SPRING FRUIT SALAD

 1 can (11-oz) mandarin oranges, drained

1 cup flaked coconut, toasted

1 cup miniature marshmallows

1 can (8-oz) pineapple tidbits, drained

1 cup (8-oz) sour cream 

1 tbsp chopped walnuts

1 tbsp brown sugar

Fresh mint for garnish, optional

In a bowl, combine the first 5 ingredients, mix well. Cover and refrigerate overnight. Just before serving, sprinkle with the walnuts and brown sugar. Garnish with the mint, if using.

Yield: 6 servings

recipe and photo Reminisce Magazine 1999

FROZEN FRUIT SALAD CUBES

This is an old recipe from the 1950s where it was a favorite at Bridge Club parties in Southern Indiana.

1 1-lb. can fruit cocktail
1 3-oz pkg cream cheese
2 tbsp fruit cocktail syrup
1/3 cup all-purpose cream, whipped
1/4 cup sugar
1/8 tsp. salt
6 marshmallows, quartered
1 tablespoon lemon juice

Soften cream cheese and drain fruit cocktail.  Mix cheese, fruit juice and sugar until smooth.  Add marshmallows; fold into fruit cocktail; fold whipped cream into fruit mixture.  Pour into ice cube trays and freeze until firm.  (No stirring needed.) Makes 1 quart.

If you prefer round slices, pack into the fruit cocktail can, cover end with foil and put in freezer until firm.  To serve, open the other end also and with the lid push contents out to slice.

file photo used for reference only - not this exact recipe

GRAPEFRUIT SALAD WITH CELERY SEED DRESSING

This is another old Hoosier recipe.

1/2 cup vegetable oil
1/3 cup sugar
1 tsp dry mustard
1/2 tsp paprika
3 tbsp honey
3 tbsp cider vinegar
1 tbsp lemon juice
1/2 tsp celery seeds
1 cup thinly sliced celery
1 cup chopped celery leaves
1 grapefruit, peeled, sectioned, seeded
2 bananas, sliced (optional)
1/4 cup chopped pecans or walnuts

In a blender contain combine the vegetable oil, sugar, mustard, paprika, honey, vinegar, and lemon juice. Process about half a minute. Stir in the celery seeds. In a bowl combine the celery, celery leaves, grapefruit, bananas, and 1/2 cup of the dressing from the blender. Stir all together very gently. Spoon the mixture into a large salad bowl; sprinkle with the nuts. Serve with the remaining dressing.

Yield: 4 to 6 servings

 File photo for reference

BAKED PEARS

5 pears, cored and peeled

2 tbsp chopped pecans
2 tbsp raisins
3/4 cup water
1/4 cup honey
2 tsp lemon juice
1 tsp cinnamon

Cut pears in half and place in greased baking dish, cut side up. Sprinkle pecans and raisins over pears. Combine water, honey, and lemon juice together in saucepan and bring to a boil. Pour over pears and sprinkle cinnamon over top. Bake 45 minutes at 350 degrees. Baste often.

 file photo for reference only.

STUFFED PEAR SALAD

18 gingersnaps, crushed

1/2 cup crushed pineapple, well drained
8-oz pkg cream cheese
2 tbsp mayonnaise
8 canned pear halves
8 lettuce leaves
1/2 cup sugar
3 tbsp lemon juice
1/2 cup orange juice
1 egg, beaten
1/2 cup whipping cream, whipped
1/3 cup finely chopped pecans, optional

In a medium mixing bowl, combine the gingersnaps, pineapple, cream cheese, and mayonnaise. Place each pear half on a lettuce leaf on the serving platter. Stuff the pear halves with the gingersnap mixture and chill while preparing the remaining ingredients.

In the top of a double boiler, mix together the sugar, lemon juice, orange juice, and egg. Cook over hot water until thickened. Remove from heat and allow to cool. When the mixture is cooled, mix with the whipped cream. Pour over the stuffed pears before serving. Sprinkle tops with the finely chopped pecans, if desired.

 I did not have a picture of this recipe so used this little cartoon "stuffed" pear.

WINTER APRICOT COMPOTE

2 cans (30 oz each) apricot halves

1 cup apricot nectar
1 1/2 tbsp cornstarch
3 tbsp cold water
1 tbsp curry powder
1/2 cup firmly packed light brown sugar
1 cup dried pitted prunes
1 can (30 oz) pear halves, drained
1/2 cup toasted shredded coconut, optional

Pour 2 cups syrup from apricots into a large skillet. (Use remaining syrup in drinks and desserts.) Add nectar to syrup; boil rapidly until volume is reduced to 1 1/2 cups. Blend cornstarch and water in a large saucepan; stir in curry powder and sugar. Gradually stir in syrup mixture. Simmer mixture, stirring constantly, for 30 seconds. Add prunes and drained apricot and pear halves; simmer uncovered for about 5 minutes or just until heated through. Spoon into attractive chafing dish and serve with coconut, if desired.

This is another recipe from a 1975 The Workbasket magazine.

FROZEN FRUIT SALAD

This is from a very old recipe clipping and was recommended as a handy "make ahead" recipe for a hot weather day!

If you are of the younger generation and not familiar with refrigerator trays, that would be ice cube trays. If using todays plastic trays, I would oil with a little vegetable oil before filling. This will keep the cubes from sticking, allowing them to come out easier.

1 cup cottage cheese
1 cup halved strawberries
1 cup drained pineapple chunks
1 cup canned peaches, drained and chunked
quartered marshmallows
1/2 cup salad dressing (mayo-type)
2 sliced bananas
1 cup whipped cream
chopped nuts
dash of salt

Combine the cottage cheese, pineapple, strawberries, and peaches and bananas.  Add the chopped nuts and as many marshmallows as desired (use large ones, quartered). In a separate bowl, add the salad dressing to the whipped cream and then fold into the cheese and fruit. Spread the mixture in 2 refrigerator trays and freeze until firm.  Each tray serves 4 to 5.  Remove this salad when ready to serve, cut, and by the time you are ready to eat, it will be thawed enough.

Note:  Never did say where to use the salt!  Personally, I would omit the salt. Refrigerator trays?  Also, the last sentence doesn't make a lot of sense, but these old recipes are often that way!

file photo for reference

FRUITY CANTALOUPE

We often see watermelon filled with fruit but seldom see cantaloupe filled the same way.

cantaloupe
1 cup fresh strawberry halves
1/4 cup blueberries
1/4 cup chunked kiwi (peeled)
1 tbsp lemon juice
1 tsp sugar

Cut cantaloupe in half and remove seeds. Prick cavity with fork. Combine remaining ingredients, toss, and spoon into cantaloupe halves.

file photo for reference only

OLD RECIPE CLIPPING FOR STUFFED PEARS

Here is another old recipe clipping from my late mother's 1950s-60s recipe files.  I know she never made these as I don't remember them and she would have never had wine in her house for cooking or otherwise!

Click on photo for easier reading.

OLD RECIPE CLIPPING OF WAYS TO USE GRAPES

Another old clipping from my late mother's recipe box.  Click on picture to enlarge for easier reading.

HONEY DRESSING FOR FRUIT SALAD

 

2/3 cup granulated sugar

1 tsp dry mustard
1 tsp celery seed
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp paprika
1/4 tsp pepper
1 cup salad oil
1/3 cup honey
5 tbsp lemon juice
1 tbsp vinegar
1 tsp grated sweet onion

Mix all ingredients together well.  Refrigerate 8 hours allowing flavors to blend.  Pour over fruit salad mixture.

Yield: 2 cups dressing

Note: File Photo

WATERMELON PICKLES

This recipe was from an old homemaker's magazine my mom received monthly in the mail when I was a kid. She subscribed to the magazine for the crocheting patterns but we often got good recipes, too. We never made these pickles, so I have no recommendation for or against. Readers, did you ever have watermelon pickles?

rind of one large watermelon
1 tbsp powdered alum
7 cups sugar
2 cups white vinegar
1/4 tsp oil of cloves
1/2 tsp oil of cinnamon

Using a potato peeler, peel the watermelon rind leaving a trace of pink on the inside for color. Cut the rind into pieces; let stand overnight in cold water with the alum. Drain well the next morning.

Bring the sugar, vinegar, oil of cloves and oil of cinnamon to a boil. Add the watermelon rind and bring to a boil again. Set aside until the next morning.

Next morning bring the mixture to a boil again; set aside.

Third morning, bring the mixture to a boil; seal in hot sterilized jars. Makes about 7 pints of pickles.

hgtv photo

SAUTEED APPLES

I can remember eating "fried" (sauteed wasn't a word in her vocabulary) apples at my grandmothers house from the time I was two years old. Grandma never used a recipe but this tastes very much like hers.

1/4 cup butter
4 large tart apples - peeled, cored and sliced 1/4 inch thick
1/2 cup cold water
2 teaspoons cornstarch
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

In a large skillet or saucepan, melt butter over medium heat; add apples. Cook, stirring constantly, until apples are almost tender, about 6 to 7 minutes.

Dissolve cornstarch in water; add to skillet. Stir in brown sugar and cinnamon. Boil for 2 minutes, stirring occasionally. Remove from heat and serve warm.

SALAD OF MIXED FRUITS

As you can probably tell, I am thoroughly enjoying my 1894 White House Cookbook find. Here is another jewel from that book.

Put in the centre of a dish a pineapple properly pared, cored and sliced, yet retaining as near as practicable its original shape. Peel, quarter, and remove the seeds from four sweet oranges; arrange them in a border around the pineapple. Select four fine bananas, and peel and cut into slices lengthwise; arrange these zigzag-fence fashion around the border of the dish. In the V-shaped spaces around the dish, put tiny mounds of grapes of mixed colors. When complete, the dish should look very appetizing. To half a pint of clear sugar syrup add half an ounce of good brandy; pour over the fruit and serve.

Note: It is too bad we don't have a picture of this dish.

1894 WHITE HOUSE CRANBERRY SAUCE

This recipe is from the White House Cookbook, 1894.

One quart of cranberries, two cupfuls of sugar and a pint of water. Wash the cranberries, then put them on the fire with the water, but in a covered saucepan. Let them simmer until each cranberry bursts open; then remove the cover of the saucepan, add the sugar and let them all boil twenty minutes without the cover. The cranberries must never be stirred from the time they are placed on the fire. This is an unfailing recipe for a most delicious preparation of cranberries. Very fine with turkey and game.

Note: File Photo

FRUIT 'N PUDDING CRISP

This is an old Pillsbury ad recipe.

Click on the picture to enlarge for easier reading.

CLOVE STUDDED ORANGE PORK CHOPS

Click on the picture to enlarge for easier reading.

MALLOW FRUITS

This is a recipe I have had for over 40 years.

2 cans (11-ounces each) mandarin orange segments
, drained
1 can (13 1/4-ounces) pineapple chunks, drained
1 jar (4-ounces) maraschino cherries, drained
2 cups miniature marshmallows
1 cup broken walnuts
1 teaspoon lemon juice
1 envelope (2-ounces) whipped topping mix
Celery leaves

Toss orange segments, pineapple, cherries, marshmallows and walnuts; drizzle with lemon juice. Prepare topping mix as directed on package; fold into fruit.  Cover and refrigerate 1 hour. Garnish with celery leaves. 8 to 10 servings.

OLD PEACH RECIPES FLYER

This is another of the old yellowed grocery store give-away fliers I found in my late mother's shoebox of recipe clippings, etc.

Click on the picture to enlarge for easier reading.

FRUIT 'N PUDDING CRISP

This is another of the old recipe clippings from my late mother's "recipe shoebox".

Click on recipe to enlarge for easier reading.