Thrifty Acres: The Land Of A Thousand Recipes

Hello! There's a 1960's hit song called "Land of a Thousand Dances". Well, I have the "land of a thousand recipes" in my home! 

Actually, I don't know how many recipes I really have, but I know it's a lot - indeed, more than I can ever possibly use! But that doesn't stop me from looking at the cookbook section in thrift stores anyway. I know there's always the chance that a new-to-us recipe lurks within, destined to become a family favorite. 

The number of recipes in my hands increased last week with the thrifted purchase of this:

With around 680 pages of recipes, this is a hefty collection! It was compiled by the Tennessee-based Chapter #21 of the Telephone Pioneers of America. That's the main reason I bought the cookbook; with its Southern base, I figured there'd be a lot of down-home recipes in it. 

But I also noted that this must have been a popular cookbook since over 200,000 copies had been sold. My edition, which came out in 1992, was the 16th printing. 

I'd never heard of the Telephone Pioneers, so I turned to the Internet for more info. I learned that it's a charitable non-profit organization whose members - not surprisingly - come mostly from the telecommunications field. The organization was founded in 1911, with none less than Alexander Graham Bell receiving the first membership card. 

Just for fun, I looked to see if this cookbook is on eBay. It is, and judging from the results of completed listings, it's apparently considered a collectible. I'm glad the thrift store folks didn't know this; I paid their usual price for softcover cookbooks. 

I've been looking through the cookbook in spurts; it'll take awhile to get through it. Truth be told, there's recipe categories I'd never consider, like salads made from Jello and a bunch of other ingredients. (I despise Jello no matter how it's made.) Not going to make those casseroles that consist mainly of various canned goods either. 

But there's a lot of good recipes as well - after all, in a volume this lengthy, there's bound to be! No wonder it's sold so well on eBay.