Bailey's Buddy

Clarence and Sadie Cole and their daughters, Sis, JoAnn,(back row) Fran, Ruth, Jean and Ellen.

My sister has just completed a monumental task.  In 1972 we decided to gather recipes from my mother and her sisters and the rest of the family.  I spent a lot of time typing the original cookbook on spirit duplicator paper (remember the old purple worksheets you got in school)  One or two per page. I got a lot of card stock and went back to school evenings to run them off.  Three hole punched in notebooks and they were ready for gifts. Ginny tells the story in the introduction to the cookbook she has just finished.

In 1972 Jay and I decided to make a family cookbook. We asked the aunts to give us recipes and all of us kept it a secret from the rest of the family. We had a lot of fun making the cookbook and thinking of the future reactions of our cousins when they opened them. Jan Read was in Germany with her husband and they decided they could each open one gift Christmas Eve. She chose the cookbook and told us later that it was filled with sweet memories and she couldn’t wait to cook the cherished recipes of “Ma”.

         I was only 8 years old when “Ma” died but I too remember her cooking.  Granddad said that whenever “Ma” was upset; she would be found cooking something. He kiddingly said that when he was hungry for some of her baked goods; he would say something to her to “set her off”. I have said that Jay was raised on “Ma’s” cooking and I was raised on mom’s. Mom worked as a secretary for Doane Agricultural Service and came home tired each night from work. In effect I ate whatever she could toss on the table in 30 minutes. This in the days before microwaves existed. She was a wizard when it came to candy making though.

         Due to the expansion of the Cole family I felt it was time to update the cookbook. I asked the family for recipes and I received many responses.  I have added recipes found in local cookbooks they had sent recipes to along with many of mine for my son.

         Our Cole family started from the love of Clarence Gordon Cole and Sadie Underwood. Ma and Granddad would be amazed what their descendants have accomplished. I believe we inherited our inner strength, perseverance, love of animals, nature, and stubbornness from them.                                         

Ginny Jackson, 2012                          

The cousins have all grown up and gotten married and had children of their own. the family has enlarged. The family cookbook has been handed down in some cases and lost in others but there was a lot of desire on the part of the family to have it.  Ginny decided to do something about that.

She found a computer program and began to type the new version of the cookbook.  As she said she has enlarged it to the point that there are 397 pages.  It has a Table of Contents and an Index.  There are dishes in there that I remember from my grandmother's cooking and others that I have never heard of. One of them was :

Potatoes "Mrs. Dickey's"

5-6   medium  Potatoes, chopped ¼    cup         Butter ¼    cup         Flour ½    tsp         Salt 1     tsp         Prepared mustard

1/8  tsp     Black pepper 2     cups   Milk 1     T      Prepared horseradish 3½  cups   Cheese, grated

Procedure

1   In large bowl, mix all the ingredients.

2   Place in greased baking dish.

3   Bake.

Oven Temperature: 350°F

Cooking Time: 30 minutes

Author: Mrs. Dickey

Source: Ruth Cole Jackson

Mother contributed this recipe to the cookbook.  I think Mrs. Dickey was a friend of my grandmothers.

Anyway the cookbook is all finished and Ginny had one copy printed.  It cost her $40. to get it done.  So she can't afford to give them away. (She has a minimum wage job and is in a wheelchair).  But it is done and she is getting some printed for those of the family who will pay for it.  We can't either of us afford to give them as gifts this time around.  The Cookbook is really nice.  I sent her my check so I will have a copy.  

I am really proud of her for doing this.