My Most Recent Old Cookbook Find!

I absolutely love digging through old cookbooks!  The thrill of the hunt can only be topped, for me, by finding that copy that is unique and has a little historic tale to tell.  I love a cookbook that looks like it was used every week and sat close-at-hand for frequent consultation.  Unlike, collectors of most rare books, it makes me happy if there is some wear from everyday use, a little fraying and a binding that has some give is a real plus to me!  The best that I can hope for, though, is if the vintage cookbook has the cook's hand-written notes... and I get really excited if there are quickly-jotted must-have recipes tucked inside (often, these have been scribbled on the back of an envelope or cocktail napkin!)

Recently, on a brief trip to the Dallas-Fort Worth area, I found such a well-used book!  It was sitting on a shelf in an antique consignment shop in Fort Worth, just waiting for me!   I say it was fate-Hubby says it was Murphy's Law!  

Today, I'm sharing pictures of my Junior League of Dallas Cookbook from 1935.  From her notes, I'd say the cook made the popover recipe on page 139 very often.  She also was partial to the Molded Caviar Egg Salad (ewww...). There was a menu for the week, her recipe for Orange Sponge Cake and a menu for an upcoming dinner party tucked in-between the pages of the book;  The little  details make me so happy!  Hope you enjoy the pictures.  Look closely!  I've included the page with two recipes for Green Tomato Pickles!

My Cheat Version of Olive Garden's Lemon Cake

Hubby loves the lemon cake at Olive Garden!  However, when we eat there the salad(soup for him), breadsticks and pasta are very filling.  We are usually just too full for dessert.  I recently made this cake as a surprise treat one evening.  It's not exactly Olive Garden's but he had seconds and said that it tasted very much like theirs!

Here's how I made my version of the  popular dessert:

Marcia's Lemon Cream Cake

- 1 box  of lemon cake mix

-1 8 oz. package of cream cheese

-1 tub of Cool Whip

-1 fresh lemon

-powdered sugar

Mix cake according to the box directions with the addition of a teaspoon of lemon zest.  Bake in a Bundt pan until done.  In a separate bowl, use electric mixer to blend cream cheese, 1/2 cup of powdered sugar, 1/2 tub of Cool Whip and a teaspoon of fresh lemon juice.  Invert cake onto a cake plate.  Slice into thin slices.  When cake is cooled, put a dollop of lemon mixture between 2 slices and sprinkle with powdered sugar.  Yum!!

Book I'm reading:  Mama Flora's Family by Alex Haley