Mix well and add a bit of magic

Mix well and add a bit of magic

I have two copies of the Better Homes and Garden Cookbook ... the one with the red and white checkered cover. One was published in 1968 and the other, 2002.

My first copy is a hand-me-down. When I received the updated version as a gift, I was all set to toss the older version.

Why keep it?

But then there was a twinge; something about tossing the old version didn't seem right. Was there regret in letting go of a book that helped me learn to cook, served me so well? Yes, that was part of it. But I wondered, too, if some of the recipes might have been changed ... or even eliminated.

And there were.

What happened to the Pfeffernuesse?

That 1968 version was my go-to book for Pfeffernuesse, a spice cookie I like, especially around the holidays.

When I grabbed the updated version and scanned the index, the recipe was ... gone.

Nowhere to be found. Cut from the new edition and replaced with updated recipes and the latest food fads.

It was then I knew.

I couldn't, wouldn't toss the old book. I'd have to keep both.

I've got other cookbooks, and each serves its own purpose. In some there may be just one recipe I like. Others may hold two or three favorites and some I use for only for reference.

Of course it's easy to search online for recipes, and I do, but there's something about slipping a cookbook off the shelf and thumbing through the food-stained, dog-earred pages to land on that recipe I know will be there.

Ready, as the editor in both books wrote, to "bring joy and good eating."

Here's to new and old favorites.

October is Cookbook Month. Do you have a favorite?

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