The Hippie Cookbook or Don't Eat Your Food Stamps

I found the coolest cookbooks at the giant Half Price books the other day. We ended up in the cookbook section on the way to checkout because Roberto wanted a cookbook to make something "new". We make boring stuff according to him. We ended up with a cookbook for the crockpot - cuz I love crockpot cooking, lol. Fix it and forget it. My favorite is my Beefy Onion Pot Roast - and here's the recipe. My children devour this meal.

Beefy Onion Pot Roast
2 lb chuck roast
Large bag of baby carrots
4-5 potatos, peeled and cut
1 package of Lipton's Beefy Onion soup mix
1 heaping spoonful of cornstarch
4-5 cups of water
Optional: Spoonful of Garlic

Put the roast (defrosted) in first, then throw in the carrots and potatoes around, then mix Beefy onion soup mix in 2 cups of hot water and pour around the roast and veggies. Mix 2 cups of hot water with a heaping spoonful of cornstarch and then pour around the roast and veggies. Add some more water if you think it needs it (but the more liquid, the longer it takes to cook). If you love garlic like we do, I add a regular spoonful of minced garlic. Turn crockpot to high.

To be done by around 6 PM, you need to do put this in the crockpot by 11 AM or 12 PM at the latest. You can make this even earlier, like before work if needed and it will still be perfect when you get home. The cornstarch thickens the soup mix and makes the juices like a gravy, you can skip the cornstarch and the juices will be watery if you prefer.

So I found the vintage cookbook sections, and I loved it. You know those spiral bound cookbooks from organizations or churchs, I have tons of them, mostly stolen from my mother, lol. As we were looking, I found an autographed little vintage cookbook by Jacques Pepin, signed to a Lizette, and we picked up a 1971 vintage copy of the 1934 recipe Hershey's cookbook. My mother-in-law swears by the Hershey's original chocolate cake recipe they used to print on the cocoa tin way back when, she had to call them and request a copy of it a few years ago since they quit printing it on the tin. She's going to be thrilled with that cookbook.


And then tucked out of the way, I picked up this strange little cookbook with a very odd front cover. It's called The Hippie Cookbook or Don't Eat Your Foodstamps. It seemed very intriguing with lots of neat recipes. It's the size of a book of postcards. I paid about $5 for it and looked it up online and most are for sale for between $40-$50. I read it has a great cheesecake recipe.