Possession #105 - Cookbooks

Some people can't ever have enough cookbooks. And certainly the opportunity abounds to acquire them. Even though we are far from being cookbook-philes, they do seem to take up a rather large space on our pantry shelf. There are a couple of old standbys. The Betty Crocker and Better Homes and Gardens books both have their covers half mangled and numerous missing pages. We've avoided the newer editions of these books because they just don't have the right stuff in them. We did buy the new Joy of Cooking and ditched the one we inherited from my mother in law. There are a few other specialty cookbooks on the shelf many of which we only use for one irreplaceable recipe in the book, like our to-die-for cornbread concoction, the greatest coffee cake in the world and a doable hummus recipe. But the biggest niche in our collection is definitely the church cookbook. This venerable tradition preserves hundreds of favorite family recipes that are generally more down-home than gourmet. They tend to have recipes that include jelly beans, marshmallows and corn flakes more than turmeric and rice vinegar. Being from an extended family of pastors and churchgoers, these cookbooks just show up at our door quite frequently. And we love 'em!