Cook Book '79 - A Flashback to an Etobicoke Cooking Contest -- Vintage Cookbook TBT

A few week's ago my partner Natalie discovered a recipe for bran muffins from none other than Prime Minister Stephen Harper's mom!

She found it in a cookbook released by the Etobicoke Guardian in 1979 that flowed out of a cooking contest they had held.

While Harper's mom's recipe was not one of the winners, the 62 page magazine format cookbook is a fascinating throwback to a different time and place.

Today we will look at the "Prize Winning" recipes. Note the prizes, the categories and the fact that there was a "Men Only" category (the winner took home a broilmaster).

While a few of the recipes look pretty good (especially the Ukrainian meat sticks), the Grand Prize "Gourmet meal for two" stretches the term gourmet.

Humorously the Grand Prize was a dishwasher...while one of the lesser prizes was a trip to Ottawa (that went to the vegetarian)!

Here are all the winning recipes as well as a few advertisements for the sake of ambiance.

(click on images to enlarge)

See also: Stephen Harper's Mom's Bran Muffin Recipe 

Stephen Harper's Mom's Bran Muffin Recipe

You never know what you will come across flipping through vintage cookbooks and magazines -- a pastime I share with my partner Natalie.

Today as she was leafing through an old recipe supplement to The  Etobicoke Guardian (a local newspaper in this Toronto suburb) from 1979 she made quite the find.

Now, while many identify our Prime Minister with the province of Alberta, he actually grew up on Princess Anne Cres. in Islington, a neighbourhood in Etobicoke.

And his mother, it would seem, had a noteworthy recipe for bran muffins that we have discovered again all these years later.

The addition of apricot jam seems, actually, like a really delicious idea! Note the two sugar mix as well.

At any rate, without any further ado, here is a recipe for bran muffins from our Prime Minister's mom.

Cookbook '79 from the Etobcioke Guardian