Tonight, while we sat around the dinner table chitter chattering, I grabbed the Appetizers and Drinks Volume of our family cookbook.

For those new to the story, originally, my mom kept her recipes on index cards in a recipe card box like any other mom did back in the 70s and 80s. Unfortunately, we had a horrible house fire when I was in college and lost everything. The house was gutted. Her recipe box and cards did survive but were terribly smoke & water damaged. My mom was devastated as this was her collection of her lifetime of cooking with family and friends. She was so sad about this that I wanted to do something to fix it and make her feel better.

Our insurance company was fantastic and immediately got us into a small apartment where we started to rebuild the house and our lives. My brother and I were in college at the time and my mom and dad still worked so I got ahold of a new at the time but now pretty ancient software that let me transfer her recipe cards into a digital format. I sat and typed up every single card one at a time (no scanners that were affordable to the average person back in those days). It took me almost an entire year.

The house fire had happened on the night of December 30th so by the next xmas I had it ready. Every single one of her recipes was painstakingly entered into the system AND because she was not then and is not now one to use digital recipes, I printed every one of them out and slid them into plastic sheet protectors then inserted them into a binder. This way, she could remove the recipe she wanted to use and have it on the counter. And, if she spilled on it, she could easily wipe it off.

That original collection was two simple binders. One that had the appetizers, then all the main course stuff. The second binder was more sides, desserts, and other.

Today? It has expanded to EIGHT Volumes/Binders! She still uses the plastic sheets to insert things in and still hand writes stuff then slides it in. The picture attached to this blog post is her handwritten copy of Cafe con Leche that a Cuban friend in Florida taught her to make.

As I flipped through the volume I selected, I had fun reminiscing about old original recipes and making a note of the new ones we had added and the little stories to go with each that came to me. Some of the new additions will be:

The smoked hot dog appetizer that I started making for a sorority group and my daughter loves them so much that we make them on many a cold winter weekend afternoon for anyone to grab a little bowl of for snack time. One of my sorority sisters even took the recipe with her when she moved far away and now she is famous for it there where she is.

Aunt Savannah's Pepper Jelly recipe which is part of the "Stuff in Jars" Guinea Pig Club series. And the corresponding appetizer we make with it, the Goat Cheese rolled in sunflower seeds thing my dad adores and asks for often. And her shrimp and grits recipe. And the new appetizer we made this summer along with the pickled onion recipe for it. (Can you tell? We cook A LOT!)

My brother's salsa recipe he won in a poker game.

My Sister-in-Law's Cranberry Sauce recipe. I. HATE. Cranberry Sauce but her recipe is SO good. I even made some delicious tarts with it this last year.

The copycat Taco Bell quesadilla sauce we cobbled together from a few different recipes, another favourite of my daughter.

The Cafe Con Leche from the friend of the family. I have developed a new love of Cuban Coffee and whenever I get to Florida I indulge as often as I can. So far, the best is at the Salvador Dali Museum Cafe in Tampa.

A Sangria recipe from another of our fav restaurants, Colombia.

My sister's ridiculously long and complicated but very good Mint Julep recipe she created for her wedding in Atlanta many years ago.

A Frozen Gin & Tonic recipe from Jack Rudy's Cocktail Company in Charleston SC.

The Greenbriar's Garlic Aioli recipe.

And my special Dijon Chicken recipe that made a large magazine spread in a famous Southern Magazine :)

Those are some of the new additions. And I am keeping a side list as I think of stuff we have been making in the last several years which are new additions to our already fairly extensive cooking rotation. My Sister-in-Law is a most excellent cook so we have already added several of her recipes to family favourites. Her chicken and rice soup is incredible and her Pecan Pie is the best I have ever had.

I continue to share progress and updates as I have time to work on things. I am headed back to work after this nice holiday break tomorrow so I may not be able to work on it as much as I'd like. Although it is a nice relaxing fun thing to do so I will not let it fall off the radar completely.