joyce was a childhood friend of mine and she remained my friend until her death a few years ago. At one time she lived in Cedartown with her husband Bill.
This cookbook is priceless to me, as are some others I've kept all these years. These recipes are made from scratch. Not weird ingredients I can't pronouce. One page has six recipes for squash casserole and I'm sure every one of them is delicious.
I make brunswick stew and love to eat it. Mrs. Harold W. Wyatt, Sr. submitted a recipe for brunswick stew as made by M.D. Russell, copied from an old recipe, last dated 1933. The recipe makes ten gallons and begins with 6 large hens and 10 pounds of ground beef. Fifteen more ingredients follow.The stew cooks for 12 hours. I was espicially intrigued with the final note in parenthesis (Turtle meat adds to flavor if fresh turtle can be had)
This stew, the sweet potoatoes and green beans sound so good. What a wonderful meal on a rainy day. Hopefully, the rain will stop and we'll see sunshine soon. Enjoy your meal!!!
ReplyDeletemmmmmmm...perfect post to read on a rainy day, Glenda. I don't cook much anymore but I still love to read my old cookbooks. So many memories attached to food and the recipes.
ReplyDeleteI hope you all don't think I ate all that for one meal. That was my only cooking spree for the week. I will eat on that food all week. AND I didn't make the brunswick stew with the Turtle.
ReplyDeleteCooking for one is so much different than cooking for two, but I've learned ways to make it work.
I don't buy a head of lettuce or a bag of lettuce. I go to the salad bar at the grocery store and get just enough spinach and lettuce to last a few meals. That way I don't have waste.
Often I eat my main meal of the day at one of our good restaurants where they serve a variety of vegetables. I am trying to eat more veggies and less meat. Thanks, Pat and Brenda for visiting.
Glenda, I knew you didn't eat all that at one meal. I do the same thing. Trouble is, I get tired of eating the left-overs. Even if I freeze them, it's just not as good and that first meal. Cooking for one sucks! haha
ReplyDeleteJust to let you know Glenda, I am feeling a whole lot better but...I am still coughing my head off. Uck! I guess it was just a mutant cold bug.
Sounds like a yummy dinner. Maybe someday you can try the stew with the turtle : )
ReplyDeleteI can smell everything cooking; it's wonderful! You are coming back to life, the scent of food fleshing you out. Enjoy!
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