Recipe "scraps"

One of my girlfriends on Face book had an interesting post the other day. She asked how many people had their favorite recipes written on scraps of paper. Do you ever intend to write them all down in a recipe book.  She had many great responses.  One was about finding the best tasting chicken & noodles dish at a church potluck. The only thing handy to write the ingredients on was a used napkin.   Or finding the most scrumptious dessert at a co-workers baby shower. That recipe was wrote on the back of  a shower game that she had been playing.

The thing that really struck a cord with me about her entry was I had just received a plastic bag full of recipe "scraps" that had belonged to my grandmother.

My grandmother passed over 20 years ago. It was wonderful to receive all of these recipes, but one of the most special things was seeing her handwriting again. She always had such great penmanship.

Then I began sifting thru them all. Many of the recipes were written on different scraps of paper.

 The recipe written on the paper with the tractors on it, that was a letter head from my grandparents implement dealership.  I can picture my grandma sitting behind her desk, maybe thumbing thru a woman's magazine. Finding a recipe that caught her eye. Then jotting it down on the nearest paper handy.

This recipe was written on the back of a desk calender page. Notice the date.

There was also a collection of recipes that had been on bags of marshmallows, popcorn, and cereal boxes.

Grandma kept her all her recipes in a drawer located in her kitchen. I remember before every holiday she would have that drawer pulled open, chair pulled up next to it. She would look thru all of her envelopes marked for that certain dish that was being prepared. Oh she would have piles of those recipe scraps scattered across the counter tops. I always knew she was cooking up something good.

I decided to go thru my recipe scraps.  I smiled to myself when I realized just how many I had in my collection. Most of the tried and true ones are held in this little basket.

This basket held a plant that I had received when my daughter was born. Over 21 years ago!  Most recipes in here are also my kids favorites!

I had started writing recipes down in a notebook. Even taping or pasting recipes that I had cut out of magazines in there as well.

There are still plenty of recipe cards received from friends and co-workers  that need to be glued in.


I am so glad I read that friends post. She really got me to thinking about how many generations of women have these recipe scraps stuck somewhere in their kitchen. Hopefully someday my future granddaughter will come across my recipe scraps. May they bring her as much happiness as my grandmothers did for me!