Cookbook of the week for April 2, 2021: Quick and Easy Meals for Two (1952)

The cookbook of the week for April 2, 2021 was this little cutie, Quick and Easy Meals for Two, published in 1952! Here's our kickoff video for it:

The title page offers a preview of the adorable illustrations. Animals are always happy to be consumed in old cookbooks.

Each section opens with an illustration like this one, in which the woman apparently has an actual menu board in her home and yet tries to convince us menu planning is easy.

The whole book is structured around the idea of menus, which is actually kind of handy. And several sections are organized by season, featuring what's fresh during that time of year. Here we are, thinking about summer, for example:

The idea of crunchy devilled eggs confused me slightly. Here's the recipe, which was significantly less bad than it could have been.

So, what are we having for dinner?

Let's start with salad. This one seems like a LOT of work.

Maybe just an easy tossed salad instead. With a special home-enhanced dressing.

Or if you prefer, we can go straight to dessert. For once you can eat with your fingers. Sort of.

I'm always leery of recipes including baby food, but what do I know?

This actually sounds straight-up delicious.

The book offers helpful tips for those who are just starting out in the kitchen.

Like this tip for feeding men wieners.

Can't speak for good old boys, but I'd eat this!

Is this one man-friendly? Cabbagey chili with plops of mashed potatoes?

There's a section for what I call "desperation dinners."

Luckily, I rarely get THIS desperate:

Happy hubby seems to like what he sees in this opener to the appetizer section:

Here's one reason why:

Wondering if these dishes end up being a mood killer though:

If all else fails, put on a pretty apron, and let your pressure cooker sing you a happy tune.

Quick and Easy Meals for Two is a lovely, fun little book, and a great addition to any cookbook collection. 

 

Cold or Hot, it's what's for Lunch!

If you've got guests coming, you know what to serve! Spam goes great with a pile of shredded iceberg. And when you add a side of pretzels, you can dip them in the cottage cheese and say that it's  the appetizer.

Don't forget; it's pure pork. Not sure what parts of the pig are included, but be assured that there no beef tongues are included.

What's for Lunch: Salad Marrakesh

Lunch today was what I'm calling a Moroccan salad. It started with Moroccan chicken and chick pea cakes, leftover from dinner last night. The cakes were based on an appetizer recipe which unfortunately I could not find online to share with you. I substituted cilantro for mint (because I had it), and added crushed sesame crackers to the meat mixture rather than using breadcrumbs as a coating. They were flavored with hot sauce and cumin. I sauteed them rather than deep frying followed by baking as the recipe specified.

I made a dressing from humus, lime and pineapple juice, and herb-flavored oil, with several dashes of cinnamon and cumin. The salad itself was simple; greens, bell pepper, and raisins. The cakes went on top and viola!

The flavors are interesting for a mutt of an American girl like me. Sweet and savory, spicy and tart, soft and crisp.

What's for dinner? Pizza!

There's Always Room for Tuna Jello

Caption: "A real treat for lunch. For guests--jellied tuna fish."

I suppose it's safer to feed it to guests than to the children of the house.

Mechanically Frozen Fruit Salad

The evolution of salads over the last century is interesting to study. Jellied salads were common, both sweet and savory, containing fruit, vegetables, and meats. Some of these concoctions sound delicious, others faintly (or even overtly) disgusting.

The New American Cook Book contains many of these recipes, such as the one below, titled Frozen Fruit Salad:

The caption for this photo reads "A loaf salad to feature your finest dinner."

Here's the recipe. I love that it refers to a "mechanical refrigerator." Similar recipes in the book refer to the "automatic refrigerator". Obviously refrigerators were still relatively newfangled even in the early 1940s.

Frozen Fruit Salad

6 ounces cream cheese

1/3 cup mayonnaise (recipe No. 701)

1/2 cup heavy cream

3 1/2 cups canned fruit cocktail

1/2 cup chopped nuts

Few grains salt

Mash cheese. Add mayonnaise. Whip cream. Fold into cheese mixture. Drain fruit cocktail. Fold fruit, nuts, and salt into first mixture. Pack into freezing tray of mechanical refrigerator. Freeze firm. Serve on lettuce. Serves 8.

Get-out-of-Purgatory-Free Sunday Night Salad

Eating this salad of a Sunday evening must result in a partial indulgence at the very least.

Sunday Night Salad

4 good size, cold, cooked beets, chopped coarsely

1 tablespoon minced onion

1/2 cup celery, diced into small pieces

2 teaspoons vinegar

1 can tuna fish (seven ounce size)

Mix and blend with mayonnaise to taste - about 2/3 cup.

Serve on crisp lettuce cups or circled with sliced cucumbers.

Garnish with a ring of green pepper and a dab of mayonnaise. This amount serves four.

Lost Deliciousness: Wilted Greens

I'm not sure what happened over the last 30 years, but we threw some darned good recipes out with the hot dog water.

When I first began dating the guy who would become my husband, his mother used to make a salad dressed with a sugary, vinegary, bacon-y dressing that softened the lettuce and turned it into something altogether different. I'd never had it before, and thought the concept brilliant.

But then it just... disappeared.

She stopped making it. Haven't seen it in over 25 years.

I think it's about time that Wilted Greens made a comeback. Here's a recipe so you can do your part for the movement.

Wilted Greens

This salad should be served while the dressing is still hot.

Fry 4 slices bacon, cut up, until crisp. Add 1/4 cup vinegar, 2 tbsp. water. Heat. Pour over 1 qt. shredded greens (lettuce, spinach, endive, romaine, or a combination) tossed with 2 green onions, chopped, 1 tsp. salt, and pepper. Sprinkle 1 hard-cooked egg, chopped, on top. 6 servings.