Cooking in Community

collecting community cookbooks and modernizing the recipes

Menu
  • What is a Community Cookbook?
  • Why “Modernize” the Recipes?
  • About Me
  • My Modernized Recipes in Print
  • News & Events
  • Contact Me
Menu

Modernized Recipes

Cookbooks

The Happy Cooker (1974)

Posted on September 19, 2023November 24, 2023 by Rachel Rappaport

The Happy Cooker presented by Entre Nous (1974)

This book is a little mysterious. A slightly risque title and they welcome us into their kitchens and promise a “prospectus of honored recipes” but I can’t get a real grasp on who “they” are. It appears to be a ground called Entre Nous but where, I don’t know. Google turns up a few and we are almost 50 years out from 1974 so I have no way to narrow it down further. I got it on eBay from a seller in Tennessee but I don’t think that means anything. You can order more books using a coupon that lists the address of Mrs. Darrel R. Gresham of Peoria, Ill as the contact. Maybe they are from there? Sometimes those addresses are a publishing house and sometimes they are the organization.

There are some recipes for “BBQs“ which are what some places in the Midwest call sloppy joes. I remember a girlfriend of my uncle’s bringing them to potlucks when I was very little and being surprised it was a sloppy joe! She was from West Virginia.

Lots of recipes–often three or more per page. All with named contributors. Illustrations (stock? they are all signed with the same name as the cover) on the section dividers.

This is one of the few books where I’ve seen several recipes for sandwiches. Sandwich fillings aren’t uncommon but there are recipes here that include the right bread and assembly instructions.

Solid appetizer and drinks chapter–it does seem geared toward entertaining.

Good number of cookies and other desserts.

Some recipes I’ve not seen in other books like Phyllis Bush’s Potee Valaisanne, Virginia Dagley’s Panjagels and Judy Bower’s Gedempte Flaish.

I adapted and updated Betty McKay’s recipe for Apple-Cream Coffee Cake from this book.

Tags: 1970s bookbookcommunity cookbookcontains recipe that was adaptedcredits sourcesillustratednamed contributorspunny titlesocial club cookbookspiral boundThe Happy Cooker 1974unknown location
Category: bookUnknown Location Cookbook

Post navigation

← Vidalia Onion Upside Down Bread
Favorite Recipes of Mon River Valley Chapter Sweet Adelines →

I'm a cookbook author and recipe developer collecting community cookbooks from around the US and recreating the recipes so you can make them at home, today.

  • About Me
  • Contact Me
  • My Modernized Recipes in Print
  • News & Events
  • What is a Community Cookbook?
  • Why “Modernize” the Recipes?

Archives

  • June 2024
  • March 2024
  • February 2024
  • January 2024
  • December 2023
  • November 2023
  • October 2023
  • September 2023
  • August 2023
  • July 2023
  • June 2023
  • May 2023

Categories

  • appetizers and snacks
  • Arizona Cookbook
  • Ark-La-Tex Cookbook
  • Arkansas Cookbook
  • bars
  • beef
  • biscuits
  • blondies
  • book
  • bread
  • Breakfast
  • brownies
  • cake
  • California Cookbook
  • candy
  • casserole
  • coffee cake
  • Colorado Cookbook
  • Connecticut Cookbook
  • cookies
  • crabs
  • Delaware Cookbook
  • Delmarva Cookbook
  • dessert
  • Florida Cookbook
  • Georgia Cookbook
  • Guam Cookbook
  • Hawaii Cookbook
  • ice box dessert
  • Indiana Cookbook
  • International Cookbook
  • Kentucky Cookbook
  • Louisiana Cookbook
  • main dish
  • Maryland Cookbook
  • Massachusetts Cookbook
  • Michigan Cookbook
  • Minnesota Cookbook
  • modernized recipe
  • National Cookbook
  • Nebraska Cookbook
  • New Jersey Cookbook
  • New York Cookbook
  • North Carolina Cookbook
  • Ohio Cookbook
  • Oklaholma Cookbook
  • Oklahoma Cookbook
  • Pasta
  • pasta salad
  • Pennsylvania Cookbook
  • quick bread
  • recipe
  • salad
  • sandwich
  • seafood
  • side dish
  • slow cooker
  • soup
  • Texas Cookbook
  • Unknown Location Cookbook
  • USA Cookbook
  • Virgin Islands Cookbook
  • Virginia Cookbook
  • Washington DC Cookbook
  • Washington State Cookbook
  • West Virginia Cookbook
  • Wisconsin Cookbook

Tags

1960s book 1970s book 1970s recipe 1980s book 1980s recipe 1990s book book church cookbook community cookbook community cookbook recipe contains recipe that was adapted craft recipes credits sources Delaware dessert helpful hints historical recipes illustrated local ads local histories local restaurant recipes Maryland Maryland Cookbook Maryland cookbook recipe modernized recipe mysterious recipe names named contributors no illustrations novelty recipes Pennsylvania Pennsylvania Cookbook photographs politician contributors quippy quotes recipe regional dishes religious organization cookbook spiral bound stock images only undated unnamed contributors Vashon Island Washington State Washington State wild game recipes women’s club cookbook

©2025 Cooking in Community
Menu
  • What is a Community Cookbook?
  • Why “Modernize” the Recipes?
  • About Me
  • My Modernized Recipes in Print
  • News & Events
  • Contact Me