I know it is midweek, but sometimes you just need to think of fun social events and canapés…right? So how about Baked Bean Canapés? Besides, what WERE you planning to do with the leftover baked beans from last night? And-why bother with those expensive frozen rolled canapés…when you can have retro ones!

Season ½ cup baked beans with 1 tablespoon chili sauce. Pile on thin slices of bread, roll, fasten with toothpicks, wrap in slices of bacon and toast under broiler until bacon is crisp.

So, vintage dresses were in for the Oscars. Did anyone have some good retro party food at an Oscar party? What did you have? Did you watch the Oscars?

Just in case you don’t get enough food stuff in your life…I just discovered (like 10 min ago) GroupRecipes

It is a sort of combo between StumbleUpon and AllRecipes. Anyhow, I had to share.

Sorry about the quietness, been sort of off my feed lately. Any special requests for recipes or some such?

I don’t know. Something about mayo just seems wrong with cottage cheese, so I am skipping it. Onions and olives certainly change up the cottage cheese in a fun new retro way. What do you think?

1 lb. cottage cheese
1 teaspoon grated onion or 1 tablespoon chopped stuffed olives
Crisp lettuce or endive
¼ cup mayonnaise

Combine cottage cheese with grated onion or olives. Cover and let stand in refrigerator at least 3o minutes to blend flavors. Heap lightly into lettuce cups on individual salad plates and serve with mayonnaise, if desired. 5 servings. Onion may be omitted, or chopped chives may be substituted. The Modern Family Cookbook

Well, we have yet another Jell-o. Nothing too frightening this time. A bit of milk but, hey, us retro folk aren’t worried about a little milk in our Jell-o.

1 package raspberry-flavored gelatin
½ cup boiling water
1½ cups milk

Dissolve the gelatin thoroughly in the hot water, and cool. When completely cooled, but before thickening, stir in the milk. (Milk may curdle if combined while gelatin mixture is warm.) Pour into individual molds and chill in refrigerator until firm. Unmold and serve. Other fruit flavors may be used, and the mixture is also good if whipped with an egg beater when partially congealed and allowed to set 5. servings.

As American as…Dutch Apple Pie…;-) We do a lot with apples around here, but I don’t think I have posted an apple pie recipe. It definitely deserves a mention and Dutch Apple pies are fabulous. If you haven’t had one outside the freezer case or diner…one of those fake diners that doesn’t make their own pies, you are missing a treat.

Dutch Apple Pie

Plain pastry single crust
7 or 8 tart cooking apples
3 tablespoons butter
¾ cup sugar
½ teaspoon cinnamon, if desired

Roll pastry â…›-inch thick, fit into 9-inch pie pan; trim to within ½-inch of pan rim, turn under, flute. Pare apple, quarter and remove core; cut quarters into four slices, lengthwise. Melt butter in saucepan, add apples, and toss about until each slice is coated with butter. Add sugar, which may be mixed with cinnamon if desired, and again toss about to distribute through the apples. Arrange apples neatly in the pastry-lined pan, so slices fit together compactly; they should be slightly heaped in the center. Bake in a moderately hot oven (425° F.) 20 minutes, or until crust is brown. Then cover the pie carefully with another pie pan, reduce heat to moderately slow (325° F.) and continue baking about 30 minutes more or until apples are tender. Lift off top pie pan and remove to cake rack to cool before cutting. The apples may, if desired be covered with Streusel topping before baking, in which case, do not cover with a pie pan. 5 or 6 servings.

Streusel Topping For Apple Pie

½ cup flour
½ teapoon cinnamon
â…“ cup light brown sugar, packed
â…“ cup butter

Sift flour and cinnamon together twice to mix thoroughly. Stir in sugar, which should be sieved if there are any lumps in it. Cream butter until soft and smooth, then work into flour-cinnamon-sugar mixture until well blended. SPrinkle the crumbly mixture over top of a single-crust apple pie. Enough to top 1 pie.

This is a nice mild little pudding for your dessert. Not much to it…and very retro homey. Definitely the sort of thing for you if you like the texture of lemon squares or pudding cakes.

Cottage Pudding

1¾ cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
¼ teaspoon salt
¼ teaspoon soda
¼ cup shortening
â…” cup sugar
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 cup buttermilk

Sift and measure flour and resift 3 times with baking powder, salt and soda. Cream shortening and blend in sugar. Add egg and beat until smooth and fluffy. Stir in vanilla. Add flour mixture alternately with milk in 2 or 3 portions beating well after each addition. Turn into buttered rectangular baking pan. and bake in a moderate oven (350° F.) 30 minutes. Cut into squares and serve with Lemon Sauce or Nutmeg Sauce. 6 to 8 servings. The Modern Family Cookbook

I have previously posted the Lemon Sauce and I do love a lemon sauce. However, sometimes it is fun to try something a bit more adventurous. Nutmeg certainly fits the bill. When was the last time you used nutmeg outside the Thanksgiving through New Year’s period? You don’t have to retire it when the eggnog lattes leave town. Think…people will probably think you are cutting edge AND you can say it is a vintage favorite of yours.

Nutmeg Sauce

¾ cup granulated sugar
1 tablespoon plus 1½ teaspoons flour
¼ teaspoon salt
1 cup boiling water
1 tablespoon cider vinegar
1½ tablespoons brown sugar, optional
2 tablespoons firm butter
Scant ½ teaspoon fresh grated nutmeg

Blend first 3 ingredients in 1-qt saucepan. Stir in boiling water in gradually to keep smooth. Add vinegar and stir and cook over moderate direct heat until thick and clear, 4 to 5 minutes. Remove from heat. Stir in brown sugar, the butter 1 tablespoon at a time, and the nutmeg. Serve warm or cold.

Not much to this one, but I bet you appreciate that after the heart chop suey. Your family will too. You may be surprised at how well received this one will be.  I would skip the meat wiping.

Have chops cut about 1 inch thick. Wipe with damp cloth. For 5 chops weighing about 2 pounds, heat 1 teaspoon fat sizzling hot in a heavy skillet. Brown chops slowly on both sides. Sprinkle with 1 teaspoon salt, cover, reduce heat and cook 30 to 40 minutes or until tender, turning once or twice. Remove chops to hot platter and keep warm. Make gravy from fat and brown residue in pan, using about 1 cup boiling water or milk. Serve with chops. 5 servings.  The Modern Family Cookbook

This is the retro recipe you all have been waiting for this month. And no, I am not trying this one, sorry folks. Maybe with some cheapish more usual cut of beef or pork though.

Heart Chop Suey

1 small beef or 2 veal hearts
¼ cup butter or bacon fat
4 medium onions, sliced
1 small stalk celery, diced
2 cus meat broth or 2 bouillon cubes in 2 cups water
¼ cup flour
½ cup cold water
Salt and pepper to taste
2 tablespoons soy sauce or Worcestershire
3 or 4 cups boiled rice

Split hearts open, remove arteries and veins, then wash thoroughly inside and out in warm water. Drain well. Cut into narrow strips and roll in flour. Brown lightly in melted butter or bacon fat in heavy skillet or Dutch oven. Add onions and brown lightly, then add celry or enough meat broth or bouillion to cover. Cover tightly and simmer until meat is tender, about 1 hour. Blend flour and water to a smooth paste and stir into chop suey; if gravy is too thick, add a little boiling water. Add seasonings. A little dark molasses or caramel may be added for color, if desired. Serve with hot boiled rice. 5 servings.

Note: Add a No. 2 can chop suey vegetables along with the flour-water paste for a pleasing variation. The Modern Family Cookbook

This is an old fashioned cookie which might just be its charm. Nice with a cup of coffee or cocoa…

Hermits

(Very palatable, tender and crunchy)
1 cup seedless  raisins
1 cup chopped nuts
2¼ cups all-purpose flour
¼ teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon soda
1 teaspoon cinnamon
½ teaspoon nutmeg
1 cup soft butter or margarine
1 cup sugar
3 eggs

Grease baking sheets lightly. Start oven 10 minutes before baking; set to moderately hot (400° F.) Plump raisins. Cool. Chop nuts. Sift flour, measure, resift 4 times with next 4 ingredients. Cream butter until shiny, add sugar in 2 or 3 portions, mixing until smooth after each. Stir in raisins and nuts until well distributed. Drop 2-inches apart by heaping teaspoonfuls onto baking sheet into neat mounds. Bake 10 minutes or until nicely browned. Remove at once from pan to cake racks to cool. Store in container with tight-fitting cover with sheets of waxed paper between layers. 3½ dozen. The Modern Family Cookbook