Nana's Cookbook, Recipes from 1937

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Cookbook of Myrna Beals McGinnis Graff's recipes, compiled by daughter Jane Arletta McGinnis Black Donatelli.
"To order additional copies of this book for $9.99 plus $2.95 shipping and handling contact Jane Black by e-mail at JBlack4253@aol.com" Note: this email address appears to be out of date.
We would like very much to hear from the author.

The following consists of a sampling of extracts from the cookbook.

Introduction

I remember my mother...She was the head of our loving family. My father died when I was only one year old leaving her with three small children to raise. The kitchen was always the center of our home. My brother, Tom, my sister, Judy and I were raised on these wonderful recipes. We grew up in the tiny, western town of Emlenton, Pennsylvania. When I was a little girl the town was filled with many older wealthy families that made their fortunes in oil. This used to be the richest little town in the United States. My mother was a born nurse. She always knew what she wanted to be when she grew up. She was very beautiful and loved everyone. Private duty nursing was her favorite of all nursing practices. When someone in the town needed a nurse, my mother was the one everyone wanted. Year after year she would nurse the same families through their old age and comfort them until the end. She became part of their families.
My brother, sister and I were in school all day and in the evening, Mother would come home and we would greet her with hungry cries of "What's for dinner?"

I have vivid memories of my mother making homemade applesauce. We would pick the apples from our back yard tree and after cooking them, put them through a sieve and turn it around with a wooden paddle to get the skins off.

When it was cool outside the kitchen windows would steam up from the heat of cooking as we ran around the house taking Mother's direction for setting a "perfect" table. We had several sets of beautiful dishes and would match a fresh picked bouquet from our garden with the season and the meal that was being prepared. Setting a nice table was very important, even if it was just the four of us.

Mother would send us out in the yard with a pan to pull up the green part of dandelions. We would wash it in a sink of water and mother would steam it. She would put it over her scrumptious mashed potatoes and add her home made bacon dressing. It was the most wonderful taste of bitter and sweet. Mother..said the secret to mashed potatoes is to put your salt, pepper and butter in first; then and only then add your milk in last.

I loved mother's blueberry and rhubarb pies the best. Our neighbors, the Stewarts, had the best rhubarb patch and would always share with us. No one could make the pie dough to taste the way Mother could. When she took it out of the oven and put it on the pie board, it was golden brown as a wheat field in the evening just before sundown. My favorite dessert is her strawberry shortcake. We would go to the nearest patch where we found the biggest reddest sweetest smelling strawberries...We would slice and put them in her favorite large yellow bowl, spoon some sugar over them and stir. She would then put the juicy berries over warm shortcake from the oven.

I have put together the recipes my mother gathered from the 1930s that she used to raise her family. We always ate healthy meals made with fresh cooked food and have enjoyed living a healthy life. We were so lucky to have grown up with a large garden filled with nutritious vegetables. My Uncle Norman brought a big truckload of manure from his farm once a year to fertilize the garden for us.

...As a little girl I would sit down in the middle of the garden and pick cucumbers, tomatoes, green beans, onions, lettuce, broccoli, radishes, asparagus, squash; wipe off the dirt and eat it. Now that is the way to eat fresh vegetables! I will never forget the way the vegetables tasted and the smell of the garden. I hope you have had this unforgettable experience too. As you prepare these recipes, I hope they build memories for your family as they have ours.

Nana's Favorites

Potato Salad
5-6 Potatoes
1/2 cup sugar
1 Tbsp. corn starch
1/2 tsp. dry mustard
3 Onions, cut fine
2 Eggs, beaten
1 Cup milk
4 Tbsp. Butter
1/2 cup Vinegar
Celery seeds
Salt to taste.
Preparation: 1.) Peel and cook potatoes until soft, then mash with a fork.
2.) Dice 3 onions;add to the potatoes. Let stand about 1/2 hour, with the celery seeds and salt.
3.) For the dressing combine the sugar, corn starch, mustard, eggs, milk and butter. Cook in a couble boiler. When mixture begins to thicken, slowly add 1/2 c. vinegar.
4.) Combine dressing with diced potatoes and onions. Add 4 diced hard boiled eggs.

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