Cut & Paste Recipes from Grandma Daisy

One of my most precious possessions is a collection of three small 9 1/2 inch x 6 inch spiral notebooks. One is red, one is blue and one is green. Each one is worn from decades of use. Each one is bulging with hand picked recipes from across the span of my Grandma Daisy's life as a new wife in late 1930's, mother in the 1940's, hostess, Grandmother and active member of many committees, including DAR.
Although I have also inherited my Grandma Daisy's Good Housekeeping CookBook, Third Printing, 1955, and her Betty Crocker's Picture CookBook, Seventh Printing, 1950, these are not nearly as dear to me. When I think of her putting these spiral notebooks together over the years, testing out different styles and tastes, I feel like a piece of time has been preserved.
The red spiral is titled "Cake, Cookies, Pudding" across the cover and she taped a vintage drawing by Louise Howe Ewing that depicts a cheerful lady rolling out dough on a simple table, surrounded by various baking supplies. I believe it was part of a greeting card.

The Red Spiral Notebook


The blue spiral is the fullest one, newspaper clippings hanging over the edges. This one is titled "Bread, Candies, Soups, Pickles". The green spiral is titled "Meat, Chicken, Fish, Sauce, Salads, Vegetable". Although each spiral had it's own title, I have found that several recipes are mixed around in other spirals. You just may find a wonderful recipe for "Chinese Chicken Livers" in the blue spiral, which you would expect to find in the green instead. I guess that's one of the benefits of compiling your own recipes, you make the rules.