Today is my birthday! Somehow, apples and apple festivals have become a tradition for my birthday. Mostly, these consist of pretend apple festivals, since we do not live further north where apples grow. An apple festival + a birthday calls for an apple cake. Here is a lovely apple cake that comes from my great grandmother’s friend Frances Sears. Well, it is lovely in that it is delicious. I have yet to see a truly pretty apple cake that also tasted good.

I skip the nuts these days, but have used pecans in it. The frosting is really a nice change of pace, a sort of brown sugar boiled frosting.  I also tend to bake it at 350 for about an hour and 15 minutes or until done. Use orange pippin apples if you can get your hands on them. Otherwise a granny smith, Jonagold, Winesap or whatever good cooking apple is available in your area.

Fresh Apple Cake

2 c sugar
1 1/2 cups Wesson  oil
4 eggs
3 c flour
1 tsp. salt
1 tsp. soda
1 tsp. baking powder
2 tsp. vanilla

Mix sugar and Wesson oil, add eggs, one at a time. Sift together and add flour, salt, soda, and baking powder. Fold into mixture 3 cups peeled and diced apples and 1 cup chopped nuts. Add vanilla. Bake in tube pan at 300 degrees F. for 2 hours.

Frosting

1 cup light brown sugar
1 stick oleo
1/4 c. evaporated milk

Cook until thick, beat and spread over cake.

Ok, I have to say something here…my older sister HATES this recipe. Cringes if you even mention black cherry Jell-o. I on the other hand adore this and would look forward to having it when we would go to my great-grandmother’s house. Really, really, really love this salad.

I don’t add the extra sugar and am likely to use cheddar in place of the American cheese.

Black Cherry Salad

1 3 oz. pkg. black cherry gelatin
1/3 c sugar
1 c water
1 c shredded American cheese
1 8 1/2 oz. can crushed pineapple
1 c whipped cream

Mix gelatin and sugar and water, cook until gelatin and sugar dissolve. Cool and add cheese and pineapple. Chill until partially set. Add whipped cream and chill until firm. Serves 6.

Well, we haven’t done a frozen salad in a while. This one was all the rage in the 50s and 60s. I remember my great-grandmother making it from time to time for company, though she really was more of a tomato aspic woman. It really is quite tasty yet…different.

Frozen Tomato Salad for 10

1 qt. tomato juice
1 pt. crushed pineapple, well drained
1 c. Philadelphia cream cheese
1 pint mayonnaise
2 grated onions

Several vigorous shakes of tabasco, salt, pepper, to taste. Mix thoroughly and freeze. Serve with mayonnaise lightly flavored with curry powder.

From Mrs. R. E. King

Well, some of you have vanished already. The classic refreshment of the 30s just isn’t your thing. Others read on trying to figure out just what it is…it is basically beef Jell-o.

But before you run off…reconsider. It is elegant, salty, smooth, cool and refreshing, all at the same time.

Jellied Beef Consomme

4 cups beef broth
1 small onion, chopped
1/4 cup green pepper, chopped
1 tablespoon parsley, chopped
1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce

~~~~~~~~~~

2 tablespoons dry sherry
2 tablespoons water
1 envelope unflavored gelatin

Combine first five ingredients in a saucepan. Bring to boil. Reduce heat, simmer 15 minutes. Strain mixture, discarding vegetables and return to saucepan.

In small bowl combine sherry and water; sprinkle gelatin over top to soften gelatin. Add gelatin mixture to broth. Heat and stir until gelatin dissolves. Pour into a large bowl. Chill until set. Break with fork and serve in small dishes or elegant glassware. Garnish with a bit of parsley or savory whipped cream or sour cream.

It is back to school time around here and it seems that young folk have come out of the woodwork all over town. Hopefully they are off to get an appropriate start to their year and behaving. No food content this week, unless you count the food fight.

I know that in some parts of the country, the wind carries a hint of fall. Here, we will be in the 80s until October. Today will be another day in the 90s, with heat index over 100. This means looking at recipes casseroles, pot roasts and anything that might involve ovens makes me cringe.

This however, made me smile. A bombe always makes me smile. It has the fabulous retro look…it is cold, easy, and best of all will impress even the hard to please.

If regular candied fruits aren’t your thing, try some dried cranberries or even some berries from your freezer-leftover from your pick-your-own adventures this spring. I know not all of you are blessed with a bombe mold…so use a 2 1/2 quart casserole dish or a bundt pan.

Raspberry Bombe

Raspberry Bombe is a frozen spectacular. Molded layers of sherbet, ice cream, and fruit-filled whipped cream are trimmed with fresh mint and frosted red grapes.

3 pints red raspberry sherbet
2 pints pink peppermint or strawberry ice cream

***

1 cup whipping cream
3 tablespoons confectioners’ sugar
Dash salt
1/4 cup finely chopped mixed candied fruits and peels
1/4 cup finely chopped almonds, toasted
Rum flavoring to taste

Chill a 2 1/2-quart metal mold in freezer. Stir sherbet just to soften. With chilled spoon, quickly spread over bottom and sides of mold; be sure sherbet comes to top. (If it slips down, refreeze in mold till workable.) Freeze firm.

Stir the ice cream just to soften. Quickly spread over raspberry layer, covering completely. Freeze firm. Whip cream with sugar and salt to soft peaks. Fold in fruits, nuts, and flavoring. Pile into center of mold, smoothing top. Cover with foil; freeze 6 hours or overnight. Peel off foil. Invert mold on chilled plate. Rub mold with hot damp towel to loosen; lift off mold. Serves 12 to 16. From: Betty Crocker’s Picture Cookbook

Just a link today…to a recipe that our family has decided to call “Surprisingly Good Salad” It comes from The Veggie Table and is a vegetarian recipe and even a vegan recipe if you leave the optional items off the salad.

Nice right, but what is retro about it? You come here for retro fare right? Well, you merely have to look at it to believe that it must have been a retro salad recipe. It is all diced and arranged on a platter. It looks like something out of a 50s or 60s cookbook. Really, completely retro looking salad. Not only that…it tastes fabulous with Green Goddess dressing. It seems MADE for Green Goddess.

In any case, we call it  surprisingly good, because the recipe doesn’t look like much. The thing that recommended it at first was that it was a colorful salad recipe with minimal lettuce. It turned into a family favorite right away though…once everyone got over the suspicion of the clearly retro presentation. Give it a try.

It is our friend of the famous sweater, now learning about the use of leisure time:

Don’t miss the fabulous presentation of how moms and girls spend THEIR time.

Now I know that everyone and their cousin has a Gazpacho recipe these days. Now, once upon a time, Gazpacho was exotic and Tomato Bouillon commonplace. So, try this for a refreshing summer retro treat. Retro soup, cocktail, and beverage all in one!

Tomato Bouillon on the Rocks

1/4 cup diced celery
1/4 cup diced carrots
1/4 cup chopped onion
2 sprigs parsley
4 cups canned tomato juice (or homemade)
1/8 to 1/4 teaspoon white pepper
6 whole cloves
1 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon dried thyme
2 cups canned bouillon or consomme, chilled
6 lemon slices
6 green scallions or celery sticks

Early on the day, if desired :

1. In large saucepan, combine all ingredients except bouillon, lemon slices, scallions. Bring to boil; cover; simmer over low heat 1 hour.

2. Strain; then refrigerate

15 minutes before serving:

1. Combine chilled tomato mixture with bouillon.

2. Serve in Old-fashioned glasses, filled one-fourth full with crushed ice. Garnish each with a lemon slice which has been snipped in center and has a scallion threaded through this center. Makes 6 servings.

I may have mentioned before that I love biscuits. Liz mentioned that hush puppies were a true food of the south, but they have nothing on biscuits. Of course, this recipe mentions one of those Yankee states…not New York but still…in any case, biscuits are super easy, inexpensive and YUMMY. Don’t over-mix.

Cheese Biscuits

2 cups Wisconsin cheese (Sharp), grated
1/2 cup butter
1 cup flour
1/8 teaspoon salt

Blend cheese and butter. Add flour and salt. Roll into balls like marbles. Bake at 350 degrees for 10 minutes.