Really, these recipes are redefining my ideas of diet food.

( Let's talk turkey! )

Hmm ... 395 calories WITHOUT the gravy. I wonder how many calories the gravy adds?

My partner has a yearly weird food party, and, as usual, my problem with what to bring is overchoice. This year, I finally own a copy of Square Meals by Jane and Michael Stern (who are perhaps better known for Road Food). I have pined and hunted for this book since the early 90s, only to discover that the used copies of the unrevised edition are dirt cheap on Amazon (the link goes to the revised edition, since that's the one where they show the table of contents, but if you want one, look for the unrevised, especially since the changes are minimal).
Not all the recipes in here are weird by any means. They belong to other eras, and to cultural aspects of American culture that were part of those other eras (like the Ladies' Lunch and Nursery Food), and have some really tasty stuff. The prose about the recipes and their culture, though, is part of what makes it. While the Sterns frequently poke gentle fun at some aspects, it doesn't descend into mockery. They have made and eaten all the recipes, and added some to their stable. I made the Patricia Murphy's Popovers last night. But some of the recipes...( my question, a sample from the book, and a bonus photo )

Again, not something I normally think of when I think "diet food."

( Eat youself thin! )

I'm not a fan of veal, but I'm betting steak or other beef cuts would work fine for this recipe. The frozen lime pudding looks tasty, too.

I suppose  210 calories for a half pound serving isn't too bad. I've never broiled chicken; it sems strange that 30 minutes total cooking time would be enough.

( Broiled and Baked )

The scans aren't great, but the article is amusing.

http://eatocracy.cnn.com/2011/01/31/health-advice-from-the-vintage-cookbook-vault/?hpt=C2

Dump Cake

1 (22-ounce) can cherry pie filling
1 (8 1/4 - ounce) can crushed pineapple, undrained
1 (18 1/2 - ounce) package yellow cake mix
1 cup margarine, melted
1 (3 1/2 - ounce) can flaked coconut (optional)
1 cup pecans

Spoon pie filling evenly into bottom of a 13 x 9 x 2 inch pan. Spread pineapple over cherry pie filling. Sprinkle dry cake mix over pineapple. Pour margarine evenly over all. Sprinkle with coconut and pecans. Bake at 325F about 1 hour. Yield: 1 (13 x 9 x 2 inch) cake.

Back in July, suzybel  posted a recipe for sweet & sour beets:

Now beets are good for you, especially men and their, um, plumbing. So I've read. I've been trying to learn to like beets- I like most vegetables, but for some reason, beets always have an oddly sweet dirt taste to me.



Anyway, I made this recipe, and it really wasn't bad. The beets still tasted like dirt, but they were far more palatable than they usually are right out of the can.

However, just like always, I did make a mistake with this recipe that really I should have caught- I used beets from a can for this, and I used cider vinegar instead of wine. Now, this probably would have been fine, if the can of beets that I used hadn't been PICKLED beets! The end result was definitely much higher on the sour side than the sweet side!

I do plan on making it again one day, using non-pickled beets. I am determined to like the purple buggers!

(Well, maybe not like them ... but at least be able to eat them without wrinkling my nose.)

ETA: As I have learned from the comments, there's a lot of different ways for me to try beets! Thanks!

( embiggened for your viewing...er...pleasure )

Got cold, left over beef? Some Scallop Shells just lyin' around?

This Cookbook was published in about 1828. My copy, a modern reprint, is a combination of two Cookbooks and purports to be the first "American" cookbooks.

Seriously, Great Great Grandma had it pretty rough compared to you and I!

A NICE LITTLE DISH OF BEEF

Mince cold roast beef, fat and lean, very fine, add chopped onion, pepper, salt and a little good gravy, fill scallop shells, two parts full, and fill them up with potatoes mashed smooth with cream, put a bit of butter on the top, and set them in an oven to brown.

Got this in an E-Mail last year. (See Website Link Below.)

"Historical Recipes For Inspiration only, not Ingestion.

The cooking times for these recipes are dangerous, but the information is of interest."

From: The Good Housewife's Jewell 1586:

To bake a Turkie and take out his bones. Take a fat Turkie, and after you have scalded him and washed him cleane, lay him upon a faire cloth and slit him throughout the backe, and when you have taken out his garbage, then you must take out his bones so bare as you can, when you have so doone wash him cleane, then trusse him and pricke his backe together, and so have a faire kettle of seething water and perboyle him a little, then take him up that the water may runne cleane out from him, and when he is colde, season him with pepper and Salt, and then pricke him with a few cloves in the breast, and also drawe him with larde if you like of it, and when you have maide your coffin and laide your Turkie in it, then you must put some Butter in it, and so close him up: in this sorte you may bake a goose, a Pheasant, or capon.( More Recipes )