SHRIMP SALAD with CHILI-SAUCE DRESSING - 1972

A Treasure Chest of Recipes from
our Savior's Lutheran Church
Racine, Wisconsin

My sister-in-law Nancy grew up in Wisconsin so I have been thinking of her as I read through this book. I was able to go with my mom and brother to Wisconsin for the wedding. We thoroughly enjoyed that trip. This book is a bit worn, but the recipes are still good!

SHRIMP SALAD

1/4 lb. fresh spinach
1 c. large, ready to eat shrimp
2 large tomatoes, cut in wedges
1 c. tiny cauliflowerets
1 pkg. (1 oz) Blue cheese, crumbled
2 hard-cooked eggs, sliced

Have all ingredients thoroughly chilled. Wash spinach and drain well. Tear into fine shreds. Add rest of ingredients. Drizzle with Chili-Sauce dressing and toss lightly.

CHILI-SAUCE DRESSING

1/4 c. chili sauce
1/4 c. salad oil
2 Tbsp. vinegar
1 Tbsp. onion juice

Combine ingredients. Beat or shake until blended. --Helen Ferguson

This salad is AWESOME! Russ and I both loved it. I used some of my home bottled chili sauce and fresh tomatoes from my garden.

I admit, I don't know how to juice an onion so of course, I Googled it. Interestingly enough, onion juice can help cholesterol, brown spots and even hair loss! You can apparently buy onion juice at the supermarket but I don't think its something I have ever seen on the shelf. So, I pulled an onion from the garden, sliced it in half, then used a microplane grater to grate the onion into a bowl. I thought about squeezing out the onion pulp for just the juice but got lazy and just threw it all in. Hey, the chili sauce is a bit chunky and its the flavor we want right? It tastes great to me!! This is one that I will use again!

HASTY PUDDING - 1972

PROVO Eleventh Ward Relief Society COOK BOOK - 1972

This little cook book was compiled, typed, copied, and put together by the women in this ward. Each section has been printed on a different color of paper and all the art work was drawn by hand (attributed to Ileen Parker and Jimmie Ranking.) Even the page numbers were written by hand! There is no binding, just 3 holes punched in the pages and held together by 3 metal binder rings.

As I was reading through the recipes, I found this unusual recipe for HASTY PUDDING. I've never made anything like it. Every ingredient is something I normally keep in the pantry so I was able to put this together very fast. Hence the name...

HASTY PUDDING

1 tbsp butter
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup milk
3/4 cup flour
1/2 tsp soda
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp baking powder

Mix together to make a smooth paste then add 1/2 tsp vanilla, 1/2 cup raisins or nuts, chopped. Pour into greased pan. Stir together: 1 cup brown sugar, 2 tbsp melted butter and 2 cups boiling water. Pour this over mixture in pan and do not stir into the mixture. Bake 30 min. at 400*. The secret is not to stir in the brown sugar mixture with the other. Pudding is delicious. - Ada Ellis

I Googled 'Hasty Pudding' and found the following on the Food Facts & Trivia website:

Originally a British dish, this pudding could be made on very short notice. Ingredients vary, but it was basically a sweetened porridge made from flour, tapioca or oatmeal and milk. The term originated in the late 16th century.

In Colonial America cornmeal was cheaper and more readily available, so here, Hasty Pudding was a cornmeal mush (cornmeal added to boiling water and cooked) with molasses, honey, brown sugar or maple syrup and milk.

There are both savory and dessert versions of this dish.

HASTY PUDDING
Fath'r and I went down to camp
Along with Captain Goodin,
And there we saw the men and boys
As thick as hasty puddin'.
(Verse from Yankee Doodle)


The house smells heavenly! The pudding is very good but VERY sweet! If I make it again, I will try a little less brown sugar and use nuts instead of sweet raisins. It would be good served hot with ice cream.

BROWN BREAD - 1985

Favorite Recipes - 1985
From The Congregational Church Guild
Wilmington, Vermont

Brown Bread
1 tsp. baking soda
1/2 c. dark molasses
1 c. sugar
1 tsp. salt
1 c. white flour
2 c. whole wheat flour
2 c. buttermilk

Stir the baking soda into the molasses; add the sugar, salt, flours and buttermilk. Bake at 350 degrees for 1 hour. (This makes one regular loaf, or two small ones) --Betsy Fajans

There are no instructions for the pan so I used a standard aluminum bread loaf pan that I had greased with shortening.

I love the drawings on the index pages of this little book. The Brown Bread recipe came from the Breads, Rolls, Pies and Pastry section so I scanned it so you can see the drawing of the little chubby grandma. Isn't she cute!?

NEW HAMPSHIRE CHEESE SOUP - early 1980's

Seniors of Esponoza Terrace - No Publish Date
Henderson, NV

I love soup! It is one of my favorite meals. Most think of soup as a winter meal but not me. I eat it year round and at least once a week. I'm so lucky to have a husband who is not a picky eater. He has been a great guinea pig for recipes. Gratefully there have been very few disasters. He REALLY liked this soup and so did I. It's a winner!

New Hampshire Cheese Soup

1 lg. potato, chopped
1 lg. onion, chopped
1/4 c. chopped carrot
1/4 c. thin sliced celery
1 c. water
1 c. shredded Cheddar cheese
2 c. chicken broth
1/2 c. half & half
2 tbsp. parsley

Heat vegetables and water in 2 quart saucepan to boiling. Reduce heat. Cover and simmer until vegetables are tender. Stir in cheese, broth, half & half and heat through. Sprinkle with parsley. --Connie Thompson


This soup is great as is but I did add a bit of fresh ground black pepper and then I used my immersion blender for a finer, smoother texture.

Reading this cook book was a nice trip down memory lane. I lived in Henderson for about 2 years and that is where my daughter was born. My father lived in Henderson for most of my growing up years and stayed there until he passed away. My brothers and I were able to go visit for a week in the hot summer when we were out of school. I remember trying to run down to the corner convenience store as fast as we could in bare feet. Not a good idea in over 100 degree heat! One of our favorite activities was to drive down through the expansive desert area between Henderson and the airport to watch the jets fly over. It seemed they were only a few feet above our heads! Sometimes a few other cars would pull up and do the same thing. There was more airplane traffic than vehicle traffic on that road back then! Now, that entire desert area between Dad's old back yard and the airport has become Green Valley.

HOME HAPPINESS CAKE - 1954

PIONEER Cook Book - 1954

As I read through all these different cook books, I am finding that many of them include recipes that are not food recipes. The Pioneer cook book I am looking at today was acquired at an estate sale on Whidby Island, Washington a few years ago while I was visiting Ruth. The cook book was put together by the Tacoma Council Pioneers, Charles B. Hopkins Chapter No. 30, Telephone Pioneers of America, 1954.

HOME HAPPINESS CAKE

1 c Common Sense
1/2 c Justice
1 1/2 c Love, sifted with 1 1/2 t mutual confidence
2 large portions of sense of humor, beaten separately
Spice to taste with wit and nonsense.
Bake in a moderate oven of warm approval.
Ice with generous appreciation.

(Personally, I like the wit and nonsense ingredient!)

FUDGE CAKE (Using Hershey's Cocoa) - 1963

Out of Columbia Falls Kitchens - 1963

One of the most beautiful places I have ever seen is Glacier National Park in Montana. The word 'Breathtaking' cannot even describe this place. I brought home a few 'treasures' (which I pronounce tray-zures) from my trip there. An old milk can that sits on my front porch, a great old wool army blanket, and a little cook book titled "Out of Columbia Falls Kitchens' compiled by the Jayceens of Columbia Falls, Montana. (Columbia Falls is the small town right outside Glacier.)

As I was reading through the recipes in this book this morning, I came to the Desserts section. The section introduction page looks like a Hershey's advertisement which I found fun and interesting so I scanned it for you to see.


I haven't tried any of these recipes yet but they are certainly on my list! The recipes are difficult to read in the book which makes the scanned copy even worse. So, here is the Fudge Cake recipe which is the one I want to try:

Fudge Cake (Using Hershey's Cocoa)
2 1/4 cup flour
1 teaspoon soda
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup shortening
1 1/2 cup sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 eggs
1 cup sour milk
1/2 cup Hershey's Cocoa
1/3 cup hot water

1. Sift together flour, soda, baking powder and salt.
2. Cream shortening and sugar.
3. Add vanilla and well-beaten eggs to mixture.
4. Beat until fluffy.
5. Add measured milk to creamed mixture alternately with dry ingredients, beating thoroughly after each addition.
6. Mix Hershey's Cocoa and hot water to form a smooth paste.
7. Beat into batter.
8. Pour into 2-9" layer pans.
9. Bake in moderate oven (350 degrees F.) 30-35 minutes
10. Cool and remove from pans.
11. Spread with Chocolate icing.

* To make sour milk, add a tablespoon of lemon juice to a cup of milk and let sit for awhile or use buttermilk. Do not confuse sour milk with spoiled milk. Sour milk can only be a by-product of RAW milk, not the pasteurized or homogenized milk we buy at the store.

COCONUT CHEWS - 1958

Kitchen Secrets Cook Book - 1958
Trade Lake Zion Lutheran Church
Wisconsin

Last night was 'party night' for our Dave Ramsey Financial Peace University class. In other words, our last lesson in the 13-week course. Yup, we decided not to be normal. Normal is being in debt and like Ramsey, we don't want to be normal!

For this last night, class members brought treats to share. So, I pulled a few old cookbooks off the shelf and settled on The Kitchen Secrets Cook Book, published in 1958, compiled by the Miriam Circle of Zion Lutheran Church in Trade Lake, Wisconsin. I found a recipe in the Cookies & Doughnuts section named Coconut Chews, submitted by Mrs. LeRoy Lundeen:

COCONUT CHEWS
1 cup sifted flour
1/2 cup butter
1/2 cup brown sugar
Mix together and put in pan. Bake in a moderate oven (350 degrees F) for 10 minutes. Then spread with the following mixture:
2 well-beaten eggs
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup Karo syrup
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 tablespoons flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup shredded coconut
1 cup chopped nuts
Blend eggs and brown sugar. Stir in syrup and vanilla. Add flour, baking powder, and salt. Mix well. Stir in coconut and nuts. Spread over bottom layer. Return to oven and bak 25 minutes longer. Cool and cut into bars.

For this recipe I used a 9x12 glass pan, dark brown sugar (because it was the first brown sugar I grabbed from the pantry) and pecans. Pecans are my favorite in recipes and these days, they cost less than walnuts!

These were very yummy. I love nutty chewy treats and these hit the spot. The only thing I would try differently next time is to use light brown sugar instead because they were a little dark in color. Even so, I had no problem convincing class members to take them home so that I wouldn't eat them all. (This blog project is going to be hazardous to my not as girlish anymore figure.) :) But, there is always the diet that gets started every Monday. Maybe I need to start a diet blog too (or is that a conflict in interest?) LOL

Do what you love...

This week I got a call from one of my best friends... Ruth. She has a passion for photography and has talent that I am in awe of (www.photographybyruth.com). I watch her work hard and she somehow finds the energy to do what she loves. It has caused me to think, more than once... what is my passion? What would I love to do more than anything else? I have several things I really like and enjoy. Cooking/baking, gardening, reading, horses, and movies are all at the top. My husband calls me 'farm girl' and I guess I am a city girl who is a farm girl at heart. I love to do a little of everything which makes me a jack of all trades but a master of none. For the purpose of this blog, I am going to focus on just one of the many...

I love to read cookbooks. They are great short stories! I especially love to read old community and church cookbooks. These little gems are filled with recipes by home cooks and contributed to a cookbook project. Some of these books were done as a fundraiser, others just for the purpose of sharing recipes among neighbors and friends.

I've made a hobby of buying these little cookbooks at yard sales and thrift stores. I even get them as gifts! I have books from Washington, Utah, Nevada, Arizona, Montana, Wisconsin and several other states. The publish dates go back as far as 1953 and I'm always on the lookout for even older ones. I read through the books, always thinking I am going to try some of the recipes, then place them on my 3-shelf bookcase in the kitchen. I think its time to pull them off the shelf and try some of the recipes. Let's see where this takes me...