June Thrifty - Community Cookbooks ~ Sanford House and Kitchen of St. Luke's

The Sanford House Cookbook, published in 2008. A collection of dishes served in the venerable restaurant located in Milledgeville, Georgia. The eatery was open during the 1950's until the late 1960's and was a favorite of local resident (and writer!) Flannery O' Conner whose Andalusia Foundation published the book. This is a very compact book with a mere 96 pages of recipes.

We begin with Punches & Canapes ~ there are three fruit punch options, plus wedding and Catawba punches, followed by carrot sandwiches, asparagus roll-ups, cheese puffs, lobster balls, olive & chestnut sandwiches and a layered shrimp spread (bottom: cream cheese & curry powder, topped with a layer of hard boiled eggs and sliced onions, then spread with a bottle of chili sauce and topped with shrimp). Salads & Salad Dressings consist of many congealed selections including an asparagus almond mold, a congealed avocado salad and tomato aspic, plus a carrot & date salad, shrimp salad and the ever popular Waldorf. The dressings range from anchovy to sour cream to the house specialty.

Soups & Breads offers a vegetable soup - two gallons worth!, shrimp bisque, rolls, corn sticks, biscuits and Sally Lunn bread - another perennial favorite. Meats, delve into baked chicken breasts, chicken croquettes, lamb chops, fried shrimp, baked ham, pot roast, a rolled rib roast and a pork loin with apricots and prunes, while Vegetables covers scalloped apples or tomatoes, asparagus roulade, sweet potato souffle, spinach souffle, grits, cherry fritters, grilled peaches & grilled grapefruit and cauliflower with cheese sauce.

Rounding out the sweets, there are Pies: coconut or chocolate chiffon, sour cream raisin, banana cream and macaroon, while Cakes & Frostings pitch a caramel cake with caramel frosting, coconut cake with a coconut orange frosting, pound cake, Lane cake, a Yule log, and a pecan cake with a praline glaze.  Desserts gives us apple dumplings, Nesselrode pudding, coconut-citron souffle, bourbon balls, cranberry sherbet and a peach flambe.

Gleanings from the Kitchens of St. Luke's, no publication date. A very basic cookbook with no introduction, I had to search for the church location (Philadelphia, Pennsylvania), but it was noted the church adheres to the Episcopal faith on the inside cover page.

We dive in straightaway to the recipes, beginning with Soups ~ there are three: clam chowder, carrot and Dutch potato, followed by Beverages & Canapes, with two punches (one with liquor) and a few dips (shrimp, crab and a horseradish with bacon) , before we tackle Breads - ginger, pumpkin or zucchini.

Fish, Fowl & Games is filled with a seafood casserole, shrimp curry, chicken Parisienne (made with sherry), chicken divan, chicken wings, chicken Cordon Bleu and a six can casserole (a can each of cream of chicken and cream of mushroom soups, evaporated milk, canned chicken, a can of Chinese noodles topped with French fried onion rings). Meat delivers chuck roast, steak & liver pie, stew, shepherd's pie, meatloaf and chili.

In Vegetable & Luncheon Dishes, we are given the choice of corn fritters, scalloped potatoes, corn pudding, or the following, either baked or in a casserole: spinach, eggplant, beans squash, carrots and sweet potatoes. Cheese & Eggs offers quiche (3), mac & cheese and Welsh Rabbit while in Men's Dishes there is a pumpkin bisque, Greek spinach pie and a hamburger & onion pie.

Salads & Dressings has a peach mold, the ever popular cauliflower & broccoli salad, plus salads made with sauerkraut, spinach, potatoes and chicken. Pastries is filled with pies ~ pumpkin, deep dish apple, coconut, sweet potato and an Impossible pie made with Bisquick, while Desserts is all about pudding (bread or rice), apple kugel, brownies, lemon squares, a pineapple casserole, cobblers, coffee cakes and cinnamon buns.

It's easy to spot a non-Southern church cookbook as the sweets section is marginally smaller than all the other chapters - this is no exception. For Cakes, a few of the options are a deep dark chocolate, Jewish apple (several versions), Irish Whiskey, pound cake, sponge cake, dump cake, a 7UP cake (we prefer the Coca Cola version here), cheesecake and a Hawaiian cake which is similar to the Southern hummingbird cake. Cookies offers Ukrainian prune, butter cookies, shortbread, ginger cookies, lace and ice box cookies.

In Candy there is fudge and a concoction titled "Holly" made with marshmallows, green food coloring and cornflakes.  The last chapter - Pickles & Preserves deals with cranberry relish and dill pickles.