Thursday, December 6, 2012

A Pinch of This and a Dash of That

Have you ever been at the point in preparing dinners that everything seems boring? Lisa and I have experienced that of late. We've both cooked professionally (albeit years ago) and have made countless family meals so, one might assume we'd have an endless supply of recipes. Not necessarily so

Don't get me wrong. We've got a good supply of family favorites, but after twenty plus years even those lose their edge sometimes. We feel like a wagon on the Oregon Trail... We're in a rut!

Fortunately my mom just gave me a stack of old cookbooks. Not the ones sold on the shelves of Barnes and Noble and the like. No, these are from church congregations, families doing school fundraisers and even one from a sports teams wives. They range from the mid 60's through the 90's.

I've found some fun things so far. They're a collection of family favorites from all over the country. Mostly simple recipes; not over complicated and not pretentious. Some of the things that I find really interesting are the ingredients. Ones from the sixties have MSG listed. Ha! Good luck finding that in today's cookbooks. Other books have regional ingredients listed. Items that I would never find around here.

I think I've clipped out about a half dozen recipes that I'll try and I'm sure I'll find a few more, but my favorite find so far is the one I found in a church book. The "Chef's" name is Lynda Walp and this is what she submitted:

ELEPHANT STEW

Cut 1 elephant into small cubes; this should take two months. Add enough brown gravy to cover. Cook over kerosene fire about 4 weeks at 460 degrees. This will serve 3800 people. If more are expected, 2 rabbits may be added, but do this only if necessary, as most people do not like to find hare in their stew.

I like Lynda Walp!


10 comments:

Ron said...

OMG...that recipe was so cleverly HYSTERICAL!

"...but do this only if necessary, as most people do not like to fine hare in their stew."

Bwhahahahahahahaha!

CRACKED ME UP!!!!!!!!

As you know, I don't cook. I prepare stuff but I don't consider it cooking. My brother on the other hand is a chief, so I got very spoiled while I was in Florida.

If I were ever rich, I would hire someone to cook for me. What a luxury!

Hope you had a grrrreat day, buddy!!!

Jeff B said...

Lisa thought I had finally flipped my gourd when she heard me laughing while reading that recipe last night. Then I read it out loud to her and laughed just as hard all over again.

Nessa said...

Great recipe. Very funny.

I had never heard of this practice of family/church cookbooks until my husband should me one his mother's family made of his grandmother's recipes (she had to cook for 15 children.)

Sample:

Heat a can of creamed corn. Pour over crushed potato chips.

Flash 55 - Wanted: Dead or Alive?

Maude Lynn said...

That is so funny!

Lady In Read said...

love this recipe:) i like Lynda Walp too now.. (though I am vegetarian)
am going to pin this recipe..

Dianne said...

Lynda needs a show on Food Network!

I loved your definition of perky on my last post
well done sir :)

Mel said...

*laughing*

Oh, aren't they priceless? I love the old recipe books. And we have inherited a stack of 'em--the privately printed, church congregation, ones. Xerox printed no less--or that purple printed deal....whatever that was called.

I'm sure I inherited them because of my culinary expertise. :-/

Travis Cody said...

Now that's silly. Silly is good!

Akelamalu said...

LOL love the Elephant stew recipe!

Mel said...

*tip toe-ing in* (yeah right..LOL)

HAPPY CHRISTMAS to you, her and all the elves! ;-)