SAUSAGE AND SWEET POTATO BAKE

Another recipe from childhood days in Southern Indiana.

1 lb bulk sausage
2 medium sweet potatoes, peeled and sliced
3 medium apples, peeled and sliced
2 tbsp sugar
1 tbsp flour
1/4 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 cup water

Brown sausage and drain.  Arrange the sausage, potatoes and apples in a 2-quart casserole.  Combine sugar, flour, cinnamon, salt and water.  Pour over sausage.  Cover and bake at 375 degrees for about 1 hour or until potatoes and apples are tender.

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VIP CHICKEN

This is another of my old Indiana recipes.  The dried beef and bacon make these chicken breasts different than the usual.  My husband has always been a meat eater and the more meats per meal the better.  Personally, I'm not much for meat but learned early in my marriage that every meal had better include meat!

2 pkgs (3-oz each) dried beef
6 boneless and skinless chicken breast halves
2 slices (3 x 6-inch each) Swiss cheese
6 slices bacon
1 container (16-oz) sour cream
1 can cream of mushroom soup
1 tbsp butter
freshly ground black pepper
paprika for garnish

Preheat oven to 325 degrees.

Line an 11 x 8 1/2-inch casserole dish with the dried beef.  Pound the chicken breasts to 1/4-inch thickness.  Cut the each slice of Swiss cheese into (3) 1/2-inch strips and put one strip atop each chicken breast.  Roll each chicken breast up and wrap with one of the bacon slices.  Place seam side down atop the dried beef.

In a bowl, whisk the sour cream into the cream of mushroom soup together until smooth.  Pour over the chicken.  Cut the butter into small pieces and dot over the soup.  Grind black pepper over the top to suit your taste.  Sprinkle lightly with the paprika for a garnish.

Bake at 325 degrees, uncovered, for 2 hours.  Serve immediately.  This will serve 6.

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MOSTACCIOLI WITH GROUND BEEF

Just another of my old, old recipes.

1 lb ground beef
3 1/2 cups spaghetti sauce
1 cup cottage cheese
1/2 cup shredded Mozzarella cheese
1 egg
1 tbsp dried parsley flakes
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp garlic powder
1/4 tsp black pepper
8-oz Mostaccioli, cooked according to pkg directions
Grated Parmesan cheese

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Spray a 2-quart baking dish with nonstick cooking spray; set aside.

Brown the ground beef in in a large skillet; drain well.

Return beef to skillet and add the spaghetti sauce; simmer 10 minutes.

Combine the cottage cheese, mozzarella cheese, egg, parsley flakes, salt, garlic powder, and pepper; set aside.

Reserve a half cup of the meat sauce; toss the mostaccioli with the remaining sauce.  Place half the mostaccioli mixture into the prepared pan.  Spread the cheese mixture over the mostaccioli.  Layer with the remaining half of the pasta and top with the reserved sauce.  Sprinkle with the Parmesan cheese.  Cover dish with foil and bake at 350 degrees 25 minutes or until bubbly and heated through.

Yield: 4 to 6 servings.

TOH photo for reference

AUNT MAMIE'S CHICKEN BAKE

This recipe is from an old rural utilities co-op newsletter in Southern Indiana where we got our electricity when I was a kid. There was always a page of recipes from the locals. This is one of them from Switz City, Indiana. I have no idea who Aunt Mamie was.

1 small chicken, cooked and boned

12 slices bread

2 cups chicken broth

2 eggs

2 cans chicken noodle soup

2 cans cream of mushroom soup

2 cups cracker crumbs

1 stick melted margarine

Mix the first six ingredients and put in a large pan. Mix cracker crumbs with margarine and put over top of chicken mixture. Bake at 350 degrees F for 45 minutes.

file photo for reference only

CAMPBELL'S SOUPS FIRST MAGAZINE AD

 This ad first appeared in Good Housekeeping Magazine in 1905.

NUTMEG BELL COOKIES WITH ORNAMENTAL FROSTING

This is a recipe I got over twenty years ago from a Good Housekeeping magazine.  The recipe was from a Good Housekeeping employee whose great-aunt had made them when the employee was a child.  In the article she talked about how she in turn had enjoyed making them for her children.  She also said she sometimes used them to hang on the Christmas tree.  To hang them, she would use a drinking straw to make a hole in the top of each cookie before baking.  After the frosting had dried, she would run fishing line through the holes.

2 cups sugar

1 cup butter (2 sticks), softened (no substitutions)
2 large eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
3 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
4  tsp. baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon ground nutmeg
Ornamental Frosting (recipe follows)

1. In a large bowl, with mixer at medium speed, beat sugar and butter until creamy, about 2 minutes.  Reduce speed to low; beat in eggs and vanilla until blended.  Gradually beat in flour, baking powder, salt, and nutmeg until well blended, occasionally scraping bowl with rubber spatula.
2. Divide dough in thirds; flatten each into a disk.  Wrap each disk in plastic wrap and refrigerate 2 hours or until dough is firm enough to roll. (Or freeze for 30 minutes.)
3. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  On lightly floured surface, with floured rolling pin, roll 1 piece of dough 1/8-inch thick.  With a floured 3 1/2-inch bell-shaped cookie cutter, cut dough into as many cookies as possible; wrap and refrigerate trimmings.  Place cookies, 1-inch apart, on ungreased large cookie sheet/sheets.
4. Bake cookies 10 to 12 minutes or until lightly browned.  Transfer cookies to wire rack to cool.  Repeat with remaining dough and trimmings until all dough is used.
5. When cookies are cool, prepare the Ornamental Frosting, if you like, to decorate cookies.  Set cookies aside for the frosting to completely dry, about an hour.  Store cookies in tightly covered container (with waxed paper between the layers if decorated) at room temperature for up to 2 weeks or freeze for up to 3 months.

Yield: 5 to 6 dozen cookies

This is the picture I took from the old magazine as a guide to the recipe.

ORNAMENTAL FROSTING:
1 package (16 ounces) confectioners' sugar
3 tablespoons meringue powder
1/3 cup warm water
assorted food coloring, optional

1. In a bowl, with mixer at medium speed, beat confectioners' sugar, meringue powder, and water until blended and mixture is so stiff that knife drawn through it leaves a clean-cut path, about 5 minutes.
2. If you like, tint frosting with food colorings as desired; keep covered with plastic wrap to prevent drying out.  With a small metal spatula, artists' paintbrushes, or decorating bags with small writing tips, decorate cookies with frosting.  (You may need to thin frosting with a little warm water to obtain the right spreading or piping consistency.)

APPLE PUMPKIN CUSTARD DESSERTS

I like to identify the sources of these old recipes when I can. However, that is not always possible. I believe, but cannot be sure, that this recipe is from an old advertisement for Borden's Eagle Brand Sweetened Condensed Milk.

1 can (21-oz) Apple Pie Filling
1 can (16-oz) pumpkin (about 2 cups, if you cook your own)
1 can (14-oz) Eagle Brand Sweetened Condensed Milk (not evaporated milk)
2 eggs
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp ground nutmeg
1/2 tsp salt
1 cup gingersnap cookie crumbs (about 18 cookies)
2 tbsp butter, melted

Heat oven to 400 degrees. Spoon apple pie filling evenly into 8 to 10 custard cups. In a large mixer bowl, beat pumpkin, milk, eggs, cinnamon, nutmeg, and salt. Spoon mixture into custard cups over the top of the apple pie filling. Combine the cookie crumbs and the butter. Sprinkle over the pumpkin mixture in custard cups. Place cups on a jelly roll pan and bake for 10 minutes at 400 degrees. Reduce temperature to 350 degrees and bake another 15 minutes or until set. Cool. Keep any leftovers in the refrigerator.

file photo for reference only

This is not this recipe.

BAKED SPICY FISH FILLETS

6 (4-oz each) fish (flounder, sole, cod, tilapia, etc) fillets

1 beaten egg
1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese
1/2 cup corn flake crumbs
1/4 tsp ground red pepper or 1/2 tsp paprika

Preheat oven to 450 degrees.
Grease a shallow baking dish; set aside.

In a small shallow bowl or pie plate, combine the Parmesan cheese, corn flake crumbs, and red pepper.  Dip the fish fillets in the beaten egg then coat with the corn flake crumb mixture.  Place fillets in the prepared baking dish.  Bake 5 to 10 minutes or until the fish flakes easily with a fork.

Yield: 6 servings of 1 fillet

file photo for reference

1963 YEAST COUPON

An 8-cent coupon today wouldn't be worth much.  But in 1963, this was quite a savings.  Don't know why my late mother never used the coupon.  This coupon was good during my Junior year of high school!

Old Coupon

DARK SPICE CAKE

 This is an old "church" recipe from Iowa.

1 cup white sugar
1 cup raisins
1 cup water
1/3 cup lard
1 tsp nutmeg
1 tsp ground cloves
1 tsp cinnamon1 tsp baking soda
1/2 cup cold water
1 tsp baking powder
2 cups flour

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Boil together sugar, raisins, 1 cup of water, lard, nutmeg, cloves, and cinnamon until the raisins soften, about 5 to 10 minutes. Allow the mixture to cool. Mix the soda in the 1/2 cup cold water and add to the raisin mixture. Add the baking powder and flour. Stir all ingredients together and pour into a well greased and floured 8 x 11-inch pan. Bake until done. This is not a typing mistake; no eggs or milk are used in this recipe. 

 File Photo for reference only.