A post from Kelli–
I don’t know about anyone else out there, but there is just something about church cookbooks that I love. Â It seems as though no matter what page I open it to, there’s some good recipe that I want to try. Â While there are a few things that seem a bit odd (I saw a recipe for pork and beans used in a dessert once), most of them are great, simple, hearty recipes that I usually have most ingredients for.
This one is no different!
This cookbook is from the Our Lady of Mount Carmel Church in Lawler, Iowa. Â As you can see, it’s likely seen it’s better days, but this is the original that my mom bought when it first came out in the 90’s.
When I was younger and would cook, Mom always yelled at me because I would slop whatever I was cooking all over the cookbook in question. Â This one was no exception!
As you can see, there’s lots of little “love marks” all over! Â It was loved so much that a lot of the pages have even fallen out!
A week or so ago, Jason requested tacos for supper with homemade shells. Â I knew that the recipe was in the Lawler cookbook as we call it, but because I knew that it was in a million or so pieces, I wasn’t sure if I had the page or where that specific page was. Â Luckily, I was able to flip to the bread section and find it pretty quickly!
As you can see there, we made multiple batches of these when I was younger and I did a little experiment to see if there was another measurement for the 3 Tablespoons of vegetable oil when making a triple batch. Â When I was younger, I also remember giving mom a hard time about writing the recipe to take a “glob of dough the size of a small hamburger.” Â After I was razzing her about it, she asked me how I would have written it. Â I couldn’t think of a better or different way!
Needless to say, I’m on the lookout for a new “Lawler cookbook,” but I’ll always keep this one around. Â I think those little “love marks” give it a little personality!
I love those type of cookbooks as people are always sharing their best recipes. In my cookbooks you can tell which recipes I go back to because the page of a successful recipe is usually stained in some manner. The worse the page looks, the more the recipe has been made. :)
Hey Kelli, I think that pork n bean cake is in the Zion cookbook. I made that once and it was pretty good :)
A friend of mine makes fudge with a can of refried beans and it’s delicious.
Yes pork and beans bars are very goodl Like a spice bar, you don’t taste the pork and beans.
You could buy some page protectors at Wal-Mart or Staples, slide the pages in and then put them in a notebook.
I have a few cookbooks that look like this too!
Those taco shells are fantastic! I remember eating them at your house growing up, and they’re still my favorite. I’m so glad you shared this!
That’s a sure sign of a good cookbook!
Hi Kelli
Aren’t church cookbooks great?? Here’s a way to rescue a coil bound cookbook. Buy a 5 x 8 inch binder with photo sleeves from the office supply store. Slide each page into a sleeve. Voila! a new cookbook without loose pages.
Happy cooking!
I jotted down the taco shell receipe and am going to give them a try…I never would have thought to make my own, but I have seen a machine making them while visiting in Texas. Better late than never.