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!