Family Treasure

Recently I obtained my grandmother's  (Kathleen Elizabeth Mueller) recipe boxes.  They were gifted to me by my Aunt after I asked for them.  Grandma is 89 years old, still living, but is under full time care and may not be long for this world.

She was truly the Martha Stewart of her day. Creating not only wonderful meals and baked goods but sewing clothes, upholstery, paintings and even using tin snips to make a huge metal sunburst art piece that hangs on my Aunt's mantel.


Last Saturday my dad dropped the recipe boxes off at my house and as soon as he left I poured over them. I found newspaper clippings, one recipe written on the back of a canceled check made out to cash, but mostly they are all written out on 3 x 5 cards by my grandmother and then filed under headings of Poultry, Meat, Casseroles, Salads, Sauces, Desserts, Pastries.  

I found her classics...King Ranch Chicken, Strawberry Cake and Julia Child's Gateau - an artful crepe construction filled with colorful vegetables and swiss cheese.

I found recipes written in the hand of my great aunt, Fermanetta (Sissa), my great grandmother, Adelaide (Addie) Kaeppel, who married my great grandfather Hans to become a Mueller.  I recognized my mother's hand on a few recipes and also my very own attempts at calligraphy when I must have been 7 or 8.

I'm proud to be a custodian of something I consider a family treasure.  And they will be put to use!