{Sorry to those who are looking forward to Liz’s post on Homemaking today….you just have me. She is on a hiatus from The Art of Homemaking while she is trying to keep herself from going into labor too early. Hopefully, I can be half as good as she is for the next month or so…}
On one of my last thrifting trips in IL I picked up this cookbook, The New Settlement Cookbook, for 50 cents. It was from 1954 and when I opened it I was intrigued and even chuckled at the tagline on the first page…”the way to a man’s heart.” And since I had a long car ride back, I began flipping through it. Yes, some of the recipes in this little gem are for jellied vegetable salad, and tomato aspic in heart-shaped molds….but the premise of that tagline…..it was thought provoking.
“The way to a man’s heart…”
My twenty-something self (who was a feminist in her own mind….not the bra-burning kind….but the equal rights loving kind–ok, I am still am….) would probably have been a bit ticked off about seeing that.
But, now as I am coming more into my own, I feel like I do want to find a {not the} way to one man’s heart….but also all the little hearts that eat around my dinner table every night. I have always been a firm believer in family dinners….and maybe this little cookbook here from 1954 can help me pump some new foods and love into all of those hearts.
I thought over the next couple of weeks I would cook some of the things and tell you about them. And more importantly, if they really did make their way into some hearts that I truly love. (I am no Julie & Julia…and will not even try aspic once….so I am just picking some new goodies from each chapter to add to my own recipe box.)
So, let’s get to some of the recipes that are “the way to a man’s {and children’s} hearts”….
Chapter 1–Menus
This first chapter is all about options for dinners. It gives suggestions for family dinners, for company dinners, for picnics, for children’s parties, for card parties, for grilling parties, for ladies’ luncheon menus, and every holiday you can think of (including some I’d never even heard of….)
So here’s a quick list to add to your repertoire a la 1954.
Family Dinner Suggestions:
Pot Roast, Browned Potatoes, Brussel Sprouts, Pickles
Brisket of Beef, Sauerkraut or Horseradish Gravy, Potato Dumplings
Roast Lamb, Mint Sauce, Green Peas, Currant Jelly, New Potatoes
Veal Roast, Mashed Potatoes, Creamed Onions, Pickled Crabapples
Chicken Fricassee, Dumplings, Harvard Beets
Broiled Loster Tails, French Fried Potatoes, Pineapple Salad
Codfish Balls, Boston Brown Bread, Baked Beans, Catsup
Fried Liver and Bacon, Fried Onions, Mashed Potatoes, Applesauce
Barbeque Spareribs, Mashed Potatoes, Sauerkraut
Ok…there are like four pages. And while I confess to not knowing what chicken fricasse even is, or highly doubt that I will ever serve pickled crabapples….I CAN change up my menu ruts….and maybe even add Barbeque spareribs to the menu this next week….they do sound yummy don’t they?
BBQ spareribs are now on the menu. Thanks New Settlement Cookbook.
Next week…chapter 2….Household Rules.
P.S. It’s not too late to join us in our Sew Along….we start on Monday!
Awhile ago I started posting a weekly menu and trying one new recipe every week. Jon was like the happy guy on the planet. It kinda wierded me out that something so simple would make him so happy.
Unfortuntaly that’s not happening right now and most our dinners come from Beto’s…hopefully within a few weeks our lives will return to “normal”.
Chicken fricassee (Cuban style)is delightful. I haven’t made it successfully yet, myself, but it is divine.
Oh, thanks for the reminder – I want to attend the sew-along.
I’m really here to tell you what I do for a living – I am a school director/teacher – it’s a highschool for grown ups, something like the GED, but in Norway they have to do at least one year – 50 students a year, I’m in charge of running the school and the I teach Englis, social studies and norwegian. Happy Sunday, Tone
I saw that book at the DI on Saturday. Except they wanted $2 instead of fifty cents. The Sandy DI is a rip off! LOL.
I grew up on Chicken Fricasee from the Settlement Cookbook. It’s a whole chicken, rubbed with ginger, boiled with veggies then shredded. Then you make a white sauce from the stock with flour and shortening/lard (I throw in some white wine sherry, too). Salt, pepper, serve over homemade biscuits. It’s heavy, filling and delicious.