Hello everyone! I knew it would finally happen! I knew I would finally just slow down, to a crawl instead of a race and here I am.

I have the usual holiday stuff, buying gifts and wrapping and baking and cooking and planning, but when Wyatt was born, we changed how we did the holidays. And every year, things seem to get a little easier.

I’ve been listening a lot to the podcast In the Meadow, and I find Vic and her lifestyle so inspiring. She has been trying to do more things analog, slower, making things more, and thrifting. Now, I won’t switch off the internet entirely – I love the community online, here on my blog, other blogs, Instagram, and the groups I am in. And as a parent of a medically complex child, I learn so much from other parents going through the same things. So I will never diss digital. But there are places where it is kind of nice to step away.

Our family gatherings are already potluck, and I am pretty experienced at the things that I make by now, and I don’t feel as rushed or stressed making them. And our families, by circumstance more than anything else, have their gatherings on different days and dang does that make it easier. And with that in mind, let’s look at cookbooks.

One place that I thought might be fun to step away from the internet sometimes is by using actual cookbooks, rather than online recipes. Right now, I use the internet for cooking and baking, 100% of the time. There are so many recipes right there, at my fingertips, on my phone, so easily reached. My phone is small and I can prop it up right there and it takes up zero room on the counter. However, aren’t old cookbooks a treasure? Billy and I have a collection that I never open, and the other day a friend of mine gave me a few old ones, partially as a joke, but she also knew I would love them. And I did! I mean, some of the recipes I am extremely skeptical about, and probably would never try, but some of them, don’t sound too bad!

I have to share about the Campbells Soup one, only because it was fascinating to read through. There is not a publication year, but I am guessing 50s or 60s? There is a letter at the beginning of the book from Carolyn Campbell, of the Home Economics Department of the Campells Company, and obviously a family member, and I love the idea of a Home Economics Department of a food production company. Is this still a thing? It makes sense to have someone figuring out how to use the products in ways that are economical, helpful, and useful, as well as versatile and also new and innovative ways to use the products. I have to say their marketing (until the news this week!) has stood the test of time, with so many recipes still calling for cream of whatever.

I really enjoyed their suggestions on new ways to use their soups. One way they thought that parents could use soup was as a birthday soup for their children. – instead of a cake. “Gay bowls of cream soup take on a party air when topped with a glowing birthday candle (set on a floating round of toast or a cracker). First top the cracker with a small ball of cream cheese or peanut butter. Poke the end of the candle into it and carefully slip the cracker onto the top of the soup. Then light up the candle.” I asked Wyatt if he would like this instead of a cake at his birthday and he turned it down.

There was also section on how eating soup could help keep your figure trim, with a calorie count for each soup. There were suggestions for including soup with breakfast, teen soups and snacks for such wholesome activities like after-skating warm up, which includes mugs of chickety-chick, cheese and crackers, apples, and oatmeal cookies, and a square dance special that boasts pizza doggies, a raw vegetable tray, doughnuts, and cream soda shake. One of my favorites was the appetizer soups, that it was said were becoming fashionable to serve in a cup in the living room for guests to “sip and savor before the meal.” One suggested appetizer soup dish was the flaming bean soup, that included sherry or bourbon and lemon slices. I asked my mother-in-law the other day if she ever remembered being served soup like this before a party and she did not recall it. I would love to hear if anyone else did!

I literally could go on and on, with the ideas for holidays and seasons and specialty dishes and special menus, like for “when the gals meet” or a “touch of Paris” and while some of it really was unappealing, like the Jellied Soup-Salad, I really admired how very hard they worked to come up with different ways to use their products.

I also really appreciated the dedication:

“To the millions of American Homemakers who work magic with convenience foods.”

So let’s raise our glass of soup, and toast to everyone out there, not just “American homemakers” who are out here, doing our best to feed ourselves, our families, our friends, our neighbors, our communities, today and everyday.