Solstice/Saturnalia/Yule/Festivus/Hanukkah/Christmas: I like them all. H isn't into Christmas, but he does enjoy the food and our tradition of watching the uncut version of Bad Santa on Christmas Day. (He'll have nothing to do with my/my father's tradition of watching White Christmas on Christmas Eve, and neither will anyone else in the family. Of ( Read more... )

Apple Pie: My mother-in-law always bakes an apple pie for Thanksgiving, so even though my apple pies are much better, I cede that territory to her.

Pumpkin Pie: Usually we don't have pumpkin pie because everyone's pretty meh about it, but this year we're having houseguests who like pumpkin pie, so I'll bake one (or set my mother to baking it, ( Read more... )

Made a really excellent glazed ham for dinner last night, then got ten hours of sleep, so life is looking slightly better. Also because my dog doesn't have Cushing's disease, and although it's likely that she has diabetes insipidus instead (more testing required), that's less serious. And because I found time to watch this week's episode of The Big ( Read more... )

In today's Recipe from Hell, we go back to the Mad Men era with America Cooks: The General Federation of Women's Clubs Cook Book (1967), a cookbook I recently inherited from my husband's grandmother.

Is it just me, or is "congealed" a profoundly unappetizing word? It's truth in advertising when it comes to this salad.

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Congealed Corned Beef ( Read more... )

The blame credit for this delightful congealed salad goes to The Southern Cookbook by Marion Brown (1953). I'm thinking Berry Blue Jell-O would provide an especially "novel" result here.

Miss Sedberry's Bridesmaid SaladThis salad, which Miss Sedberry says is a favorite among her patrons, is not only delicious but versatile; one may do novel things ( Read more... )

Because I love you all, have PILOTS! plus Sam Witwer in uniform. (Why so terribly underused, dear Crashdown?):


( Read more... )

In an effort to avoid a rush proofreading project I should have started yesterday, I have made one of those mid-century recipe-from-hell Jell-O molds. It now lurks in my refrigerator, jelling malevolently. Will report back later, with photos and a taste test.

(This entry was originally posted at my dreamwidth.)

From Better Homes & Gardens Jiffy Cooking (1967). You want Jell-O? I'll give you Jell-O. I imagine the result here is something like that horribly sweet, cheap sweet-and-sour sauce bad Chinese restaurants use, except even grosser. And have I mentioned my lifelong fanatical loathing of yams ( Read more... )

1) Pumpkin Gingerbread Muffins with Orange Glaze: I baked a couple of dozen for H to take to work for the traditional Halloween potluck lunch. Very tender and cakelike, so I'd call them cupcakes rather than muffins, and closer to a pumpkin spice cake than a traditional gingerbread. The ginger is only in the form of minced crystallized ginger, and ( Read more... )

This week's recipe from hell (yes, there's Jell-O in this one, as promised) is from an American World War II cookbook, Better Meals in Wartime (1943) by Lola Wyman. If you want to know the best way to extend butter (she tried four methods, finding only one satisfactory), whip evaporated milk, make Potato Water Soup, or clarify "Victory Fats," this ( Read more... )