Retro Recipes 4: That 70s Chef

Nibbles

Continuing the trek through culinary time, instead of our backwards progression (regression?) I decided to hop back up to the early 70s and use these recipes cards that I remember flipping through as a child. They are The Betty Crocker Recipe Card Library, circa 1971. Let’s dig in!

Simple Supper, Special Dessert

Monday was Labor Day but Todd had just grilled steaks Sunday night, so I didn’t feel any need to grill again. Instead, I used the suggestions from one of their menu cards and combined the Smokies version of the mac and cheese with the Polka-Dotted Mac and Cheese from the Kids’ section of the card library. It doesn’t hold a candle to my usual mac and cheese, but it was fun. The big hit was the Little Pumpkin Custards, though, so good, so simple, and so great a way to usher in the unofficial start to fall!

Pizza Potatoes

On Tuesday I made a one-pot dish called Pizza Potatoes that used canned tomatoes, boxed scalloped potatoes, cheese, and pepperoni. I think it would have been much better if I’d sliced my own potatoes and made a quick sauce for them, but it was worth it for the experience. It’s definitely something I’d consider making again, with that change, because it was very tasty otherwise. A quick salad was all it needed, so it was good for the first day back at work after a long weekend.

Tuna Ring with Cheese Sauce

On Wednesday I took advantage of Todd working late to spend some time making this Tuna Ring with Cheese Sauce. Sure, I was a touch aprehensive about the recipe in general, but we like warm tuna fish dishes, so it was only a tiny gamble. I also tried out a new-to-me gluten-free pizza dough mix by Pamela’s and we were very pleased with the crust. Probably one of the best gluten-free ones we’ve had, and I’ll definitely be ordering more of the mix (I just started ordering from iHerb and already I’m liking what I chose so far). The cheese sauce is a light blue cheese sauce and it was surprisingly good.

Banana Spice Cookies

Again, with the luxury of time on my hands, I also made these Banana Spice Cookies from the Come for Coffee card section. I wasn’t sure about the lemon buttercream at first, but it paired surprisingly well. Desserts twice in one week? This was a lot more common back in the day, and these cookies were great to pack a couple for lunch or even for breakfast over the weekend (yes, they lasted that long).

Pork Chop Scallop with Creamy Coleslaw

According to the back of the recipe card, in addition to the Pork Chop Scallop, Green Beans, and Creamy Coleslaw, this meal also called for dill pickles, applesauce, and Old-fashioned Oatmeal Cookies. That would be quite the plate! Again, I used the boxed scalloped potatoes and they were a bit better in this recipe thanks to the milk, but it still would have been better fresh and wouldn’t have taken any longer on the stove.

Cheese-Egg Bake and Raspberry Ring with Creamy Fruit

While Thursday’s supper simmered on the stove, I got a much-needed jump start on Friday’s menu by hard-boiling the eggs for the Cheese-Egg Bake and putting together the Raspberry Ring with Creamy Fruit. And it’s good thing I did, too! Friday morning showed the raspberry ring was not anywhere close to solid, so I put it in the freezer for the day. I’m not sure if it was just a fluke (jell-o molds can be tricky things) or if I made a rookie mistake, but the icy raspberry ring turned out to be a big hit with Todd so I’m glad I persevered. And that the ring mold I ordered sepecifically for this recipe wasn’t wasted (no local stores had them, go figure, so Amazon Prime to the rescue!)

Chicken Fricasee with Dumplings

Aka my favorite Cracker Barrel meal, Chicken Fricasee with Dumplings and glazed carrots are my go-to order at this regular road trip stop. Usually when I made chicken and dumplings it’s more like a hearty chicken soup with the dumplings on top, This was more chicken gravy than soup, but we weren’t complaining.

This is probably a good time to mention that a lot of this week’s recipes called for cream of something soup and I’m not generally a fan of that as an ingredient. Any time you need a substitution for that, it’s simple enough to make a white sauce and flavor it appropriately. For cream of mushroom soup I add a dash of soy sauce to give it the savory, umami flavor without the high-FODMAP mushrooms (and Todd’s not a mushroom fan, so this is a two-for-one-solution). For cream of chicken, add some chicken stock or chicken base or bullion to the roux; cream of celery, add some celery salt. It’s really that simple. And for the chicken fricassee, you start by browning the floured chicken pieces in fat and then drain the fat and add the soup. Instead of wasting ingredients, I used the fat in the pan to make the roux, along with the leftover dredging flour (which generally cannot be reused because it came in contact with raw chicken).

New England Boiled Dinner

For our Sunday dinner I opted for the classic New England Boiled Dinner, of which I’ve heard a lot about but never actually tried or made myself. Yeah. The upside is that I got to use my new cast-iron dutch oven. The meal wasn’t bad, of course, but it was a little on the bland side. The leftovers didn’t go to waste–I saved the excess cabbage and veggies for when we need quick soup additions and the 6 cups of broth for Todd to use later this week.

And, yes, I also made one more dessert. The Velvet Crumb Cake was a simple cake with a broiled coconut topping and, again, as gluten-free cakes go this one–made with gluten-free Bisquick–is pretty tender and tasty. It’s from the Come for Coffee section, so I’m totally justified in bringing it with me for breakfast this week, right?

We’ve got one more week in the 70s to come because I pulled double the cards I needed for a single week. Oh, and did you notice that I didn’t have a single take-out or leftovers night this week–it’s probably the first time in months that that’s happened!

Retro Recipes, part 3

Nibbles

Continuing our impromptu quest through old cookbooks, this (past) week I started with some recipes/menus from

Electric Refrigerator Recipes and Menus
Specially Prepared for the General Electric Refrigerator
by
Miss Alice Bradley
Principal of Miss Farmer’s School of Cookery,
Cooking Editor of Woman’s Home Companion,
Author of: Cooking for Profit, Candy Cook Book, For Luncheon and Supper Guests

that sold for a whopping $2 back in 1927 (I found it in a friend’s used bookstore 8 or so years ago). The recipes in this book are, Â you guessed it, mostly of things that require refrigeration or freezing, but there are also a whole slew of menus that Miss Bradley just expects you to already have a reference for or have in another cookbook in your home. Not like you could just Google it back in ’27, though I can’t tell you how glad I am that we have that capability as I was really curious what in the world an “English Monkey with Crackers” (one of her After-Theater Lunches) might be. Turns out it’s the same thing as Welsh Rarebit, which she lists on a Family Supper Menu a few pages prior, so maybe Miss Bradley was just trying to keep things interesting.

Frozen Lobster Salad with Garlic Cheese Biscuits

At any rate, Monday I made her Frozen Lobster Salad and paired it with Garlic Cheese Rolls. Far from the usual seafood salad we’d make with just mayo and veggies, this one used a bit of white sauce, gelatin, and whipped heavy cream in, in addition to mayonnaise. While it seems like an awful lot to do just for a seafood salad, and it’s only seasoned with salt and nutmeg, it was very tasty and, thanks to the gelatin, held up exceptionally well for leftovers. I’d probably add some diced celery or bell pepper to this to add some color and crunch, if I made it again.

The biscuits were just the basic recipe from the box of gluten-free Bisquick (Bisquick was invented in 1930, apparently, so it’s not a complete anachronism to pair with the 1927 salad) with some garlic oil and a healthy dose of shredded Cheddar added.

Hamburg Steak, Mashed Potatoes, and Creamed Cabbage

On Tuesday I used one of her dinner menus and just, as homemakers of her day would have, used the recipes or knowledge I had on hand. The Hamburg Steak was simply seasoned ground beef (salt, pepper, garlic oil, paprika, Worcestershire sauce) formed into rectangular patties and cooked on the stove. I made a gravy with beef base, a little red wine, and a cornstarch slurry after the first sides browned. The mashed potatoes were fairly basic mashed potatoes with butter and milk, and the creamed cabbage was boiled cabbage combined with a white sauce.

Now, Todd and I are cabbage fans, but most of the year we eat it as coleslaw unless it’s New Year’s Day or St. Patrick’s Day, you know? We were both pleasantly surprised at how much we enjoyed the creamed cabbage, to the point that I could have eaten just that and been perfectly content for the night. It’s worth noting that, in making the very simple white sauce, I did add some chicken soup base for flavor, and I think that helped a lot. Creamed cabbage could well end up on our table again, though, thanks to this culinary trip through history.

Chocolate Cake for Dinner, because we’re grown-ups

We already talked about Wednesday night, the night we had cake for dinner, and I still do not regret that decision one little bit. It was smart of me to put it mid-week, when the urge to cook is often weaker anyway, and it also helped that we were “ahead” on lunches so that we weren’t needing to get take out for lunch the next day, that sort of thing.

Pork and Veggies, with extra Veggies, over Rice

Thursday we returned to the present with one of our freezer meals: Pork and Veggies over rice. Instead of crocking it, I just put it on the stove to simmer while the rice cooked and that was plenty of time on the stove. While it’s not technically a stir fry, it’s similar enough that I thought some Yum-Yum sauce might go well on it (and I was right).

On Friday we took advantage of some gift cards we had and went to Longhorn for dinner and have delicious calamari in a sweet chili sauce along with our steaks and potatoes.

My Brunswick Stew is staring at me…

Finally, on Saturday, I decided to go back to the River Road Recipes cookbook, because I hadn’t made anything from the poultry chapter, and I made Brunswick Stew.

I’ve never actually been a fan of Brunswick Stew, but Todd likes it and I thought it might be better if I made it to determine why I didn’t like it or, hopefully, that I’d like it better if it was homemade. After 2 hours and a bit it was done and I was so hot and tired from doing laundry that a thick chicken stew didn’t seem all that appealing, but I ended up enjoying it and Todd had two helpings (so I must have done something right!).

Sunday was going to be breakfast for dinner, but we both had been grazing throughout the afternoon and just didn’t feel like an official meal. Since we had leftovers in the fridge we declared it a fend for yourself night, so there’s nothing really to show.

I now have a decision to make, and that’s where to go for next week’s menu. Do I a) grab the reproduction of a Civil War-era cookbook I picked up at the St Augustine Fort a few years back or do I b) raid the 1973ish Betty Crocker recipe card collection sitting on my shelf. I mean, both are potential gold mines–what would you be more interested in seeing, hmm?

50s Food is Pretty Tasty!

Nibbles

Or so said Todd, midway through my latest Junior League cookbook week. I’m not exactly inclined to disagree, either!

Monday we met up with friends at George and Louie’s for a much-needed catch-up session. Considering the restaurant has a retro feel with it’s sign and it’s music, I’m going to say that it was a happy accident to make it fit in with the rest of the week (well, most of it).

Italian Pizza Pie with Savory String Bean Salad

Tuesday kicked off the tour through the original River Road RecipesÂ (affiliate link), published in 1959, with Italian Pizza Pie and Savory String Bean Salad. Like last time, I’m including the images of the recipes rather than typing them out because part of the undeniable charm of these sorts of cookbooks is the look of them. Transcribing them just insn’t enough!

River Road Recipes, page 89

Yes, pizza night, and the pizza was very good for being a simple ground beef and cheese combo. While the recipe called for roll mix (and I’d originally planned to use gluten-free Bisquick for that step), I ended up buying the Schar gluten-free pizza crusts. I’ve had their bread before and it was a little iffy, but these pizza crusts were amazing! It may have helped that I added garlic olive oil to the crust, some of which seeped through the docking marks, meaning the bottom of the crust “fried” in the olive oil as it baked, but whatever. I’m definitely buying those crusts again.

River Road Recipes, page 34

The side dish was the real surprise. It was a bed of lettuce topped with dressed green beans, topped with egg salad. But that egg salad, though. It had bacon in it. I’m pretty sure I’ve made egg salad sandwiches somewhere in my past that had bacon on top, but this was very next-level. If you like bacon and egg salad, chop up some bacon and added to the egg salad next time and let it sit for a bit before eating it. Trust me.

Lemon Pork Chops + Eggplant Supreme

Wednesday was another winner of Lemon Pork Chops and Eggplant Supreme.

River Road Recipes, page 84

Making some rice or noodles would not have gone amiss with the very tomato-ey Lemon Pork Chops, as there was a fair amount of gravy left over.

River Road Recipes, page 55

Eggplant is rather hit-or miss for Todd, but I keep searching for ways to prepare it that heÂ might like. This Eggplant Supreme was a surprise win with the celery, bell peppers, and cheese. The bits of Worcestershire and hot sauces weren’t super-strong, but they definitely added a little something to the dish!

Thursday was a bit of a rough day at the office, resulting in a tension headache that just wouldn’t go away until sometime after 8pm. I didn’t feel up to cooking, so Todd picked up sushi for us. Â Maybe not the standard headache “cure” but it worked for me, that night!

Shrimp Floridian en Papillote + Baked Potatoes with Sour Cream

Friday I was back in the kitchen with a little Shrimp Floridian en Papillote (try saying that without a Justin Wilson accent, I dare ya!) along with some Baked Potatoes with Sour Cream.

River Road Recipes, page 113

Usually en papillote would have me making parchment paper packets but this recipe just called for cooking it in a covered dish. You will not see me complaining about this fact. The combination of blue cheese, cream cheese, garlic, and white wine (a Florida muscadine wine, because we had it in the fridge) was quite good, and could have easily been a topping for pasta or the baked potatoes we had with it.

River Road Recipes, page 60

Now, why would we feel the need to have a recipe for baked potatoes–isn’t that pretty simple and straight-forward? Yes, but there was something special about the sour cream mix, namely the addition of celery salt and a little hot sauce. It wasn’t a lot, but it did change the overall flavor of the topping in a very tasty way.

Pot Roast in Red Wine + Sour Cream Noodles

This past Saturday was the first in a long time that I got to just spend at home, working in my pjs in The Abyss, and not having to go into Tallahassee, since the beginning of July. It was heaven. So was the Pot Roast in Red Wine and the accompanying Sour Cream Noodles.

River Road Recipes, page 79

I usually do anything pot roast-related in the slow cooker for ease and consistency. I stuck to the stove top this time and took my luxury of time at home to let it cook nice and slow for a few hours. Worth. It. I’m not 100% sold on baking the noodles for an hour (I think I did just 30 minutes), but the combo of the sour cream noodles and the rich pot roast gravy was reminiscent of beef stroganoff, so yeah. Very tasty.

Sunday Night Quickie

If Saturday was my day home to play, Sunday was the make-up day as I made my pilgrimage to the old office for a couple of hours. But I had an ulterior motive as there was a planner meet-up that afternoon that I wanted to go to. This meant I didn’t get home until after 6, though, so something called a Sunday Night Quickie sounded like a good supper option.

River Road Recipes, page 71

Essentially it’s scrambled eggs on toast but mixing in a can of chicken noodle soup? Color me intrigued. It was surprisingly tasty and not overly salty like I thought it might have been. Go figure. Breakfast for dinner is nothing new around here. of course, which is why I felt semi-confident about putting it on the menu in the first place. I think, were I ever to make this one again, I might opt for some grilled tomato slices on the side or something just to brighten up the plate.

So that wraps up our trek through the 50s, or does it? I never got to the poultry chapter and there were plenty of other intriguing recipes–do I stay in the 50s for my next week in the kitchen or shall I turn the clock back further? Time will tell!

Consistency is the Only Thing Not Super-Sized

Sips

And apparently it’s too much to ask.

I’m not a demanding client, at least I try not to be, but I do expect people and companies to hold up their end of the bargain. I shop with you, you deliver the same service each time. Fair enough, right?

For the past several weeks I’ve been heading in to the old job on Saturday mornings. It’s not the most fun way to spend my weekend, but it’s what needs to be done. To make it a little easier (and because the office is stripped down to its necessities), I’ve been stopping at Dunkin Donuts on my way in for a chai and a breakfast sandwich.

Back in June was the first time I discovered they had chai, and it’s a pretty good, sweet, vanilla chai. So when I went back (still pre-Saturday ritual) I asked, “oh, can I get that iced?”

Crucial moment here, folks, pay attention.

Not only did the voice behind the menu board say yes, they added in the question: “Would you like medium or large?”

Of course I ordered the large. After all, this is America, land of the out of control portion sizes and all that goes with. Duh!

So when I started working 6 days a week, I be-bopped into the Dunkin Donuts on the way to work and asked for a large, iced Vanilla Chai with almond milk. And they filled the order. No questions, no consternation, no problem.

What we have here, ladies and gentlemen, is a precedent being set. I didn’t go in and ask for a favor or expect them to do anything other than what they’d done in the past.

This continued for a couple more weeks, at two different stores, even.

And then.

Weekend before last I ordered my usual only to be told that it didn’t come in large, only medium (because it was a pre-packaged mix, you see–something I’d already figured out). “But you’ve been doing it this way for weeks,” I said.

“We can put it in a large cup,” they countered, and I said that was fine.

Now, the difference between ordering a medium vanilla chai, iced, in a large cup and ordering a large, iced vanilla chai still eludes me, as the result is the same (a full, larged, iced drink), but whatever. They were teaching me how they preferred me to order, and I could adapt. After all, it still got me the same result.

And then.

This past weekend I roll up and order it how they taught me the previous week: Vanilla Chai with Almond Milk, Iced, in a Large cup.

“I’m sorry ma’am, we don’t serve those iced.”

Say what now?!

So I went with my standard: but you have been for the last month or so.

Another voice comes through the speaker: Ma’am we’re not supposed to make them iced.

Then they proceed to offer me options:

“We can give you a cup of ice with it”

“No, thank you.”

“We do have a Frozen Chai available.”

“Once again, no, thank you.”

If I’d wanted a chai slushie I would have ordered a chai slushie. I didn’t want a chai slushie. And if I wanted to juggle a cup of ice and a hot beverage in the driver’s seat of a car–no, wait, I can’t imagine I’dÂ ever want to do that, so we’ll just stop right there.

I ended up ordering a large iced macchiatto, which was okay, except the caramel syrup stays down at the bottom, resulting in a fair amount of bitter, cold coffee on top.

I’ve already begun my hunt for the vanilla chai mix they use and I suppose I’ll just have to do the other American thing: do it my own damn self to make sure it’s done right.

A Blast from Recipe’s Past!

Nibbles

Tassies are basically tarts, but they are so much better than just mini pecan pies.

Last weekend I was in the mood to bake just for fun, and I decided to make some Tea Time Tassies from the Junior League cookbook that has long been a family staple: River Road Recipes. There are three volumes of RRR these days [I take that back, there are now four!]Â and the first two are what I grew up browsing through. When I moved out of the house after high school, Mom gifted me a set of I and II of my own.

The funny thing is, though, that while I wouldn’t feel at home without them, I almost never cook from them. Holidays are usually the only time I consistently grab them because holidays are the only time we cook “home food” like what is in these books. The first volume is from the 50s, the second from the 70s, and like a lot of fundraiser cookbooks, they have their fair share of questionable includes. But throw-backs are fun, and not just for Thursdays, so I thought, since I had it out anyway, why not cook from this book all week?

Mexican Chef Salad

Monday started off with a Mexican Chef Salad that really did remind me of some of the food I grew up eating. I also found it highly amusing that Doritos were a legit part of my shopping list for this week.

River Road Recipes II, page 48

Now, I opted for hominy as my bean substitute and used my own homemade taco seasoning mix. While the recipe brought me back to my childhood with its fairly simple flavors, I cannot for one minute deny the tastiness of the meal. I wouldn’t necessarily serve it for company, but I will remember how well Thousand Island dressing pairs with taco meat the next time I crave a taco salad.

Sushi Rice Bow + Teriyaki Chicken

Tuesday’s dinner didn’t come from RRR but it almost could have. I’d been craving a Sushi Rice Bowl and decided to marinate some chicken tenderloins in teriyaki sauce and call it a day. This batch of seasoned sushi rice featured steamed carrots, sweet potatoes, eggplant, and cucumber, plus avocado, sesame seeds, and strips of nori. Still one of my favorite go-to meals and very versatile for clearing out leftover veggies in the crisper.

Wednesday was an off night thanks to Mr. Duncan of the puppy puberty Duncans. He was being particularly insufferable so I opted to pick up Jimmy John’s for supper and call it a night.

Pork Chops and Turnips + Swiss Green Beans

No need to adjust your color settings, this meal really is that brown. You know, sometimes Todd and I will have a night where cook up a bunch of appetizers and have that for dinner. These nights are referred to as brown-food nights since most things are breaded, fried, or naturally tan in color.

River Road Recipes II, page 118

River Road Recipes II, page 70

Thursday was an unintentional brown-food night between the turnips (tinted from the Worcestershire Sauce) and the Swiss cheese and corn flakes-topped green beans. Despite the bland color, the turnips were a very good pairing for the pork chops, and something we’ll like do again in the fall. The green beans were interesting but probably will not appear on our table in the future.

Carbonnade de Boeuf

A variation on a traditional beef stew, Friday’s Carbonnade de Boeuf was surprisingly tasty and filling.

River Road Recipes II, page 103

I opted to leave the bacon in the pot and not play hokey-pokey with the beef and the dish certainly did not suffer. Since we also do not own a dutch oven (the hows and whys of which were discussed at length over the meal, in fact, and we both agree we would get good use out of one, I just haven’t been able to ever pull the trigger on the Le Cruset I’ve been lusting over for years) I let this simmer on the stove for maybe an hour. I also added a spare red bell pepper we had in the fridge and bought fresh parsley for this dish–I think the parsley and the quality of the beer used have a lot of bearing on how tasty the final dish is.

Since I’ve been working at my old job on Saturdays, I feel like I only get single-day weekends lately. This is to make up for all those 3-day weekends in May and June in the cosmic order of things, but still. Anticipating this, I’d planned a no-cook night for Saturday and we ended up at the local Chinese buffet.

Chicken Jerusalem + Baked Pepper-Cheese Squash

We finished out the week with what just might be my favorite recipe so far. Chicken with artichoke hearts is something we done in several permutations over the years and was just as good in this iteration.

River Road Recipes II, page 152

River Road Recipes II, page 75

It’s the squash that was absolutely amazing and I’m already planning to have it on the holiday table for Thanksgiving or Christmas. I did not boil the squash, that just sounded like a recipe for mush to me, and I think it was a good call. I also used the green part of a leek instead of onion rings and seasoned gluten-free breadcrumbs. I was concerned, at first, that it didn’t call for any salt and I was expecting it to be bland. Apparently the bacon and pepper-jack cheese were enough, though, because there was no lack of flavor nor was the pepper overpowering. Definitely a keeper recipe!

I’m very tempted to do this again for my next cooking week, and then I remembered this old set of recipe cards I have, the Betty Crocker Recipe Card Library from 1971. There’s a good chance those recipe cards will be appearing here in the future and the chances of a jello mold being required are rapidly rising!

Scraps of Life

Better living through creativity!

Nibbles & Sips

Retro Recipes 4: That 70s Chef

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Retro Recipes, part 3

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50s Food is Pretty Tasty!

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Consistency is the Only Thing Not Super-Sized

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A Blast from Recipe’s Past!

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