Frying pan cookies and canned peas? Recently, while browsing through some of the recipes in the My Mother’s Cookbooks collection I came across one of Mum’s handwritten holiday menus. A list of all of the special foods she planned to prepare, share and serve during the season. It contained all of the usual suspects, SquashContinue reading “The Holiday Favourites list…”
Tag Archives: #womenshistory
Christmas stockings, a potato and lemon nut loaf
My first Christmas stockings were Dad’s socks repurposed for the night. Don’t get me wrong I was not disadvantaged nor was I unusual, it was the 1960’s, and my parents believed Santa was not really what Christmas was about. Despite that, in the weeks leading to Christmas eve, I heard reminders about Santa’s naughty listContinue reading “Christmas stockings, a potato and lemon nut loaf”
Miner’s Wives and Mothers…
There are a number of recipes in My Mother’s Cookbooks which are traditionally associated with mining and mining communities…Welsh cakes, Cornish pasties, Welsh pasties, hand pies, etc. Although mining of various minerals is very much a Northern Appalachian/ Acadian regional reality, in some areas coal was king. Canadian mining communities which thrived during the earlyContinue reading “Miner’s Wives and Mothers…”
Baked Beans and …the Scots.
This blog is the first in a series which features early Scottish settlers to the region and the McDougald, MacEachern; McKinnon and McGraw families among others… The tradition of enjoying a Saturday night supper of homemade baked beans is one familiar to families through out Atlantic Canada. Of course there are several versions of bakedContinue reading “Baked Beans and …the Scots.”
The ‘making’ of Cape Breton Pork Pies…
On the surface many areas of Northern Appalachia / Acadia appear to have been marked by the settlement of a single group of Europeans. The ‘tastes’ of the region are more reflective of the complexity and nuance of reality. Cape Breton Pork Pies don’t contain pork, but they do resemble the hat1. The origin ofContinue reading “The ‘making’ of Cape Breton Pork Pies…”
Work, Frolics and Tragedy
Cape Breton Oatcakes – A milling frolic favourite. This blog completes… Homespun and Mrs. Campbell and is 2nd in the series Atlantic Canadian Women of the Cloth – Homebased textile production. Today, crafters buy cotton / yarn in the colours they desire and get busy weaving, knitting, crocheting, etc. Homebased textile producers no longer needContinue reading “Work, Frolics and Tragedy”
Spindles, Spinning Wheels, and Potato Farls.
Atlantic Canadian Women of the cloth – 19th century and beyond – part 1 The running joke in our family was that it was breakfast, not the alarm clock that drove my Dad from bed in the morning. Dad loved breakfast, but his favourites were full on hot meals with loads of protein, quite oftenContinue reading “Spindles, Spinning Wheels, and Potato Farls.”
Christmas stockings, a potato and lemon nut loaf
My first Christmas stockings were Dad’s socks repurposed for the night. Don’t get me wrong I was not disadvantaged nor was I unusual, it was the 1960’s, and my parents believed Santa was not really what Christmas was about. Despite that, in the weeks leading to Christmas eve, I heard reminders about Santa’s naughty listContinue reading “Christmas stockings, a potato and lemon nut loaf”
Apples, Cider and Bettys?
A quick drive thru rural areas of Canada’s Maritime provinces reveals countless abandoned homesteads. Some with remnants of buildings, houses, barns, etc. others are marked by trees, apple trees. Despite filling the spring air with their glorious blossoms these wild apples are mostly, small, sour, and unpalatable. You could be forgiven for thinking apples areContinue reading “Apples, Cider and Bettys?”
Fanny’s Frugal Food Hacks
Fat Fancy… the benefits and techniques of collecting and reusing bacon fat. It wasn’t that Fanny was mean or miserly she just couldn’t afford to be wasteful. For Fanny wasting food now, meant going hungry later. Fanny had the ‘know how’ to assure maximum benefit from food which entered her kitchen. She didn’t really haveContinue reading “Fanny’s Frugal Food Hacks”
My Mother's Cookbooks 