Lemon tea cookies. My ‘go to’ cookbook when I haven’t made it before.

An effing classic. If you want your mom's or grandmother's cooking, find their book and don't let your sibling's grubby paws touch it. It'll never see the light of day again otherwise.

Besides being a valuable source of great recipes, it doubles as a sacred repository, precariously holding betwixt its leaves innumerable slips of news clippings which are the key to multiple generations worth of nostalgic BS and simultaneously serves as the secret in passing along core memories to your own younger family. This is gold and you'd be the fool to lose it. ( )

The recipes I grew up making, I can now share with my family.

Nostalgia: n. A bittersweet longing for things, persons, or situations of the past.

I am a sucker for sentimentality. There are times, however, that I'm confused as to how nostalgia can push through the fullness of time with such a golden sheen. Often the things that I can be nostalgic for don't end up being nearly as enjoyable when I happen upon them at my current perch in life. I end up disappointed, and sometimes sad, for ruining what esteem I held for something that elicited such joy at a lesser privileged time in my history. It might be best to leave some things well enough alone, but I was hopeful that the Better Home and Gardens New Cook Book would not be applied to this category.

If memory serves, this was one of three cook books that we had in my home growing up. The edition that we had was much larger and had a hardcover. This is certainly not that version, as it is significantly smaller both in overall size and text font, some pages have separated from the binding - even with minimal use - and it's harder to keep open because it is a mass-market paperback, so be forewarned. I decided to only rate it 3.5 peaches because of these flaws, and for the basic recipes within, with a whole peach devoted to its nostalgia and staying power.

I couldn't tell you what my mother cooked out of her better quality book - if I'm honest, not much, as cooking wasn't necessarily her forte - but, once or twice, she likely baked some shortbread. For me, it was enough to just have the colourful book to flip through, and dream of the day when I would be able to make anything I wanted. I think I may have even spent some time copying out recipes that I found appealing. The life of a child before the advent of the internet, sigh.

As a gift from my mother, at some point over the last twenty years, I received this smaller paperback version of that red-and-white plaid cook book in my mind's eye, and I set out to make my childhood dreams come true. But, not unlike that big old book, this one sat idle for many years.

Cooking was a skill that took me decades to acquire, as I had other interests that stole my time - many that shall not be named on this website - but by my 30s I had steered my head away from all of those distractions, and I jumped in with both feet. I fancy myself a bit of a foodie at this point in my early 40s, certainly as compared to my earlier years when I subsisted off of Kraft dinner, wieners, and beans. I truly enjoy fixing up delicious meals for my family, even if they take all day and produce a big, honking sink of dishes. Ok, I hate that part, but it is an unfortunate consequence of the cooking, and I am without a dishwasher, so what can you do?

The Better Homes and Gardens New Cook Book might make me smile when I pass it on my bookshelves, but I rarely use it unless I'm looking for some kind of bake sale item - the lemon squares are a fabulous option in this case. I just have so many other books that offer more exotic or exciting recipes, so this one often gets skipped and forgotten. I decided to give it a chance as my opening post for The Cookery on Peachy Books, as it deserves some attention after all this time, and if nothing else, there is the nostalgia factor that I appreciate.

I set out to make a meal from this collection for my lads on the weekend. I took a closer look at this classic and read through the first section entitled: 'Cooking Basics.' Here you'll find a breakdown of required ingredients and appliances, some suggestions to maintain kitchen safety, party planning tips, the food guide pyramid, and cooking techniques; all of the things that would help someone completely inexperienced navigate their way through a kitchen.

I had my son take a gander to see if there was anything that he would prefer to have for Sunday dinner. He headed straight to the 'Appetizers & Snacks' section and chose potato skins, and on a neighbouring page, a dill dip for veggies and crackers. I can work with that, I thought. So I took out a package of ground beef from the freezer and decided I would make some burgers to go with his finger-food fare.

We prefer our burgers with simply salt, pepper, and ground beef, which doesn't require a recipe, of course. Since I didn't have any buns on hand, I sifted through the book until I found the 'Breads' section. There was a 'dinner rolls' recipe, but after reading through to the end, I found additional instructions detailing how to instead form the dough into burger buns. I was all set to begin making our scrumptious meal!

To see the results of my finished meal as well as the bookmark I was inspired to make by this exercise, please visit my blog post in The Cookery or Book Review sections at https://peachybooks.ca/2021/06/09/the-cookery-cook-book-review-better-homes-and-... . ( )

I have used this cookbook extensively over the last 30+ years, and made pretty much every recipe in it at least once if not more. There was not one that we did not care for. One I made recently (a few days before Thanksgiving) that filled the air with a wonderful aroma was Vegetable Beef Soup:

Vegetable Beef Soup

3 pounds beef shank crosscuts
2 bay leaves
1 tablespoon salt
1 teaspoon dried oregano, crushed
1/2 teaspoon dried marjoram, crushed
1/4 teaspoon pepper
1 (10 oz.) package frozen whole kernel corn
2 cups chopped, peeled tomatoes, or 1 (16 oz.) can tomatoes, cut up
1 1/2 cups cubed, peeled potatoes
1 cup fresh or loose-pack frozen cut green beans
1 cup sliced carrots
1 cup sliced celery
1/2 cup chopped onion
minced garlic to taste (optional)

In a large Dutch oven or kettle, combine meat, bay leaves, salt, oregano, marjoram, pepper, and 8 cups water. Bring to boiling; reduce heat. Cover and simmer 2 hours. Remove meat. When cool enough to handle, cut meat off bones and coarsely chop. Discard bones. Strain broth through large sieve or colander lined with 2 layers of cheesecloth. Skim fat and return broth to pan. Stir in meat, corn, tomatoes, potatoes, beans, carrots, celery, onion and garlic. Return to boiling; reduce heat. Cover and simmer about 30 minutes or until vegetables are crisp-tender. Discard bay leaves. Makes 6 main-dish servings. ( )