Good Ol' Downhome Cookin'

One of my items on my to-do list for last month (oops...I'm late) was to get ready for the garage sale that a friend of mine and I are having tomorrow, so I figured I better get around to figuring out what I wanted to sell and get it priced.  It turned into a much bigger organization project than I expected and I ended up completely reorganizing the kitchen, pantry, basement and laundry room yesterday.

That's when I came across the long-lost box of cookbooks that included all of my grandmother's old books and handwritten recipes and I knew I just had to share this gem with you!

Originally copyrighted 1966, printed and purchased by my grandmother in 1975 for $1.25 in Osage Beach, MO.

Peppered with categories like "Side Vittles" and "Jest Plain Foolishness", this little cookbook is ripe with mispellings, interesting folk language and a dizzying array of somewhat scary recipes for things like pigs feet, baked coon and possum, and snapping turtle stew.  I think I'll pass on those, but there are actually some really good recipes in here as well for southern style biscuits, bread, cakes and pies.  Yum!

In addition to recipes and colorful language, there's quite a bit of sage advice like this thrown in. :

• Tea made from hot water an' corn silk will cure bed wettin' in young'uns.
• Th' root of rhubarb, worn on a string 'round th' neck, will keep off bellyache.
• Tie a big red onion to th' bedpost an' it keeps th' ones in th' bed from havin' cold.
• A live snake put in a barrel of cider will keep it frum spoilin' an' keep it sweet.
• To cure chicken pox - after th' sun goes down, go to th' chicken house, lay down an' let a black hen fly over you.
• If you keep a mule shoe in th' stove oven it will keep hawks away frum th' chickens.
• Thunder sours milk an' kills th' chickens in sittin' eggs.
• A buckeye carried in the pocket will cure rheumatism.

That last one is kind of funny to me now, because I remember that my grandmother used to put a buckeye in her bra every morning.  When I asked her why, she said it "cured ills". 

Of course, I can't end this post without giving you one of the recipes and, with coffee as expensive as it is, this might come in handy.  So here goes and I hope you enjoy!

Hard Times Coffee

Short of coffee an' too pore to buy any? Here's yore answer if you have the' followin' ingredients.

Mix well 2 quarts wheat bran with 1 pint yellow corn meal  Add 3 well-beaten eggs and 1 cup sorghum molasses.  Beat well; spread on pan and put to dry in oven.  Use great care by stirring often while it is browning-this is the secret of good coffee. A handful is sufficient for two persons. Sweet cream improves the flavor of the brew, but, as with store-bought coffee, this is a matter of personal taste.

Let me know if you try this recipe - I'm afraid I don't have any sorghum molasses!

Shared as part of this week's Country Homemaker Hop.