Exotic. Different. Coleslaw? So claims one of our beloved Ladies’ Auxiliary cookbooks about its recipe for “Fruit Slaw”, possibly a perfect side dish for any summer weekend, and especially the upcoming Fourth of July holiday. Are you  planning your cookouts? Our lovely Ladies have lots to offer when it comes to our favorite classic, all-American salad.

That fruit slaw, unusual, I suppose, for the inclusion of apple (which I happen to love in my own coleslaw), grapes and mandarin oranges, comes from a favorite cookbook in my crazy collection: Out of Our League, compiled by the Junior League of Greensboro, North Carolina in 1978.

I also find myself drawn to this gem from Panic in the Pantry, a cookbook created by the Junior Section of the Manor Club, Pelham, New York, in 1975. (What is it with me and the 1970s cookbooks this week? Dunno. I’m having a retro moment…) And who was Mrs. Hart, I wonder, especially since the recipe was contributed by one Diana Beeton.

A 1956 book, the Silver Anniversary International Cookbook from sorority Beta Sigma Phi has multiple slaw options. A classic, above, as well as Old-Fashioned, and for the party people, 24 Hour.

This spiral bound beauty was edited, natch, by not one but two home economists, Betty Delmonico and Viola H. Ward. (No, I did not, could not, make those names up.)

The way I cook best is taking inspiration from the cooking of others, and making it my own. These are two of my favorite, original coleslaw recipe variations, but I want to know: What’s on the menu at your summer cookouts? Old favorites, or new experiments, either way, share ‘em with your sisters. And have a happy, safe 4th of July!

Related posts:

1. Wanted: Sunny Summer Savories YES, I KNOW: technically, it is not summer. But we’ve...

YES, I KNOW: technically, it is not summer. But we’ve got forecasts in the 80s, and darn it, it’s (about to be! Whoo hoo!) Memorial Day weekend. Let the picnicking and ‘cue-ing begin! In need of inspiration? Look no further than our own archives of amazing summer recipes. Some vintage, some our own concoctions, there’s plenty to tempt palates from simple to soignée…

Let’s start with the basics, shall we? We love a good potato salad, and while we can’t make it from our own garden haul, not just yet, that’s no reason not to enjoy this all-American staple. Take a peek at our Ladies’ Auxiliary vintage recipe round-up, and you’ll find something just perfect for your picnic table.

I love fried chicken, but try to do like my disciplined friend Mimi: indulge in it, and indulge good, just once a year. If this isn’t your moment for deep fried decadence, my high school reunion special roast chicken is good hot, warm or cold, and makes a healthier, impossibly easy stand-in.

To continue the healthy theme, check out my Asian-inflected food blog roundup. Among other perfect-for-the-heat suggestions is a divine cold noodle salad from uber-blogger Heidi Swanson. (Want more of the wonders of the digital recipe box? Many more favorite food blogs await you.

But wait! What about dessert? Well, you’ve read my apple pie saga, right? Though not seasonally appropriate, apple pie’s always divine…but then again, in my family, it can cause some serious strife. Maybe best to stick with the season, and let the only fool be rhubarb. Mmmm.

Ok, sisters: your turns. What picnics are you packing, what sides are you serving for this upcoming, eagerly awaited long weekend?

No related posts.

MAY IS THE month where my garden comes alive, and one of the first things I start cooking is rhubarb. So what better time to take a look back, through our treasured cache of Ladies’ Auxiliary cookbooks, to see how our fore-sisters treated this ruby red delight?

I’m all about rhubarb desserts, because I love sweets that aren’t TOO sweet. For me, rhubarb’s silky, soft texture and assertively tart taste are unbeatable when it comes to pies, cakes and crumbles. My cooking sisters seem to agree.

Take the seven sisters who published their own family cookbook, “Then ‘Til Now”, featuring recipes from all seven, plus their mama. Sister Fran (she’s at 8 o’clock in the picture) contributed the book’s only rhubarb receipt, and it couldn’t be simpler – just one dish! (That’s it up above, at the top of this post.)

The Ladies are, mostly, rhubarb purists; the experimental concoctions we see for other ingredients are in short supply for the ruby red stalks. But then – what’s an auxiliary cookbook journey without a spin in the Jello outboard?

Ok, back on planet “I would actually eat that”, we have simple, classic recipes. Rhubarb custard pie? Perfect, exactly as you’d expect from the members of the New Jersey Garden Club. I especially love that it calls for “a lump of butter”. That, friends, is straight from the days when cooks trusted themselves in the kitchen.

And, of course, the ladies are hip to everyone’s favorite rhubarb cohort, strawberries. Though we won’t have those from the garden for a while, they’re worth waiting for, if you can indulge in a special betty. Though I’d use butter instead of margarine, I can’t quibble with this simple recipe.

The only thing I couldn’t find? To my surprise, not a single one of my sweet cookery books featured a recipe for rhubarb jam or conserve, which sounds awfully appealing to me. Have any of you sisters got one from your own culinary archives to share?

And on another note, be sure to watch for my own take on rhubarb, over at my new gig for OnEarth magazine – a once-a-week look at my gardening (mis)adventures.

No related posts.

IT’S HAPPENED TO us all, we cooks: a great recipe book somehow goes sadly, horribly wrong. I was thrilled a couple of  weeks ago when I opened a package to find a cookbook I’d finally ordered for myself, one I’d seen gourmands praising for years as a superior resource for a particular regional cuisine. “Perfect!” thought I. “This will let me do something really unexpected for Summer-isn’t it fall-yet?? Fest”

Be careful of exacting plans. I found a recipe that featured potatoes, in combination with other veggies I love. It even contained legumes, making for a savory, vegetarian main dish. This was exactly what I was craving, as it happened, with leaves starting to blow off trees and a bite in the morning air. I followed the recipe to the letter. And you know what?

It was glop. Boring, banal and bland, with a side of not-very-appetizing-to-look-at. Furious at wasting my precious crop of home grown potatoes, I shoved the remaining tubers back into their dark storage, and began to brood on cooking disappointments I have known. And…on what the hell I was going to say to you people about potatoes, for after this culinary disaster, what with the chaos of back to school and work and life..my kitchen mojo was flagging. Badly.

I am sorry to say, I still haven’t recovered much of a will to cook. In my house, right now, we’re off of fancy food. Dinner tonight is an experiment in slow cooking, and tomorrow, though a friend is coming by, I’m serving…burgers. He’s married to a fabulous foodie, but bless him, he’d mostly rather eat a hamburger, and so that’s what we’re having.

Alongside, though, I’ll serve french fries, damn it, and use some more of the gorgeous potatoes I managed to coax out of my garden. French fries are all method, not recipe, but the one I use is from my beloved Gourmet. I recommend it not only because it works, but because the spice-and-salt formula included in the recipe is a (better) version of Lawry’s, not to mention a dead ringer for the stuff used on the Ollie’s Trolley burgers I loved as a child, the best I remember eating, ever. Maybe a dose of nostalgia, not to mention meat and potatoes, will cure what ails me this week in the kitchen.

SUMMER FEST IS A cross-blog recipe (and tip) swap–and you’re invited to participate. Simply post your link or recipe or idea in the comments below my post, and also on the blogs of the other participants listed here. Want more information? Get the details (and the schedule for upcoming weeks). My collaborators’ goodies:

Alison at Food2: Boil ‘Em, Mash ‘Em, Stick ‘Em in a Stew
Kirsten at FN Dish: Twice-Baked Potatoes
Sara at Cooking Channel: Duck Fat Roasted Potatoes
Liz at Healthy Eats: A Day of Potatoes: Spuds for Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner
Nicole at Pinch My Salt: Potato Taquitos, made with leftover mashed potatoes
Caroline at the Wright Recipes: Indian Spiced Potatoes with Chickpeas (Aloo Chole)
Cate at Sweetnicks: Bleu Cheese Potato Mashers
Caron at San Diego Foodstuff: Hatch Chile Potato Salad
Alana at Eating From the Ground Up: The strange experience of growing potatoes
Margaret at A Way to Garden: Potato Growing, Curing and Storage Tips

No related posts.

IS IT POSSIBLE to plant the right amount of zucchini? I planted 3 plants. THREE. I skipped any other summer squash altogether. I congratulated myself on my behavior: sober, sensible, even restrained. I had learned, I thought, from my elders, from my own past experiences…

I have eight million zucchinis, give or take, all over the kitchen. Some, the ones I forgot to pick and left on the plant for, you know, an extra day, are as big as my arm. (My arms are not small.) What the hell is a waste-phobic cook and would-be gardener to do? I am trying not to be crabby; after all, this is an experience of bounty, not deprivation (even if it is, occasionally, one of aggravation.) My cache of ladies’ auxiliary cookbooks wasn’t much help: unlike Mae Reed Porter of Kansas City, MO, I do not feel the need to resort to name-calling; I do not find cooked zucchini “flabby” (at least not the way I cook it, ahem) though I do on occasion, grow weary of the same-old, same-old rotation of sautéed, grilled, sautéed some more.  Also unlike Mrs. Porter, I am not sure my personal solution lies in curry-flavored mayo.

Mayo be damned. Surplus like this means it’s time to can, baby, can. Pickle, preserve, jam (??), too. Hell–make a chutney.

But a girl (and her family) have to eat while busy doing all that alchemy.

This is a delicious, flexible vegetarian (sorry, neither vegan nor gluten free) recipe that is a great way to use up a bunch of squash, fast.

It uses a technique that I rely on for cooking summer squash and zucchini: julienning, salting, rinsing and draining. I prefer both the flavor and texture of squash prepared this way; I eat it often as a pasta substitute: sautéed quickly in a tiny bit of olive oil, then tossed with a bit of any kind of pesto. Heaven.

But for something more substantial, this savory bread pudding is perfect: a little decadent, thanks to the cheesy-dairyness, comforting thanks to the custard. And the recipe is adaptable, forgiving. The amounts below work, but you can meddle with it: use more or less squash and bread, for example.

You can even make a squash and rice gratin (Ta da! Gluten free!) Just make sure you have enough liquid to soak into the bread (or rice) and that the liquid is eggy enough (not too milky) to bind and set instead of just turning soggy. (In other words–if you up your quantities a lot, you may need to add another egg or two–use your judgment.)

Summer Squash Bread Pudding
Serves 8

8 cups zucchini or other summer squash, grated on the large holes of a box grater or food processor, or (my preference)  julienned (on a mandoline)  (about 4 medium squash)
2 T kosher salt
5 eggs, lightly beaten
1/2 baguette, cut into 1 inch cubes
1 cup milk or cream
4 oz ricotta or farmer’s cheese (I like to use wonderful local-to-me farmer’s cheese from the Amazing Real Live Food Co.)
1 cup grated gruyere, cheddar or other firm cheese (I like to use the local-to-me Alpine cheese from Hawthorne Valley Farm)
freshly ground black pepper
dried or fresh herbs (optional)

Put half the julienned squash in a colander in the sink, and sprinkle with half the salt. Put the rest of the squash in the colander, and sprinkle with the remaining salt. Leave to drain in the sink for at least 30 minutes.

Meanwhile–preheat oven to 375 F. Butter a 9 x 13 inch baking dish.

Combine eggs, milk or cream and cheeses in a large bowl. Add a grind or two of freshly ground pepper, and, if you like, 1/2 teaspoon of dried thyme or a tablespoon of fresh herbs of your choice (basil is lovely.) Stir gently to combine, fold in the bread cubes, and leave to soak all together.

Return to the squash. Rinse it thoroughly under running water and then squeeze out as much liquid as you can. Squeeze some more. You won’t get it dry, but you want it as firm and un-soaking-wet as possible. Sometimes I give it a whirl in a salad spinner for good measure. Squeeze one last time with paper or clean cloth towels to get the last of the possible-to-remove moisture out.

Stir the squash into the egg mixture, gently, and turn all into the prepared baking dish. Bake for 45-50 minutes, until golden brown on top. Serve hot, warm or cold for dinner, lunch or brunch.

But wait, you say! I thought this week’s Fest was cukes and zukes? Indeed, you’re right. My current cuke-y faves: Arthur Schwarz’s fermented dill pickles, courtesy of David Lebovitz, and a crowd-pleaser, never-fail recipe for amazing Vietnamese-influenced summer rolls. Dive in!

HOW YOU CAN JOIN IN SUMMER FEST:
So now it’s your turn: Have a recipe or tip that fits any of our weekly themes? Starting today, for the next five Wednesdays,  you can contribute in various ways, big or small.

Contribute a whole post, or a comment—whatever you wish. It’s meant to be fun, viral, fluid. No pressure, just delicious. The possibilities:

Simply leave your tip or recipe or favorite links in the comments below a Summer Fest post on my blog, and then go visit my collaborators and do the same.

The cross-blog event idea works best when you leave your recipe or favorite links (whether to your own blog or someone else’s) at all the host blogs. That way, they are likely to be seen by the widest audience. Everyone benefits, and some pretty great dialog starts simmering.

Or think bigger: Publish entire posts of your own, if you wish, and grab the juicy Summer Fest 2010 tomato badge (illustrated by Matt of Mattbites).

THE 2010 SCHEDULE:

• Wednesday, July 28: That’s today. CUKES ‘N ZUKES, baby.
• Wednesday, August 4: CORN. Not corny. Sweet…
• Wednesday, August 11: HERBS, GREENS & GREEN BEANS. That’s a whole lot of chlorophyll to play with.
• Wednesday, August 18: STONE FRUIT. I said “stone”, not “stoned”.
• Wednesday, August 25: TOMATOES. Assuming, unlike last summer, we are blight-free. Fingers and toes all crossed.

And in case I forget what week it is, won’t somebody remind me on Twitter? Thanks. We’ll be talking it up there, too.

That’s how a Summer Fest works.

Who’s coming to this party?

Glad you asked. An incredible line up of bloggers-extraordinaire:

• Cooking Channel TV delves into zucchini’s versatility.
• The Food2 blog looks at zucchini appetizers.
• Food Network Dish is all about Paula Deen’s zucchini bread.
• Food Network’s HealthyEats talks cuke salad and lighter cuke/zuke ideas.
• Diane and Todd/ of White on Rice Couple are all over stuffed cucumbers with prosciutto and feta.
• Cate at Sweetnicks is obsessed with cucumber wraps.
• Kelly Senyei of Just a Taste says it’s nonstop cucumber and sesame salad.
• Gilded Fork is all about zukes and cukes, and Chef Mark Tafoya features cucumber mint soup.
• Caroline at The Wright Recipes has cucumber salad galore ready, with lemon and poppy seeds. Oh, and marinated summer squash salad, too.
• In San Diego, Caron is making cucumber and radish confetti soup.
• Tigress in a Jam is all about putting things up, or as she says: 50 Ways With Cucurbits.
• Alana will feature cucumber mint sorbet on Eating From the Ground Up.
• Expecting great, late-breaking news from Nicole at PinchMySalt and Tara at Tea and Cookies and Shauna at Gluten Free Girl and Alice Q Foodie.

More coming soon as everybody files their Week 1 posts! Now get cooking!

No related posts.

I CAN’T BELIEVE it’s been a year since I first started, like Alice down her rabbit hole, exploring the crazy culinary world of the Ladies Auxiliaries. If you’ve missed out, now’s your chance to see just what’s lurking out there. Join me, won’t you?

When we talk about the Ladies Auxiliary here on TSP, we mean, of course, the fundraising cookbooks created by church groups, charities and social clubs all over the country over the last 80 or more years.
(My oldest example, from the Sisters of Pythia in Sewickley, Pennsylvania, dates to 1929, but I’m always hunting for older ones!)

With the ladies as my guides, I’ve examined recipes both delicious and despicable.

I’ve planned picnics, mastered meatloaf, and contemplated tuna casserole.

I’ve perfected potato salad and come to a greater understanding of Jello.

From the 'Silver Anniversary International Cook Book' by the sisters of Beta Sigma Phi, 1956

Don’t get me started on what I’ve learned about making food for Thanksgiving. (Yams, anyone? Cranberry sauce?)

My Favorite Ladies Auxiliary Sweet Potato Recipe: Basic

I’m extra thankful to have collected more of these treasured books on my own, and received them as gifts from knowing friends. What’s clear is that sisterhood in the kitchen is powerful, and enduring.

Take a look through some of our favorites from this treasure trove, and share your favorite hand-me-down recipes and recipe books with us.

No related posts.

THIS HAS BEEN the winter of flu-filled discontent in my house, and as a result, I’ve had innumerable requests for Jell–O. For a foodie like me, this presents quandaries. I don’t really think of Jell–O as food; it’s powder in a box. True, it was served every day in my college dining hall, but eaten by so few people that serving it daily always seemed suspicious. (The rumor was that a special endowment had been left to the college by a mysterious alum, with the specific purpose of keeping Jell–O constantly available to all. As my daughter the Rock likes to say, you never know.) Later, it morphed into a vehicle for alcohol–remember the Jell–O shot? But in my house, on the menu, Jell–O? Not so regular, much to my kids’ dismay. Sick or well, they love the jiggle.

They would, I suspect, have loved to have grown up in the 1970s, when Jell–O molds were so de rigeur that even my foodie mom served them on occasion. I have vivid memories of a lime-green cottage cheese and pineapple concoction served at my eighth birthday party. (No one would eat it, because I told all the children it contained…cottage cheese. Go figure. My mom is still a little bitter about that.)

These days, in my corner of the world, though, I don’t see Jell–O molds much, which got me searching, you guessed it, through the annals and archives of my Ladies’ Auxiliary treasure trove of cookbooks.

But the Jell–O molds were nowhere to be found. I was mystified.

And then, I realized. Jell–O is not dessert. No, ma’am. Jell–O is…salad.

Make that congealed salads. Yum?

Once I had my category corrected, I unleashed a veritable tsunami of gelatine. Some of the concoctions featured, well, unexpected ingredients. Take the Pretzel Salad, for example, from Connecticut Cooks II .

Or everybody’s Thanksgiving favorite, the Cranberry Tuna Mold. The name of the cookbook responsible for that gem? Seasonal Surprises. Say no more.

One creative malevolent? cook even suggests hiding the ingredients of her ‘tasty molded’ salad from guests. Read the recipe, and you may understand why.

But then, I finally found a Jell–O dessert that brought a flood of memories back. It seems college students didn’t invent the Jell–O shot after all. Nope. Leave it to the Ladies’ Auxiliary to figure out how to liven things up.

Are you molding up a Jell–O heart for your valentine? Or drowning your sorrows in rum salad? Tell your sisters…And if your children, like mine, insist on gelatine desserts, you can do what I did. Jettison the bright red powder, and make some jelled fruit juice (real juice!) instead. It’s so good, even I ate some (without any vodka at all).

Juicy (Not)Jell-O

2 cups fruit juice, divided (I have used a sugar-free cranberry/white grape blend, and blueberry juice, and both are delicious)
2 Tablespoons sugar (optional–my kids preferred it with the added sugar; I like it better without!)
1 packet Knox unflavored gelatine

Heat 1-1/2 cups of the juice to just below the boiling point. Meanwhile, pour the gelatine onto the remaining 1/2 cup of the cold juice. Add the sugar, if using, and then the hot juice, and stir until the gelatine (and sugar, if using) are thoroughly dissolved.

Pour into 1/2 cup ramekins and chill until set (about 3 hours.)

No related posts.

Click here to view the embedded video.

There are two basic types of potato salad: American (with a creamy, usually mayonnaise-based, dressing) and German (dressed with oil and vinegar.) The history of both types is murky, to say the least, with no certain provenance for the American version, and at least one theory that the German version actually originated in Poland. (The example above suggests that the American version might have come from somewhere else, too. Hey, that’s the beauty of the melting pot, right?)

If you’d like to try a really old-fashioned version, this 1894 American-style recipe, from a book compiled by the Ladies’ Aid Society of the First Presbyterian Church, Marion, Ohio, 1894, sounds pretty darn good, as does this 1954 take on German potato salad from House and Garden. But if you’d like something more off-beat, this recipe for a Tuscan version cries out for attention. It comes from McGinnis Sisters, a group of Pittsburgh-area specialty food stores run by, you guessed it, the three McGinnis sisters. (The markets host an annual potato-salad contest, so we’re guessing that these sisters know something about what takes potato salad from good to great.)

From the 'Silver Anniversary International Cook Book' by the sisters of Beta Sigma Phi, 1956

I like the looks of the 50′s-era recipe above, though I would definitely substitute fresh herbs for the dried. I usually make my potato salad with lots of celery and onion, and a dressing that mixes a bit of mayo, some plain yogurt, and some seasoned rice vinegar; I’m aping a long-lost magazine recipe that I remember being the best potato salad I ever ate. Someday, maybe I’ll find the clipping again, but in the meantime, I tend to wing it.

Don’t forget to share your favorite potato salads (or other must-serve picnic-holiday sides) with us. TSP Sister Marion offers her mother-in-law’s, the one that Marion says sealed her marriage. And if you can get your family to do a Ross Sisters-style dance for their potato salad this July 4, please, please be sure to send us the video, pronto.

Happy 4th, sisters! If you’re looking for more cooking inspiration, be sure to check out more of our recipes, and especially our look back at the ultimate sisterly cookbooks.

No related posts.

From 'The Betty Betz Teenage Cookbook', 1953

WE HAD OUR first picnic of the summer last weekend, my family and I, thanks to an impromptu visit from a dear sister-friend. Given plenty of advance notice, I had choices to make, cookbooks to consult, menus to plan. My sister-friend Chris (she of the long-distance cooking) would be on the east coast with her family for one day, and so we planned to drive down to New York City to meet up. My mother, when she learned of our picnic plan, had said “Oh, how fun! You should make a real picnic lunch, with chicken and salad.” My response was less than enthusiastic. “I could. Or I could pack some sandwiches and chips and be done with it.”

We scowled at each other, as only a grown mother and daughter can do. I could have made fried chicken, true, but as you may know about me, I have fear of frying, and besides, we were going to be leaving early in the morning. I wasn’t going to fry chicken, dress children and muck stalls all before 9 a.m. No way, no how.

Instead,  I bought a baguette and some smoked turkey, and made some sandwiches (delicious with good mustard, olive oil, and thin slices of tomato and avocado). I did want something homemade, though. But what?

Had I consulted my sisterhood of ladies’ auxiliary cookbooks, I might have found all manner of suggestions, both practical and practically off-putting. How about some ham slaw? Or peanut butter and bacon sandwiches? (Ok, that actually does sound good, in a disgusting kind of way.) Maybe an egg salad pie?

Maybe not.But to be fair to my precious stash of sisterly recipe books, there are treasures in there, too, like Mattie G.’s handwritten recipe for “coca nut” (sic) pie tucked into Sister’s Kitchen Secrets (compiled by the Sandersville, Georgia ‘Sister’s Home Demonstration Club’, circa 1960) or from my adored Betty Betz Teenage Cookbook, a perfectly delicious-sounding picnic chocolate cake.

But I wanted to strike out on my own. I opted for my favorite chocolate cookies, adapted from someone I wish was my sister, my personal queen of chocolat-ology, chocolatier and cookbook author Alice Medrich. With a light texture and rich flavor reminiscent of a great brownie, these are not too sweet, and have just enough flakey sea salt to make them really addictive. They are also easy and fast to make. If you don’t eat gluten, substitute your favorite gluten-free baking mix for the flour. (I use Pamela’s with great results.)

Bittersweet Decadence Cookies (adapted from Alice Medrich’s Bittersweet, Artisan, 2003)

5-1/2 oz 72% bittersweet chocolate, chopped into chunks (I use the “Pound Plus” Belgian chocolate bars from Trader Joe’s)
3 tablespoons unsalted butter
3/4 cup sugar
1/4 cup all purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon Maldon sea salt
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
2 large eggs
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
2 cups walnuts, chopped coarsely
6 ounces bittersweet or semisweet chocolate, chopped into small chunks (or store-bought chocolate chips)

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees, and line two cookie sheets with parchment paper.

Stir together the flour, salt and baking powder and set aside.

In a double boiler, melt the 72% chocolate and the butter together. Stir until just blended and remove from the heat. Leave the heat on under the boiling water. In a large, heatproof bowl, whisk together the eggs, sugar and vanilla. Set the bowl over the boiling water in the double boiler and continue whisking until the mixture is warm but not hot to the touch. Stir the eggs into the warm (not hot) chocolate mixture, and then stir in the flour mixture. Finally, fold in the nuts and the chocolate chunks.

Drop by generous tablespoon-fulls onto the cookie sheets, about 2-3 inches apart in every direction. Bake until the tops of the cookies are dry, cracked and shiny, but the insides are still tender and gooey–about 14 minutes. Let the cookies cool slightly on the sheets before removing to a rack to cool completely. It helps to twist the cookies slightly as you pull them off the paper, so they don’t leave their soft bottoms stuck behind. This recipe makes 18-24 cookies depending upon size (I make mine pretty big–about 3-4 inches in diameter) and doubles well.

What will you be bringing on your summer picnics? Do you have recipes handed down from sisters in previous generations? Or, like me, are you hoping to start your own traditions? And the biggest question of all: do you, or do you not, fry?

No related posts.

Meatloafs aplenty, from the 'Douglaston Cookbook'

IS THERE ANY recipe that is more representative of all-American comfort food than meatloaf? We TSP sisters think not, and apparently generations of ladies agree with us. There are so many meatloaf recipes in our ever-growing collection of recipe boxes and “ladies auxiliary” cookbooks we almost don’t know where to begin. But we’ve never let that stop us before. No matter that two of us are vegetarians–the other two are happy omnivores. We’ve braved the wilds of meatloaf history, and returned with the recipes, some scary, some appetizing, to prove it.

As with our inquiry into the mysterious origins of tuna casserole, the story of meatloaf is less innocent than you might expect. The first reports of meatloaf-like dishes are ancient–even Apicius, an anonymous culinary chronicle of Rome circa 400-500 A.D., included meatloaf-like meatballs and minces.

But modern meatloaf originated in the late 19th century, when both ground meat, and the tools to grind raw meat at home, first became commercially available. Cooks, used to making their minces with cooked meat, and concerned about the quick-to-spoil nature of ground meat, were resistant. Companies that manufactured meat grinders designed for the home cook were among the first to publish meatloaf-like recipes, and others followed. You’ll notice quite a few cans of soup called for in these midcentury treasures, which makes us wonder: Are all our comfort foods the creations of corporate kitchens?

From 'Sister's Kitchen Secrets', Compiled by Sister's Home Demonstration Club, Sandersville, GA

Maybe so, but leave it to the many cooking sisterhoods to take those recipes and make them their own. Whether it’s one of four versions from Marion Roach Smith’s mother-in-law’s Christmas at Monroe Methodist Church collection, or the Aberdeen Roll (boiled, not baked!) from Margaret Roach and Marion’s grandmother’s hometown volume, The Douglaston Cookbook, or the anonymous, “I’m not meatloaf! I’m steak! Really!” recipe for “Say It’s Sirloin,” little variations make these recipes feel distinctive. (Marion actually collects meatloaf recipes; I kid you not.)

from 'What's Cooking in the Benton Sisters' Kitchen? Vol. 1'

Even vegetarians like the Benton sisters get in on loaf-y action, though they use blended lentils instead of ground chuck. Then there’s the Sisters of Christian Charity version, the Crown of Gold Meat Loaf, which features–drumroll please–a mustard meringue topping. (Wait a second–that one came straight from the folks at French’s Mustard, and thanks to the incredible website RecipeCurio, we have the image to prove it.)

Crown of Gold Meatloaf, from RecipeCurio.com

As a child, I hated meatloaf, and it’s only since I became a mom that I actually learned to appreciate it. Now, I have two favorite recipes. The more decadent is from Gourmet and features one of my favorite maligned foods, the lowly prune. (Not to mention bacon. Isn’t everything better with bacon? Vegetarians need not reply.)

The other is my own recipe, adapted from one by Ina Garten, and designed, long before Jessica Seinfeld ever even met Jerry at the gym, to get some vegetables into my vitamin-averse children. It’s really good and very healthy–but not as divine as Gourmet’s. Take your pick. Or tell us your favorite version of this homely but ever-delicious classic.

Paige’s Turkey Meatloaf
Serves 8 or more

I sometimes substitute 1 pound of sweet Italian turkey sausage for 1 pound of the ground turkey.

2 T. olive oil
1 onion, finely chopped
2 zucchini, cut into 1/4 inch dice, or grated in the food processor
2 large carrots, cut into 1/4 inch dice, or grated in the food processor
3 lbs. ground turkey
1 t. dried thyme
1/2 t. kosher salt
1/2 t. freshly ground pepper
1/3 cup Worcestershire sauce
2 T. tomato paste
2 eggs, lightly beaten
1-1/2 cups good bread crumbs or rolled oats
1/2 cup Heinz catsup (I use the organic version, which is made without high fructose corn syrup)

Preheat oven to 375 F.

Heat olive oil over medium heat and add onions. Sauté until translucent and add zucchini and carrots. Add thyme, salt and pepper and continue to cook until the vegetables just soften, about 5 minutes. Add the tomato paste and Worcestershire sauce, and stir to combine. Remove from heat.

In a large bowl, combine turkey, eggs, bread crumbs or oats and vegetable mixture. Shape into two loaf shapes on a cookie sheet, and spread catsup generously over the top of each loaf.

Bake for 50-60 minutes. We like to eat this with more Worcestershire sauce on the side.

No related posts.