How about Wedgies for dinner? Ok, so this isn’t what you have in mind when you think Wedgies, but here it is-I am sure this appetizer will be a delight at your next party. Bologna, cream cheese, onions and mustard decorated with sliced olives!

Betty Crocker’s Picture Cookbook

More retro jello fun, well gelatin. Pineapple this time.

1 tablespoon plain gelatin
¼ cup cold water
1 9-oz. can crushed pineapple
1 cup whipping cream or evaporated milk, chilled
Juice of 1 lemon (3 tablespoons)
¼ cup granulated sugar

Soften gelatin in the cold water. Drain juice from pineapple and heat to boiling; stir in gelatin until dissolved, then set aside to cool. Have the cream or evaporated milk thoroughly chilled, either by pouring into freezing tray of refrigerator for an hour or two, or by placing in a bowl of cracked ice and salt. When well chilled, beat in chilled bowl with rotary beater until fluffy, then add lemon juice and sugar, and beat until very stiff. Fold in gelatin mixture and crushed pineapple. Chill in refrigerator until firm, and serve cold. 5 servings.  The Modern Family Cookbook

I am all for a nice Saturday cocktail. Particularly when it is retro and non-alcoholic as these are (yes, I have a secret fondness for a single glass of tomato juice from time to time, particularly fresh tomato juice). However, I am most interested in the vintage Kix cereal recipe down at the bottom; buttered or cheese Kix. I may have to make some.

Also includes recipes for tomato juice, tomato bouillon, tomato-sauerkraut juice, tomato-clam juice (Clamato!), Bouillon or Consommé, Jellied Bouillon (for those hot days!), vegetable cocktail,cranberry cocktail (festive!), spiced cider, minted citrus juice (sounds refreshing!), as well as simple accompaniments like potato chips topped with grated Parmesan cheese, then toasted and buttered crackers with celery seed or paprika. From Betty Crocker’s Picture Cookbook

I made roasted potatoes by themselves (not with meat roasting that is, I served them with homemade hummus and the like) last week. I cut little red potatoes into wedges, sprinkled with salt and pepper and a bit of olive oil and tossed them in the oven. They didn’t take long to cook and turning them over partway through was the only challenge. (Hint: take the cooking sheet out of the oven to do this.)This was the big hit of the meal!

Here is how the Meta Givens goes about roasting potatoes though. I love how she suggests deep frying them and serving them as “roast potatoes.”
Pare 6 to 8 medium-size boiling potatoes, 2 to 2½ lbs. and place on a roasting pan around the roast meat, 1 to 1½ hours (depending on size of potatoes) before the roast is to be done. When potatoes are browned on the under side, turn over to brown other side and continue baking until tender when pierced with a fork. To shorten cooking time, potatoes may be parboiled, cooked until almost tender, then baked with the roast for 30 minutes, or long enough to brown well.

Note: New potatoes may be used, but they take longer to cook and never become dry and mealy like old potatoes. Potatoes boiled until barely tender make handsome “roast” potatoes when fried in deep fat. (360° F.) until  golden brown. The Modern Family Cookbook

If you don’t regularly read My Life as a Reluctant Housewife (and why not, you really should), then you haven’t seen the fabulous summer salad event she hosted. Go take a look. (and be sure to thank her for all her work. It is huge!)
Summer Salad Recipes Round Up #1

Summer Salad Recipes Round Up #2

Summer Salad Recipes Round Up #3

I really need to sort out finding a camera that I can take good pictures with where it doesn’t make the food look like it is running past the camera as I took the picture. Seeing everyone’s beautiful pictures makes me realize how visual food is when you talk about it.

More appetizers…this time….”Canapés…designed to be eaten gracefully from the fingers…”

“It is important that the canapé tray look “as pretty as a picture”…irresistible to the eye as well as the taste.”

Includes retro favorite recipes for Peanut Butter-and-Bacon, Chutney-and-Bacon, the appealling Minced Clam-Cheese, caviar, Tomato-and-Shrimp, Deviled Ham, Anchovy or Sardine, Smoked Turkey or Goose Liver Paste, Smoked Oyster, Cucumber-and-Anchovy, Savory Mushroom Canapés as well as how to prepare toast for canapés. From Betty Crocker’s Picture Cookbook

Check out this retro ground beef recipe: giant balls served with brown gravy. These are braised and have our favorite: bacon fat. The horseradish must add a bit of zing. Don’t leave that out!

1¼ lbs. ground beef
1 small onion, grated
1 egg, beaten
1 teaspoon salt
few grains pepper
½ teaspoon dry mustard
1 tablespoon horseradish, if desired
2 tablespoons bacon fat

Mix beef with onion, egg and seasonings. Shape into 5 or 6 balls and brown well in a heavy skillet containing hot bacon fat. Add 1 cup water, cover and simmer about 30 minutes or until flavors are blended and meat is done. Thicken liquid remaining in skillet, if desired, with 2 tablespoons flour blended with ¼  cup cold water. Add enough milk to make 1¼  cups gravy. Serve hot. 5 servings. From The Modern Family Cookbook

The clever wife has a simple appetizing cocktail (cold in summer, hot in winter) ready for her weary husband when he comes home at night.

Betty Crocker’s Picture Cookbook, 1950, First Edition, Published by McGraw-Hill Book Company and General Mills, Inc

This past weekend I made the queen of all Jell-o retro desserts. It is the one I have oft admired in cookbooks and at the occassional potluck of my childhood: the Royal Crown Jewel Dessert, sometimes called broken glass cake or stained glass cake. I was sure the rest of my family would watch it jiggle, and giggle. Giggle they did at my excitement…but the delight over the result was mixed. No one who tasted it didn’t eat an entire portion but…they didn’t get the fuss. Maybe you will. Look at the pictures. Isn’t it beautiful?

and

Beauty? Amazing Crown of Jewels? It gets even better….look at the sliced product:

and

I bet you want to make this at home right? Make 3 or 4 different colors of jello using the small boxes. Use 1 cup hot water + 1/2 cup cold. Chill them in separate pans into gelled then cube them up into 1/2-3/4-inch cubes. Pop these back in the refrigerator if you do it early.
Then get out a small box of lemon or island pineapple jello. Add 1/4 cup sugar (you need more sugar! Jell-o isn’t just sugar already! Its the crown jewel!) and 1 cup of boiling water. Then add 1/2 cup of cold pineapple juice. Let chill until slushy (the complicated part…about 90 minutes in our fridge I think)

Then add 4 cups Cool Whip and mix in. Yes, that is right…feed your family the stuff you can use the leftovers for car wax. I used the mixer because I was tired and the cool whip was still somewhat frozen.Gently tumble in the cubed plain jello pieces and stir.

Line a springform pan with ladyfingers. Don’t forget that part! That part is infinitely interesting to kids. Who’s fingers did you use? What do you mean they are a not a cookie and not a cake?

Pour jello mixture into the ring of ladyfingers and chill overnight. Admire the odd beauty often.

Decorate with a few reserved jello cubes. What? I forgot to tell you to reserve a few…don’t worry, I thought I had reserved some and yet, none on the reserved ones were cubed. I have issues with cubing jello, it never turns out. In any case, it is so lovely it really doesn’t need a garnish…but you can of course, especially if you are good with cubing jello.

This recipe is a family favorite, though I can’t remember ever measuring anything for it. (or actually ever having a recipe…just learned at Mama’s knee)

We serve as is, not with mayonnaise or dressing. This definitely is a salad for these hot summer days.

Sliced Cucumber Salad

Wash, pare and slice 1 large cucumber and 1 walnut size onion. Sprinkle with salt and pepper and 2 teaspoons sugar, barely cover with vinegar diluted with half as much water. Chill at least an hour. Serve as is, or drain and serve on lettuce with mayonnaise or French Dressing. Peeled, thinly sliced tomatoes or red radishes also combine well with cucumber in seasoned vinegar. 5 servings. From The Modern Family Cookbook.

Submitted in the Summer Salad Event over at The Reluctant Housewife. Go see: Summer Salad Event.