I can’t remember a time when cooking wasn’t of paramount importance to me.
My first game of pretend? Cooking show. Tiny plastic cups and saucers arranged on an imaginary stove, balls of play-doh mimicking the vegetables and curries and chapatis (unleavened, griddled flatbreads) that were commonplace on our dinner table.
I remember the first time I tasted homemade butter; my grandmother put a stainless steel bowl next to me, with a wink. No butter can ever come close to hers because a grandmother’s love is the kind of seasoning you can’t package.
The first recipe I ever made on my own: rock cakes. These Australian-style raisin scones satisfied both my sweet tooth and my desire to cook. I made them nigh on weekly, as my parents napped on weekend afternoons. They’d arise to hot tea and warm rock cakes.
The reason I know that was my first recipe is because the occasion was so momentous that I wrote it down. In fact, I started a recipe journal, with the rock cakes recipe written in careful cursive on the first page, using my favorite fountain pen. I still have that journal now, a battered old day planner with 1988 stamped on the corner in gold ink.
My mum inspired me to start a recipe journal. She started her own journal as a response to the early passing of her mother. My grandmother, Lucia, was a tremendous cook — the kind who could wing a cake recipe and steam it on the stove (she didn’t have an oven). But like many of us, she didn’t write any of those recipes down, and so, with her passing, all that culinary wisdom and history left too. Mum didn’t want that happening to us, so she has dutifully kept a journal for as long as I can remember, tweaking traditional recipes and adding new ones.
While I don’t dwell on the idea of God calling her home, one day He will. And when He does, my sisters and I will have that recipe journal to remember her when we make a meal. We’ll be able to run our fingers over her handwriting, narrowing the gap between here and there. In making the recipes, we’ll not only be able to bring a piece of her into our kitchens, we’ll also be able to share her with our children, drawing their roots deep into the rich soil of their ancestry.
Time and distance are enemies to connection. They wear away at our memory and throw obstacles on the path to enriching relationships. If there’s anything we’ve learned over the past two years, it’s that we aren’t meant to be alone. We all quickly scheduled Zoom and FaceTime dates with our family and friends, celebrating birthdays, holidays, and memorials over our screens.
Another way we can combat the fading of connection is via pen and paper. When we write things down, we give them value. We take the abstract and turn it into something tactile — something we can touch, relive, share. We freeze that moment in time, simultaneously locking in the past, with an expectation of a connection to the future. And one of the most powerful ways to connect is through food.
God understands that we forget. He prescribed the feasting and fasting of Passover for the Israelites as a means of remembering where they came from and whose they were. The seven days of unleavened bread reminded them of the suffering that preceded the victory of freedom, which they celebrated with the Passover feast.
And it shall serve as a sign to you to your hand, and as a reminder on your forehead . . . for with a powerful hand the Lord brought you out of Egypt.
Exodus 13:9 (NASB)
Later, Jesus would transform the Seder feast, simultaneously honoring the past Passover sacrifice, marking the present moment in His last supper, and forging a connection to the future when we would all break bread in memory of Him and His atoning sacrifice.
“This is my body, which is given for you. Do this in remembrance of me.”
Luke 22:19 (ESV)
God has woven a remnant of the sacred into breaking bread together. When we stop, gather, eat, and share, it’s a microcosm of the great feast that awaits us in eternity. And so, recording our family recipes is a powerful, defiant fist in the air against the winds of time and the threat of distance, which seek to steal our family connections. They invite us to spend time investing in those people we may take for granted, investigating the roots of your gran’s stuffing or your uncle’s barbecue ribs. In wanting to record my mum’s recipes, I spent hours with her in the kitchen, forcing her to drop her “little bit” of turmeric onto my palm so I could measure it out and note it down. I learned more about her, my grandmother, and even my great-grandparents as we cooked together. It’s one of my most precious memories.
Family recipes are distinct from the thousands of recipes you find online and in cookbooks — those are, of course, all special and useful. But a family recipe is precious because it’s always enshrined in memory — memories of the person who made it, those who loved it (and hated it!), and times spent sharing it. It warps us to the past, whilst simultaneously making new memories in the present that will be enjoyed in the future. Family recipes are a magnificent mobius strip, not only interweaving time and space but also inviting us into the paradigm of the divine, where time as we know it will cease, where our space will be restored, and where the feast will never end.
And so, I’ve joined forces with my friends at DaySpring to bring you My Family Recipe Journal, a swoon-worthy heirloom for you to record your family’s precious gems. It’s 180 pages, divided into eight sections, each section’s colour inspired by saris in my mum’s closet. Blessings begin each section, to be read over your table or even before you cook (you know I’m a fan of that!), and Scripture adorns each recipe as a reminder that whether you are cooking through difficulty or through victory, God is with you.
I pray this book would bless you, your family, and all those you consider family this holiday season. May this simple act of recording your family recipes deepen your relationships now, and as you pass them down, extend your legacy of love, belonging, and good food to the next generation.
Point your kids in the right direction — when they’re old they won’t be lost.
Proverbs 22:6 (MSG)
We’re thrilled to give away FIVE copies of My Family Recipe Journal!
Just leave a comment telling us what cooking or family recipes mean to you.
And tune in tomorrow, Wednesday, November 24, at 11:00am central on Facebook as Aarti Sequeira and Becky Keife have a conversation about My Family Recipe Journal!
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The aromas & tastes that came out of our grandmas’ kitchens varied from the traditional German recipes from my paternal side & the eclectic menu from my mostly Scottish isle heritage from maternal side. My maternal g’ma was a reader of recipes & an try anything once kind of cook. I got that willing to adventure away from the tried & true family recipes to experiment & tweak new tastes from her. But even widening my repertoire the main ingredient from either side of the family is the goal to nourish, encourage & love those at my table. My husband & I have “adopted” a group of college / young career kids. They enjoy a home cooked meal but even more they speak of being loved at our table. Both g’mas would be pleased I’m passing their love thru food & my mom & mom-in-love would be proud of me for honing the skills & recipes they each gave me. Thank you for bringing those precious times to mind for me. Bless you richly!
This is lovely!
This week I will make my grandfather’s apple pie recipe, just as he always did for the holidays. It’s on a handwritten 3×5 card, as my sweet cousin made sure to capture it before he passed 8 years ago. It makes me feel like a little piece of him is still here and I loved your imagery of our grand gathering table in heaven. I so look forward to that day when he and I can share a slice together again.
Oh my gosh. Handwritten recipes are a rare treasure. Good for you.
My grandmothers passed long before I had a chance to cook with them. It has left a hole in my life. Now that I am a grandmother to four precious grandchildren, I can’t wait to cook with them as much as possible so they have the memories I so miss. Thank you for your lovely and inspiring words.
I love the idea of a recipe journal! My family recipes are in note books, torn halves of paper and on napkins. It might be time to jot them down in one place. Thanks for reminding us the importance of gathering those memories and how they bring us closer to those we love.
Yes! I have recipes written down all over. I am so excited to write them all down in one place.
Cooking and recipes are connections to memories for me. Some of my favorite memories are of my grandparent’s kitchen in Mexico as a little girl. Every smell and taste was heightened in that yellow room. I fell in love with cooking because of those memories. My friends joke with me when asking me for a recipe, they say no matter how closely they follow what I have given them, it never tastes like mine. One of them said what is your secret, I said it is all made with love.
What a vivid description. Love this.
Family recipes provide comfort. I love making recipes from those who have passed on. It seems to keep them closer to me. I have recipes everywhere!! I keep other journals but not a recipe journal. I love the idea. Happy Thanksgiving!
Recipes from the past help bring up the memories of the occasions we had them.
Thanks for this devotional, I come from a long line of wonderful cooks, and preparing meals and baking seems to be our family’s love language! Many of my earliest memories are in the kitchen. I believe, especially in this day when prepared foods are readily available to purchase, we need to take the time to teach the next generation not just how to cook, but also the stories that surround each recipe. I don’t have any grandchildren yet, but my sons have been wanting me to make them a cookbook. Your recipe journal sounds like just what I need! As we prepare for Thanksgiving may God bless each of our kitchens and may love be the secret ingredient in all that we cook.
When I left for college, I sat down with my grandmother and recorded some of my favorite recipes. How I wish that I had a book like this that would allow me to savor the food and her handwriting. She was an amazing cook.
Cooking and sharing a meal is one more way to love our families and friends well.
I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE this idea. As I read the devotional, I kept thinking, “I need to do that.” Hopefully, I can use yours. Being in youth ministry for 25 years in the states, and then a missionary the past 26 years, I’ve missed cooking with my kids and grands like I wish I had done. We do things at Christmas, but what a treasure this would be to ALL my girls. Thank you!
I love this so much. I’ve been wanting to start a collection of recipes for my daughter. This journal would be perfect! I enjoyed hearing about your time in the kitchen. Thanks for a great encouragement today!
Yes! She will appreciate it, I know that from experience ❤️
Cooking is another way to show love to my family which is always a delight to do.
Your messages are precious and always inspiring. I’m an only child, now 81 years old. I missed having a large family but my best memories were of my Mom cooking and baking and the wonderful smells.She rarely wrote things down and didn’t teach me to cook except a little baking. That’s still what I enjoy dong and is my “love language “ for family and friends. I do have her rolled sugar cookie recipe and will continue to make them each Christmas as long as I’m able even when it causes me physical pain. My grandkids affectionately named my Molasses sugar cookies “Mimi cookies “ and I always have them. Send a supply with my precious grandson back to college each time he comes home. His sister scribbled her printing about age 7 in front of my old loose leaf notebook “for Morgen and Mimi”. Your idea of a journal is beautiful. God bless you and your family and Merry Christmas.
Oh what a wonderful idea! I now write recipes on cards or lined paper and stuff them in a book! And as always, you share a beautiful script to remind us of the continuing presence of our Father. As always, thank you!
Linda Ries
Food was such an important part of growing up in my family. I’d sit with my grandmother as she rolled out each individual strand of pasta- and at the holidays this meant pounds and pounds. This love has been passed down to my children. When my son became engaged, I asked him how he knew Emily was the one. He said to me, ” when she asked you to teach her how to make grandma’s meatballs”. Cooking with my grandmother, or at least trying to help her, is one of my most special memories growing up. Whenever I am in the kitchen, I can still feel her presence, especially when I make one of her recipes. And nothing was written done or measured. And to be honest, nothing tastes as good as her food did.
I grew up with a mother and grandmother who cooked by memory. Every time a recipe tasted just a tad different as they’d adjust it a bit. Very few recipes were written down and unfortunately I didn’t inherit the gift they had. I’d love a copy of this book to start recording special things I make for my family. I am a 49 year old grandmother who is learning the joys of cooking for the first time!
This is a great idea! I have a collection of my mother’s old recipes and love to go through them! Bless you for this.
Would love to have one for my daughter who is getting married.
I have so many precious family memories of wonderful food cooked with love for family. I have many of the “secret” family recipes from my grandmothers, Everyone loves them still.
Would love to have this journal to record them in. I’ll be 69 in Jan and think it’s time to gather them together for my children & grandchildren.
Blessings & have a great Thanksgiving and Christmas.
I love it❣️ I wish that I had my mothers and grand mother’s recipes. You remember those special tastes and the memories come flooding back . Thank you for reminding me of that. God is so good❣️❣️❣️
Aarti,
I really enjoy your stories of family and faith. I am a big fan and enjoy watching you on The Food
Network. I love the idea of a family food journal. Thank you for creating this book. Have a wonderful Thanksgiving!
What a beautiful tribute to your mom, grandmother, and even your great-grandmother, Aarti! Tears flowed as I read your words, bringing back memories of my mom and all the love that went into her cooking and baking. Thank you for reminding me especially now at Thanksgiving! This will be the second Thanksgiving that she is no longer here with us physically but she is always present in my heart.
I have often lamented that my family recipes will be lost to future generations. I come from a long line of Pennsylvania Dutch cooks and a home-ec teacher grandmother. My son has recently accepted the challenge of preserving the recipes and successfully made a delicious pot of chicken corn soup from scratch with garden fresh corn. The real challenge was for me to write the recipe down as my mother and grandmothers prepared almost every delicious meal without a recipe. I would love to preserve these recipes in your journal!
Such lovely memories! I can taste my grandma’s cookies…and smell her caramels….oh, a little slice of heaven! I love the idea of journaling your recipes…a wonderful way to pass down traditions, emotions, memories to future generations. What an inspiration!
I love using family recipes, especially for holidays. We also use the special dish our moms, grandmoms, or whoever’s recipe used for that recipe. It makes us feel like our missing loved ones are with us.
Scraps of colored paper with my mother’s handwritten recipes are special treasures – Kringler, Walnut Strudel, Cheesecake, Apple Bars and more. I love how her recipes spark warm memories of time spent with family and friends.
I recently lost my dad(September 3rd), he would always make an amazing dish at Thanksgiving and Christmas, corn casserole. My oldest daughter, would get her own pan because her birthday would often fall on Thanksgiving. I have searched for the receipe among his things and searched online for it to no avail. Reading your devotion has sparked something in me. I am not a great cook, but I would like to leave a small legacy of those things that I can cook to my girls.
Now that all of my grandparents have passed away, those memories mean a lot!!! I am not the best cook but I like looking back to the times we would travel to both grandparents depending on whose “turn” it was to visit.
This sounds like a wonderful idea! My mom wasn’t a fabulous cook, but there are a few things that are special to me. I’m excited about archiving them for my 3 daughters! And I have a few gems of my own to share.
I love this idea! I remember standing in my grandmothers kitchen watching her make caramel rolls that my dad loves. I have several of her recipes but this takes it to a whole new level! I definitely need to start this!
This is the first Thanksgiving without my husband’s mom who was like a second mom to me, and his aunt who was so much an important part of our family. But they’ll be with us on Thanksgiving when we have Margaret’s hot fruit and Aunt Deanie’s sweet potato casserole(her absolute pride and joy). And although my mom has been gone for a while, we always have her dressing. I’ve wanted to put together a collection of these recipes-including my mother’s coconut pound cake which requires a ridiculous number of eggs- for my children and grandchildren. You have inspired me to get started.
I love that idea of a family recipe journal! My mom still has recipe cards written in my Grandmothers hand and I know they’re precious as Grandma passed almost 20 years ago. I enjoy cooking with my Mom, bonding and spending that time with her. Thank you for the chance to win!
Reading this article and all of the lovely comments was very enjoyable this morning.
I have my recipes in three places, a recipe box, a notebook, and computer files. I really need to work on getting them all in one place and easier to pass along so this was very helpful today!
This Christmas, I will pull out all my mother’s recipes for those special cookies that I remember baking with her. Shortbread, thimble cookies, saw log – and many more. These taste of love and memory and of course, my mother.
My girls and I love to cook together. One of my treasured items is a notebook of recipes (with stains on each page) that is written in my paternal grandmother’s handwriting. It is special because she passed away before I was born and it was given to me on my wedding day. This would be such a lovely treat to start creating memories with my own girls.
My Grandfather always invited people around the table of his home both new and old friends and sometimes strangers. He was generous and giving. At a young age I witnessed the community that happens around the table as stories are told and retold. My life is forever impacted because of these moments in time.
A few years ago, my Mom wrote out some favourite recipes for my sister and for me in a journal. It is a treasured gift. And I should refer to it more often when I’m thinking about what to cook!
Family recipes are of great value to me: from the handwriting, to the wording from generations past. I cherish each one I have and seek out cultural and community recipes from the areas my family grew up
Cooking together is the ultimate “hug” , it is comfort filled nourishment for our bodies and minds. I like to say ” when in doubt…cook it out !
Cooking for and with my family is very special to me. I have wonderful memories of my great grandma hosting Sunday suppers and all of the family 4-5 generations sharing food, love, laughter and stories from their past. My mom also was an amazing cook and shared many unwritten recipes with me that I have shared with my daughters. One of my fondest memories is being little and watching my mom make gravy. Her behind would sway side to side as she stirred the gravy and I remember trying to mimic her as a kid as I was “making my gravy”. Every time I cook I think of these special women who shared their love through food and try to pass that feeling on to my friends and family when I cook for them.
I love this concept. What a beautiful book! I’ve created something similar to write down my mom’s recipes. One day, I should do the same for my children.
My earliest memories surround the kitchen and my mom making breads, cookies and canning. Nothing like stealing a fresh cookie off the sheet or a potato wedge off the plate. Eating raw dough would get my fingers tapped with the wooden spoon. The kitchen remains the heart of our homes even now, whether at my mom’s (who is 90!), mine or that of my children. Thank you for such a beautiful post.
I love that part of your story about measuring out a little bit of this! My Nannie and me mom both cooked without a recipe.
I wish I would have paid better/more consistent attention when my mom was trying to teach me how to cook & bake. She passed away this September. I do have multiple recipes from her and have also been able to find some more in her recipe boxes. They are treasures! The memories I have of her special dishes and the occasions when she made them are very dear and precious to me.
I love to be in the kitchen, I’ve always love baking with my mother(she is with Jesus now).
We would get all our ingredients to make two special cookies for Christmas, then my girls would come and help as they got older. My girls and I still make those two recipes and it brings back such lovely memories for all of us
My wife and I have enjoyed tweaking my mother’s lasagna recipe (the go to meal for EVERY special non-holiday meal!) and making it our own!
I too have always been obsessed with cooking. I loved spending time with my grandma. She was a simple cook, but she made it so much fun. Once when spending the night with her, we were going to fix hamburgers for dinner. She bought hot dog buns by mistake. So we shaped our burgers into “hotdogs”. Since then I’ve enjoyed cooking and trying new recipes, working on making them my own. I have passed some of the family’s favorite recipes down to my daughters by way of a binder cookbook I created for them. It also included pictures and stories. It was a joy to make and give.
I made my son’s journal cook books for Christmas one year and they loved them.
My mother was all about celebrating holidays. I can still remember her green homemade rolls (St. Patrick’s Day), red heart cookies (Valentine’s) and decorated Christmas cookies which always included a nativity set. Those Christmas cookies were her mother’s recipe so we always called them Nana’s Cookies. The dough was sweet enough to eat raw. It was white prior to being colored red or green for the appropriate cookie cutter shapes (ones for every holiday!). That was my downfall one afternoon. I came home from school and found the dough in the kitchen. I switched a big bite. Imagine my surprise when, instead of sweet sugary goodness, I had a mouthful of salty dough. Her Cub Scout group was over making salt dough ornaments.
Mom cooked with lots if love, a talent my sister also has. While Mom is now gone, her love and recipes live on.
Cooking for my family, to me is just an extra warm, tight hug from me to them. It’s loving on them that makes my heart swell. Recipes for me are memories. I lost my Mama & sister within 5 months of each other. My Mama’s recipes are that same warm, tight hug to me from her. They remind me of my sister & me taking turns fixing deviled eggs & blueberry crunch every holiday. I thank the Lord every day for all of them, He has Blessed us beyond measure!
Cooking m y families recipes brings my loved ones back next to me in my kitchen. I not only get to taste the memories but relive the chatter mentaly along with the laughter over the silly things that happened during our kitchen time. This is all I have because the beloved kitchen items and other momentos were not kept for those of us who were to young to voice an opinion on them. :-(.
This is awesome. A few years ago I purchased empty cookbooks for all of my kids. I sat down and typed up all of our families favorite recipes. At the top of each page I put the name of the recipe and which family member it came from. I included blank pages for them to add to and email to each other. My grown children were delighted with this special gift that keeps on giving.
My daughter and I began a Family Cookbook as a Bicentennial project in 1976 – she was 6 and I was 26. We sent letters to every family in our address book – grandparents, great aunts, my Mom’s stepfather’s South Carolina family – many of whom I had never met, my teenage cousins, etc. It included the buttermint recipe my daughter learned to make in Kindergarten, and the bread recipes I taught my little sisters to bake.
We typed and mimeographed the recipes, and printed copies for everyone. I believe our first effort was about 65 pages.
A few years later, my Mom felt an update was called for, and since I had a new baby and a broken leg, she tackled the update. Over the years, it was revised many times. It is currently 246 pages long, and is used most often from pdf computer files, allowing users to find recipes by the Search function as well as the Table of Contents.
I’ve branched out with a dog/cat cookbook and a gluten-free cookbook for our autistic or celiac family.
We use this cookbook more than any other. From my Grandmother’s chocolate pie (demanded for almost every birthday) and my other grandma’s chocolate covered Easter eggs to recipes from distant relatives on the Maryland shore, you can find something you’ll love.
My current goal is adding photos and biographical notes for each cook. I’m hoping one of my nieces will take over recipe maintenance when I am no longer here.
Family recipes mean a lot to me. It’s like a small piece of my mother and grandmother are still here with me.
Family recipes bring me back to a time or place or a person. We have lost so many of the matriarchs in our family over the last few years that these recipes keep them alive.
Means letting my legacy love of cooking will live on with my children!
I’ve started recipe boxes for each of them, filled with my success and failure but mostly my good one!
Thank you for always inspiring us!
Your love of God and family make my heart smile♥️
Family recipes create wonderful memories while leaving a legacy for our children. Preparing them is almost magical, not only in the way they smell and taste – but also in the way they make you feel when you’re cooking them! There’s just something special about seeing my late mama’s handwriting on a recipe card or in the margins of a cookbook. When I make her dishes, it’s like she’s here with me again!
All of the ladies in my family have dishes for which they are known and remembered…Maw Maw’s chicken and dumplings and pies, Grandmom’s baked chicken and veggies, Mom’s roast. Food definitely brings people together for conversation, laughter, and memory making. Thank you for sharing food that has been special to you.
I love this!! I was the only girl for the 16 years of my life amongst my brothers and cousins. We spent every Sunday at Grandma and Grandpa’s with my aunts and uncles. While the boys played, I was in the kitchen with the women. I learned to cook at my Grandma’s knee from her chicken and dumplings to mint chocolate chip cookies. I have so many memories wrapped up in Grandma’s kitchen as warm and sweet as the cookies always in her cookie jar.
Thank you for sharing your story and gifts. My grandma had recipes that I have tried to recreate (like her pickles!) because she didn’t write things down. There are so many foods that bring back memories of families times and learning to cook. It would be wonderful to have a special place to put those recipes. I am looking forward to talking with my sisters to gather them, even if I don’t get the free book. God has so blessed my family.
Family recipes are the best! I agree with everything you said! I was thinking tonight about my Thanksgiving meal. Everything I make is what I grew up on. I don’t have to use a recipe for anything. I just make it all like my mom and dad made it! I probably should write it all out in case my son and daughter-in-law ever want to know how to do it when I’m gone to be with Jesus!
Recipes of my lived ones who have past on make me feel like they are with us again. It brings them closer to me. It also helps me to show my children who these people in their family (most they have never met)really were.
I have my grandmother’s recipe box. I love the idea of a recipe journal to provide the stories and thoughts beyond the basics. To connect to our past.. and connect the past to what is to come.
Our family meals were so important growing up in a large Italian family….. when my mother passed away I found her hand written recipes and those shared by her friends and other family members ….. getting each meal to taste exactly like theirs over the years has required a lot of patience …. Hearing my children comment “this tastes just like grandma made it “ was not only a blessing but I felt she was there with me cooking along side me making sure it turned out just right !
How wonderfully timely! My two boys are both away at school and I sent them with copies of some family favorite recipes. I’m looking forward to seeing the color and scriptures you have in this journal
It’s so important to pass down our heritage. And as a South Asian, it’s just so natural to do it through food. Between the festivals and feasts in scripture, and God’s call to “remember “ we can act on those memories and celebrate God‘s goodness!
Your story really inspired me. my grandma and I use to have “tea times’ together and I would help her make the goodies. Later, my mother was an excellent cook and owned a cafe that was open only on Saturday. when my husband had to go to Viet Nam, my 1 year old son and I would go and sleep by my parents’ house. At 4:30 AM I would get up and help my mom bake pies. she wasn’t one to use receipes so I learned alot from her and wrote many notes. therefore, I love making pies, especially meringue pies.
It is passing on my Mom’s deliciousness. She is an amazing cook and her recipes are a gift to be shared amongst her loved ones.
i grew up in a broken home and my mom was not the type that loved cooking – so my happy moments in life were often around my grandma and the kitchen. She taught me to make pancakes, fried green tomatoes, and the CORRECT way to make REAL chicken and dumplings. (Thank God for southern women!)
If it wasn’t her teaching me, I learned from our Mennonite friends, enjoy fresh strawberry jam and shoo fly pie.
I now have a 10 year old daughter that loves to cook almost more than anything and I know that one day she’ll treasure my recipes and the time spent learning them like I did as a girl <3
I love the idea! In my family is the common bond that unites both sides of the family and generations. I am greek and I always cook the traditional cookies and dishes around the holidays. I want to order a copy if the journal. Please let me know how.
Thank you
Angela
Cooking with my family and sharing recipes that have been passed down over they years is one of my favorite things about the holidays! With my grandparents in heaven now, and aunts and uncles in different parts of the world, food is a way to remember the good times we’ve had together and look forward to a time where we can be together again. To have recipes that have been passed down over generations is such a blessing and helps keep my heritage alive for my children!
I’m so happy to have my grandma’s recipe box and many recipes she made often. It’s really special to me that I got to start making her Chocolate Pecan Pie for holidays while she was still here and she approved. Now that she’s gone, it’s so special to continue her legacy. She was an amazing lady, mother of 8, wife, grandma, and just the best. Now I add a dash of my Grandpa’s Bourbon to the pie to honor both their memories.
It is one of the things that brings family together. I had grandmas who were great cooks and my mom is an amazing cook. This journal looks amazing
Cooking is my form of love. We cook together. I bake to give to others and put a smile on their face, or to when they need a meal because they need it. It is love when they’ve lost someone close and I can fill their belly with warmth and hopefully joy for atleast a minute. Or feeding a new mom when she just doesn’t have the time! Cooking Thanksgiving with mom is the memories I won’t forget especially that I now have no grandparents alive anymore I treasure time with my parents. Food is love. And I hope to always share food and love to friends and family.
Recipes are the way we travel back to our mothers and grandmothers- and the way we leave the path for our daughters and granddaughters to follow.
I just made banket (A Dutch almond pastry) with my new daughter-in-law using my Grandma Martha’s recipe from her hand written recipe card. It brought back wonderful memories of my grandma teaching me how to make this treat! I get so many recipes off of the Internet today, this journal is a good way to pass on the recipes that have been special to our family.
Family recipes…this reminds me of a cake my mother used to make!! It was an almond cake and I loved it. One year (when I was about 35) my mom and dad surprised us on my birthday. As they walked up to the door, I was thrilled to see my mom walk up to the door holding her almond cake on a glass platter! I’ll never forget the smile on her face. I was smiling too!
Many years later on Christmas eve, I made this almond cake. One of my grandson’s told me he didn’t want aa second piece of cake. I was surprised because I had thought he loved this cake!
I was even more surprise when one of our (adult) kids said she really didn’t like this cake! 0ne after the other our grandkids said they didn’t like this cake either.
I still make almond cake because one of our four kids likes it, her son, my husband and I love my mother’s almond cake.
I’m sure you’d like it too!
My love language is cooking and I’m sure I have inherited that from multiple generations. Being able to not only provide something that my loved ones need, but something that can make them feel loved is a tremendous treasure.
Cooking family recipes brings back a constant connection to my past growing up as well as cooking in the now and future with my daughters and grandchildren. I always say that my passion for cooking is showing my love on a plate to everyone near and dear to me. It brings a conversation with old and new friends. But most importantly, it’s that deep connection to family that blossoms. I appreciate more and more how those recipes from my mom and dad, friends and family as well as school PTA cookbooks and church cookbooks remind me points of time in my life and brings huge smiles of those reactions when I shared those recipes or food I cooked. With hundreds of clipped and handwritten recipes along with hundreds of cookbooks that I have….well, I hope it just continues my love on a plate and it keeps paying it forward.
My Granny made the BEST biscuits. No one knows her recipe or her process. She is no longer with us. I want to make sure I get recipes from my Mom and I have them for my children.
Cooking and family recipes mean memories to me. I see my mom and grandma cook and bake all the time and there are times I help them as well as letting them know that I’m going to follow in their foot steps one day by cooking and baking for every holiday and occasion. Cooking is also a way for me to spend time with my mom and grandma.
Growing up, my mom didn’t do a lot of cooking. We didn’t have a lot of money, she worked a lot. But my grandma, man, she cooked. The only time I had home cooked meals was when I spent weekends with her. I don’t even have a lot of her recipes because I just watched what she did and remembered it. I’d love to get one of these to hand down to my kiddos one day.
Growing up, my mom hardly cooked. I always watched my aunt cook for the holidays and wished my mom could cook and bake up all the delicious foods with her. Now that I’m older and my mom is getting on in years, I love being the one to cook for her and bring our little family together for the holidays. For me, cooking is unity.
Cooking entwined everything in our family. I started cooking with my grandma and mom when I was old enough to stand on a chair at the sink. We then taught my niece in the same way. Every holiday revolved around the meal.
Fifteen years ago I decided to put into some kind of form a book of my family’s favorite recipes. What started out as a way to help my daughter and daughters-in-law prepare some of our traditional meals for holidays, birthdays, and every day meals in between, turned into “Phyl’s Family and Friends Favorites Recipe Book”. I used recipes that I had saved over the years from family and friends, some handwritten on 3×5 recipe cards, many on scraps of paper, some saved from newspaper and magazine articles – but all were dishes that I had prepared over and over knowing how much my family loved them. I shared tips on ‘how I made them’ not just what went into them (that’s the love part). I want to share part of the forward I wrote in this book: “Another reason to put these recipes together in written form is to enable and encourage the next generation/generations to gather as a family around a table and enjoy good food and each other’s company. I truly feel “Meal Time is Holy Time”. I’m from a big family, 7 siblings, 23 nieces and nephews, at least a dozen adult great nieces and nephews…….over the years, as they marry or start out on their own, they have each received a copy. And so the traditions live on…… Thanks Aaarti for sharing your family’s traditions and recipes, too.
Because of my husband’s career, we’re not always able to spend holidays with our extended families. Having my Mom and Grandmommy’s recipes brings them close at heart on those special days when we’re apart.
Family recipes are memories. My grandma always showed up with something new, but the thing that I remember most are her anise cutout cookies. The minute I taste anise, I’m transported back to her living room surrounded by family and Christmas presents.
Cooking & baking together is something my Mom and I have done since I was a little girl. I always wanted to be in the kitchen with her, to stir the dough or the pot; Measuring the flower and sugar, stealing chocolate chips from the bag. I remember the double chocolate, heart shaped birthday she made me every year! The birthday dinners and the weeknight dinners we always filled with love. Cooking with my Mom is still my favorite thing to do and now we learn new recipes and techniques together and there is nothing more important to me then preserving my moms recipes because they are her love!
Family recipes are the best and my Mother had so many wonderful ones.in particular was her Jam Thumbprint Cookies. I have her handwritten recipe and even though I can’t quite bake them to taste as good as hers, seeing her penmanship brings so much joy.
It brings back the memories of seeing her with dough in hand and her percise way of molding them into a work of art.
Cooking a meal and bringing your family together to eat may feel like such a standard thing. Just an everyday chore. But it’s the moments that make so many lasting memories. Having a recipe that you have made with your grandmother or mother and then being able to pass that down to your children. And make the lasting memory of cooking and baking those recipes together. It’s like passing a piece of your heritage down. Then watching the pride they feel after serving something they have made and seeing other enjoy it! Priceless. Cooking means family and family mean Joy!
My grandmother passed away recently, and my mother has been cooking a lot of her recipes lately. Having this journal would allow me to consolidate all the recipes in one place for my mom and me.
Love of cooking started at ten,Older son is a professional chef.Husband and younger guy amazing cooks.We all have our go to recipes and this is a fabulous idea,
Cooking a recipe that has been passed down from many generations and making it your own! The smells and gathering of friends and family and watching others smile enjoying your food it fills me with such joy!
Cooking for friends and family to me is a way to show my love for them. With me having a feeding tube I have my nourishment with formulas. Being able to cook for friends and family, I am able to enjoy the smells and colors of the foods as well. It is like I get to also live vicariously through them as they enjoy the recipes I have made for them. It is truly therapeutic. I love how it can still bring us all together even though I still have my feeding tube.
Aartie,
My mom didn’t like to cook. She made the basics-mac & cheese. She did have one recipe that I love–Strawberry Pie. Surprisingly you don’t cook it you freeze it. Mom & I used to go pick the strawberries by hand. I remember getting them a 25 cents a quart. We would work about 3-4 hrs. to get enough to make a few pies.
Years ago our church put together a cook book. Immediately I knew I had to have it. Most of the women in my church are excellent cooks. I wanted some of their hand me down recipes. One recipe I like is from my pastor’s wife. She made baked spaghetti. I took that recipe & added meatballs in there. People just love it. BTW I love love love to cook & experiment with foods.
Blessings 🙂
Capturing that written recipe will years, sometimes months later, bring comfort & memories of a loved one. Two reasons mean so much to me, the first is my mother has dementia & lives with me. She no longer cooks & I cook for her, but all her recipes were from memory and now long gone. Certain occasions are harder than others such as making dressing at Thanksgiving (do you have any idea how hard it is to try and copy a southern mommas dressing?!) This year I just ordered some.
My second is my MIL passed several years ago & was a wonderful cook. Known for her red velvet cake- which was always a secret. The first time I saw her recipe, written on a index card after her passing, my niece brought it to my home to bake the cake for Christmas. To know she had written it down to be passed down- I nearly cried. So amazing how one small piece of cake, and baking together from that card- can bring back such sweet memories.