What a wonderful post Dotmom!!!

You are so right!!! The dumplings that I mentioned were my Nan's and Mom and I always said that Nan made the best dumplings. Mom has tried a few times and they never came out the same.

Mom was notorious :-) for tearing out pages or writing a recipe on a piece of paper and stick it in the cupboard above the stove. Stacks of papers clipped with clothespins to hold them together.

I have brought them home and have gone through and kept some that were hers, in her writing, that she has made. They are in my Keeper binder, in plastic protector sheets.

I know some of the cookbooks that her t and t recipes were out of, and I have some of the same books.

You just never know when you won't be able to ask your Mom how she does something, or you think there's lots of time. Just a couple of years ago, Mom mentioned at Christmas that she's going to have to show me how to make her turnip puff and potatoes with sour cream and cream cheese, because I'll be taking it over someday. We all laughed, thinking that day would never come.

Thanks for this thread Dottie. Hugs for you.

You are so right, Dot! My husband's Mom was a terrible cook, but the one thing she did make every Christmas was her fruit cake. All 6 of her kids loved it, and I did too although the rest of the SIL's made fun of it and turned their nose up at it. I asked her for her recipe, and she wrote it down for me. The Christmas after she died my DH was so sad he wasn't going to have his Mom's fruitcake, and I said "wait a minute, I think I have that recipe somewhere". So now it is our Christmas tradition, and DH makes a huge batch, or two, and the SIL's still aren't happy about it, hah!

My mother was not a great cook but my gram was, I am lucky I have her notebook of recipes. But you are so right, Dotmom, before it is too late, preserve your future memories.

Dot, my gram did make something like you are describing, she called them nellies, the next day when she fried them she called them 'grutzidees' or some semblance of that. The neflies accompany our pork and kraut.

I am so thankful that I asked Mom for her recipes before the dementia took her mind. When she passed, I inherited all the recipes (many of which are little notes on scraps of paper), as well as her cookbooks. I will cherish them forever.

I typed all of her recipes and made "From Irene's Kitchen" cookbooks in half-sheet-sized binders for my father and brother after Mom passed. The time spent making the books was well-spent and therapeutic because I focused on what a wonderful cook she was, rather than on the grief of losing her.

Thanks for the responses, Kiddos. Guess I'm feeling a little melancholy on the last day of another year. A number of years ago, I typed down all of the recipes I frequently made, including my bean soup, made a little booklet and sent it to my daughter. She made the bean soup and her Hubs just loved it. That made me feel real good.
Lynn d, that sounds like the navy dumplings my Mom made, I love the name, it sounds German, which Mom was was, mostly.

What a wise post! My husband's grandmother made a nice Scottish mince that I would love to have been able to replicate.

You are so right Dotmom. It's already too late for me. Mom is still here but doesn't remember how to cook anymore. I do have all the recipes that were in her drawer. A wanted a thumbprint cookie recipe for Christmas (still haven't got them made) and borrowed all the recipes that were in her drawer to find it. It took me an hour to go thru them all, so I needed to bring them home, as we didn't have the time to stay that long that visit. I will be copying them all before they go back to her.

I also have my grandmother's recipes. I am slowly compiling them on the computer, so eventually I can give copies to mom & her sisters. I will give the cousins & my brothers & kids copies on cd. I will print and bind for my mom & aunts. If the others want printed copies they can do it for themselves, as it won't be cheap to do for everyone. Many of hers are written on whatever scrap of paper she had to hand. It could be on the back of an invitation to something, or the back of a letter. Unfortunately, there are some I can't read, and mom can no longer read it either. I will be including some copies of recipes in her writing, along with the typed versions.

Tami

My Mother is a fantastic cook and one of her hobbies is collecting cook books. She now has somewhere around 1300 cook books in her library, some which go back into the mid 1800's.

She also has a leather bound journal inwhich she records her tried and true recipes, and she has sent me many, many copies of the ones she is putting in her book.

I have a little wooden recipe box that originally belonged bo my Great, Great Grandmother from back in the late 1800's. Those are fun to read, but hell to cook from. Everything is measured in Hands, Fingers, pinches, Dollops & smidges.

Some of the ingredients were a bit difficult to figure out too, like what the He## is "Smokehouse Larder logs"? I found out those were a 2.5" diameter natural casing sausage that was made with ground beef, pork, chicken and lard & sausage spices then smoked till almost black.

Oh, and here is one I grew up with but I bet your ladies would have a fit to see it..how about taking a smoked ham down from the attic and washing the dust off, then use a sharp knife to trim the green mold off the rind before slicing it for sandwiches and leave it hanging on the nail in the cellarway staircase till you need some more.

After Mom passed, I made a list of things I wanted from the house. Little things, knicknacks and tsotchkes, photos, etc. Nothing of financial value. Among them was her recipes. She had made some attempts to get things in order, but there were still aot of loose magazine and newspaper clippings. Brother sent me everything. I photocopied everything, made copies. I kept a set for myself, two for my 2 sisters, and one for a close cousin. i made some of her Christmas cookies this year. Made me feel sad but good to be re-creating her special Christmas cookies. Great idea, Dotmom.

I wish I had asked and wrote down more about her life in Japan. I also wish I had asked my dad, now he can't remember anything. When I told him about my friend Trudy having cancer he didn't even remember her. I've known her since I was in 6th grade, how could he have forgotten? It kind of scared me and made me really sad.

I did do that when mother was alive. Not only that, but I watched and took notes. I also have her recipe box. But she cooked mainly by feel--that's why the notes. I'll never be as good a cook as she was, but I love trying!!

Thanks for posting this. My mom already gave me her recipe for pecan pie, but I'll ask for others.

My mother-in-law knew her days were numbered and gave me her favorite recipes before it was too late.

We sure miss her -- it will be twenty years ago next month that she passed beyond the veil.

What a nice thought. A few years ago my DIL collected some family recipes from her mom and made a little booklet. She pinted out the pages made a front and back cover then got them spiral bound with a little machine she had. It was a nice gift and I'm sure those in her own family were thrilled

No kidding. My sister and I have tried for years to get our mother's dressing recipe duplicated. She's come closer than I have, but I'd love some right now!!!

I have a little spiral notebook with some of my mother's recipes in it. She was a fabulous cook. She went to cooking school when she got married. This was in the 30's and women were put on this earth to serve men in those Leave it to Beaver days. My husband would have loved to have been married to my mother. By contrast, my SIL does all the cooking at their house. My dad, long dead, would not believe it. My son cooks as well. My dad couldn't boil water. I still remember all the lovely meals my mother made. Just delicious even on a Tuesday. Every day was special.

My mother wasn't a good cook, but there was a small variety of dishes and baked goods that I loved. When I got married, she wrote all the recipes that she knew I liked onto index cards (this was the early 80s) and put them into a small photo album and gave it to me as a gift. To this day, I still have that album and use it (dumplings are one of the recipes, hence the dumpling post earlier), and I have added so many more. It's probably one of the best gifts I received since they are in her 'still' beautiful handwriting...she won't be around forever.

I wrote down all my Mom's recipes when I got married. Only thing I can NOT master is how to make gravy or Fried Chicken.

Will try the suggestions for the dumplings this weekend.

SamKaren
your resident DJ

My mother was a fabulous cook but really had rather limited recipes. She did the little of this and little of that and cook it till it looks right and turned out great. (heavy sigh) Yeah, I can do some of that but some of the stuff I wish she wrote down. But I have some of her recipes. Copied her recipe box that my sister now has.

I think it's important to continue that and write down and share what you have in the way of recipes. I tried to do a family cookbook years and years ago. Get all the aunts, cousins & other relations to send their favorite recipes and I was going to put them together into a cookbook. Some of my relatives are, well were great cooks too and many had their "specialty" recipes. One made great dinner rolls, one was famous for baked beans, etc. But that idea went over rather like the Hindenburg. Lots of sneers. Still regret the loss but that's their and their families' losses too.

I enjoy looking though the small town cookbook put-togethers. Of course there's always 20 versions of Green Bean Gasserole but there's usually a few variations of something and something original in there too.

Yeah, this time of year I tend to miss my mother.

My mom wasn't the greatest cook but her mom was. I have very little recipes from either. My MIL was so good, but did not write anything either. Guess that is why I am not good either.

My Grandmother was quite a good cook. After her husnand died, she turned her home into a boarding house. She cooked for her boarders for many years. Never wrote down any recipes. And my Mother never learned to cook from her. After Grandma died, Mom taught herself to cook. She was pretty good. I never learned from her , either. After college, I moved into my own apartment and learned from books like "The Joy of Cooking" and watching cooking shows on TV.

My mother would have rather been reading a book in the sunshine than cooking, so all I need is a good copy of Peg Bracken's "I Hate to Cook Book" to get all our childhood recipes. :) Stayabed Stew was a common dinner at our house, or Bubble and Squeak, her 2 favorites. When she ventured off the published path, I fortunately had skinny arms and a drawer under my place setting where I could hide murdered pork chops for removal at a later date. (Many of which got forgotten and were only found when we packed up for a move from WI to FL. "What's with the bit of leather in the kitchen drawer?" she asked? She howled when I fessed up.) Even she knew her pork chops were no good. :)

My mom is still alive and a treasure to me daily. She just turned 91 and she and Pops take turns fixing dinner every night. Nothing fancy, just something to "stay the worm", as she likes to say.

Oh, I do have her bread recipe- we used to get home from school just in time for slabs of still warm homemade bread with real butter and jam for our snacks. Mmmmm. Best childhood memory EVER!

LOL Flamingo. My ex-husband used to drop his brussels sprouts down the hollow chrome leg in the kitchen table, as a kid. I can imagine how they would smell!

Oh, could you post your Mom's (and now your) bread recipe?

My mom's funeral was a year ago today. She passed all of her great recipes down to us. (at least the ones that were written down!)

And ask her where the keys are to everything :) I found that out when we sold her pop-up camper.

I would have given a lot of my years of life now to be able to walk into Mom's house again this Christmas and smell food cooking. And to think I used to growl about all the "eating" holidays.

Cherish the time with your parents..you know they will be gone someday, but "someday" will come before you know it.

Mom has been gone 7 months now.

Kathy

When I got married 44 years ago my oldest sister, Betty, wrote out so many of her great recipes and gave them to me at my shower. She is now gone and I cherish them so much. I also have all of my mom's recipe boxes and cookbooks. So many of them have the names of the ladies that she got them from.I know many of them from my childhood. I have a few from my mother-in-law. Talk about a cook. She was a fabulous one and didn't use many recipes. Her 2 daughters cook just like she did. She made a date pudding to die for. Our daughters now make it for their dad and he loves it.

Yes, it is a great post, Dotmom.. Thanks..