My grandma was a child of the Great Depression. She was a World War II newlywed. She worked outside of the home and raised three children with my grandpa in an era when most women chose to stay home to raise their kids. She was a feisty, strong-willed, smart, and kind woman. She loved generously.

Ten years ago my grandparents moved into assisted living and gave away a lot of their things. I was home on a visit from Chicago, where I was living at the time, and saw a box full of recipes tucked off to the side — forgotten about. No one else wanted it and I remember thinking, “One day  I’ll go through that and find grandma’s old bakalva recipe.” So I took it, packed it away in my parents’ basement and returned to Chicago.

I have since moved back to Minnesota. I am married and have two sons — almost two years and three months. Today, I stumbled across that old recipe box in a Rubbermaid bin my dad sent over to my house as he was cleaning out his basement.

As I sat at the kitchen table reading through all of the recipes in my grandma’s handwriting, I was overcome with emotion. She died almost two years ago, right after my first son was born. She’d lived a long and wonderful life and was ready to join my grandpa, her husband of 66 years, who had passed away the year prior.

In these recipes for jello salad, and hot spam sandwiches, and chicken casserole I saw my grandmother as a young working mother of three in a post war era trying to get food on the table for three fussy kids after a long workday. I thought about my husband and I who both work in non profit jobs. We passionately love to cook and yet find that a grilled cheese sandwich and frozen peas have become a common dinner around our house. I see myself in my grandma when I look through these recipes.  And it makes me want to be feisty and strong-willed and smart and kind just as she was… and to build a legacy of love and good food.

I want to cook these recipes! The good ones and the (let’s be honest) downright gross-sounding ones. I want to see which ones my toddler will eat and which ones I can improve upon. I want to work a job that I love outside of the home and still work with my husband to put dinner on the table to eat as a family.  My grandma might not be here to give me advice on raising my young family, but perhaps her recipe box can give me a little insight into how she managed it so well.