Betty Crocker's Festive Culinary Dragon

This festive culinary dragon accompanies a recipe for Chinese Beef and Rice. As much as this does not make sense on first glance, think about it! How handy would it be for wok cookery to be able to shoot super-heated flames out of your nose?

However, upon Googling, it seems that the only reason for a Chinese dragon to shoot fire out of its face would be as a sign of divine displeasure, for punishing evildoers. This can only mean that this dish has incurred the wrath of God.

Chinese Beef and Rice
2/3 cup rice
2 tbsp. vegetable oil
1 1/2 tsp. salt
1 1/2 cups boiling water
1 bouillon cube
2 tsp. soy sauce
1 medium onion, chopped
2 stalks celery, chopped
1 green pepper, chopped
1 1/2 cups diced cooked beef

Cook rice in hot oil over medium heat until golden brown. Add salt, water, bouillon cube, and soy sauce. Cover; simmer 20 min. Add rest of ingredients. Cover tightly and simmer 10 min. more. (It may be necessary to add a little more water.) All water should be absorbed at end of cooking time. If not, remove cover and allow liquid to evaporate. 2 generous servings.

Fresh Fruits, Rolled Oats in Cream, Baked Sweet Apples, Macaroni with Cream Sauce, Whole-Wheat Puffs, Stewed Peaches, Caramel Coffee

Once upon a time, there was a man named John Harvey Kellogg. He was a big fan of vegetarianism. He ran the Battle Creek Sanitarium, where one of the treatment methods was feeding patients an all-vegetarian diet. Another method was giving patients yogurt enemas. But let us dwell instead on the fact that he invented Kellogg's Cornflakes there. Meanwhile, his wife wrote a whole cookbook based on the foods they served to the patients.



SCIENCE IN THE KITCHEN.
A Scientific Treatise on Food Substances and their Dietetic Properties, Together with a Practical Explanation of the Principles of Healthful Cookery, and a Large Number of Original, Palatable, and Wholesome Recipes, by Mrs. E[lla]. E[rvilla]. Kellogg, A.M. [1893], Superintendent of the Sanitarium School of Cookery and of the Bay View Assembly School of Cookery, and Chairman of the World's Fair Committee on Food Supplies, for Michigan

Her titles, they could be a little more snappy.

A little less than ten years ago the Sanitarium at Battle Creek Mich., established an experimental kitchen and a school of cookery under the supervision of Mrs. Dr. Kellogg, since which time, researches in the various lines of cookery and dietetics have been in constant progress in the experimental kitchen, and regular sessions of the school of cookery have been held. . . . During this time, Mrs. Kellogg has had constant oversight of the cuisine of both the Sanitarium and the Sanitarium Hospital, preparing bills of fare for the general and diet tables, and supplying constantly new methods and original recipes to meet the changing and growing demands of an institution numbering always from 500 to 700 inmates.

Baked Sweet Apple Dessert.—Wash and remove the cores from a dozen medium-sized sweet apples, and one third as many sour ones, and bake until well done. Mash through a colander to make smooth and remove the skins. Put into a granite-ware dish, smooth the top with a knife, return to the oven and bake very slowly until dry enough to keep its shape when cut. Add if desired a meringue made by beating the white of one egg with a tablespoonful of sugar. Cut into squares, and serve in individual dishes. The meringue may be flavored with lemon or dotted with bits of colored sugar.



Macaroni with Cream Sauce.—Cook the macaroni as directed in the proceeding [1 C. macaroni] , and serve with a cream sauce prepared by heating a scant pint of rich milk to boiling, in a double boiler. When boiling, add a heaping tablespoonful of flour, rubbed smoothed in a little milk and one fourth teaspoonful of salt. If desired, the sauce may be flavored by steeping in the milk before thickening for ten or fifteen minutes, a slice of onion or a few bits of celery, and then removing with a fork.




Whole-Wheat Puffs.—Put the yolk of an egg into a basin, and beat the white in a separate dish to a stiff froth. Add to the yolk, one half a cupful of rather thin sweet cream and one cupful of skim milk. Beat the egg, cream, and milk together until perfectly mingled and foamy with air bubbles; then add, gradually, beating well at the same time, one pint of wheat berry flour. Continue the beating vigorously and without interruption for eight or ten minutes; then stir in, lightly, the white of the egg. Do not beat again after the white of the egg is added, but turn at once into heated, shallow irons, and bake for an hour in a moderately quick oven. If properly made and carefully baked, these puffs will be of a fine, even texture throughout, and as light as bread raised by fermentation.




Caramel Coffee.—Take three quarts best bran, one quart corn meal, three tablespoonfuls of molasses; mix and brown in the oven like ordinary coffee. For every cup of coffee required, use one heaping tablespoonful of the caramel. Pour boiling water over it, and steep, not boil, for fifteen or twenty minutes.


Verdict:

Fresh Fruits: They were pears.

Baked Sweet Apples: Gahhhhhhh. It is like eating leathery gloop. It was almost inedible. Eventually, we discovered that the trick to eating it is to put a massive scoop of ice cream on top that completely overshadows the apple gloop.

Then, you scrape the ice cream to the side and eat the ice cream, then skoosh the apple flavored leather gloop a little bit so the melted on ice cream drips off and eat that, then toss the apple gloop in the garbage.

After scraping the excess leathery apple gloop up, we then timed it to see how long it would cling to the spatula. It was a full minute and a half. How we laughed! Ladies, gentlemen, this is how we spent Friday night. Donations of moving picture tickets accepted.

Macaroni with Cream Sauce: SO BLAND. Notice there is no salt or seasoning of any kind, just milk (with a bit of onion simmered in it and then removed because that might have flavor), then flavored with paste. And put on another flavorless thing. So... bland blandy bland blanding bland bland blaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaand.

Whole-Wheat Puffs: In theory, these work kind of like whole wheat cream puffs. In practice... let me illustrate this with an informational picture.



We tipped them in the garbage. They clanked.

Stewed Peaches: Well, canned peaches.

Caramel Coffee: I don't drink coffee, so I have no basis of comparison. So, if coffee smells of burned popcorn and tastes like licking rusty iron bars, it's perfect!

All together: Husband feels that, contrary to Mrs. E.E. Kellogg's claims, this menu was specifically formulated to make him insane. He rated this meal as the worst ever. He was right. There is something terribly, terribly wrong with a meal in which you carefully hoard your last bite of oatmeal.

Parsnip Fritters

Every sort of culinary vegetable is much better when freshly gathered and cooked as soon as possible, and , when done, thoroughly drained, and served immediately while hot. ~White House Cook Book: A Selection of Choice Recipes Original and Selected, During a Period of Forty Years' Practical Housekeeping, by Mrs. F. L. Gilette [1887].






Parsnip Fritters
Boil four or five parsnips; when tender take off the skin and mash them fine; add to them a teaspoonful of wheat flour and a beaten egg; put a tablespoonful of lard or beef drippings in a frying-pan over the fire, add to it a saltspoonful of salt; when boiling hot put in the parsnips; make it in small cakes with a spoon; when one side is a delicate brown turn the other; when both are done take them on a dish, put a very little of the fat in which they were fried over and serve hot. These resemble very nearly the taste of the salsify or oyster plant, and will generally be preferred.




Verdict: Parsnips look like white carrots, and taste like either carroty potatoes or potatoey carrots. These smelled great when they cooked! Husband sneaky snuck in and nabbed one in the midst of picture taking, so tasty did they smell. The taste, however, was just kind of fine. They tasted exactly like the fried combination of potatoes and carrots. I cannot say how it compares to salsify, however, as I haven't been able to find any salsify.

Salsify is a root vegetable which used to be popular, and apparently tastes like oysters. Thus, it was used to make mock oyster stew a lot. Many more root vegetables used to be popular, actually. Now we're basically down to potatoes, carrots, and onions. Possibly beets, as well. When is the last time you ate salsify, parsnips, rutabagas, Jerusalem artichokes, or turnips?

I figure that when the only vegetables you eat during the winter are those you can store in your root cellar, you want to grow as much of a variety as you can. Since we can get pretty much any vegetable any time we want, a wide variety of root vegetables is no longer a priority.

Amazing Juggling Cow

Another installment from the Betty Crocker New Cooking for Two Cookbook [1972].

Ta daaaaaaaaaa! What a talented cow! But you may ask: why is the cow juggling? For that, let us look to the menu.

Roast Beef au Jus
Browned Potatoes
Tomatoes Vinaigrette
Hot Rolls
Ice Cream with Raspberry-Currant Sauce
Brownies

I present two options. You may choose your favorite, or come up with a different one.

1. The cow is super pleased to be a part of dinner! It is juggling the side dishes to show its pride and satisfaction at finally realizing its life purpose. "Hooray!" the cow exclaims. "I will be the freshest most succulent delicious part of this meal. I have been eating extra food and taking many naps so that my flesh might be highly marbled and tender, that I may please the humans who shall partake of me."

2. "Look! Look! I can juggle! I can juggle, see? See? You can't eat a juggling cow, can you? Can you? I'm ever so entertaining!" "No. We will eat you because you are delicious." "But I stepped in my own poop today! And I've just hooved all the side dishes! Now they are fouled with poop. So you can't eat me after all I guess! Ha ha!" "Hm. That is true. We cannot eat poop rolls. We will just have to make do with what's left." "Yes! Yes! WAIT." *snick blurble*

Oh, you silly jolly cow!

WWI Rationing: Curried Rice with Corn and Cheese in Brown Sauce, Rye Rolls, and Wheatless, Eggless, Butterless, Milkless, Sugarless Cake

They said it'd be over by Christmas of 1914, and now, four years later, we can finally start looking forward with a peaceful Christmas. One of the Jensen boys was so pleased on Armistice day, he drove the car right through the town's celebratory bonfire! He was set to ship out on November 12.



However, rationing is still in force. If we all pitch in and conserve meat, milk, butter, fat, eggs, and sugar, we can send more relief overseas.

With that in mind, let's look back through Foods That Will Win the War and How to Cook Them [1918].

To provide adequate supplies for the coming year is of absolutely vital importance to the conduct of the war, and without a very conscientious elimination of waste and very strict economy in our food consumption, we cannot hope to fulfill this primary duty.
WOODROW WILSON.



One pot meals need only fruit or simple dessert, and bread and butter to complete a well-balanced menu.

CURRIED RICE WITH CORN AND CHEESE IN BROWN SAUCE
½ cup rice
1 cup cheese
1 cup corn
1½ cup milk
¼ cup fat
¼ cup flour
1 teaspoon salt
⅛ teaspoon cayenne
Melt fat until brown. Add flour and seasonings. Heat until brown. Add milk gradually. When at boiling point add other ingredients. Place in baking dish and bake 45 minutes.


But I hear you thinking, wait! This rice and corn in sauce needs something. Hey, I know! Sauce!



It is claimed that the most serious food shortage in Germany is fat; that the civilian population is dying in large numbers because of the lack of it, and that Von Hindenburg's men will lose out on the basis of fat, rather than on the basis of munitions or military organization. Worst of all is the effect of fat shortage on the children of the nation. Leaders of thought all over Europe assert that even if Germany wins, Germany has lost, because it has sapped the strength of its coming generation.

[Liebe Deutschen,

Ich habe Deutschland sehr gern.

Mit besten Grüßen,
Jana]

BROWN SAUCE
¼ cup fat
⅓ cup flour
1 teaspoon salt
⅛ teaspoon of cayenne
1½ cups brown stock, or
1½ cups water and 2 bouillon cubes
½ teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
Melt fat until brown. Add flour. Heat until brown. Add liquid gradually, letting come to boiling point each time before adding more liquid. When all is added, 1 teaspoon kitchen bouquet may be added if darker color is desired.




Waste in your kitchen means starvation in some other kitchen across the sea. Our Allies are asking for 450,000,000 bushels of wheat, and we are told that even then theirs will be a privation loaf. Crop shortage and unusual demand has left Canada and the United States, which are the largest sources of wheat, with but 300,000,000 bushels available for export. The deficit must be met by reducing consumption on this side the Atlantic. This can be done by eliminating waste and by making use of cereals and flours other than wheat in bread-making.

RYE ROLLS
4 cups rye flour
1½ teaspoons salt
6 teaspoons baking powder
1½ cups milk
2 tablespoons fat
1 cup chopped nuts
Mix dry ingredients thoroughly. Add milk, nuts and melted shortening. Knead. Shape into rolls. Put into greased pans. Let stand one-half hour. Bake in moderate oven 30 minutes.



One ounce of sugar less per person, per day, is all our Government asks of us to meet the world sugar shortage. One ounce of sugar equals two scant level tablespoonfuls and represents a saving that every man, woman and child should be able to make. Giving up soft drinks and the frosting on our cakes, the use of sugarless desserts and confections, careful measuring and thorough stirring of that which we place in our cups of tea and coffee, and the use of syrup, molasses or honey on our pancakes and fritters will more than effect this saving.

WHEATLESS, EGGLESS, BUTTERLESS, MILKLESS, SUGARLESS CAKE
1 cup corn syrup
2 cups water
2 cups raisins
2 tablespoons fat
1 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons cinnamon
1 teaspoon nutmeg
1½ cups fine cornmeal, 2 cups rye flour; or, 3½ cups whole wheat flour
1½ teaspoons baking powder, or, ½ teaspoon soda

Cook corn syrup, water, raisins, fat, salt and spices slowly 15 minutes. When cool, add flour, soda or baking powder, thoroughly blended. Bake in slow oven 1 hour. The longer this cake is kept, the better the texture and flavor. This recipe is sufficient to fill one medium-sized bread pan.


Verdict:

Curried Rice with Corn and Cheese... : First off, the name is a misnomer. I want you to scroll back and see if you can find the curry. I'll wait. ..... Did you find it? No, you didn't. The seasoning in this dish is salt and the tiniest, teeniest breath of cayenne pepper. That said, it's... good! I am a big fan of cheese sauce with things in it. The bottom got all crispy and delicious. It does not need the brown sauce. At all. If you're of the meat-free persuasion, you should give this a try. It is easy and super de duper cheap. You might want to omit the salt, cut down on the fat, and see about adding some herbs, though.

... in Brown Sauce: It's beef gravy! Really, really thick beef gravy with WAYYY more fat than needed. I used olive oil, as I didn't feel up to putting that much lard in... anything. I still have no idea why they would feel that rice and corn in cheese sauce required more sauce.

Rye Rolls: I used light rye flour. Light rye flour : dark rye flour :: white flour : whole wheat flour. These were very grim. Raw flour got stuck in the crevices of the pecans. They tasted of nothing. Absolutely nothing. Husband, however, found out that if one eats a bite with a bite of CRwCaC in BS, the dry tastelessness soaks up the excess sauce. I found that they go down well alongside their own volume in apricot jam. Husband's method is undoubtedly the most historically accurate.

Wheatless, Eggless, Butterless, Milkless, Sugarless Cake: The thing that immediately struck me about this cake was its sheer weight. It is a solid 2.5 lbs. It is like a raisined brick. In today's standards, I would in no way classify this as a cake. It is too solid, dry, and not sweet enough. As a bread, it is passable. In 1918 though, I know it'd be a big treat and I'd be happy to have it. Moreover, as solid as this sucker is, it's going to last for a looooooong time.

It is best toasted, then slathered with black-market butter and sprinkled with black market cinnamon sugar, with a side of guilt for our starving Allies.

Alternatively, we discovered the next day that it is fantastic made into bread pudding and drowning in warm custard.

Grapefruit Imperial

[1972]



Do you remember Sugar Girl and her Anthropomorphic Zoo Animals, and I said I had lost the cookbook? Good news! I found it. Hooray! This is a cookbook produced by the Imperial Sugar company, and features many recipes for children that each involve large amounts of sugar. Awesome!


Grapefruit Imperial

You will need:
2 grapefruit
Imperial Brown Sugar
Maraschino cherries
Knife, citrus knife, measuring spoons, aluminum foil, pot holder

Work plan:
Place sheet of aluminum foil over grill of broiler pan. Turn on broiler, asking for help from mother if necessary. [It was not necessary.] Slice grapefruit in half. Cut around each section and remove the center. Sprinkle 1 tablespoon Imperial Brown Sugar over top of each grapefruit half. Arrange grapefruit halves on broiler pan and place under broiler. Cook until sugar melts and edge of grapefruit turns delicate brown [about 10 minutes]. Remove from broiler. Put 1 cherry in center of each half.

Serve:
Should be served at once. Serves four. Grapefruit Imperial is delicious at breakfast but is also good at other meals.

Idea:
Sprinkle grapefruit halves with grated orange rind when grapefruit are almost ready. Return to broiler and finish cooking.

Use foil covered muffin tin, rather than broiler pan.


Verdict: It does look festive, doesn't it? This would be lovely for a fancy breakfast. Some of the sugar pooled up and caramelized like on the top of creme brulee. I still prefer icy cold grapefruit with a sprinkle of sugar, but this was an interesting change. And it's got a cherry on top!

Betty Crocker's Chicken Hat

Another gem from Betty Crocker's New Dinner for Two Cookbook [1972].


This is a narcissistic chicken sporting a jaunty bread-and-pear chapeau.

What more can be said?

Chicken Salad
For variety, use 1/4 cup chopped salted almonds in place of bacon.

1 cup cut-up cooked chicken (large chunks)
1/2 cup cut-up celery (1/4" pieces)
1 1/2 tsp. lemon juice
salt and pepper to taste
1/4 cup mayonnaise
1 or 2 hard-cooked eggs, cut up
1/4 cup finely broken crisp bacon

Toss chicken, celery, lemon juice, salt, and pepper together. Mix in mayonnaise. Carefully fold in eggs. Chill thoroughly. If desired, serve in tomato cups or on drained pineapple or avocado slices on salad greens. Sprinkle with the crisp bacon. 2 servings.

Orange-Cherry Cobbler

There are occasions upon which one needs a dessert. For such occasions, Jiffy Cooking [1967] is here for you!



Look at that picture, read the recipe, and tell me it is not glorious.

Orange-Cherry Cobbler
1 1-pound 5-ounce can cherry pie filling
1/4 cup water
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1 package refrigerated orange Danish rolls with icing (8 rolls)

In saucepan, combine pie filling, water, and lemon juice; heat to boiling. Pour into an 8 1/4 x 1 3/4 inch round ovenware cake dish. Top hot cherries with rolls, flat side down. Bake in hot oven (400 degrees) 15 to 20 minutes or until rolls are done. Spread tops with the icing that comes in the orange-roll package. Serve warm. Makes 6 to 8 servings.



Verdict: Pie filling and pastry. Theirs was a star-crossed love that could not be. Sigh.

When I pulled it out of the oven, the rolls looked perfect, and so I frosted them. But beneath the crispy delicious exterior lurked a cold doughy mess only apparent after I took a bite. I put them back in. They cooked for a solid 10 extra minutes. The top was almost burned, the bottom... still cold and doughy. Siiiiighhhhhhh. We dissected the rolls, separating delicious pastry and cold doughy horror, and ate it anyway.

What could have been.

Teenage Kitchen Fondue with Mini Meatballs and Psychedelic Dessert Fondue

Remember the Betty Crocker Recipe Card Library, from which we discovered the Meal in a Muffin Tin? One of its best features is that there is an entire section labeled "Fondue."

Well! Now it is time for some time travel back to 1971 for some of that business!

I know that were I a teenager, I would not be averse to a party centered around melted cheese.

Menu:
Mock Cheese Fondue
Vegetable Relish Sticks
Psychedelic Dessert Fondue
Milk



Mock Cheese Fondue (Apple Juice)
2 cans (10 3/4 ounces each) condensed Cheddar cheese soup
2 cloves garlic, minced
4 egg yolks, beaten
1/2 cup apple cider or juice
Dippers (below)
In earthenware fondue pot, heat soup and garlic over low heat to just below boiling; remove from heat. Stir half of hot soup into egg yolks*; blend into remaining soup. Stir in cider; heat through, stirring constantly. Transfer pot to source of heat at table. Adjust heat when necessary to keep fondue warm. Swirl dippers in fondue. 4 servings.

Dippers: Cut-up cooked frankfurters, cooked Mini Meatballs (FONDUES card 12), dill pickle chunks, cut up French bread and cauliflowerets.


Mini Meatballs
1 pound ground beef
1/2 cup dry bread crumbs
1/4 cup milk
1 egg
1 tablespoon instant minced onion
1 teaspoon parsley flakes
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
1/8 teaspoon pepper
Sauces (below)

Mix all ingredients except sauces. Shape mixture by rounded teaspoonfuls into 3/4 inch balls. Prepare sauces. Cover meatballs and sauces; refrigerate. Remove from refrigerator about 15 minutes before serving.

In metal fondue pot, heat salad oil (2 inches) to 375 degrees; transfer pot to source of heat at table. Adjust heat when necessary to maintain temperature of oil.

Spear meatballs with fondue forks and place in hot oil. Cook until crusty on the outside, juicy inside. Dip into sauces. 6 dozen meatballs.

Sweet and Sour Sauce: In small saucepan, heat 1/4 cup chili sauce and 1/4 cup grape or plum jelly, stirring constantly, until jelly melts. 1/2 cup.

Honey-Soy Sauce: Mix 1/2 cup soy sauce, 1/4 cup honey, 1/2 teaspoon monosodium glutamate and 1/2 teaspoon ginger. 3/4 cup.

Sauce O' Gold: Mix 1/4 cup prepared mustard, 1/4 cup honey, 1/2 teaspoon salt, 1/4 teaspoon rosemary leaves and 1/8 teaspoon pepper. 1/2 cup.




Psychedelic Dessert Fondue
In dessert fondue pot, pour 1 cup boiling water over 1 package (6 oz.) fruit-flavored gelatin. Stir to dissolve. Adjust heat when necessary to keep fondue warm. Spear Dippers (below) and swirl in fondue, then dip into whipped cream or chopped nuts. 4 servings.

Dippers: Angel food or pound cake squares, marshmallows, pieces of fresh fruit.


Verdict:

Teenage Kitchen Fondue: It's... hot cheese soup! Hooray! I chose this meal for two reasons: 1.) it uses cider instead of wine or beer, and as I have mentioned before, I'm a teetotaler and b.) Psychedelic Dessert Fondue. I presume the reason it is specifically for teenagers is the absence of alcohol. On the down side, it is made of hot cheese soup. Gahhhh. As a thing to dip other things into, it was pretty tasty. As a fondue, it was terrible. Like a fat-free cheesecake. Still, we happily dipped all the recommended dippers into cheese-flavored sauce. I really love French bread, cauliflower, meatballs, and sausages dipped in cheese.



Husband declared that although it was tasty, next time we did fondue he demanded there be cheese involved. I concurred.

Mini Meatballs: Can't go wrong with a mini meatball! We ate about half with the fondue, and then I saved some for spaghetti the next day. I am clever in this way.

Psychedelic Dessert Fondue: Oh my goodness look at that title. So awesome. Or... groovy? I don't know what the cool kids were saying those days. The very title of this recipe was most of the reason I chose it. On the down side, it is hot Jello water. It was fine, but we decided that our pound cake and stale marshmallows were better without being dipped in the hot Jello water. It sort of dissolved the outside of the stale marshmallows into a slick goo, while keeping the inside much like chewing gum.

On the other hand, I can see how kids would really like this. Kids like dipping their food into things, poking things with sticks, and bright colors, so I really think they'd be into this in a big way. This would go over well at a birthday party or somesuch thing, especially if, as suggested, there was whipped cream (or sprinkles!) to dip the food into AGAIN.

Overall: Pretty satisfying, actually. The hot cheese soup dipping may sound gross, but it's actually pretty good. We probably ate a little too much, including most of a cauliflower.



*This is known as tempering. You sloooowly drizzle hot liquid into eggs, while whisking. The point of this is to gradually bring the temperature of the eggs up so they blend smoothly into the mixture instead of instantly becoming chunks of scrambled egg. I think we can all agree this is a good thing.

Betty Crocker's Chicken Caruso

Glorious. This is the illustration for Chicken Caruso from Betty Crocker's New Dinner for Two Cookbook [1972]. Have you noticed that it is a chicken in a clown costume singing opera? Have you?

For your edification, the recipe itself:

Chicken Caruso
1 slice bacon, finely cut
1/4 cup minced onion
1/4 cup minced green pepper
1 cup cut-up cooked chicken
1 cup grated sharp cheddar cheese (1/4 lb.)
2 tbsp. cut-up pimento (2-oz. jar)
1 cup cooked peas
1/8 tsp. each salt and pepper
1 cup hot drained boiled macaroni (1/2 cup uncooked)
parsley
2 to 3 tbsp. toasted slivered almonds, if desired

In a medium skillet, saute bacon until lightly browned and crisp. Stir in onion and green pepper; cook until almost tender. Stir in chicken cheese, pimento, and peas; season with salt and pepper. Mix in cooked macaroni. Cover ad keep warm over very low heat until ready to serve. Garnish with parsley sprigs; sprinkle with toasted almonds. 2 generous servings.

Note: For best color, use cooked fresh or frozen peas.


Anyone want to try this out?

Chicken and Chips Casserole, Orange-Grapefruit Pinwheel Salad, Extra-quick Butter Sticks, Mint Brownies

[1972]

Since our apartment dates back to the 40's or something, our time traveling this week took us to our same apartment, but in the 70's! That is why the background looks the same, despite the automatic wardrobe adjustment circuit. I feel sure whoever is living in our apartment in the 70's will not mind that we used their kitchen, especially as we left them brownies.






Tuna and Chips Casserole
2 cans (10 1/2 oz. each) cream of mushroom soup
1 cup milk
2 cans (7 oz. each) tuna, drained and flaked
2 1/2 cups crushed potato chips
2 cups (1 lb can) cooked green peas, drained

Heat oven to 350 degrees F. (mod.). Empty soup into 2-qt. baking dish. Add milk and mix well. Add tuna, 2 cups potato chips, and peas; mix lightly. Sprinkle remaining potato chips over top. Bake 25 min., until heated through. 6 to 8 servings.

Planned-over Meal? This dish, reheated the next day, tastes just as good.

Chicken and Chips Casserole
Make Tuna and Chips Casserole (above)--except substitute cream of chicken soup for mushroom soup and use 2 cups cubed cooked chicken for the tuna.




Orange-Grapefruit Pinwheel Salad
Arrange orange and grapefruit sections alternately in pinwheel pattern on lettuce [dang it, I forgot to put it on lettuce!] on each salad plate. Garnish center with sprig of deep green garnish (watercress, mint, parsley). Pass Ruby Red Dressing.


Ruby Red Dressing
1/2 cup currant jelly
1/4 cup vegetable oil
2 tbsp. lemon juice
dash of salt
few drops of onion juice

Beat jelly with fork until smooth. Add remaining ingredients; beat again until smooth. Makes 3/4 cup.




Extra-Quick Butter Sticks
Heat oven to 450 degrees F. (hot). Melt 1/4 cup butter. Pour half into a square pan, 8 x 8 x 2". Roll unbaked biscuits from 1 can refrigerated biscuits, twisting to about 8" lengths. Place in pan. Pour rest of butter over tops. Sprinkle with caraway, poppy, celery, or sesame seeds. Bake 8 to 10 min., or until golden brown. Let stand in pan about 2 min. to absorb butter. Makes 10 sticks.

Leftover Butter Sticks? Wrap in foil; reheat in 375 degree oven for 20 min.


Mint Brownies
Prepare batter using 1 pkg. (15.5 oz.) regular fudge brownie mix adding 1/4 tsp. peppermint flavoring.


Verdict:

Chicken and Chips Casserole: This has got to be the trashiest casserole of all time! I did the chicken option as Husband is not a fan of tuna, but I did use canned chicken, so I feel I should get points for that. I also used frozen peas instead of canned, because baked canned peas are terrible and I just can't be having with that. Trashy as it was though... it was pretty good. It isn't worth the amazing amount of potato chips, but good. Don't serve this to someone with heart disease, but it's worth a try if you're in the mood for something trashy.

Orange-Grapefruit Pinwheel: Look how pretty! I might just keep this on file for when I feel fancy in the future. I made the dressing out of plum jam instead of currant, and it was pretty good actually. It sweetened up the grapefruit a little. If I did it again, I'd just do the jam instead of mixing it with other things though.

Extra-quick Butter Sticks: Oh my lands. These are fantastic. A whole half-stick of butter melted in there! Husband looooooved these. A lot. Really a lot. Look how they glisten!



Mint Brownies: How have I never thought of putting mint flavoring into brownies before? This is a brilliant idea!

Overall: Oh my golly gracious. Individually, all these were good. Most of them were great. Together, they are an unholy abomination of potato chips, melted butter, jam, and brownies. It isn't that they are bad together, it is that each one of them is so... much, that it is overwhelming. I could only finish half a brownie by the end. Husband happily nabbed the rest of my brownie and stuffed it in his mouth, only to sadly remark that it had turned to ashes in his mouth, so great had been the consumption of potato chips, melted butter (rather a lot, in his case!), jam, and brownie.

Banana Chocolate Malted Milk

[1940]

I am a lucky girl, for because I have a grandma who loves me and got a degree in Home Economics in the 40's. As a consequence, I now have a whole stack of little informational booklets on just about every food group! Hooray! Even better, Refrigerator Desserts are a food group.



Banana Milk Shake
1 fully ripe banana
1 cup cold milk

Slice banana into a bowl and beat with rotary beater until creamy, or press banana through coarse sieve. Add milk, mix thoroughly and serve at once. Serve cold. Serves 2. Add 1 large tablespoon vanilla ice cream.
Banana Chocolate Malted Milk--Add 4 teaspoons chocolate malted milk and 1/4 teaspoon vanilla.

There will be no doubt as to whose milk shake is whose if the names are on little parasols

(I forgot to put my name on the parasol, so I am telling you now it is MINE. ALL FOR ME.)

Verdict: Mmmmmmmmmm. This stuff is great. I used a blender instead of messing about with a sieve, because that's just silly. There was no vanilla ice cream in my freezer for garnishing the top, but I did mix about a half tablespoon of heavy cream in. I love cream. It's not a thick ice creamy milkshake, it is just a little thick from the banana. Reminds me of a beverage I had at Jamba Juice once, or like an icy cold banana-y hot chocolate. I plan on making this again, possibly with an ice cube or two blended in.

The ABC of Canning

These pictures are from The ABC of Canning [1942]. And how splendid they are! And once again, it is Caption Time! Caption these photos, please.