The 1st American Cookie Lady

by Barbara Swell

The 1st American Cookie Lady is based on a fascinating mystery. In 1917, Anna "Cookie" Covington set out to record all her favorite cookie recipes as a gift to her daughter because no published cookie recipe books existed at that time. Strangely, her 76 page handwritten personal cooking diary was never delivered to her daughter as planned. 88 years later, the unused diary fell into the hands of food historian Barbara Swell, who recognized it as perhaps the  earliest collection of American cookie recipes, dating from the mid 1880s up through World War I. The 1st American Cookie Lady includes Anna's 221 recipes recorded  from 1917-1920 along with adaptations for the modern kitchen, vintage graphics and photos, World War I food shortage recipes, plus curiosities of cookie baking history. 6" x 9", 152 pages.

"An excellent dessert cookbook filled with recipes that survive the test of time with flying colors."  Midwest Book Review

  The Lost Art of Pie Making 

~ Made Easy~

by Barbara Swell

"A friend gave me The Lost Art of Pie Making, and it's incredible!" Joseph Oliver.

"Barbara Swell's books are little gazettes - packed full of recipes, photos, drawings and lore." Malaprops Bookstore.

"I have really enjoyed reading The Lost Art of Pie Making. Thanks for writing this sweet old-fashioned book on my favorite dessert - PIE!"  Wally Pendleton, Richmond, Virginia

"A gem of a cookbook. The Lost Art of Pie Making will prove to be an immediately popular addition to any cookbook collection." Wisconsin Bookwatch

"I enjoyed this book so such I immediately took steps to obtain Barbara Swells other cookbooks." Faith Cormier, Greenman Review

"My family is so impressed with the pies I've made since reading your book!" Scot Giles

RECIPES INCLUDE: Pie Crust: Aunt Jenny's Crust, Barb's Butter Crust, Mom Brooks' Crust, Oil Crust, Fruit Pies: Apple Raspberry, Concord Grape, Dutch Oven Apple Cherry, Fresh Blueberry, Fresh Raspberry, Fresh Rhubarb, Green Apple July Berry Pie, Raspberries in Ambush, Simple Summer Fruit, Sour Cherry Amaretto, Strawberry Rhubarb, Lemon Pie:  Lemon Custard, Lemon Meringue, Lemon Sponge, Two Crust Lemon,  Cream Pie: Banana Cream, Chocolate Cream, Coconut Cream, Orange Cream, Holiday Pie: Apple/Pear Mince, Farmer's Mince, Mock Cherry, Pumpkin, Pumpkin Chiffon, Custard: Chess, Chocolate Chess, Lemon Chess, Coconut, Key Lime, Os-Good, Pinto Bean, Rum Bittersweet, Sliced Sweet Potato, Sweet Potato, Nut Pie: Bourbon Pecan, Karo Pecan, Louisiana Peanut, Mock Pecan (Oatmeal),  Quick Pie: Apricot Skillet, Cranberry Surprise, Fruit Crisp, Honey Apple Dumplings, Miracle Cobbler.

Old-Time Farmhouse Cooking
~ Rural American Recipes, Wisdom, & Farmlore~

by Barbara Swell

Climb down off your tractor and dig into some old-fashioned, farm-fresh comfort food! We’ve got cranberry beef stew simmering on the old wood cookstove and some sweet corn just pulled off the stalks. Try a dab of this farm-churned golden butter on the orange rye bread still warm from the oven. Whether you’re a born farmer, or a country-minded city person, you’ll enjoy these creative rural American recipes from a time when the food was wholesome and life was full of fresh air and sunshine. These recipes, stores, jokes, advice, farm lore, and illustrations were collected from a wide variety of American agricultural sources from the 1880s to the 1950s. 5 ½ x 8 ½ , 72 pages.

"Barbara Swell has the neatest cookbooks. They make such great gifts." Jeanette Haley, Museum of Pioneer History

"Lovingly compiled by historic cooking expert Barbara Swell, Old-Time Farmhouse Cooking is a superbly presented collection of authentic recipes with generational appeal and old-time flavor." Wisconsin Bookwatch

RECIPES INCLUDE: Soups: Georgia Gumbo, Fresh Tomato Soup, Irish Beef Stew, Meat & Vegetable, Breads: Apple Bread, Boston Brown Bread, Butter Buns, Buttermilk Biscuits, Cornmeal Crisps, Ginger Cornbread, Graham Nut Bread, Hot Cross Buns, Oatmeal Bread, Orange Rye Bread, Meats: Baked Hams & Yams, Barbeque Pork Balls, Chicken Pie , Chicken Pot Pie, Cranberry Pot Roast, Little Meat Pies, Meat Loaf, Pilgrim Pie, Pork Stuffed Apples, Turkey Roly-Poly, Tomatoes: Deviled Tomatoes, Poinsettia Salad, Tomato Cookies, Tomato Corn Casserole, Tomato Surprise, Vegetables: Carrots with Beets, Green Corn Puffs, Polenta, Stuffed Sweet Potato, Stuffed Celery, Vegetable Pie, Welsh Rarebit, Desserts: Apple Cake, Apple Dowdy, Apple Orange Pie, Coconut Chews, Cream Cake, Cream Raspberry Pie, Currant Cards, Fig & Pecan Cookies, Fruit Cake, Ginger Snaps, Huckleberry Pie, Lemon Snaps, Maple Apples, Pie Crust, Raspberry Cake, Seed Cake, Pickles & Jam: Dill Pickles, Pickled Okra, Carrot Jam, Plum Conserve.

Mama's In The Kitchen
~ Weird & Wonderful Home Cookin' 1900-1950 ~

by Barbara Swell

Book $5.95

Mama's in the Kitchen simply screams NOSTALGIA. Here are the stories and recipes of our mothers and grandmothers as they cooked their way through two world wars, food shortages, and the Great Depression. This lively and witty book chronicles how household gadgets dramatically changed the lives of women forever. It takes you into the kitchens of young housewives who whipped up cherry chiffon pies and weird little sandwiches to the beat of big band swing tunes playing on the radio. Lured by glossy product advertisements, these women were seduced into thinking that a green wiggly dessert would add glamour and romance to their lives. This book takes both a serious and a humorous look at women in a changing world. 5 ½ x 8 ½ , 72 pages.

"A little masterpiece of nostalgic cookery. Mama's in the Kitchen is a 'must' for anyone who enjoys strolling down a 'yesteryear' collection of culinary pleasantries." James A. Cox, Wisconsin Bookwatch

"Barbara Swell's books are like little gazettes-packed full of recipes, photos, drawings, and mountain lore. We've always been proud to stock her books and look forward to her upcoming publication." Anne Wray, Malaprop's Bookstore Winner of Publishers Weekly's Best Bookstore Award

"I absolutely loved 'Mama's in the Kitchen!'" Louella Rykowski

RECIPES INCLUDE: Beverages: Russian Tea ,Spiked Cider Cup, Appetizers: Cheese Sticks, Skewered Coconut Shrimp, SALADS: Asparagus Shrimp Salad: Breads: Parker House Rolls, Popovers, Riz Biscuits, MEATS: Apple and Ham Casserole, Beef Stroganoff, Chicken Croquettes, Chicken Pie with Sweet Potato Crust, Oysters for Goodness Sake, Roast Pork with Gingersnap Sauce, Vegetables: Corn & Sweet Potato Scallop, Harvard Beets, Squash Relish, Vegetable Pie with Cheese Biscuit Topping, Volcano Potatoes, Fruita: Brandied Bananas, Raisin Nut Stuffed Apples, Smiling Cantaloupe, Strawberry Chantilly, Desserts: Apricot Coconut Bars, Butterscotch Icebox Cookies, Cherry Chiffon Pie, Cherry Pudding Short-Cake, Chocolate Apricot Cookies, Chocolate Chiffon Cream Pie, Chocolate Orange Crunchies, Chocolate Pudding, Chocolate Risin' Cake, Eggless, Milkless Butterless Cake, Flaky Pie Crust, Fruit Confection, Gingerbread with Cream Cheese Filling, Lemon Meringue Pie, Mock Cherry Pie, Molasses Ginger Cakes, Spicy Apple Pie, Sunny Peach Pie, Raisin Filled Cookies, Toll House Cookies.

Take Two & Butter 'Em While They're Hot!         
            Heirloom Recipes & Kitchen Wisdom              

Barbara Swell

Cook your heart out with generations of hand-me-down recipes and food lore! Barbara Swell has whisked up weather and cooking folklore, food insults, old-time home remedies, vintage photos, romance superstitions, hearth crafts and 19th century chores. 5 ½ x 8 ½ , 72 pages.

"AWESOME!" --High Desert Museum, Bend, OR

Eat your way back in time and enter the world of American children as they lived 150 years ago. Sample foods, folklore and games found in the parlors of the wealthy, the boarding houses of the working class, and the cabins on the western frontier. Includes over 60 vintage photos plus historic recipes like cathead biscuits, sugar plums and hobo mulligan stew. Learn to make snow candles and snow taffy, tell Appalachian ghost stories and play roley hole and jack straws.  5 ½ x 8 ½ , 72 pages.

"Delightful and charming." "Sparky" Anderson, Sutter's Fort Trade Store

"Children at the Hearth" is a funny, informative, and highly readable volume that includes not only old-time recipes but also priceless nuggets of wisdom, lore, superstitions, and tips from our pioneer ancestors." Sarah Johnson, The Land On Line.com,  Minnesota’s Rural Life Magazine on the web.

RECIPES INCLUDE: Beverages: Strawberry Water, Pineapple-ade, Lemonade, Milk Punch,Make-Do Hot Cocoa, Hot Mulled Cider, Soups & Stews: Hobo Mulligan Stew, Tomato Bisque, Peanut Soup, Creamy Corn Soup, Chicken Noodle Soup, Bread: Hard Tack, Corn Egg Bread, Cat Head Biscuits, Cheese Crescents, Corn Dodgers, Ash Cake, Hoe Cake, Soft Pretzels, Peasant, Bread: Sausage and Apples, Kabobs, Meat Hash, Parmesan Chicken, Chicken & Dumplings, Weird Foods: Pickled Glazed Tongue, Eels with Anchovies, Chocolate Sandwiches, New Sandwiches, Vegetables: Squash with Apples, Sweet Potato Cobbler, Ash Potatoes, Succotash, Corn Oysters, Hopping John, Potato Snow, Fruit: Berry Fruit Leather, Talking Fruit Basket, Fruit Salad, Pineapple Ice, Dessert: Nutty Snowball Cookies, Tea Cakes, Sugar Cookies, Face Cookies, Thumbprint Cookies, Apple Upside Down Cake, Gingerbread Apple Cake, Persimmon Pudding, Berry Pie, Pie Pastry, Moist & Chewy Mudpies, Apple Turnover, Fudge Snow Taffy, Sugar Plums, Popcorn Balls.

Our Best Seller!
 Log Cabin Cooking

Pioneer Recipes & Food Lore

Barbara Swell
 

Peppered with authentic 19th century photographs, this popular cookbook is smothered with old-time recipes, kitchen proverbs, even a pinch of proper pioneer etiquette! Make-do recipes include Leather Britches, Ash Cake and Portable Soup, using the ingredients available to settlers 150 years ago! Other goodies: hand-dipped candle making, soup warnings, molasses taffy, faux foods, zucchini clarinet and ginger beer! 5 ½ x 8 ½ , 64 pages.

"A fascinating compilation of recipes, history, lore and humor. The author recreates the pioneer kitchen, its equipment, ingredients, and outlook."--Cook's Books Select

"I love Log Cabin Cooking!" Lauren Zechin

"A little gem of a cookbook." Wisconsin Bookwatch

RECIPES INCLUDE: Wheat: Attire for Bread Baking, Biscuits, Buttermilk Biscuits, Odorless Salt Rising Bread, Sally Lunn, Salt Risin Bread, Scones, Sour Dough Bread, Corn: Ash Cake, Cornbread, Cornmeal Mush, Cornpone, Cornstick, Hoe Cake, Hunter's Cake, Johnny Cake, Johnny Cake Rhyme, Polenta, Roasted Corn, Spoonbread, Soups: Corn Chowder, Oyster Soup, Portable Soup, Potato Soup, Sweet Potato Soup, Meat/Wild Game: Apples and Buttons, Brunswick Stew, Baked Prairie Chicken, Chicken and Dumplings, Chicken Pie, Chicken Shortcake, Cornish Pasties, Dried Sweet Apple Schnitz, Meat Hash, Pigs in a Puddle, Shepherd's Pie, Schnitz un Knepp, Vegetables: Apple/Carrot Salad, Baked Beans, Cheese Biscuits in Tomato Sauce, Dandelion Salad, Leather Britches, Pickled Beets, Red Pickled Eggs, Root Vegetable Pasties, Sauerkraut, Vegetable Cutlets, Zucchini Clarinet, Fruit: Apple Butter, Apple Dumplings, Apple Pie, Apple Stack Cake, Blackberry Pie, Fruit Cobbler, Fruit Crisp, Fruit Roly Poly, Miracle Cobbler, Snails House Cobbler, Desserts: Doughnuts in Rhyme, Fairy Cookies, Gingerbread Cookies, Gingerbread, Lemon Sauce, Pastry Crust, Poor Man's Pudding, Pumpkin Pie, Sand Tarts/Jelly Tarts, Togus Bread, Faux Foods: Mock Angelfood, Cake, Mock Clam Chowder, Mock Mince Pie, Mock Olives, Mock Oysters, Mock Pecan Pie, Mock Whipped Cream, Home-Made.Butter, Beverages: Blackberry Wine, Cherry Bounce, Coffee, Ginger Beer, Honey and Molasses Dipped Candles, Molasses Taffey

Secrets of the Great Old-Timey Cooks

 Barbara Swell

Reminisce about a simpler time as four 20th century mountain pioneer women share their cooking secrets. These great old-time cooks stir in their own wisdom and tales of growing up on rural farms, where they prepared delicious meals by lantern light on wood cockstoves. Included are heirloom recipes, proverbs, folk remedies, 80 vintage photos, 19th century autograph rhymes and lots of stories. 5 ½ x 8 ½ , 72 pages.

"Your book stirs up memories of my grandmother's kitchen and all the goodness of home."--Anne Marie Williams, Southern Highland Craft Guild

"I really, really liked Secrets of the Great Old-Time Cooks." Joyce Buchanan

"I bought Secrets of the Great Old-Timey Cooks and Mama's in the Kitchen and just loved reading them and trying the recipes. Very interesting and different from the other books I buy and read! Darla Kerns

"An ideal and inexpensive gift for kitchen cookbook collectors. Secrets of the Great Old-Timey Cooks is a wonderful compendium of historic American recipes, folklore and country wisdom. Profusely illustrated. If you like to cook and have a fondness for 'the good old days,' then secure a copy of Secrets of the Great Old-Timey Cooks." The Midwest Book Review

RECIPES INCLUDE: Beverages: Blackberry Cordial, Grape Juice Lemonade, Dandelion Wine, Mulled Cider, Russian Tea, Sadie's Punch, Soups: Celery Soup, Dried Com Chowder, Fresh Pea Soup, Tomato Bisque: Breads: Biscuits, Fannie's Graham Bread, Graham Puffs, Gritted Cornbread, Huckleberry Scones, Jam Windmills, Raisin Graham Bread, So. Mt. Cornbread, Sweet Potato Buns, Sweet Potato Dumplings, Meats: Apple Maple Duck, Blackbird Pie, Chicken & Dumplings, Curried Chicken & Rice, Hot Pot, Oyster Loaves, Pork Snow Birds, Roast Beef Pie, Vegetables: Apple Stuffed Pumpkin, Baked Corn in Peppers, Carrot Puffs, Eggs & Baked Tomatoes, Fried Corn, Green Beans, Onions Stuffed, Potato Rissoles, Scalloped Tomatoes, Shuck Beans, Winter Saccatash, Apples & Berries: Applesauce Dumplings, Apple Dumpling Pie, Cider Fruit Cake, Jewel Berry Fool, Mom's Apple Cobbler, Strawberry Dumplings, Desserts: Apple Stack Cake, Chocolate Popcorn, Coconut Stack Cake, Ginger Nuts, Gingerbread, Jam Pie, Salty Peanut Cookies, Spiced Jini Cakes, Pickles and Butters: Apple Butter, Pickled Beans, Refrigerator Pickles, Mock: Cherry Pie, Coconut Macaroons, Honey, Macaroni, Turtle Soup.

Early American Cookery

by Margaret Huntington Hooker

This amazing piece of folk history was originally published in 1896 amidst a colonial revival frenzy that swept America’s eastern seaboard in the 1890s. Determined to preserve American colonial cooking, Margaret Hooker collected quaint and curious recipes and remedies that appear to have come from “old and reliable” sources ranging from the mid 1700s to the mid 1800s. Her 226 original illustrations of cooking utensils give us a glimpse of colonial America as seen through the eyes of a young artist and teacher of 1896. This fun book includes recipes, beauty secrets, etiquette, candle making, and household hints, written in 18th century long S style print.5 ½ x 8 ½ , 227 pages.

"This expert ..reproduction will make an enduringly popular addition to personal, family, and community library cookbook collections, as well as being of immense interest for students of 18th and 19th century American popular culture. Midwest Book Review.

Approved by Parent's Choice
Sing It Yourself!
12 Old-Time Sing Alongs

Laura Boosinger

A lively collection of pioneer music that makes you want to bust out in song. Great picking and singing have made it a kids/family favorite! Old-time Banjo, guitar, fiddle, dulcimer, guitar, autoharp and bass. Lyrics included. 36 Minutes.

"This lady banjo player and singer is my number one. She knows the best songs and raises the hair on my neck when she sings them."--John Hartford, composer of "Gentle on my Mind"