Mmmmm...Pie

I'm not much of a baker. I love baked goods but since there are only two of us to cook for and we're not really dessert people, I just don't bake.

All these older cookbooks are going to change my mind. Sure a majority of the recipes are dated and unhealthy but the baking hasn't really changed. It's the fat and heavy cream and loads of sugar that makes baked goods so delectable!

And the smell! I honestly don't think there is anything more wonderful than the smell of something baking. Fresh bread, hot cookies, gooey pies, buttery pastries...mmm, can't you smell it?

Well the previous owner of one of my cookbooks certainly could because she stashed many, many pages of cake and pie recipes inside. This is one of two magazine segments she kept, each from a consecutive year of the same magazine.


For a change the photography is stunning. It's no wonder she saved these. I wish you were able to see them full size!

Cooking with 7-UP

"You like it...it likes you!"

Wow, what a stellar slogan. Good thing they followed it up with an even more stellar idea - cooking with it!

"Seven-Up added to a prepared pie crust makes for a flakier crust."

7-UP Salad:

1 pkg lime Jello

1 c apple sauce

1 bottle seven-up

Where do they come up with these things??

So it looks like 7-UP's secret is to replace any liquid in a recipe with....7-UP?

Get your kid to drink milk by adding 7-UP to it!

"Mothers know that this is a wholesome combination. The addition of 7-UP gives milk a new flavor appeal that especially pleases children." Duh. It's soda.

I love product-specific recipes. I always feel sorry for all those cooks who had to slave away in a test kitchen with odd products to make an entire book of recipes. Think of the desperation as they started to run out of ideas.

Just wait til I share the Kraft Foods Cookbook! No shortage of products but a huge deficiency of nutrition!

Oh, and Happy Thanksgiving everyone! To be sure, I am eating plate-fulls of food that I will look back on in revulsion in 30 years time. Enjoy!

More Mid-Century Cooking

Aspic, apsic, who's got the aspic?

Apsic is basically any kind of molded gelatin food that is not sweet or a dessert. Usually vegetables or meats. It's just gross.

Now don't you wish you could read the recipes more easily so that you could wow your friends and family with your culinary marvels?

More fantastic foods to come!

Nothing left but the wishbone

This little gem was another piece of 1950's cooking ephemera tucked away in a cookbook. Courtesy of the San Diego Gas & Electric Home Economics Department!

I still don't fully understand the idea of using spagetti (especially left-overs) in casseroles.

"Contrary to popular opinion, hot foods placed directly in the refridgerator will not spoil" You mean there was a time when that was popular opinion??

Ok, the last recipe lost me at the pimento and killed me with the toasted coconut and pineapple garnish. With turkey. And the fact that it's a soup?...what is that anyway?

So who's ready for Thanksgiving?

Mmmmm, delicious?

Since Thanks-for-giving-me-a-bellyache Day is near and I finally got a working scanner, I thought I'd share some authentic 1950's recipes this week.

I hope you ate already!

Main Curse! I mean, Course.

I'd actually eat this one. Accept I hate bananas.

This sounds like a great way of ruining perfectly good ice cream and Fig Newtons.

Big surprise that this is my favorite. I have a strange attraction to gelatin molds and desserts.

These just a few of the many items tucked into the pages of a 1938 cookbook. The most recent clipping I found was from the late 50's. Looks like this book had been well used for some time!

Stay tuned for more!

Blog Carnival - Scary Recipes

I didn't plan it this way. I couldn't decide - something spooky (wonderful foggy morning with dewy cobwebs) or something delicious (hot apple cider toddy with a pear cobbler).


But I knew the moment I saw these recipes I had to use them for my carnival entry. For BOTH topics. I mean seriously, would you eat any of this? I know my grandmother probably did (these are from the 1950's) but there's no way you'll get it near me!


Kidneys are kinda yucky. Devilled Kidneys are REALLY yucky.



"Prepare brains the usual way"...?

I cut the recipe short but I think you get the idea. "Remove skin, cartilage and small bones..." *shudder*

No thanks!

Tongue AND calf's foot. What a treat!

Hungry anyone?