Happy Mother’s Day to mothers, grandmothers, and great-grandmothers everywhere!

I honor of my mother, today I’m writing a personal post about how I became a cookbook and recipe junkie.

When I think about my mom, I think about cooking because I grew up planning menus with her and learning to bake and cook at her side. This is my first cookbook—a gift from my mom.

My, how times have changed, haven’t they? 

 I confess, I have a weakness for cookbooks and recipes, and this old, battered Betty Crocker New Picture Cook Book started my cookbook and recipe collection. It was remarkable in that it has photos in it, some even in color! My next step was to collect recipes in a recipe card file, too. My old recipe box is still wedged into the back of a cupboard in my kitchen.

I love to collect recipes, but as my collection of recipes grew, I began to run out of time to convert them into one place and the newest format. Do you have this problem? I have some recipes only on cards, many recipes torn out of magazines that are now in plastic sleeves in binders, and recipes irretrievable that were typed into now defunct software programs.

One of our sons came up with the solution that I should house the recipes that the boys like in a special binder, so I could always find them when they would say, “how about making that great (whatever) you made last month?”

Here’s my Boys Book of Recipes.

See all the raggedy-edged pages crammed into it?

It’s a disaster.

I’ve subscribed to many food-based magazines over the years, and still have a few that cross my threshold in paper format and others that land in my Zinio account, ready and waiting for my to download and read.

What happens to all the recipes I want to try from magazines that haven’t made it to the Boys Book of Recipes yet? That’s another issue!

 I love books. No surprise for an author, right?

Cookbooks are no exception. I collect cookbooks, and I credit my mother for starting this passion.Loving to travel as I do, I often bring home a cookbook or two from places I travel, as my souvenir from a trip.

Our home has a wall of bookcases for my husband’s sports memorabilia and books and my cookbooks.

I proudly command most of the space…just take a look!

Mom, look at passion you created in me!

I miss you.

 Happy Mother’s Day!