Tossed Spinach Salad

A very healthy and delicious salad from Better Homes and Gardens Magazine May 1942. Quick, customizable and is the perfect side salad to any meal!

½ head lettuce
1 cup spinach
½ cup chopped celery
1 small onion, sliced
½ green pepper, cut in strips
2 tomatoes, cut in wedges
¼ cup French dressing

• Break lettuce in bowl. 
• Tear large spinach leaves in pieces; leave small ones whole. 
• Arrange spinach and other vegetables over lettuce. 
• Add French dressing and toss lightly. 
• Serves 4.

Better Homes and Gardens Magazine 
May 1942

Strawberry Whip

This Summer dessert comes from the Better Homes and Gardens Magazine July 1944. The same recipe appeared in June 1942 under the title "Strawberry Crown Whip" and again in June 1949 as "Bavarian Strawberry Cream" 

To be honest its the first time I have ever made anything with the unflavored gelatine and I was a bit dubious... but it turned out very well,,, not quite as high as the magazine picture as my mould was quite shallow. With the main ingredient strawberries... the flavour was a wow...although maybe just a little sweet

 As the recipe says... save a few whole strawberries for garnish....

"Strawberry Whip will quiver enticingly in individual molds or in squares from shallow pan."

I will definitely be making it again

1 tablespoon (1 envelope) unflavored gelatine (I used Knox)
¼ cup cold water.
½ cup hot water
¼ cup orange juice
2 tablespoons lemon juice
½ cup sugar
Dash of salt
1 pint strawberries
1 stiff-beaten egg white

• Soften gelatine in cold water
• Dissolve in hot water. 
• Add fruit juices, sugar, and salt; chill until partially set. 
• Beat til frothy. 
• Crush 1/2 cups strawberries; add to gelatine mixture. 
• Fold in egg white. 
• Chill in oiled mold until set. 
• Unmold and garnish with remaining whole berries and meringue swirl. 
• Serve with chilled custard sauce.

Better Homes and Gardens Magazine
July 1944

Orange One Egg Cake

Having a generous neighbour who has a couple of orange trees in her garden (thats California for you) means I often get bags of this delicious fruit left on my doorstep. As a thank you I always make baked goods to gift back 

This recipe comes from my family kitchen and hails from around the mid 1940s when.. due to rationing.. one egg cakes were very popular It tastes very good but its a heavy cake..dense and very crumbly when first cut, but does seem to get more moist as days go by.

You could put on an orange icing glaze.. but we like it as it is.. especially when served with a nice cuppa

2 cups all-purpose flour
2-½ tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. salt
1/3 cup shortening
1-¼ cups granulated sugar
1 egg
1 tsp. grated orange peel
1 cup orange juice

• Preheat oven to 350 F degrees
• Grease and flour a 9x5 loaf pan
• In the large bowl of an electric mixer, cream the shortening, sugar, egg, and orange peel.
• Add the dry ingredients alternately with the orange juice, beating well after each addition.
• Begin and end with dry ingredients.
• Pour batter into a greased loaf pan
• Bake at 350 degrees F for 45-50 minutes or until cake tests done when a tester is inserted in the centre
• Cool in the pan on a wire rack

Fried Rice with Shrimp

This recipe is from the 1943 edition of Adventures in Good Cooking, by travelling salesman and food critic Duncan Hines, and featuring recipes collected from around the USA. This recipe is from Trader Vic's in Oakland, California. 

2 tablespoons peanut oil

1 large onion, finely chopped
1 cup finely diced celery
1⁄2 cup chopped mushroom
16ounces cooked shrimp
4 cups cooked long grain rice
3 tablespoons soy sauce
1 teaspoon salt (or to taste)
4 eggs, well-beaten

Heat oil in a skillet over low heat.
Add onion and cook until tender but not brown, about 3 minutes.
Add celery, mushrooms and shrimp, and cook about 5 minutes.
Stir in rice, soy sauce and salt, and cook about 2 minutes.
Add eggs and stir well.
Cook, stirring, until eggs are cooked, 2-3 minutes

Toll House Cookies

My dear hubby requested Chocolate Chip Cookies.. so here's a recipe from 1940

This is the classic Toll House recipe that was invented before chocolate chips were available, and so it uses a cut chocolate bar instead. But honestly modern day chocolate chips work just as well. The cookies are not too sweet and turned out well.. even though I used tablespoon of mixture instead of a teaspoon. I also halved the amount of water in the recipe.

30th June 1940
The Minneapolis Star Newspaper

1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup white sugar
1/2 cup butter or other shortening
1 egg
1-1/2 cups sifted flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons hot water
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
7 ounce bar semi-sweet chocolate
1/2 cup chopped walnuts

• Cut each small square of semisweet chocolate into four pieces.
• Cream butter or other shortening 
• Add sugars and beaten egg.
• Flavor with the vanilla
• Dissolve soda in the hot water and mix alternately with the flour sifted with the salt.
• Lastly, add the chopped nuts and the pieces of semisweet chocolate.
• Drop by half teaspoons on a greased cookie sheet.
• Bake 10 to 12 minutes in a 375 (F) degree Fahrenheit oven.

Strawberry Jam

Its that time of year again when we begin to preserve the harvest. Before the days of refrigeration and freezing was in household kitchens, many housewives learned and used preservation techniques such as canning.

One of the easiest preserves is jam...and there are so many recipes to choose from. During the rationing of World War 2.. American housewives could apply for an extra 20lb of sugar to help preserve their harvest. British housewives however were not so lucky. To get extra sugar they had to give up their precious preserves ration... save the sugar from your own rations... or take your produce to the local WI for bottling...and then the jars were put back into the rationing system.

This Strawberry Jam comes from "Your Gas Range Cook Book", published in 1940 by the Wyandotte County (Kansas) Gas Company’s Home Service Department

3/4 pound sugar to 1 pound fruit

• Pick over the berries and remove hulls
• Put the fruit on the fire alone, mashing it as it heats: a wooden potato masher is best for this purpose
• Bring the fruit to the boil, stirring almost constantly and crushing any berries that may remain whole 
• Add the sugar to the fruit and boil together until thick (not over 20 minutes), stirring constantly to prevent burning
• Pack in clean hot jars and seal

Your Gas Range Cook Book
Home Service Department of the Wyandotte County Gas Company. Kansas
1940

Jambalya

At the weekend we had a large chicken for Sunday dinner. There was plenty of meat left on the bird so I stripped it down and used the carcus and vegetable peelings to make a lovely chicken stock. This and the meat were used in last nights dinner, which was another family hit. This Jambalaya recipe comes from the January 1940 edition of the Better Homes and Gardens Magazine

I made a couple of ammendments to the recipe to suit our tastes. The vegetables were softened in a spray of oil rather than 1/4 cup, I only had half a pepper in the fridge, I only used 1/3 a cup of ham as I needed the rest for sandwiches,..and I didnt add any extra salt and pepper as my homemade stock had enough. Plus, I also omitted the canned oyster..Im not a fan!!

This dish was flavourful, with a slight kick from the tabasco sauce and was quick and easy to throw together.  And seeing as hubby had double hepings, Im sure I will be making it again

1 large onion, sliced

1 green pepper, chopped

4 stalks celery, chopped

1 clove garlic, minced

1 teaspoon minced parsley 

1 cup chopped ham

1/4 cup fat 

Salt and pepper 

Dash of thyme

Few drops Tabasco sauce

2 tablespoons flour

1 8-ounce can tomato sauce

2 cups diced, cooked chicken

2 cups chicken stock

1 cup rice

1 cup canned or fresh shrimp

10 oysters, if desired

Original Magazine Clipping

           

• y

Better Homes and Gardens Magazine
January 1940

British Wartime Fruit Scones

British Afternoon Tea wouldn't be complete without the obligatory scone. This recipe come from Eating for Victory, a collection of Ministry of Food Leaflets from World War 2. It gives three varieties, plain, sweet and fruit. I chose the fruit, and used Golden Raisins.. the closest thing to sultanas here in the US.

The recipe is quite straight forward, and calls for a savoury or sweet sandwich filling. I don't know about a sandwich filling, but I do like a thin spread of butter, or a dollop of homemade preserves.

Plain Scones

1 lb. self-raising flour or
1 lb. plain flour and 4 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1 oz. margarine
A bare 1/4 pint milk

• Mix the flour, baking powder (if used) and salt together
• Rub in the margarine.
• Mix to a soft dough with milk.
• Turn on to a floured board and roll out to 1" in thickness.
• Cut into 8 rounds or triangles
• Put on a greased baking sheet and bake in a hot oven for 15 minutes.
• Serve hot or cold with a savoury or sweet sandwich filling.

Variations:

Sweet Scones:
Plain scone recipe with 1 oz. sugar added after fat has been rubbed in. 

Proceed as before.

Fruit Scones:
Plain scone recipe with the addition of 1 oz. sugar and I oz, dried fruit added after the fat has been rubbed in 

Proceed as before.

Eating for Victory

Brownie Pudding

Oh my gosh! This indulgent, self saucing dessert from the January 1944 Better Homes and Garden Magazine is just scrummy. It is a shining example of wartime ingenuity, making a pudding so delicious whilst skimping on sugar and using no butter or eggs.

 A rich, fudgy brownie layer with a velvety chocolate sauce, that is not overly sweet and easy to put together

The family loved it.

1 cup all-purpose flour
3/4 cup granulated sugar
2 Tbsp unsweetened cocoa powder
2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 cup milk
2 Tbs cooking oil
1 tsp. vanilla
1/2 cup chopped walnuts, optional
3/4 cup packed brown sugar
1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1-1/2 cup boiling water

• Grease an 8x8x2 in. baking pan; set aside. 
• In a medium bowl stir together the flour, granulated sugar, the 2 Tbsp cocoa powder, baking powder, and salt. 
• Stir in the milk, oil, and vanilla. 
• Stir in the nuts, if using.
• Pour batter into prepared baking pan. 
• In a small bowl stir together the brown sugar and the 1/4 c. cocoa powder
• Stir in the boiling water. 
• Slowly pour water mixture over batter.
• Bake in a 350 degree oven for 40 minutes. 
• Cool on a wire rack for 45 to 60 minutes. 
• Serve warm. 
• Spoon cake into dessert bowls; spoon sauce over cake. 
• If desired, serve with vanilla ice cream.

Better Homes and Gardens Magazine
January 1944

Peanut Butter and Pickle Sandwiches

In an attempt to widen my horizons away from my usual ham sandwich lunch... Im going to sample some suggestions from the 1940s... 

So today is Sandwich Saturday...and I will try so you dont have to. 

You can thank me later

Todays offering is off to a gentle start... Peanut Butter and Pickle Sandwiches from my 1941 copy of The American Womans Cook Book... which has a large section on sandwiches. I may have to work my way through..

1½ cup peanut butter
1/4 cup cream or hot water
1½ cup chopped pickle

• Cream peanut butter and water together and add chopped pickle. 
• Use between thin, buttered slices of bread.

As for this one...I was surprised at the flavour...and they actually worked together. However... I did not add cream.. or water (yuck) as I can only imagine they were used as thinners.. and my peanut butter was easy to spread.

Surprisingly...I will probably eat this again.

The American Womans Cook Book
1941

Shrimp Curry and Browned Rice

I needed a fast and easy dinner and this simple and flavourful Shrimp Curry from  Better Homes and Gardens Magazine June 1948 fit the bill. ready and on the table in 30 minutes. But, I did amend the recipe slightly. I replaced one of the cups of milk with one of chicken stock, and upped the curry powder to two teaspoons 

1 cup rice

1 teaspoon sugar

1 cup diced onions

½ teaspoon ginger

¼ cup fat

3 cups milk

6 tablespoons enriched flour

2½ cups cooked shrimp

1 teaspoon curry powder

1 tablespoon lemon juice

1½ teaspoons salt

• For the brown rice, heat 2 tablespoons butter or salad oil in skillet. 
• Add rice. 
• Stir until kernels are golden brown. 
• Add 4 cups boiling water and 1 teaspoon salt. 
• Stir. 
• Cover. Simmer till rice is tender, 25 to 30 minutes.

• Meanwhile start your curry
• Cook onion in hot fat until tender. 
• Stir in flour, curry powder, salt, sugar, and ginger; blend. 
• Gradually add milk (and stock)
• Cook until smooth and thick, stirring constantly. 
• Add shrimp and lemon juice. 
• Heat thoroughly. 
• Serve with hot browned rice... 
• and we added homemade peach chutney, a crisp garden salad and a small naan bread
• Serves 6.

Better Homes and Gardens Magazine
June 1948

..

Baby Ruth Cookies

Baby Ruth Candy Bars have been around since the 1920s.This 1940s recipe incorpotates them into a delicious cookie that is so easy to make. But here's a tip thats not in the original recipe. Roll the chilled dough into balls. Its stops them spreading so much

1/2 cup butter or other shortening
3/4 cup white sugar
1 egg
1 1/3 cups flour
1/2 tsp. soda
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. vanilla
2 Baby Ruth candy bars, cut in small pieces

• Cream butter and sugar until smooth. 
• Beat in egg. 
• Stir in other ingredients. 
• Chill and drop by half teaspoonfuls on greased cookie sheet. 
• Bake in a moderately hot oven (375˚F) for 10 to 12 minutes. 
• Makes 75 cookies.