I'll stick to the frozen food aisle

Guaranteed Recipes. That's the simple name of a little book on the family bookshelf. It's falling apart. There's no date of publication, no copyright notice, no byline, no fancy graphics, just one recipe after another in small print, followed by the name of the cook.

The book does say it was published by A. Palmer & Sons in Worthington, Ind. I know A. Palmer owned the old Worthington Times over 100 years ago.

With Christmas coming, thinking about cooking something special, thought I'd see what I could find in the way of old, traditional, hand-me-downs, guaranteed!

Sugar Cookies -- Two eggs, two cups of sugar, one cup of lard, one teaspoonful of soda, one cup of sour milk and four cups of flour. Mrs. Metta Griffith

Corn Pudding -- Four ears of corn, almost hard, cut off the top of grain and scrape, add two tablespoonsful of sugar, half a cup of butter and one quart of new milk, bake in the oven. Mrs. James Hodges

Vinegar Pie -- One cup of sugar, one-quarter cup of vinegar, a piece of butter the size of a hickory nut, boil these and thicken with flour to taste, bake with single crust. Mrs. Alda Dyer

Coffee Cake -- Two cups of sugar, one cup of butter, one cup of molasses, one cup of strong cold coffee, five cups of sifted flour, four eggs, two nutmegs, two teaspoonsful of cinnamon, two teaspoonsful of cloves, one teaspoonful of soda dissolved in the coffee, two pounds of raisins. Mrs. Newsome

Squash Pie -- Two cups of boiled squash, three-quarters of a cup of brown sugar, three eggs, two tablespoonsful of molasses, one tablespoonful of melted butter, one tablespoonful of ginger, one teaspoonful of cinnamon, two cups of milk, a little salt, make two plate pies. Mary Herring

Beet Salad -- Boil four medium-sized beets, when cold chop quite fine, add half as much chopped cabbage as you have beets and enough horseradish to make it taste quite hot. Pour over this a salad dressing. Miss Pauline Crook

Waldorf Salad -- One head of celery, one-half cup of English walnuts, three good sized apples, seasoning. Mrs. Chas. Kress

Candy -- Four cups of sugar, one cup of cream, one-half cup of butter. Stir well, pour in buttered dish and cut in squares. Lucinda Watson

Lard? Molasses? Butter the size of hickory nuts? Sour milk? Beets and horseradish? Soda in coffee? Think I'll skip the guaranteed stuff and stick with DiGiorno. Stuffed crust.

Getting some feedback on the big cats. I've gotten some good tips and have a few people to call now. Thanks to all who responded. More to come on that.

I'm looking forward to a little break and a big game to watch - IU vs. Butler on Saturday. Have a great weekend!

Anna is a staff writer for the Greene County Daily World and can be reached by calling the office at 847-4487 or by sending an email to indianarose@fastmail.us.