Betty Crocker’s You Share cookbook with “52 menus, 226 recipes, and 369 hints on food buying, preparation, meal planning, and serving” was published . . . → Read More: Tonight’s Dinner: Pinwheel Meat Roll {Vintage Recipe}]]>

Note: This recipe was originally posted on May 14, 2010.  It is so good, I had to share it with you again!  We are having this for dinner tonight. Yum!

Betty Crocker’s You Share cookbook with “52 menus, 226 recipes, and 369 hints on food buying, preparation, meal planning, and serving” was published in 1943 to help women cope with food rationing during World War II. “Betty” tells us that we have to make a little do where there was an abundance before…we must prepare satisfying meals out of our share of what is available. And so, the cookbook starts out with how to stretch meat to make the most of it. With her help, we are able to serve four or five people with one pound of ground beef (7 points versus the 12 points it takes to buy a 1 pound porterhouse steak that only feeds 2 or 3 people) The Pinwheel Meat Roll is supposed to serve six people with one pound of meat. I’m here to tell you that those six people must be eating giant servings because we usually get about 8-9 servings out of it. I love this dish. It isn’t a “prepare in 15 minutes” dish but it can be prepared and refrigerated on a Sunday evening to be popped into the oven on a Monday.

Pinwheel Meat Roll

• To prepare Golden Filling, cooked the onion and celery in the butter until yellow.

• While the onions and celery are cooking, mix together the meat roll ingredients in a medium size bowl. I find that mixing the ingredients with my hands does the best job of incorporating everything (even though it does make me a bit squeamish).

• Place the meat mixture between two pieces of plastic wrap (wax paper will work and is in the original recipe but it has a tendency to tear and it is a pain picking little pieces of paper out of the roll). Using a rolling pin, roll into an oblong shape about 1/4″ thick.

• Add the cooked carrots and 1/4 tsp. salt to the onion and celery mixture for the filling.

• Remove the top layer of plastic wrap (or waxed paper). Spread with Golden Filling.

• Roll up as if you were making a jelly roll. It helps to lift it up using the plastic wrap and then pulling the wrap away as you roll the meat roll into shape.

• Chill (I usually skip this step).
• Bake in an 8 x 12″ inch pan, uncovered, 1 hour in a moderate oven (350º F).

“Betty” suggests serving it with gravy or a creamy sauce or a creamed vegetable. I don’t think it needs gravy or a creamy sauce when it is first served. However, if you serve it again as a “planned over,” you made need to add a little chili sauce–ketchup with a kick–to keep it moist.

Added bonus: My Honey enjoys having it cold in a meatloaf sandwich the next day or two. Enjoy!

I chuckled to myself as I sat down to write to you.  The irony that I’m sharing a cake recipe just two days after Jack LaLanne told us to go easy on the sweets is not lost on me.  The truth is, I baked this cake on Sunday and I think Mr. LaLanne . . . → Read More: Peach Upside Down Cake]]>

Dear Friends,

I chuckled to myself as I sat down to write to you.  The irony that I’m sharing a cake recipe just two days after Jack LaLanne told us to go easy on the sweets is not lost on me.  The truth is, I baked this cake on Sunday and I think Mr. LaLanne would agree that if we have to have cake, this World War II sugar rationing era cake is better than modern cakes.

While looking through my “Your Share” Betty Crocker Cookbook for the Pinwheel Meat Roll recipe, I happened to see the recipe for Upside Down Cake.  I used to make pineapple upside down cakes during the early years of our marriage.  I’m not sure why I stopped.  Anyway, it seemed easy and straightforward, so I whipped it together after I got the meatloaf into the oven.  (Click on the photos to enlarge them for easier reading and/or printing out)

As you can see from the recipe, you simmer some fruit in a cake pan and then pour cake batter over it.  I don’t have a metal cake pan and my Pyrex pan specifically says “Not for stovetop use.”  So, I did that step in my skillet. I was using canned peaches so I simmered it in the fruit juice.  It wasn’t until I was done that I realized that the purpose of simmering it was to really just cook and/or heat the fruit.  You could probably do this step in the microwave, if you have one.  I’ll probably just use a sauce pan the next time I make this cake.

When it says “well greased,” it means it.  Apparently I didn’t grease my pan well enough because part of the cake stuck to the pan when I flipped it over after baking it.  It didn’t keep us from enjoying the cake, though!

I really like this cake recipe.  It isn’t as sickly sweet as modern cakes. It has a rich flavor that is reminiscent of a pound cake but lighter (since it doesn’t have a pound of butter in it).

SOFTASILK is General Mills’ cake flour.  I used Swan cake flour…but only because I had some I needed to use up because it was just past the “best by” date (that’s how often I make cake, these days!).

I needed to bake mine for about 10 minutes longer than the recipe indicated.  At 35 minutes, my finger left an indentation in the middle.  At 45 minutes, the cake sprang back just like it should have.

I was a bit confused about the different measurements for the baking powder so I looked it up.  Thank goodness for Marivene who took the time to type out all of this over at The Dollar Stretcher forum a couple of years ago:

I looked in my Meta Given’s Modern Encyclopedia of cooking, copyrights 1945, 1955, 1959, 1966 & 1969, and on page 112 she writes the following. It is long, but thorough::

“Two different types of baking powder are commonly used in the home, both containing baking soda and cornstarch, plus certain acid reacting compounds which vary in nature and amount. The powders derive their names from the acid reaction ingredients. They are: 1) sulfate-phosphate, so called combination (or double-action) baking powder, containing soldium aluminum sulfate and calcium acid phosphate.  2) Tartrate baking powder, containing cream of tartar and tartaric acid, and phosphate baking pwder, containing calcium acid phosphate.  Since food laws in general require that the ingredients be named on the label, you can readily determine which type of baking powder you are using.

The leavening gas given off by both types is the same, but the rate of formation and residue varies considerably. Baking soda is the alkaline compound in baking powder which, in the presence of water, reasts with the acid ingredients of baking powder to form carbon dioxide, which is a gas.  In this reaction, the batter or dough is permeated with very fine bubbles of the gas which make the batter light.  The only function of the cornstarch is to keep the active chemical ingredients separated and inactive while in the container. It has been found that a major portion of the cornstarch formerly used in combination-type baking powders may be replaced with a specially precipitated calcium carbonate, which, not only keeps the baking powder stable but also has the health advantage of enriching baked foods with substantial amounts of much needed calcium.

The rate of gas formation differs according tothe type of baking powder.  Sulfate-phosphate (Combination-type) baking powders have their lesser action in the cold batter, with the greatest action in the oven.  That is why these baking powders can be sifted witht he dry ingredients.  Such batter or doughs, after being poured, or rolled out and cut, may stand a short time without much effect on the leavening power.  Tartrate and phosphate baking powders have the major portion of their action in the cold batter and the lesser action in the oven.  For this reason, these baking powders are sprinkled over cake or other batters the last minute of beating.  As soon as the beating is finished, the batter is promptly poured into the pans and is promptly placed in the oven.”

I guess the point is, look at your can of baking powder to see if it is “double action” or not.  If it isn’t, you need to adjust your recipe accordingly.

This is a super easy cake to make that you don’t need to have frosting/icing for  and I highly recommend it!

Best,

Julie-Ann

For some reason, for me, there . . . → Read More: Favorite Meat Loaf]]>

Meat loaf conjures up images of tables laden with “comfort food.”  It seems to me that one of the reasons it is so popular is because of all of the ways it can be made to avoid monotony while stretching the food dollar to feed six or more people.

For some reason, for me, there is also something very soothing about making meatloaf.  And so, here at my relatives’ home to take care of them, in a kitchen where I don’t know where anything is and in a grocery store totally foreign to me, I found Betty Crocker’s Good and Easy cookbook from 1954 crammed into a bookshelf in the kitchen and I proceeded to make meat loaf for dinner.

This is a very easy recipe that goes together in just a couple of minutes and takes an hour of “go off and do something else in the house” baking time.  I will admit that the RN arrived while I was mixing everything up and I forgot to include the Worcestershire sauce when I got back to the mixing.  Not a problem.  The meatloaf was delicious even without the Worcestershire sauce.

I think a key to good tasting meat loaf is the combination of meats.  My early-marriage meatloaf adventures were ground beef only and they always seemed to be missing something.  Now, I mix up the meats and have even made meat loaf with sausage in it when I couldn’t get ground pork.  Also, if the recipe says to use fresh bread crumbs, tear up slices of day-old bread into small pieces.  Don’t use the dried bread crumbs from the supermarket.  The day-old bread helps keep the loaf light whereas the dried crumbs make it kind of dense and a little dried out.

Favorite Meat Loaf

Heat oven to 350º.  Tear bread into large mixing bowl; add milk and egg.  Add meat and seasonings; mix thoroughly.  Form lightly into loaf and spread chili sauce over the loaf.  Place in shallow baking pan.  Bake 1 hour. 6 to 8 servings.

Today’s recipe can be filed under “Oh, those crazy home economists!”  The recipe is called “Mock . . . → Read More: Mock Chicken Pie]]>

Now that I’m on summer vacation, I can catch up on posting all sorts of interesting recipes that I’ve tried over the past few months.  That is, of course, if I can remember where to find the original recipes!

Today’s recipe can be filed under “Oh, those crazy home economists!”  The recipe is called “Mock Chicken Pie” because it is made with canned tuna.  That’s right!  Tuna!  I guess this is where the confusion over “chicken of the sea” originated…

Interestingly enough, there is a recipe from the Betty Crocker Your Share pamphlet that is almost identical to this one that really does use chicken.  Perhaps that recipe was quite popular and this is a variation of that older recipe.  Regardless, it is quite filling and you can get more than the six substantial servings from this casserole.

The foundation of this recipe is our beloved White Sauce. Throw in some leftover peas and carrots (although I’ve been known to just buy the frozen peas and carrot package and cook them–it only takes five minutes, if that) and a couple of cans of tuna and you’ve got the heart of the casserole.  Top it with some biscuit dough.

Now, the biscuit dough is the make-it-or-break-it component.  Just make a half-recipe of Rich Biscuit dough and roll it out thin to put on top.  Trust me on this one.  I got all uppity the first time I made this and thought I knew better than those crazy home economists.  I made a full recipe.  And, decided to add a little extra milk so that I could just make drop biscuit dough to put on top.  You know.  I was going to triumphantly tell you that I figured out how to make the recipe quick and easy.  Yeah, you know what’s coming.  It’s just like when you yell at the girl in the bikini running through the graveyard in high heels in those campy horror movies to take the darn shoes off before she falls down.  You know it can lead to no good.

Making a full recipe of biscuit dough caused the casserole to turn into a giant biscuit with some remnants of the peas and carrots stuck to the bottom.  It wasn’t a pretty sight.  Bless My Honey for bravely eating it…even in the leftover stage (“Really, Julie, it really IS good cold for breakfast!”  Makes you wonder about his taste in other things, too).  If you decide to buy those refrigerator biscuits to use on this recipe, I’d only use about 1/3 to 1/2 of them.

Roll out the dough until it seems almost too thin.  It will expand and make a great top crust, reminiscent of those old-style pot pies.

Mock Chicken Pie (Adapted from The Picture Cookbook)

Make the white sauce.  Add the tuna, peas, and carrots to the white sauce.  Season with salt and pepper.   Heat until mixture bubbles.  Pour into a greased 2-quart casserole (about 8″ across) and cover with 1/2 recipe of Rich Biscuit Dough.  Bake for 25 minutes at 450º F.  Makes 6 servings.

Rich Biscuit Dough (1/2 recipe)

Round up on lightly floured cloth-covered board.  Gently knead about 20 times.  Roll or pat out to about 1/2″ thick.

Cover casserole to make the top crust.

I was reading Eating History: Thirty Turning Points in the Making of the American Cuisine by food studies professor Andrew F. Smith when he mentioned that chili con carne . . . → Read More: The Secret Chili Cookoff Ingredient]]>

Old Cowboy At The Fall Stew-pendous and Chili Cook-off on the Fairgrounds of historic Crawfordville, Georgia...I saw the photo and just HAD to use it!

I was reading Eating History: Thirty Turning Points in the Making of the American Cuisine by food studies professor Andrew F. Smith when he mentioned that chili con carne is really an incorrect description of the Mexican food that was heavily Americanized.  The original version was a chopped meat dish (carne) flavored with chilies that made it too spicy hot for the American cowboys that encountered it.  Over the years, the name was flipped into chili con carne and it became the quintesential cook-off contest at every state fair.

Growing up, I made chili in the slow cooker using ground beef, a can of kidney beans, a can of chili beans, and a packet of chili seasoning.  We would top it with grated cheese and chopped onions.  It was an easy and inexpensive way of feeding the 7+ people that were hungry for dinner.

My favorite way of eating chili is “the gutbuster” (aka Frito Pie) that I fondly remember from my high school days.  We didn’t have a cafeteria at my small Christian school but every Friday the PTA ladies would raise money by selling teenage fare to us.  The gutbuster consists of Fritos topped with chili topped with cheese and onion.  My Honey and I now eat a variation of the gutbuster.  Instead of using Fritos,  we use cornbread and top it with chili, cheese, and chopped onions.

I was surprised to discover that The Picture Cookbook has a recipe for Chili Con Carne but it does…in the section called “Special meat supper dishes–epicurean ways with old familiars.”  While reading the recipe, I discovered the secret ingredient: condensed tomato soup.  Well, you know I just had to give it a whirl, didn’t you?

Chili Con Carne

• Cook the ground beef and onion in the butter or drippings until browned.
• Drain and rinse the kidney beans.  Add the beans and the tomato soup to the ground beef and onion.  Cook for about 10 minutes.
• Combine the chili powder, flour, and water, and salt into a loose paste.  Blend it into the rest of the chili mixture.
• Cook over low heat for about 45 minutes.  Make sure to stir the chili frequently.
• Serve hot…with crackers or hot fried corn meal mush.

Makes 8 servings.

I forgot to check how much chili powder I had on hand before I went shopping and discovered that I only had 1 tablespoon left.  Now, I’m a chicken-liver when it comes to chili powder.  I prefer my Mexican food fairly mild.  But I was also afraid that the chili would be too bland.  Fortunately, I had some Emeril’s Southwest Essence on hand and added a tablespoon of that along with the chili powder.

I didn’t make it to the 45-minute cooking mark.  After about 15 minutes, the chili started sticking to the bottom of the pan and I turned it off.

The next time I have to be a participant in a chili carry-in, I will use this recipe.  I was afraid that the tomato soup would give the chili a weird mid-century-what-were-they-thinking flavor, but it didn’t.  The chili was absolutely delicious.  Even without the Fritos.

Two thumbs up on this one.

After commenting on the Facebook . . . → Read More: It Says BROIL Not Boil!]]>

My first experience with broiling was when I was a child and I made an open faced cheese sandwich. Of course, I called it a grilled cheese sandwich. I didn’t know that there was a difference between grilling and broiling…or that most grilled cheese sandwiches are actually fried cheese sandwiches.

After commenting on the Facebook fanpage about how I was able to throw a steak into the broiler the other night when we were rushed for dinner, I discovered that not everyone has a love affair with their broiler…primarily because they aren’t sure how to use it or, in the case of one person, she is afraid of catching the food on fire (it has happened before to her).

I decided we were in need of a mini-lesson from Betty on how to broil meat.  Getting out the trusty Picture Cookbook, I discover that “she” devotes four inches to the matter.  To be fair, other cooking methods garner even less space.

Oven Broiling

Slash edges of fat to prevent curling.

Place meat 3 to 5 in. from heat.  broil to desired brownness.  Season.  turn once, brown on other side.  For cuts to broil, see below.

Pan Broiling

Same cuts as for oven broiling.  Use heavy skillet.  It may be lightly rubbed with fat to prevent sticking.  Place meat in hot skillet.  Brown on 1 side, then on other.  Reduce heat; occasionally turn meat and pour off fat.  Season, serve.

Do not cover.  Do not add water.

Well, I learned something new.  I didn’t know you could pan-broil.  According to my Complete Round the World Meat Cookbook by Myra Waldo (1967), the only difference between pan-broiling and pan frying is that you don’t add any fat with the broiling method.  The meat cooks from the heat from the pan not the heat from the oil.

I think the key to broiling is to make sure you have the pan the correct distance from the heat source and to keep an eye on the cooking.  For most meat, we’re only talking a few minutes of cooking on each side.  I found these resources to help you:

1. Beef, It’s What’s For Dinner/Beef Checkoff: The beef guys have a vested interest in making sure we enjoy their product.  Click here for a downloadable chart on broiling beef. (As an aside, my nephews were in a “Beef, It’s What’s For Dinner” commercial when they were babies)
2. Mark’s Daily Apple ~How to Broil Fish You need to read through the entire page to get everything but he offers good basic advice while also reminding us that we just need to experiment a little bit to get the hang of it.
3. Recipetips.com~ Grilling and Broiling Chicken: If you’ve ever been on a diet, you’ve had broiled chicken.  Unfortunately, broiled chicken has been equated with bland and tasteless.   It doesn’t have to be so!  One of my favorite entrees is broiled cornish game hens.  I just butterfly them, add some seasoning, and broil away (a link for how to butterfly poultry is included in the Grilling and Broiling site).
4. Quick roasting vegetables from The Kitchn : I LOVE roasted vegetables but I don’t love the time it takes for them to roast.  This site tells you a quick and easy way to roast vegetables using the broiler.

My broiler pan is pretty big and cumbersome (and not very easy to clean, either) so I started using my cast iron skillet or cast iron grill (similar to this one but mine wasn’t pre-seasoned).  As the broiler is preheating, I stick the pan in the oven to preheat as well.  I think the extra heat from the pan helps sear the meat to make it even juicier than using the broiler pan.  Of course, your mileage may vary.

And, here is my recipe from my childhood:

Take one slice of bread.  Place cheddar cheese slice on top of it.  Broil for just a minute or two (the bread will char very quickly) until the cheese is melted.  Yummy without all of the greasiness of a traditional grilled cheese sandwich.

Do you have a secret to broiling that I didn’t mention?

“The basic seven is easy if you follow this pattern…”

For Adequate Meals: