A treasured keepsake

 When Jason and I got married almost 17 years ago, the women in our families gave me a fabulous gift.  They gathered recipes from both of our moms, my grandmothers, and both of our aunts and compiled them in a cookbook for me.  The great thing is that all of the recipes are handwritten by the contributor so I have some precious treasures.  The cookbook also includes personal notes from both of my grandmothers and drawings by my cousins who were 8ish and 11ish at the time.   You can see from the picture that it is very well used and is starting to fall apart.

My cousin Sarah did the drawing in the first picture and this precious drawing that says, "Have a happy honeymoon!"  funny!!

Here's what the pages look like...

I know this gift is somewhat dated.  I mean I guess today it probably would have been put together online in some sort of fancy book, but it is that much more precious to me because it is handwritten and preciously put together.  I love it so much!  So thanks to all the ladies who made this book possible!  I bet you had all forgotten about it.  

Oh and the reason for this post was actually to share a recipe.  My cousin Mary (who was 11ish around the time I got married?) actually contributed a recipe called Cocoa-Mint Yo-yos and I confess that I had never tried it until this Christmas.  I can't believe we've been missing out on this yumminess for all these years!  These little treasures were fabulous- kind of like chocolate mint whoopee pies- so yummy!  

Click here to go to my cooking blog for the recipe