The Military Wives' Cookbook: 200 Years of Traditions, Recipes, and Remembrances

“Among my most cherished childhood memories is that of my mother’s home cooking. It was the one constant in our lives as we traveled the world.” Carolyn Quick Tillery, The Military Wives’ Cookbook

Military Spouse Appreciation Day on May 8, is right around the corner. If you’re a servicemember looking for a little something special for your spouse or if you’re the “silent” counterpart in the military couple and you’re looking to reward yourself for your job well done (or if you’re neither and you just like a good cookbook) then you should check out The Military Wives’ Cookbook by Carolyn Quick Tillery.



The Military Wives’ Cookbook isn’t your average cookbook (but then, most military wives’ aren’t your average wife). What makes it special is it encompasses “200 Years of Traditions, Recipes, and Remembrances.” In her introduction, Tillery (a military wife herself) details the journey of military wives throughout American history beginning with the American Revolution. How we began by serving, literally, beside our husbands in battle, to the earliest of PCS, to maintaining the homefront while our husbands serve in foreign wars. Throughout the book and incorporated in with the recipes are quotes and stories from military wives throughout the years like Libbie Custer and Frances Roe, along with military facts such as the meaning of the flag folding ceremony.

I’m not much of a creative cook, my signature dish, Macaroni Soup, consisting of 5 ingredients, 2 of which are salt and pepper, so I always welcome a new recipe book to get my culinary juices flowing. This one especially because a) I’m a military wife, b) I love all the tid-bits about those women that came before me, and c) I feel especially proud when I make these wives’ recipes that have seen some of history’s most important moments.

The Military Wives’ Cookbook is broken down into six categories:

1) Teas and Coffees
2) Buffets, Brunches, and Lunches
3) A Taste of Home: Dinner Family Style
4) Alfresco Dining
5) Over There: An International Affair
6) Home For The Holidays and Other Celebrations

One of my favorite parts about this cookbook is that in each of these categories the recipes are presented in menu-style format. So if you’re like me and have zero creativity when it comes to creating your family’s meals (random pasta with meat sauce and garlic bread, anyone?), this is an excellent and much needed cookbook format. For example, in “Home For The Holidays and Other Celebrations” there is a Memorial Day Catfish Fry (coming up on May 25!) and the recipes for the proposed menu include:

Fried Catfish
Hush Puppies
Shredded Pork
Cole Slaw
Potato Salad
Sliced Tomatoes and Cucumbers
Sweet Tea

Individually most of the recipes sound amazingly delicious, so you could just as easily pick and choose from the different menus to create your own one-of-a-kind menu. Danielle, my SIL, helped me do just that. We flipped through the “Teas and Coffees” section and made ourselves our own Military family tea party, which was incredibly good. (I even ate the leftovers the next day for lunch…and I DON’T usually do leftovers.)

Blueberry Scones (An Independence Tea Party)
Devonshire Cream (An Independence Tea Party)
Cucumber Sandwiches (Lady’s Afternoon Delight: A Garden Tea Party)
Tea Garden Spinach & Strawberry Salad with Strawberry Vinaigrette Dressing
(Lady’s Afternoon Delight: A Garden Tea Party)
Sweet Tea (Memorial Day Catfish Fry)

My only complaint (and it's not big enough to stop me from using this cookbook) about the recipes is that most of them appear to take a lot of prep work and they yield over 6 servings. If you’re like me, a working “single mom” of an infant and wife of a deployed husband, you’re hard pressed to find the time to make a dinner that takes more than 15 minutes especially when you’re only feeding yourself. However, if you want to prepare a Sunday dinner (or a “Welcome Home, Daddy!” Post-Deployment Dinner) the extended family isn’t likely to forget and Grandma is watching the baby, The Military Wives’ Cookbook is a great addition to your cookbook shelf.

Also, don’t forget that Mother’s Day is coming up this Sunday, May 10, and if your mom is a military wife The Military Wives’ Cookbook would be an awesome way to show her how much you love her and to let her know you still enjoy her cooking!