Grandma'Recipe Box

  By Bruce Shawkey


I believe it was sister-in law Karen who rescued Grandma Quam's recipe box when we moved Grandma into a nursing home in the '70s. Many recipes are written in her own handwriting, sometimes using a fountain pen (to give you an idea of how old some of these recipes are). Many give credit to the person she got the recipe from. Many other recipes are clipped from newspapers. 

Many times, quantity of ingredients are not not given, just a "pinch" of this or a "dash" of that. Very few spices, mostly cinnamon, nutmeg, salt, and pepper. Fairly typical of Norwegian cooking.

Recipes for Norwegian foods such as Rommegrot, Lefse, Krumkake, etc. are not included as these were in Grandma's head and didn't require a written recipe.

Curiously, there are many recipes for hot dishes and casseroles that I don't recall Grandma ever making. Many of her dishes were vegetables from the garden, a chicken, or chuck roast. Just solid food, nothing fancy. And of course all sorts of homemade canned goods. I remember in particular her pickled beets.

This cute recipe box is probably from the 1950s.

I am embarking on an experiment, inspired by the movie, "Julie and Julia,' where actress Amy Adams cooked her way through Julia Child's recipe book, "Mastering the Art of French Cooking." Only I'll be cooking Grandma's recipes from her recipe box. I am doing this because I am one day out from a heart cath procedure and I am looking for a project that's not too brain-intensive. I'll do my best to continue the project when the brain fog clears.

The first recipe I am trying is "Roman Holiday Casserole." Here is the recipe:

1/4 cup Crisco                        1 tsp. salt

1 onion, chopped                    1/8 t. pepper

2 cups cooked spaghetti        1-1/2 canned tomatoes

1 lb. hamburger                        3/4 cup grated cheese

Fry onion in fat, then add meat and seasoning. Cook 5 minutes. Make a layer of spaghetti in baking dish. Add meat mixture and its drippings. Then add another layer of spaghetti. Pour in tomatoes. Sprinkle with grated cheese. Cover dish. Bake in oven 35 minutes. Remove cover. Bake 10 minutes more.

The recipe does not state oven temperature, but I'll assume 350 degrees. Also, I am going to cut the amount of Crisco to make the hot dish less greasy. I'll report how this tastes, and of course cook more recipes.

The recipe was no-doubt inspired by the 1953 Romance movie "Roman Holiday," starring Gregory Peck and Audrey Hepburn. The recipe is about as Italian as a can of Campbell's Spaghettios. But it was good, and made several meals.

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