What's in the Box?

It's all about the food over at Mason-Dixonland, and it makes me realize how self brought up I've been. My mom cooked without recipes and she was a good cook, she's also been gone for 7 years, so to open up her box and show her recipes would be fairly morbid at this point.

Left to right is The Campbell Soup Box gifted by sil's ex-mil about 20 years ago. My own recipes and those of my mil reside in there, as well as, 250 ways to spruce up yer food with soup. Good stuff.

The Toy Shoppe box was bought by me years ago when I decided to start the Christmas cookie tradition. It has all my recipes for cookies I like and maybe a few dozen dessert recipes made their way in there too. Never met a grain of sugar I didn't like.

The one with the apples on it was given to me by my other sil, it was her mother's. There were only a few of her recipes in there, but not the ones she was famous for. Damn.
My fave and most often made recipe besides spaghetti sauce, is my dear friend Diana's cheesecake recipe. This baby comes out almost 3 inches high and is light as a feather. Not that I've ever tasted one, except for that time I ate that wing that had a small feather still attached...
Diana gave me this off the top of her head saying she'd made it so often, she knew it by heart. And now, so do I.

Diana's Cheesecake

Greese a 12" Springform Pan and line with crust:

1 Cup graham cracker crumbs
3 Tblsp. melted butter
2 Tblsp. sugar

Combine an line pan wrap bottom in foil so the foil comes up the sides of the pan near the top.


Batter:

4 Packages 8 oz. each Cream Cheese
1 Cup sugar
3 Tblsp vanilla
3 Tblsp flour
5 egg yolks (put the whites aside in a mixing bowl)
1 Cup sour cream


Beat all ingredients except sour cream til smooth, add sour cream mix thoroughly.


In egg white bowl, add 3 Tblsp sugar and 2 shakes cream of tartar and beat til stiff peaks form. Fold into batter by hand and dump into crust.


Place in a large baking pan with about 1 inch boiling water added and bake for 1 hour in 350º oven.

Turn off oven, open door and leave in oven for another hour.


Chill, pig out! Any questions, please feel free to email me. A big thank you to Carole for letting me know that tomorrow's the deadline although this is not the stuff winning posts are made of.


This always takes me back to the days when I was a brand new banker and very young. We were a good team and about 6 of us still keep in touch. Much has happened good and bad, but I always think of Diana when I make this cake.

So there it is, nothing of grandma's, no aunt's pictures, no sisters at all. Most girls have things like laces and china handed down from their mother's or grandmother's trunks. What did I inherit from mine?