Spoonfuls of Love

Does anyone else have one of these?

I don't mean that exact cookbook,

(although I know a few of you could say yes to that!)

but,

I mean a time-tested,

well-worn and well-loved

cookbook.

I

Its pages are filled with

recipes you love,

that your family loves you to make,

and brings back memories of meals

full of love?

The pages of the cookbook

I love

are torn and tattered.

Some are stained.

I can probably make the recipes

I love most

without using the cookbook.

But that particular cookbook

is much more than a book

full or recipes.

To me, it is a book full of love.

This cookbook,

going on 30 (gulp) years old

is full of recipes

from the ladies of the church

where I grew up.

I have favorite recipes I use 

from this book.

But, each time I open the book

I am reminded of much more than food.

I see names of women that shaped my life.

I remember eating their food at church potlucks,

eating at their kitchen tables for lunch,

or breakfast,

or backyard cookouts.

I remember the love they had

for their families

as they cooked these very recipes.

It is not just the food that 

fills my stomach,

but the memories that 

flood my heart.

Wonderful women 

with 

mouth-watering recipes.

So many of these women

have already 

made their journey to heaven,

but through their food

I remember them clearly.

Some of the recipes I love:

Doris's Strawberry Pie

Kezia's Cocunut Pie

Mary Sue's Mexican Casserole

(the first Mexican casserole I ever made)

Mrs. O'Kief's Poppyseed Bread

(one of the stained and torn pages in my book)

Esther Ruth's Chicken Croquettes

(which I change to salmon)

My Grandmother's Cornbread Dressing

(which I make every Thanksgiving and a few other times per year)

Ruby's Pineapple Chiffon Pie

(which I make every Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Year's and Easter..and

I always make two.  One is never enough!)

Ruby C.'s Pumpkin Rolls

(every year in Kansas I made 2 dozen of these cakes for my friends)

My Mom's Pecan Pie

(the only Pecan Pie I know of that does not use syrup...therefore scrumptious!)

Zeke's Monstrous Green Salad

There are so many others where the recipe 

or the lady behind the recipe

make me smile:

Elva, Della, Debbie, Katie, Ann and Mary.

The list 

goes on and on.

As my own children have gotten older

and began to

leave the nest,

they have asked me frequently

for recipes our family loves.

I began to put together a cookbook

for them about two years ago,

but never got it finished.

This summer, I am determined

to finish it.

You can bet the recipes

I mentioned above

will be included as well.

I hope when my children use

the cookbook I make,

it will bring back memories, 

not only of great food

but of happy times 

gathered around the table, 

the pool,

the firepit,

or the

backyard table.

I hope that 

after years of cooking,

my cookbook for them

will look just like

the spoonfuls of love

I gather from this...