Cookbooks through the ages....

Have you ever come into some "free stuff"?
I mean, has someone ever showed up on your door saying "Hey, I've got this stuff I don't want anymore...you want it?".  Free, no charge, absolutely gratis?

A friend of ours is a great source of "free stuff".

He is able to get some pretty bizarre stuff too.

Once, he came to us asking if we could use an antique chick warmer....cast iron...

Among other things, he has brought  free fence pieces, an antique camping lantern, a weed whipper, 5 boxes of mason jars, canned goods, a chainsaw...in short...this man is a treasure.

He knows such a cross section of people, that his knowledge and resources are broad.

A family friend of his died recently...leaving her husband to get rid of a lots of stuff before he down sizes into a retirement villa somewhere.  We were gifted 3 boxes of cookbooks.

That is how I came across some of the oldest cookbooks I've ever seen.

I thought I would share some of the most interesting of the bunch...and there were lots, trust me...

The above cookbook must be some sort of classic, circa 1964.

Every proper American household wouldn't be caught without its box of Bisquick.

Personally, I've never used Bisquick...not sure why...but I'm sure there is a good reason.

The title of the above cookbook was enough to make me do a double take and read on past the front cover.  "Cook not mad?!?!  What the heck is this all about..." I caught myself thinking.

Rational Cookery refers to extending your valuable ingredients for large families.

Often times, the average Pioneer family would have 5-6 children at any given time.  Add to that mix, any hired hands that also lived on the property.

People travelling in the back woods would stop in and ask for overnite lodging and a meal.

Figure your harvest would have to feed up to 10 people at any given meal.

The above book is a reprint of Canada's first published cookbook.

Reprinted in 1972, the original was first published in 1831...there is much more than cooking advise in these pages.  Inside there are tips for dying woolen and linen fibres,

common recipes for sickness, how to make bread in a clay flower pot

(which you know i'll be trying one of these days),

drying and preserving flowers and plants, how to get stains and mould out of cloth and

how to dress a calf's head (which I won't be trying...ever).

This little gem was published in 1963.

Apparently "teens" needed help planning an appropriate menu to serve when having a gathering.

Thank goodness Five Roses Flour Co. is here to help!

Inside are several themes including Boston Bean Bash, Pizza Platter Party, Mexican Dude Party and a "Kookie" Cookie Party for a sleepover with the girls.

Each theme includes an appetizer, a main dish and either a dessert or a beverage to serve.

There's even a contest at the back...if you win, you'll be crowned "The Young Baking Champion of 1963" and receive a $1500.00 educational grant.

There was also a baking questionnaire in order to qualify for the contest.

I have to admit...I couldn't answer half the questions...

This booklet struck me as a collection of college food...

It's extremely basic and trusting the average reader's kitchen consists of ketchup, salt and pepper.

This one is circa 1958 and features a cake and dessert section larger than the main dish section.

The best part is the beverage section!!!

Inside this leaflet are recipes for Cherry pink float, Chocolate marble float and Spicy mocha float.

The only disturbing thing is that every recipe uses the product called PET instant (which by the inside cover advertisement implies it is a milk powder).

A truly rare find...a Robin Hood Flour recipe leaflet from the War Ration era.

Basically this book displays every conceivable way you can extend meat with flour products.

Tons of dessert crumbles and meat loaf recipes.

No date attached to this pamphlet...but, when I searched Google,

articles came up in the Ottawa Citizen dating back to 1943. 

A preserve cookbook straight from the masters, Consumers Glass Co Ltd.

Sadly the pages with the pickle recipes was stuck together...of course.

No published date was listed, but a quick online search reveals Dominion Glass Co Ltd began in 1913 but eventually changed its name to Consumers Glass in 1989.

A friend of mine recently took a college program called Sustainable Agriculture.

Basically this is a course for people who want to run their own small scale farm or who already have a farm and want to operate it more efficiently.

She told me about a unit on jarring & pickling.  She warned me about the dangers of using a recipe that has not come from a safe source...meaning, a reputable source...not necessarily from your old Aunt Martha.

The problem you face is f you don't get the measurements or procedures correct,

you could be in for a hefty helping of botulism.

The only way to avoid this problem, if to get recipes from "Trustworthy Sources".

Bernardin fits the bill.  So does Consumers Glass.

This cookbook was dedicated to the Essex Methodist Church.

In memoriam, as the church was destroyed in 1907...same year as the cookbook was published.

There is a wonderful forward all about the hardworking ladies of this church.

The back page has an ad for Salada Tea out of Toronto.

Is it weird that I have a Salada tea box in my basement holding blankets?

The phone number listed is only 4 digits long....

Unknown published date...but seriously?

There are repeated ads for Zam-buk soap that cures everything from eczema to

frostbite to cold sores.  Zam buk dates back to 1906 but is still produced and used today in South Africa.   
Pep is also advertised within...for colds and coughs.

It didn't come to me with a cover...

so I have no idea what this publication is called or where it came from.

Front cover

Back cover

No indication as to who published this or when.
A simple handbook on how to do loads of things, not just cooking, much like the Cook Not Mad book.
The back cover reveals at least the advertising comes from Sharbot Lake.
Another quick search reveals that Chamberlain's Cough Remedy dates back to the early 1900's.

I had to finish off with something I found in our own cookbook collection.

(Of course I had to clear some out in order to make room for the new additions)

Now that I've found this classic...I just might enjoy next summer a touch more!

Does anyone else like historical cookbooks?
(or is it just me...)

Adventure Time - The Search for Plums

Ever have an real adventure?

The kind you need a treasure map to go on?

Well, one fell into my lap on the a few weeks ago.

I heard a rumour there was a plum tree

only a few miles down the road from my house.

I was intrigued...to say the least...

Problem was, there was no map.

Only a verbal description (that was rough at best)

of the general location.

As the story goes:  

"Just down from yer in-laws house, 

there used to be a lane way with an old freezer at the end for garbage.

On the west side of the road, there is an apple tree.

Behind it is the plum tree."

I became determined to find this mystery plum tree, 

growing in the wild, completely unsuspecting.

I spent a couple of days driving by the general area slowly....but no apple trees to be found!  

I figured the only way to find this mystery plum tree would be on foot.

So one day, I jumped in the car and drove to the area where I suspected said lane way existed.

It was a bright, sunny day with a cool breeze.

The fall colours still hiding, for the most part.

There was some evidence that the cold nights have been having an effect.

The red on this small branch was fiery!

The end of summer brings with it some pretty interesting shades and textures.

I love the bloated and puffy cattail!

Even makes my nemesis goldenrod look beautiful...

One of the things I love about this region is the 

abundance of beautiful rocks and minerals.

At this point in the adventure, I had walked south down the road away from the lane way.

I walked until I figured far enough to no longer be "just down from".

I had not spotted anything that looked like an apple tree.

(which, this time of year, should be dripping with fruit)

I was beginning to lose faith that I would find the mystery tree.

I stopped to take a breath.

I could see my car parked just in the lane way entrance.

*Sigh*

My heart sank.  Is this really where the adventure ends?

That's when I happened to glance beside me for a moment.

I spotted an odd rock formation.

Something clicked...rocks don't pile themselves!

I approached.

At this point I was feeling like an anthropologist, 

creeping around an ancient settlement.

I had discovered the foundations of an old homestead.

Two distinct sections of foundation.

I could just imagine the root cellar.

Trees were growing up in the middle of the rock-walled rooms.

Satisfied I had discovered something, I turned to leave.

Only to notice something else.

Not quite a path, it wasn't worn down.

More like the grass was pushed aside by something...

and it lead me over the hill and away from the road.

I was following the pathway towards a view of a small pond.

That's when I heard buzzing...LOTS of buzzing.

I looked up and saw it.

THE PLUM TREE!!!

There were not many plums left on this tree.

Most had been plucked by deer or sucked dry by bees.

The longer I stood there...the more bee work I was able to observe.

I took my husband by later on that day only to notice how fast those bees really work!

Above is a picture of the plums as I observed them earlier in the day.

By the time I came back (approx 4 hrs later), this bunch was almost gone!

The plum on the far left has a bee on the side...gives you an idea of the size of the bees.

I managed to grab one lower hanging plum.

I gotta be honest...not really a fan of plums that I get in stores.

The skin in tough and bitter...inside the flesh seems mealy and tart.

These plums were different.

They were tender, juicy and sweeter than I could imagine.

Definitely worth the trek!

The lower branches had this dark protruding growth.

I'll have to do some research on it.

Just before leaving this glorious find, I glanced down and saw the bees leave behind the pits.

Some were nice and dry already.

Those bees sure do pick their fruit clean!

I brought home 5 pits to start plum trees of my own.

Until then, I will take great pleasure in hiking to our wild plum tree next August & September.

(I'll be sure to bring a small step ladder or a cherry picker too!)

Shepards Pie

Shepard's pie is one of the first things I made from scratch.  I've made it so often that I almost forgot to mention it on this blog.  I really does encorporate evrything I believe in...if a meal could represent ones beliefs...

Wikipedia says... 

Cottage pie or shepherd's pie is a meat pie with a crust of mashed potato.  The term cottage pie is known to have been in use in 1791, when the potato was being introduced as an edible crop affordable for the poor.

Wikipedia goes on to say that you can use any kind of leftover meat in this dish.  One of our favorites is venison.  My mom and her fella left for Arizona and left us with their meat!  What a score!

Hubbie browned the ground off a few days ago.

That was pefect!  

All I had to do was saute the veggies, add the meat and make the juice. 

I used a full carrot from our garden (stored in moist peat moss), 3 cloves of verona garlic festival garlic, pressed, saute both until soft.  Add meat and a liberal dash of worchestershire sauce.  Prepare 2 packets of beef boullion and add to the mixture.  Heat until flavours mix and the juice gets thicker.  Add a turn of steak spice of your choice and simmer.  When the mixture gets to smelling great...add the peas and corn (or beans) all of which we had frozen while they were in season and stored in ziploc bags in the freezer.

I have to admit to a certain amount of sneakiness here...I hide parsnips in with the mashed potatoes! 

I used several brown potatoes from our garden (stored in buckets in the basement in dry peat).  But I also slipped in 3 hunks of frozen parsnip too.  I boil them right along with the taters and mashed them with milk, a dash of cream and a big helping of butter.  S & P to taste.

I scooped all the venison mixture in a large dish...then smooth out the surface with the spatula. 

I add large dollops of mashed potatoes to the top...and smooth it out too.

I always add a dash of salt to the top of the mashed potatoes and a tsp of butter on top (to make the mashed topping get a bit crispy!)

I love that eating shepard's pie feels like you are eating a bit of history.

What you're really doing is using almost everything out of a garden and adding in someone's free meat

You also have one heck of a great recession-busting, not-made-of-turkey, beat-the-winter-chills celebration dish!  Here's to the home made goodness of gardening all year round!!!

A day in the wild...

Let me start by saying that this post has nothing to do with cooking or gardening...so you'll just have to bear with me.

After 7 weeks away in Ottawa, I really had to come to terms with the amount of time I had just spent away from my family and my home.  One of the things I had no idea I was going to miss was just being in nature.  It was such a simple thing that I missed.

The ability to go somewhere without hearing man made noise.

Fortunately, I am able to drive less than 20 min from my home and find such a place.  Even more fortunate am I that I have wonderful family that invites me to share in this place.

I drive the long country road that takes me to this place on a grey day that was threatening rain.

I feel not just that I have escaped from the city, but that I may have been transported back into the times of the settlers.  This may have been my backyard as an early pioneer in these parts.

Paddling around a secluded lake on a day without work.

Its actually the backyard of the hunting camp that is a part of my husband's family.  This day trip was not about hunting though.  It was about reconnecting.  With family, friends and nature.

The hunting camp started with humble beginnings but now features such luxuries as indoor toilets and a tv.

I was excited to get out on the bikes.  I haven't been on an atv run in a long while.  Its a popular past time with my in-laws...so I get to visit with them while exploring a raw and rudged landscape that swings from bold and beautiful to other-worldy and alien.

The familiar trees were oak and sumac.  Amazing that these trees could grow on top of not much more than rock.  The ground cover plants started to take on alien life forms.

Down a pine-needle filled pathway we discovered the gateway

to Scanlon Lake (or as some maps say Sexton Lake). 

The lake was misty and quiet.  Like glass laid in front of the rocks at the shoreline.  I could picture native gatherers crossing this body of water in stealthy canoes.  

We took our lunch break and enjoyed the peaceful quiet.   I could image early settlers fishing in small boats or playing one of the first recorded games of hockey. 

This was a relative of mine back in the early 1900's (picture actually taken in the Tweed area I believe).

I could picture this as my home.  I could be a hunter/gatherer and live in this land.  My mind began to race with the possibilities.  Is there enough in this rocky area to survive?  Our tour pressed on and my eyes were trying to spot the possibilities...

I suddenly wished I had spent the last 7 weeks reading Steve Brill's book call "Identifying & Harvesting Edible & Medicinal Plants in Wild (and not so wild) Places"...as I have no idea what these berries were.  They had a kind of spike on their leaf...so I took the hint and moved on.  It was on the verge of rain all afternoon...so I was glad that I HADN'T brought the book with me.

Mushrooms are another thing I know virtually nothing about...I can spot a puffball and a morel with confidence, but that is where I draw the line.  These white suckers were enormous!  Probably could have made a meal out of each of them....but I was smart enough to take pictures now and do the research later.

One of the great things about this property is the personal history.  There is a monument built to my mother-in-law's parents Chester and Sarah.  It represents a spectacular view of the property and a connection to nature that is being passed down through the generations.  Owen is the next family member in our wee family that has yet to see the monument. 

On the plaque is the phrase "Some people go their whole lives, without seeing anything like this".  A pause to reflect how true that statement really is.

At what felt like the peak of a mountain, the landscape started to feel alien.  The groundcover plants looked like they should have been grown in an aquarium.  The textures of these plants were spectacular!  Spikey stars with bright orange mushrooms erupting from them. 

Like coral but on the surface of a rock! 

Wild strawberries and their runners in action.

Moss that looks like shag carpeting...

Juniper berries by the bucketload...but not quite ripe enough.

Moss that appears to form little higways aross the rocks...

I could imagine pioneer beaver trappers traversing through land like this to make their wages.

The rocks suddenly changed the colour of the landscape!

We could see the rain coming in the distance and decided to head on back to the camp. 

I had one last commune with the landscape before it was time to head back to my home in cottage country.  My mind was filled with thoughts of early settler life, getting back to basics and reading that encyclopedia by Steve Brill.  I vow to know more edible plants the next time I get invited back to the hunting camp.

What do you do to escape the urban sprawl and get back in touch with our natural selves?