Country Cupboard Part Deux

Welcome back everybody - I made dinner for ya!

"the savory, tongue-tempting zest"

See, this isn't so bad. We've got sweet mix, overly-deviled deviled eggs, and a whole tray of cookies! Dig in!

Junior here is eating Corned Beef Hashstacks, "a particular delight of youngsters!" (This book uses almost as many exclamation points as I do!) Ya just open the can and push out the corned beef hash as a log, slice it into 1-inch thick rounds, put processed cheese on (they specify "processed") and bake. I don't know about that "delight" part.

After all that meat, let's have a Summer Garden Salad. Cucumber, green onion and radish mixed with Cheese Dressing, served on a tomato. Wow, don't go wild with the veggies now!

He's like a tiny Gorton's fisherman! Gloucester sauce: Tang Dressing, Horseradish Dip and Worcestershire sauce. Serve as a sauce for cold meats such as tongue. :P

It's a salad parade, coming out of the cookbook!

International flavour time!
This illustration is for "Spaghetti Meatcake." Uh, what?

"Make 2 pounds of ground beef into meat loaf. Divide and bake in two rounded 8 or 9-inch layer cake pans. Heat 1 can Nalley's Spaghetti with Meat in Sauce. When meat loaf is done, turn one layer onto a large platter; top with half the spaghetti. Arrange other layer of meat loaf on top. Spoon remaining spaghetti on top. Cut into wedges to serve."

Wow. wow. My friend Julie made a meatcake once; the inside was the same as this, but she frosted it with mashed potatoes. She then made a sheet cake that looked like a t-bone. Food was never dull at Julie's.

Noodles and Beef Romanoff and Strogonoff. Open a can of Egg Noodles and Beef, add some dip/dressing/mushrooms, and voila!

awww! For dining while camping.

Sticky buns!

Okay, those aren't deviled eggs in the beginning photo; they are Stuffed Eggs. Mix yolks with barbecue sauce? Oh no, honey, don't do that for me.

Spuds Glamorized! Just put french onion dip or bleu cheese dip on a baked potato.

I'm a lumberjack and I'm okay, I sleep all night and I work all day ...

and on that note, sayonara!

p.s. we decorated for Halloween today, photos coming up!

don't make juice with this Tang

I'm not feeling very Halloween this year. But here's a cookbook with lots o' devils!

Copyright 1962 by Nalley's, Inc.

According to their website, Nalley's has been around since 1918 and is based in the Northwest. I'd never heard of them, but it appears they are still going strong.
They have recipes on their site, but a quick perusal shows me none of them are from this cookbook. Their product line sure has shrunk.

Devil #1 illustrates Hot Seafood Salad Diablo. Aand we are introduced to Nalley's Tang Salad Dressing, which, according to the photo on the cover, seems to be like Miracle Whip. I didn't scan in the recipes, because they are rather boring; it's the illustrations that spice this cookbook up!

Here's Devil #2, showing off his Oysters Diablo. Combine raw oysters with cans of Spaghetti and Meat, mustard and horseradish, top with Parmesean, and stick in the oven. Personally, ewwww.

Devil #3 is ready to chow on some Tang Devils Food Cake. That's right, chocolate cake with the previously mentioned Tang Salad Dressing (a whole cup!).

Hmm, seems there weren't as many devils as I thought. Oh well, onto non-devils!

With an assist from Nalley's, eggs star at any meal!

Alrighty, the top right? Not so bad. Eggs Benedict underneath on the right, sure.* But that abomination on the left just looks ... gross. That stuff around the edge? Nalley's Krun-Cheez. :shudder: The eggs on the bottom are nestled in cups made from barbecue potato chips. Damn, dude, that's just wrong.

Let's get back to the tasty illustrations, shall we?

Give a new day a bright new beginning with a breakfast that's different as well as delicious!

I don't usually associate smiling with alarm clocks.

Happy breakfasting at your house and easy breakfast making!

Anime Eyes woman is making omlettes!

We're makin' biscuits!
All these illustrations make me want to make up my own set of recipe cards. Too cute!

Oven Fried Fish. Coated in potato chips (again with the potato chips!). The hula skirt is optional.

Sweet and Sour Bologna, tee hee. This is in the outdoor recipe section, so you put a 1 1/2-lb piece of bologna on the barbecue spit and baste it with a homemade sweet and sour sauce, then slice up and serve on buns with relish. As a person who has eaten fried Spam many times, this doesn't bother me at all ;)

Seems like there's too many illustrations for just one post, so I'll make this Part One of two. See ya then!

* Eggs Benedict are amazingly popular here. I rarely saw it on the menu back in Florida, but here it's on every menu, in many different combinations. John's Place makes a killer eggs benny with chorizo :)

nom nom nom

* For those of you who haven't had enough sweets, I present:

 No clue on the date because there's no copyright or author info, only 2 photo credits. I found this tasty cookbook at video store that 1) rents DVDs; 2) has a used book rack outside; and 3) sells South African food. I love this neighborhood!

The cake at the top, with the cherry in the middle, is Alma's Quick Choco-Cake with Flaky Chocolate Icing. And the ring cake on the left is Aunt Nan's Chocolate Cake with plain white icing. I love recipes named after people, makes them seem more homey :) Although I think Aunt Nan got the short end of the frosting stick.

The book is filled with photo spreads like so:

oh my. Chocolate sundae, chocolate mousse, chocolate trifle, chocolate meringue pie ... and Queen Mary's Birthday Cake! (at the top, the stripey one that's been cut into). That was the most popular one in the book based on the stains on the recipe page. It calls for "castor sugar," which Google says is "an ultra fine sugar that is used mainly in baking cakes, souffles and mousses." Learn something new every day!

Under "Small Chocolate Cakes, Cookies and Goodies":

Chocolate truffles, chocolate eclairs, Noreen's Chocolate Fudge, and petites mousselines (those swirly round ones in the middle and bottom left). Never heard of them either, but you couldn't have a simpler recipe: 2 egg whites, 3 oz castor sugar, 2 oz ground almonds and chopped nuts for decoration. Oh, and you need Chocolate Butter Icing for the middle and the tops.

Next up, Children's Party Specials:

Which confirms my suspicion that this book is South African! The train is "Puffin' Billy," with a swiss roll boiler, a cabin of Norwegian cake, and rails and cowcatcher made from marzipan.

The cake at the top I would have called a log cabin, but it's a Native Hut. According to the description (which I just now read for the first time), "you can buy some little black dolls and construct a "native village" as a centre-piece to the table, or place a "hut" at each child's place, with a little black doll outside it holding up a card with the child's name on it." My word!

Moving along ... the book also provides some children's party games, including Do This - Do That, which sounds like Simon Says, and Spinning the Plate which involves a child holding a plate and calling another child's name while dropping the plate. The child called has to catch the plate before it hits the floor. yeah, I don't see that ending well.

And last but not least, Chocolate Drinks:

Well, those aren't all drinks, but let's not quibble about chocolate! On the bottom right, in the star shape, is a Chocolate Blancmange. As a child, I had lots of British children's books (my mom was British, and we lived in Bermuda for a few years). The children in those books were always excited about the prospect of blancmange but I never knew what one was, just that it must be good. It looks like a pudding crossed with mousse and gelatin. Still haven't had one, though ;)

Just above that, in the dotted glasses, we have Orange Cocoade. I like those chocolate oranges you can get at Christmas, but the idea of mixing chocolate syrup and orange juice doesn't sound tasty. Rounding out the drinks are Chocolate Egg-Nog (top left in the mug) and Cocoa Mallow (the beer stein with the marshmallows).

The big poofy white thing in the middle is Party Dessert. Don't even think of having it on a regular Tuesday night, it's PARTY dessert!

The last page of the book is a display of Cadbury's products:

I think they still make most of those. Don't think I've ever seen Mint Crisp, though.

Thanks for joining me in the drool-fest that is Cadbury's Chocolate Cookery!
I'm working my way through a stack of vintage cookbooks, so stay tuned for more festive foods :)

What's that? Hawaiian noises?

Aloha! Welcome to Fantasy Island "How You Can Give Hawaiian Parties" by Patricia Collier.


At first I was going to post just the drawings, but the lettering is so nice!

Let's star with the basics. "If you are lucky enough to have more than one lei, wear them all happily and proudly."

Ah, those Hawaiian nights, with their disguised posts and pillars.

"Would you like to entertain a fairly large number of women friends all at once? ... Then by all means go Hawaiian!" mmm, Green-and-Gold Rice Ring with Mushroom-Creamed Chicken!
I do love the lunching ladies all down the left side, wearing their leis and ... sitting on springs?

Next we have Buffet Suppers - "on the light side" sounds tasty.

"Curried seafood with fluffy rice, at least six accompaniments." According to the next page, the accompaniments for curry include bacon, chutney, hard-cooked egg yolk, lemon, pickled pineapple, and Bombay Duck (shredded dried fish). I don't think I'll be getting Bombay Duck any time soon.
And look at Mabel, standing there with a twinkle in her eye thinking, "that Bruce would be such a catch, he cooks divinely and sets a beautiful table."

Something tells me that Mabel is not his type.

How about a Hawaiian Bazaar? After all, "every club-woman knows that any bazaar or money-making affair attracts more attention and gets more good publicity if it is built around a theme."

I can just picture the little old ladies giggling as they plan their tropical bazaar.

Here's a little illustration from the Grill and Beach Parties section. I don't have a smart remark for this one, just that it's funny the ukelele/guitar stands out so much more than the player does.

These Hawaiian Suggestions can apply even to Christmas or Thanksgiving! Love the tiki idol and woman with the sunflower muumuu.

The last third of the book contains all the recipes. I was surprised to find that most of them sounded good. This one is an exception:

Peanut butter. Pineapple. Pimiento. Why not pickles, or prunes?

And finally, I leave you with a recipe from Bruce.

Thanks for joining me on this tropical vacation - sponsored by Dole Hawaiian Pineapple Company, LTD.

(Still in the mood for pineapple? Check out Pineapple Delight on Flickr!)

droll outer-space man

From the Better Homes & Gardens Holiday Cook Book, 1965