CANARYVILLE — Remember when grandma would thumb through one of those gnarled cookbooks that looked like it had been to hell and back?
You might have even inherited the book, its browned pages full of how-to secrets about molding a succulent South Side meatloaf or pinching through a perfect batch of pierogies.
In 1981, the Women’s Club of St. Gabriel Church published its own version of the trusty cookbook — filled with recipes supplied by neighborhood folks for classics like sloppy joe, German chocolate cake and carrot casserole — to raise money for the church.
Though the Women’s Club has since dissolved, some of those original cookbooks still sit in the kitchens of Canaryville homes.
Jean Mangan Bossard has one.
“I believe it was $5 back then,” said Bossard. “Most of the recipes used chicken or ground beef… Ground beef was probably the cheapest.”
The Canaryville native is now calling on all neighborhood residents to submit their favorite South Side recipes by Nov. 6 to publish a new book to come out before Christmas. A throwback to the Women's Club efforts of 1981, all money raised from book sales will go back to St. Gabriel.
You can submit your recipes by emailing a Microsoft Word document to jmboze@yahoo.com. If you don’t have Microsoft Word, you can email the recipe as a simple message and Bossard will take care of the rest.
Bossard has already received about 20 recipes from the neighborhood. Among them: "Amish Breakfast Casserole," "Aunt Kitty's Mock Pierogi" and "Lisa's Cheesy Broccoli Bake."
If your recipe is used in the book, your name will be printed alongside the cook instructions.
And who knows? Your pot roast recipe might be used for years to come.
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