Last week I found a recipe for strawberry ice box pie on Pinterest.  I love fruit pies and this one reminded me of the pies my grandmother made with fresh picked raspberries.  Follow the link above for the recipe and tips and pay attention to the tips! I did not (more on that later) but recovered anyway and it turned out looking and tasting absolutely perfect!

In the end I did not follow the tips and had way too much of the cooked strawberry filling. A quick toss in of 1/2 cup sugar, lemon juice and a table spoon of pectin and I had 12 ounces of ice box jam! It was delicious!

Fully half of all my baking adventures end like this. Okay fine, 60/40.

via The Bloggess

Today I found some fantastic vintage cookbooks from the 30′s – 60′s.  I noticed how so many of them were more “helpful” than their modern counterparts. I apologize in advance for the glare on some of these photos, some of them had plastic book covers.

This one is useful if you just don’t know what to do with your blender…

…and that pesky chafing dish.

Then there were books specifically about your fancy new Frigidaire…

…and Refrigerator 101… I think this one was the 1940s equivalent of Still Tasty.

This one reminded me of my grandmothers, printed in 1935, they had the same haircut as this little girl.

And then there books with bright colors and the perfect titles to make me forget it’s a chilling 46F on this mid-April day.

Last but not least, my favourite helpful cookbook of the day was this one. Mrs. Dewey, you’re my hero.