The basic cuisine in my formative years was what one would expect from a 1980s household: Shake n' Bake chicken, Shake n' Bake pork chops, meat loaf. We never did have Shake n' Bake meat loaf, which would have been very exciting and possibly more American than apple pie.

But my husband's mother ventured farther afield, into the culinary alps of Northern California. There she lived among Sasquatch and crotchety miners in a hamlet called Sawyers Bar, and she recently gave me an antique piece of her culinary repertoire: a nearly century-old Department of Agriculture cookbook from her mother's side of the family -- part cookbook, part history book, part family Bible, the old pages keeping me company while I'm in bed with a pulled back and floating on Flexeril.

So it makes sense that the first recipe that jumped out at me was on a page titled "Preparations for the Sick." At the top of the page, we have: "Toast Water: Place several pieces of stale toasted bread in a cup, cover with ice water, and serve to your patient." They must've been pioneers in incentivized medicine: If you do not get well soon this is what we will be giving you to eat all the time. Bon appétit.

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