My Mom's Recipe Box

“My Mom's Recipe Box. 80 Years of Collected Midwest Recipes” contains recipes collected by my mother Delora over an 80-year time span living in small towns from the 1930's to 2024. Delora regularly traded and swapped their best recipes with other cooks, wives, daughters and even a few men. It was quite a source of pride to be asked for a copy of a favored dish as well as being known locally as a “good cook.”

Recipes were swapped at holidays, local banquets, church functions, school dinners, Scout and sports banquets, graduations, weddings and even funeral luncheons (they still serve a great post-funeral lunch in our town!)

Delora’s double sized recipe box was stuffed full of hundreds of heirloom grade recipes written on 3x5” cards, yellowed pieces of scrap paper and even bank deposit slips. You can see the love and attention to detail in these old recipes which fed generations of midwestern families. Some of the recipes are over 100 years old.

Mike Keleher has published nine books and several hundred articles.
At Age 91, this is Delora Keleher’s first book.