Christmas Dinner 140 Years Apart

my great-grandmother and grandfather

CHRISTMAS DINNER 140 YEARS APART

Well, it’s almost that time of the year again—CHRISTMAS DINNER! Or rather, buying and planning the prep of things for that family dinner. I bought a rump roast and put it in the freezer (it is only Dec. 10^th but it was on sale and just what I wanted). I put it in the freezer so that Christmas Eve night I can put it in the oven (frozen, but with enough water in the covered graniteware roaster so that it won’t cook dry) and let it slowly thaw/cook/braise until 7 AM the next morning. The house will smell wonderful, the broth will be just right to make gravy, and it will have time to do whatever meat has to do before cutting it with an electric knife in nice thin slices. My daughter is making the mashed potatoes this year (they have allergies, so it’s best she makes these). About an hour before mealtime, I slide the poppers and stuffed mushrooms (which I prepped the day before Christmas Eve), along with the potatoes au gratin (made from a mix, of course) into the oven. By the way, I have a large oven. When those come out, I will heat the garlic knots and Hawaiian sweet rolls while I get out the different soft drinks everyone wants. As everyone sits down at the table, I take out the bread and put in the Marie Callendar’s Crumb-topped Apple Pie. Yep, Christmas dinner will be a breeze and leave me lots of time to visit with family.

The other day, I came across a Christmas Dinner menu from a book titled Fifteen Cent Dinners, published in 1877—my great-grandparents would have been married for about two years when the book came out. Here is the way they could have done it WA-A-A-Y back then:

A DOLLAR CHRISTMAS DINNER.

IN buying poultry for Christmas-tide I have found that it is better to go market at least three days before that holiday. The prices are very much lower, and the weather is generally cold enough for you to keep your bird fresh until you want to use it. In estimating the cost of this dinner I shall suppose that you buy your turkey in advance at a shilling a pound, instead of waiting till Christmas eve, and paying at least twenty cents for it. If you are obliged to Wait you must add the difference in price to my figures. The following is our bill of fare:
ROAST TURKEY,

BAKED POTATOES,

APPLE SAUCE,

PLUM PUDDING WITH CREAM SAUCE.

Begin your preparations by making your pudding as follows:--

Plum Pudding.^—Mix. well together, half a pound of flour, (cost two cents.) four ounces of raisins, stoned and chopped, (cost four cents) four ounces of currants, well washed, (cost four cents,) four ounces of chopped suet, (cost two cents,) three tablespoonfuls of molasses, one teaspoonful of ground spice, (cost one cent,) and one gill of cold water; put in a floured cloth, or a greased and floured mould, or tin pail, and steam until yon are ready to put it on the table. It will cost you thirteen cents, Next, peel one quart of potatoes, and lay them in cold water while you get the turkey ready.

Roast Turkey.—Draw a five pound turkey, (cost five shillings,) carefully enough not to break the entrails, so that you will not have to spoil its flavor by washing it; singe it, and wipe it with a clean, damp cloth, stuff it with about a pound of stale bread, seasoned with salt, pepper and herbs, (cost about three cents,) sew it up, tie it in shape, lay it in a baking pan with one quart of peeled potatoes, (cost five tents,) and put it into a hot oven; as soon as it begins to brown nicely, take it Out, season it With pepper and salt, baste it with the drippings from it; and put it back in the oven; baste it every fifteen minutes until it is done, which will be in about an hour and. a quarter. Then put it on a dish, with the potatoes around it, and set it in the mouth of the oven to keep it hot while you make the gravy; do this by pour ing a pint of boiling water into the dripping pan, letting it come to a boil, and stirring into it a tablespoonful of flour mixed smoothly in half a teacupful of cold water; season it to taste with salt and pepper, and dish in a bowl.

Apple Sauce.—As soon as you get the turkey in the oven, make the  apple sauce as follows. Pare, core, and slice two quarts, or five cents worth of cooking apples, put them over the fire with a half cup water and stew them until soft: then stir in four ounces of sugar, (cost three cents,) and one ounce of butter, (cost two cents,) and cool it, or keep it warm, as you like. It will cost ten cents. Next make the pudding sauce.

Cream sauce—Stir together over the fire one ounce of butter, one ounce of flour, and a little spice, (all of which will cost about two cents), put a little mill; into a pint of boiling watt;, and stir t gradually in the flour and but, when it is quite smooth stir in two ounces of sugar, (cost two cents,) and let it boil up once; then set the sauce-pan you have made it in into another containing a little hot water, so as to keep the sauce hot until you want it, without thickening or burning it. It will cost about five cents, and be good enough for the nicest of plum puddings.After you have done with the sauce the rest of the dinner will probably be nearly cooked, and you can get it ready for the table.

I really like my menu better, but then I live in a different time and place. But whatever you have for Christmas Dinner, I hope you have a wonderful day.

Memory Monday: Black Butter

my great-grandmother

BLACK BUTTER

While I was researching for my historical magazine last month, I came across an interesting recipe. Well, the recipe might not be all that interesting, but the name was—Black Butter. The more I looked at the recipe, the more I realized that I wanted to make it—especially with blackberries, which I love. It’s really a very simple recipe and I think it would be good on some warm homemade bread—I could do that with my bread machine. This recipe came from a book titled, The Ready Adviser and Family Guide. It was published in 1866—my great-grandmother would have been eleven at the time, so she may have made something like this.

Black Butter.—Put to any kind of ripe berries half their weight of brown sugar; mash and stew them gently for half an hour, stirring them frequently. This is a good substitute for butter spread on bread and is usually much liked by children, and is more healthy than butter, particularly for those afflicted with humors in the blood.

I have no idea what “humors in the blood” are, but blackberry spread would make anything better.

By the way, if you like history and things of the past, please take a look at my historical magazine at worblysmagazine.com Almost everything in it is taken from books and magazines published prior to 1868. Some of the hints and recipes from that time are very interesting to read.

What are some of the things your mother/grandmother/great-grandmother made that you have wanted to try and create yourself? What are some of the things they talked about or made that you never, ever want to make or try again?

Memory Monday: Coffee in Our Family Part 2

my great-grandfather's brother and sister-in-law

COFFEE IN OUR FAMILY—Part 2

Last week I wrote about how we drink coffee in my family. This week I want to share some interesting tidbits about making coffee. Recently as I was researching for my historical magazine—Worbly’s Family Monthly Magazine—I came across ways to make coffee without coffee beans. My great-grandfather and his brother would still have been at home when the following book came out. Here the hints for the homemaker from The Ready Adviser and Family Guide by Isaac Shinn, published in 1866:

Acorn Coffee (a pleasant beverage).—Take sound, ripe acorns, peel off the hull or husk, divide the kernels, dry them gradually, and then roast them in a close vessel. When roasted, add a little butter in small pieces, while hot, in the roaster. Grind like other coffee, and to each teacup­ful add a tablespoonful of common coffee. To be made and drank as common coffee.

A Substitute for Coffee.—Boil clean white rye until the grains swell; then drain and dry it. Roast it to a dark brown, and prepare as other coffee, allowing twice the time for boiling. This alone makes good coffee, but if you add a little of the extract of coffee, or some beets or carrots sliced thin and dried in an oven till brown, it will make a coffee but little, if any, inferior to the genuine article.

Another.—Roast Indian meal in a bread-pan to a very dark brown; then mix it with molasses to a thick batter, and put it in a pan, and bake slowly until it becomes dry. It can be stirred often, so as to make it crummy, or baked in a cake, and a piece ground, or pounded fine, when wanted for use. This is said to make good coffee.

Last week, I said that I love cream/half & half. Well, 150 years ago, the people also needed something to lightened that black beverage. But what to do if there was no cream handy? Here is the solution they had for that problem:

A Substitute for Cream.—Cream, when unattainable, may be imitated thus: Beat the white of an egg to froth, put in a small lump of butter, and mix well; then turn the coffee to it gradually, so that it may not curdle. If perfectly done it will be an excellent substitute for cream. For tea, omit the butter, using only the egg. This might be of great use at sea, as eggs can be preserved fresh in various ways.

I am so thankful we have several grocery stores nearby so I can get my canisters of Folger’s Black Silk ground coffee, my cream, and flavored syrups. Think I’ll go make a large glass of iced English toffee coffee.

Memory Monday: Coffee in Our Family Part 1

my father and grandfather - they both loved their coffee

COFFEE IN OUR FAMILY—Part 1

I didn’t start drinking coffee until after I graduated high school, but I remember my parents and grandparents drinking it. My grandfather had a special cup that he used. It was oversized and part of a set of light yellow and brown plaid dishes that my grandparents always used. Every morning at the breakfast table, he would pour his coffee from his cup into his equally-large saucer, then sip it. As a child, I thought that odd, but later learned that was how many of his generation (and those before him) drank their coffee. My dad always had at least one cup of coffee before he got out of bed. My grandmother-in-law would only pour an inch of coffee into her cup at a time—she liked it really hot.

Today, my husband has a metal insulated mug that he fills in the morning and drinks from it all day. I, on the other hand, have several large glasses that I use to make iced coffee year round. I fill one of the glasses full with ice cubes, at a bit of fat-free half & half or heavy cream (depending on which diet I am currently on), a good splash of flavored syrup (sugar-free since I’m diabetic), then give it a good stir. This is the way I drink my coffee year round.

On the other hand, our husband and daughter always drinks their black and unsweetened whether it is from their Keurig, their French press, cold-brew container, or the local coffee place. (A side note—a couple of those coffee devises were lost when a tornado passed by their home.)

It doesn’t matter how we drink our coffee—hot, cold, black, sweet, unsweetened, or (as my husband says of mine) not real coffee, we love it.

Memory Monday: My Daughter Had Another Birthday

my daughter eating her first birthday cake

MY DAUGHTER HAD ANOTHER BIRTHDAY

Years have come and gone since my daughter had her first birthday. We celebrated that one with her granddaddy and her step-grandmother at their home in Texas. My husband and I decorated the cake (I had planned it with a cupcake on top to give to her). We make a brown sugar bear on it because we had called her “Becky Bear” since the day she was born (just to let you know—we don’t call her that anymore). Here’s a picture of that cake:

After she blew out the candle—with help from her parents, we gave her the cupcake on top and let her have fun. As you can see in the first picture, we put newspaper underneath her to catch the mess. We had a lot of fun and memories from that day. As a side note, it was on her first birthday that she took her first steps by herself.

A few days ago, I was watching my granddaughter and I told her that in two days’ we would be having her mommy’s birthday. She said, “Birthday cake.” I told her that Mommy would blow out the candles. She said that she and her mommy would blow out the candles. I didn’t make a big deal out of it, after all, who would win in a fight like that with a three-year-old.

After the family dinner of manicotti, salad, and garlic bread (all my daughter’s choices), I brought out the birthday cake with candles. And as my granddaughter had said, she helped her mommy blow out the candles. By the way, my daughter’s birthday cake this year was tiramisu (again, her choice) and there were no bears anywhere around.

Memory Monday: What My Daughter Ate as a Little Girl and What She Eats Now

My Daughter Eating a "Normal" Meal

WHAT MY DAUGHTER ATE AS A LITTLE GIRL AND WHAT SHE EATS NOW

When my daughter was little she LOVED cold hot dogs. If I heated them, she refused to even touch them. They had to be cold. Everything else she ate was “normal” but not hotdogs. Well, there was that time she insisted on eating spinach right out of the can—like Pop-Eye, the sailor man (Toot, Toot), but that only took her one bite to decide that canned, cold spinach was not for her!

Well, today, she still tries new things and she loves to blog about them. Recently, she and her family tried Burmese food, then wrote about what she had on her blog, You Ate What...? The strange food adventures of a suburban girl in Oklahoma.

I would love for you to take a peek at what they ate. You can find out all about it here

You Ate What? Burmese Food (This link will open another page).

I hope you enjoy it. You might even want to try Burmese food sometime. What were some of the “unusual” foods your children insisted on eating when they were little? Do they still eat them today?

Memory Monday: Cooking, Mother, and Tempura

My Mother

COOKING, MOTHER, AND TEMPURA

The way my mother cooked and the way I cook are different. There are a few of her recipes that I still make, like Swiss steak and beef stew—although, I have altered both as far as seasonings go, as well as beef enchiladas–which you can only make the right way with Morton’s chili blend. From me, she learned to make rump roast in a way that it is so tender that it falls apart.

But this weekend, my cooking abilities were stretched to almost breaking (at least, for a while). Here is the short version.

Yesterday, we celebrated my son-in-law’s birthday and Father’s Day—my husband’s thirty-fifth and my son-in-law’s first. In our family, the person whose special day we are celebrating gets to choose what we will have for our family dinner. In the past with things being equal (birthday vs Father’s Day), our son-in-law usually got to choose and we often had fried catfish. This year, he decided to pick Papa Murphy’s Pizza (my husband’s favorite), but he also requested tempura vegetables (one of his favorites and something I had tried making recently with a mix I found at Homeland).

I sliced and diced the veggies he requested—green beans, carrots, taro root, asparagus, and daikon radish. All set—right? Wrong! I went back to the store where I got the tempura mix (I only had a half of a box left), and they didn’t have ANY—not even a place on the shelf where it had sold out. I checked other stores, same thing. By the way, this was on Saturday and everyone was coming for Sunday Dinner. So, I got googled “recipes tempura” and got a ton of sites. I started checking them out and decided on a couple that I would try. Sunday while the pizzas were baking, I mixed up the half package and started frying a few of each kind of veggies. By the time, I had finished using the half box of tempura mix, the pizzas were ready. I decided we had enough veggies prepared and closed my laptop without using any of those recipes I had researched so frantically. It turned out that I had fixed plenty. There were even a few leftovers.

I wonder if Mother would ever make tempura veggies if she had ever tried them. Somehow, I think not. They just don’t go with the meat and potato meals that she always seemed to make for her family.

Now, my daughter is a different matter. She makes so many different things. Maybe someday when she takes over doing the special family dinners, she will introduce us to a new set of recipes.

Memory Monday: The Next Two Generations of Cooks

(We don't have a lot of pictures of us. I'm usually behind the camera. - Daughter)

THE NEXT TWO GENERATIONS OF COOKS

For the last couple of weeks, I’ve shared recipes from my mother and mother-in-law. Now I want to share two of my recipes and a couple of my daughter’s as we celebrate her first Mother’s Day with her daughter. They are pictured above. (By the way, the coat my granddaughter is wearing was sewn by my mother for my daughter more than thirty years ago.)

My recipe is a variation of my mother-in-law’s Pineapple Upside-down Cake. Growing up, my mother’s recipe for this desert always used pineapple rings with a whole cherry in the center of each ring. She baked her cake in a round pan. My mother-in-law used crushed pineapple, chopped cherries, and pecans in a 9” x 13” pan. I can’t remember the exact proportions that she used so I made up my own recipe using the same ingredients that she used.

Here is my version of Pineapple Upside-down Cake. Also, I am adding a second recipe, which is my variation that I created for a cooking contest (I didn’t win, but it was sure fun making and sharing the tries until I came up with the perfect recipe.

PINEAPPLE UPSIDE DOWN CAKE

1 stick of margarine or butter

1 lg can crushed pineapple, drained

1 cup brown sugar

1 jar of maraschino cherries, halved and drained

1 cup pecan halves

1 box of yellow cake mix with ingredients on package instructions

Combine 1^st five ingredients in a saucepan and bring to a boil. Pour into a 9x13" pan.

Prepare yellow cake mix, according to package direction.

Carefully spoon batter over hot pineapple mixture.

Bake at 350 for 40-50 minutes. When done, immediately invert onto serving tray.

PINEAPPLE RIGHT-SIDE-UP PIE WITH PRALINE TOPPING

Prep time: 15 minutes (Ready in 1 hour and 45 minutes)

Filling: 2 tablespoons cornstarch

1 cup brown sugar

¼ cup (½ stick) margarine

1 can (15 ¼ oz.) crushed pineapple, in its own juice

1 cup pecans pieces

1 (6 oz., approx. 25 cherries) jar maraschino cherries

Topping: 1 cup brown sugar

¼ cup (½ stick) margarine

1 cup pecans pieces

1 package (2 crusts) refrigerated piecrust

1. Heat oven to 350 degrees F.

2. In a medium saucepan, mix cornstarch and 1 cup brown sugar. Add 4 tablespoons (1/2 stick) margarine, pineapple, and 1 cup pecans; heat mixture over medium-high heat. Drain and cut the maraschino cherries in half and add to the mixture; stir frequently.

3. In a small non-stick saucepan, combine the remaining brown sugar, margarine, and pecans. Mix well and heat over medium heat, stirring frequently while preparing crusts.

4. Unwrap and line a 9” pie pan with one pie crust. Unwrap and score second piecrust.

5. Pour boiling pineapple mixture into the prepared pie shell. Place scored piecrust on top the hot mixture and crimp the edges of the pie crusts.

6. Pour nut mixture into the small saucepan on top of the pie, spreading out the nuts evenly.

7. Bake for 30 minutes or until the edges of the pie are lightly browned. Let the pie cool for 1 hour. Makes 10 servings.

Here are my daughter’s recipes:

FAUX STROGANOFF

1 bag of Amish noodles

2 cans of Amy's semi-condensed cream of mushroom soup

2 lbs ground beef

1/2 cup sour cream

Garlic, salt, pepper to taste

Parsley for garnishing

1. Brown meat with garlic, salt, and pepper. Drain after.

2. Boil noodles as per package directions

3. Mix cream of mushroom soup and meat, heat in a saucepan until warm.

4. Take meat sauce off the heat and add sour cream, mixing thoroughly.

5. Pour over prepared noodles.

6. Garnish with parsley.

Makes 8 servings.

SLOW COOKER CHICKEN RICE

3-4 boneless skinless chicken thighs

2-3 cans of Amy's semi-condensed cream of mushroom soup OR chicken stock

1-2 bunches of asparagus chopped into 1-2" pieces (exclude any really woody parts)

1 cup of uncooked rice

1. Place chicken and asparagus into the slow cooker with 2 cans of soup or stock. Cook on low for 6 hours.

2. Shred chicken with forks in the slow cooker.

3. Add rice to the slow cooker and turn up to high (20 minutes or to taste for white rice, 40 minutes or to taste for brown rice). Add extra soup or broth if needed.

Makes 4-6 large servings.

(Just a note, I, the daughter, am a very "by my gut" kind of cook, which is why my recipes are not terribly precise. I just go with what feels pretty right at the time and it almost always turns out okay. Except when I am baking. I am very precise with that.)

Well, over the last three weeks, I have shared the recipes of three generations. I can’t wait to see what the next generation’s favorite recipes will be. (A little added note: my grandmother-in-law, my mother-in-law, my daughter, and granddaughter all share the same middle name. Another little fun fact about our family across the generations.)

Memory Monday: My Mother

My mother

MY MOTHER

As I did in last week’s blog about my mother-in-law, I want to share a couple of my mother’s recipes as we approach Mother’s Day this year. I’m not sure how much Mother enjoyed cooking when her children were growing up as she also milked her cows, made butter, tended her chickens, took care of her large garden, did laundry on an old Sears wringer washing machine (with no dryer—clothes lines all the way), and raised five children. I do know that in her later years she enjoyed cooking, especially coconut cream pies and banana nut bread.

Below are two of her recipes. I don’t know why she called the first one Swiss Steak (I learned years later after looking at cookbooks, that this is not technically Swiss Steak, but it is good). I still make both recipes and always think of my mother when I do.

SWISS STEAK

Round steak, cut into serving sizes

Salt and Pepper to taste

Flour

Oil

Canned condensed tomato soup

Season meat and dredge in flour. Brown steak in hot oil, then put meat to an ovenproof casserole. Drain most of the oil out of the pan. Add 2-3 Tablespoons of flour. Stir. Add tomato soup, diluted with one soup can of water. Bring to a boil, stirring until well mixed. Pour over meat in casserole dish. Bake for 30-40 minutes at 350 degrees.

(Mother made this quite often while I was growing up. There were seven in our family, so she made a large amount of this at a time. Now that I make it for just my husband and myself, I use two cube steaks and a regular-size can of tomato soup. Lately, I have been adding some of the seasoning my son mixed up for smoking brisket instead of salt and pepper. That really adds a great taste to this dish.)

BANANA NUT BREAD

3 cups flour

2 cups sugar

1 t. salt

1 t. soda

1 cup shortening or oil

3 eggs

1 cup buttermilk or milk

4 bananas, mashed (1 cup)

1 cup nuts

1 t. vanilla

Mix together all ingredients in a large mixing bowl. Spray loaf pans with Pam. Divide batter between loaf pans and bake at 350 degrees for 45 minutes.

Makes 6 small loaves or 2 large loaves.

(Mother used one cup of nuts, but I LOVE nuts and add 4 cups of nuts. Also, I usually use about 5-6 bananas—I figure with more nuts, more bananas, but I use the same amount of everything else. Doing it this way, I usually end up with 12 mini-loafs—but how many you get will depend on the size of mini-loaf pans you are using. I have three different sizes.).

What are your favorite family recipes? How have you changed them?

Memory Monday: My Mother-in-Law

My Mother-in-Law

MY MOTHER-IN-LAW

I had a wonderful mother-in-law and I can truthfully say that I was her daughter. When my husband was born (he was a big, big baby and his mother was a small woman), the doctor told my in-laws that any other children they had would have to be delivered by c-section. My father-in-law didn’t want to take a chance on anything happening to his wife (remember this was back in the 1940s and c-sections weren’t as common as they are today). He said that they wouldn’t have any more children. My mother-in-law told him that she wanted to give him a daughter. He told her that when their son married that they would have their daughter.

Fast forward a number of years. I married that boy and got a wonderful second set of parents. The way they loved and treated me, I was truly their daughter. (Actually, when I was going with my future husband, my mother said that if we married, I would have the most wonderful mother-in-law in the world. And as we all know, mothers are always right, well almost always.)

Even though she has been gone for a number of years, I want to honor her this Mother’s Day and share a couple of her favorite recipes.

AUNT EMMALEE’S BROCCOLI CASSEROLE

2 (16 oz. each) pkgs. frozen chopped broccoli

1 stick margarine

1 can sliced water chestnuts

1 pkg. onion soup mix

½ cup chopped pecans

2 cup Rice Krispies

Prepare broccoli according to directions, drain. Mix in other ingredients, reserving ½ of cereal. Pour into an ovenproof casserole dish. Slightly crush remaining Rice Krispies and place on top of mixture.

Bake for 30 minutes at 350 degrees.

(Emmalee was my mother-in-law’s aunt. Recently we learned the recipe was originally from Emmalee’s daughter, Gail. But since we have been calling this recipe Aunt Emmalee’s Broccoli Casserole for more than 40 years, the name of the recipe stuck.)

DOWN SOUTH BARS

2 T. butter or margarine

2 eggs

1 cup brown sugar

5 T. flour

1/8 t. soda

1 cup chopped nuts

1 t. vanilla

Powdered sugar

Melt butter in an 8”x8” pan. Beat eggs, combine brown sugar, flour, soda and nuts. Stir mixture into eggs. Add vanilla. Pour over butter. Do not stir. Bake 20 minutes at 350 degrees. Let cool slightly. Cut into bars and sprinkle with powdered sugar.

Makes about 18 bars.

(These were my husband’s favorite growing up and I still have the recipe on my fridge.)

Do you have any favorite recipes handed down from your mother-in-law?

Memory Monday: Easter and Our Family

My son with paper bunny hat and ears

EASTER AND OUR FAMILY

Easter is next Sunday. Growing up, we didn’t have a lot of Easter traditions. We went to church every Sunday, so going there for Easter was not anything different—although we often had a new dress, or something like that. I even have some pictures where my sisters and I wore those cute little girl hats. We always ate Sunday dinner together at the table and my mother always had roast or Swiss steak (her version), or fried chicken. I don’t ever remember having an Easter egg hunt at home, or anywhere else, growing up.

Things weren’t much different for my children growing up—church every week, Sunday dinner at the table, and sometimes a new outfit. The biggest different with our children is that we had Easter egg hunts in our back yard. My husband would hide the eggs, the children would find them, then they would hide the eggs and he and I would find them. Sometimes we repeated the whole thing again.

In the picture above, my son is wearing the bunny hat with ears that he got from Sunday School. I think I still have that hat in my craft pattern box. Maybe I’ll make one for my granddaughter.

What traditions do/did you and your family have for Easter? 

Memory Monday: Why Did They Do It Like This Back Then?

My Great-grandmother Emma

WHY DID THEY DO IT LIKE THIS BACK THEN?

While I was doing research for my historical magazine, Worbly’s Family Monthly Magazine (if you haven’t seen it, here is the link http://worblysmagazine.com/ ), I came across a cookbook that left me wondering a bit. It had an interesting section titled: MEDICINAL AND MISCELLANEOUS. Now I might be a bit odd at times, but normally I would put medical recipes and miscellaneous recipes in different sections—who knows, I might skip a line and bathe my feet with toast and cider if I didn’t.

Anyway, I wanted to share the names of the recipes that were grouped together in this section. Do you see any problem with the way it was done (the rest of the book was done as a traditional cookbook—meats, vegetable, pies, cakes, etc.)? The name of the book is The Improved Housewife, published in 1855—the same year my great-grandmother Emma was born.

Here are the recipes—in order—from the section MEDICINAL AND MISCELLANEOUS:

831. For Sprained Ankle.

832. Roast Apple Tea, and Acid Jelly.

833. Toast and Cider.

834. To Bathe the Feet.

835. R—f and R—y's Cure for Corns.

836. Mild Cathartic for Dispepsia.

837. Mustard Drafts.

838. Dropped Eggs.

839. For Teething Complaints of Children.

840. For Over Dose of Laudanum.

841. Chicken or Cracker Panada

842. For Prickly Heat.

843. Red Mixture, for Summer Complaint.

844. Ringworms.

845. Runaround.

846. Tobacco Salve. Royal.

847. For the Tetter.

848. To Stop Vomiting.

849. To Cure Seed Warts.

850. Toast Water.

851. Cure for Wens.

852. Cheap Cement for Bottles and Jars.

853. To make French Pomalum. Nice.

854. Southern Yellow Pickles.

855. Virginia Temperance Preserves.

856. Charleston Pudding.

857. Norfolk Spoonful Pudding.

And then they added these final two in the section—the only two that are not recipes:

858. General Rule

If a thing be worth doing at all, it is worth well doing:—best done, by self.

859. Punctuality

Fifteen minutes before the time.

Please help me—do you see the logic in this grouping? By the way, I just love this picture of my great-grandmother. I wish that I had known her.

Memory Monday: Outdoor Cooking in Our Family

My Mother and Daddy

OUTDOOR COOKING IN OUR FAMILY

Growing up, my mother did all the cooking (well, until she started working outside our home and us girls were old enough to help with the cooking. Not all of her lessons took really well—I remember the time first I fried chicken. It had a beautiful golden crust. I still remember Daddy’s first words after he bit into it, “This is raw!” Well, I had forgotten to start it on time—to be truthful, I remembered to start the chicken only 10-15 minutes before he was supposed to get home for lunch. So, I just turned the heat up to the highest it would go. How was I to know that the meat would still be raw if the crust was that beautiful golden color? But I digress.) The one thing Daddy—yes, we called him “Daddy” even when we were grown—did cook, or rather grill, was steaks. In his later years, he got a grill and would charcoal them. Mother loved it and would make sure he cooked enough so they could have them for several meals—and she wouldn’t have to cook herself.

Well, my son also likes to cook outside. Only he doesn’t grill, he smokes brisket, pork, and ribs. My mouth waters just thinking about how good he makes all of those. He’s even gotten me interested in helping him. He makes the rub and covers the meat with it. I put them in the smoker at night, take it out in the morning and put it in the oven for another ten hours, then slice it up—great division of labor. But then, he keeps his smoker at our house, so I really can use it anytime I want—like when I made smoked mac and cheese!

I wanted to tell about this because just I got a Lodge cast-iron hibachi and I’m having fun learning how to use it. Now I can have the fun of cooking like Daddy and my son. By the way, my son is named after Daddy—they both have the same middle name.

Do you like to cook outdoors? If so, do you grill or smoke? What is your favorite thing to make?

Memory Monday: Yet Another Look at What My Daughter Eats

My daughter, more than 30 years ago

AND YET ANOTHER LOOK AT WHAT MY DAUGHTER EATS

I love the picture above. My mother made the red dress that my daughter is wearing. Mother sewed the dress after she saw the white pinafore that I had made and embroidered. That little covering took 30 days to complete and left me with callouses on my index finger and thumb where I held the needle, but it was so worth it. My only regret is that by the time my granddaughter came to live with my daughter and son-in-law, she had already outgrown the pinafore. Oh well, I’ll just keep it for the next generation.

Now, back to the purpose of this article. My daughter went to an Asian dessert restaurant and tried something new. She writes about it. Here’s a link to her blog:
 You Ate What? Bingsu: A Korean Dessert

I hope you’ll check it out. What do you think of this dish? Are you daring? Would you like to try it?

What is the “most interesting” dessert you have ever tried? Did you eat it more than once?

Memory Monday: What I Give Thanks For

My father, grandfather, and step-grandmother

WHAT I GIVE THANKS FOR

I love Thanksgiving and not just because of the turkey. Actually, we don’t have turkey. We have smoked meat. Last year, it was brisket and ribs. This year, it is pulled pork. See, we are equal opportunity meat-eaters—as long as we can smoke it on my son’s Traeger smoker. Now with that explained, let me share what I love about Thanksgiving. It is the THANKSGIVING. There is so much to be thankful for—the memories of those who have gone before me, leaving lessons lovingly taught about right and wrong, about helping, sharing, and giving, lessons lived out before me in the lives of my parents, grandparents, assorted aunts and uncles, as well as the stories passed down about those who lived before me. The lessons I value most  deal with faith. I have been blessed to have seen the faith of my parents. I loved to hear the way my father prayed, especially in his later years and the way my mother always spoke about how God had blessed her in simple little ways, like how He washed her car when He sent rain.

I am thankful that my father, as well as a large number of other men in my family, took up arms and fought for our country. My father is pictured above in his Army Air Corp uniform during WWII. I have family who also fought for America through the years, including a number who fought for our freedom from England in the American Revolution. There are also several of my generation who have served in our military, and for them, I am also thankful.

I am thankful for my wonderful husband of 44 years and the way he cherishes me, the way he takes care of the house so I can have time to write, and the way has been a wonderful father and example to our children through the years.

I am thankful for the generations that are coming after me—our son and our daughter, along with her husband and daughter. There is so much thankfulness in my heart for our granddaughter and the privilege and blessing of taking care of her while her parents work.

There are so many more blessings for which I’m thankful—things that God pours out on my family and me every day of my life. Thank you, God, for loving me, for blessing me, for Jesus. Thank You.

What fills your heart with thankfulness as Thanksgiving Day approaches (and every day)?

Throwback Thursday: A Man with Bananas

From my "Old and Unknown" Files

Man holding bananas: “Yep, my job is to feed the monkeys.”

That's my caption. What's yours? Leave it in the comments below.

Memory Monday: Food and Clothing Part 1

My Great-great Aunt and Uncle

FOOD AND CLOTHING PART 1

I chose the picture above because the couple looks to in their seventies or so, but they would have been in their thirties in 1865, in their prime, working hard as farmers. This ties in with a most interesting article I found in a book from that time titled Facts for Farmers, also the Family Circle. Today, everyone seems to be concerned about what they eat—carbs, fats, proteins and how to balance them all. In the article below, it doesn’t seem that the people in the mid-19^th Century worried so much about all that. Just look at what an average man who lives to the age of 70 years old would eat in a lifetime. Makes one stop and think about how much we eat today (but then we might not work as hard as they did back then). By the way, I’m not sure what some of these things are.

THE FOOD AND CLOTHING A MAN MAY CONSUME IN A LIFETIME.

Alex Soyer's "Modern Housewife" gives the following calculation as the probable amount of food that an epicure of seventy years might have consumed. "Supposing his gastronomic performances to commence at ten years, he will make 65,700 breakfasts, dinners, and suppers, to say nothing of luncheons and extra feastings.

To supply the epicure's table for sixty years, Soyer calculates he will require 80 oxen, 200 sheep, 100 calves, 200 lambs, 50 pigs; in poultry, 1,200 fowls, 300 turkeys, 150 geese, 400 ducklings, 263 pigeons; 1,400 partridges, pheasants, and grouse; 600 woodcocks and snipes; 600 wild ducks, widgeon, and teal; 450 plovers, ruffs, and reeves; 800 quails, ortolans, and dotterels, and a few guillemots and other foreign birds; also 500 hares and rabbits, 40 deer, 120 Guinea-fowl, 10 peacocks, and 360 wild-fowls.

In the way of fish, 120 turbot, 140 salmon, 120 cod, 260 trout, 400 mackerel, 300 whitings, 800 soles and slips, 400 flounders, 400 red mullet, 209 eels, 150 haddocks, 400 herrings, 5,000 smelts, and some hundred thou sand of those delicious, silvery whitebait, besides a few hundred species of fresh-water fishes.

In shell-fish, 20 turtle, 30,000 oysters, 1,500 lobsters or crabs, 300,000 prawns, shrimps, sardines, and anchovies.

In the way of fruit, about 500 lbs. of grapes, 360 lbs. of pineapples, 600 peaches, 1,400 apricots, 240 melons, and some hundred thousand plums, green-gages, ap ples, pears, and some millions of cherries, strawberries, raspberries, currants, mulberries, and an abundance of other small fruit, viz., walnuts, chestnuts ,dry figs, and plums.

In vegetables of all kinds, 5,475 lbs. weight, and about 2,434 lbs. of butter, 684 lbs. of cheese, 21,000 eggs, 800 tongues.

Of bread, 41 tons, half a ton of salt and pepper, near 21 tons of sugar.

His drink during the same period may be set down as follows: 49 hogsheads of wine; 18,683 gallons of beer, 584 gallons of spirits, 342 gallons of liqueur, 2,3941 gallons of coffee, cocoa, tea, etc., and 304 gallons of milk, 2,736 gallons of water.

This mass of food in sixty years amounts to no less than 831 tons weight of meat, farinaceous food and vegetables, etc., out of which I have named in detail the probable delicacies that would be selected by an epicure through life.

But observe that I did not count the first ten years of his life, at the beginning of which he lived upon pap, bread and milk, etc., also a little meat, the expense of which I add to the age from then to twenty, as no one can really be called an epicure before that age; it will thus make the expenses more equal as regards the calculation.

The following is the list of what I consider his daily meals:

"BREAKFAST.—Three-quarters of a pint of coffee, four ounces of bread, one ounce of butter, two eggs, or four ounces of meat, or four ounces of fish.

"LUNCH.—Two ounces of bread, two ounces of meat, or poultry, or game, two ounces of vegetables, and a half pint of beer, or a glass of wine.

"DINNER.—Half a pint of soup, a quarter of a pound of fish, half a pound of meat, a quarter of a pound of poultry, a quarter of a pound of savory dishes or game, two ounces of vegetables, two ounces of bread, two ounces of pastry or roasts, half an ounce of cheese, a quarter of a pound of fruit, one pint of wine, one glass of liqueur, one cup of coffee or tea; at night one glass of spirits and water."

But then again, if we totaled up how much we each eat in a lifetime, we might not be so different from our ancestors. Or we might be eating more. Although, eating 800 tongues in any lifetime (at least for me) would just not happen.

Next week, I will have Part 2 where I show how much clothing it took for a lifetime.

Memory Monday: A Typical Wednesday and What We Eat

My Grandparents on Their Wedding Day

A TYPICAL WEDNESDAY AND WHAT WE EAT

Wednesday mornings are busy times at our house. My husband and I always go grocery shopping together—that is, after he’s had breakfast out with some of the people from his Sunday School Class. (I sleep in and am usually just about to have breakfast when he returns home. My favorite breakfast—Breakfast tacos, store-bought, of course.)

Well, with breakfast taken care of, we go and get our groceries. On the way home, we often stop by Subway (or some other favorite place) and get lunch to take home.

For supper, my husband usually has cereal from a box (since he didn’t have it for breakfast. I look around the fridge or cabinet and find something to nuke in the microwave. AHH, the joys of fixing food from my family.

It was so-o-o-o different years ago (like in the early years of my grandparents’ marriage. They married in 1910). No wonder the women didn’t work outside the home then—they didn’t have the time. Just look at what a cook book has for the menu for a typical Wednesday. This is from Five Cent Meals, copyright 1914.

BREAKFAST

RICE GRIDDLE CAKES
FETED BACON STRIPS
BANANAS
COFFEE—MILK

Rice Griddle Cakes

34 cup boiled rice 2 tablespoons drippings

2 cups flour 5 teaspoons baking powder

1¼ cup liquid 1 teaspoon salt

3 tablespoons sugar

Mix the dry ingredients. Add rice to the liquid ingredients. An egg may be added. Combine with the dry and beat well. Cook by tablespoonfuls the same as other griddle cakes.

Preparing the Meal

Make griddle cakes and start the first griddle full to cooking. Make the coffee, slice and fry the bacon, and set the table, attending to the cooking of the cakes at the same time, and when they are finished serve the breakfast.

Extra Baking

Before starting to cook the noon meal mix the bread and set it to rise. It will be ready for the second kneading soon after lunch, and can be baked before time for the evening meal. Make cinnamon rolls as well as bread. If coal or wood fire is used, plan to keep the top of the stove full while fire is going. Leave no empty space in the oven while it is hot.

LUNCH

SPLIT PEA LOAF

SLICED TOMATOES

BREAD WITH OLEO

TEA—MILK

Split Pea Loaf

4 cups split peas, cooked 1 beaten egg

2 cups bread crumbs 1 teaspoon minced onion

1 tablespoon minced parsley, celery, or other flavoring as

desired. Salt and pepper to taste.

Mix all the ingredients together. If too soft to hold its shape add more bread crumbs. If too dry, add milk, water or another egg. Form into loaf. Brown in oven.

Preparing the Meal

Use split peas cooked on Tuesday. A half hour before meal time, make loaf and put in oven to brown. Slice the tomatoes. Set the table and make the tea.

DINNER

Wednesday

BAKED CROQUETTES

BAKED POTATOES

HOT CINNAMON ROLLS

BANANAS WITH LEMON JUICE
LEMONADE

Baked Croquettes

3 cups chopped meat 1 teaspoon onion juice

3 cups bread crumbs 1 teaspoon salt

2 cups thick white sauce Pepper to taste

Make a white sauce by stirring ½ cup flour into ¼ cup melted fat, cook till frothy, then add slowly 2 cups milk or water, or the two mixed, stirring all the time, and cook again till thick, stirring till smooth.

Add cooked meat—beef, mutton, veal or pork—and bread crumbs. Mix well, form into croquettes about 3 inches long, lay them in greased pan, and set in hot oven to brown.

Bananas with Lemon Juice

Slice 4 bananas, sprinkle with brown sugar and lemon

juice.

Preparing the Meal

Put six potatoes for dinner and four for tomorrow's lunch in oven one hour before meal time, while bread is still baking. Croquettes and cinnamon rolls (see page 16) may be baked together about ½ hour before meal time. Set the table, prepare the bananas and lemonade.

The exciting part of this menu is that the next day for breakfast is that FARINA MUSH WITH TOP MILK is at the top of the menu. YUM!!! Really, please let me go shopping again tomorrow and have a McDonald’s Egg White Delight with sausage instead of Canadian Bacon and an caramel iced coffee.