That's the plan, anyway. I'm sure much of this work was kind of staggered, especially the laundry - as you needed to get it out on the line as early in the day as possible. And if you were going to be giving the bathroom, for instance, its weekly cleaning on Thursdays, you might skip giving it a daily once-over that particular day since you'd be spending plenty of time in the bathroom later on.
My vintage dinner menu for this evening contains a couple items I can make beforehand and refrigerate. So in the spirit of making those last few minutes before my meal as easy as possible, I'm going to set to work on them this morning. As a dressing for my salad, I've chosen a Chiffonade Dressing - a variation on the basic French Dressing recipe which looks like it might be a good match for my rather plain Tossed Greens Salad. (I haven't yet figured out where this dressing recipe gets its name. Any ideas?) The French Dressing recipe is included in the following post:
http://destination1940.blogspot.com/2009/03/of-cabbages-and-kings.html
Here's the twist for this evening's dinner. I'm going to try and cut this recipe in eighths so I don't end up with too many leftovers:
*****
CHIFFONADE
Add 2 tablespoons each of chopped green pepper, olives, parsley, pimiento and 1 hard-cooked egg, chopped. Add chopped red peppers and cooked beets, if desired.
*****
The other dish I can prepare in advance is the Chocolate Pudding. My cookbook includes recipes for a Steamed Chocolate Pudding and a Molded Chocolate Pudding, but nowhere does it mention a recipe for a plain and simple Chocolate Pudding - as the dessert's described in the menu. Since the menus are supposed to be budget-conscious, I'm going to guess that the author intended for her readers to purchase a boxed chocolate pudding mix. Not the instant kind - I'm not sure they were around in the '40s. The kind which still needs to be cooked then refrigerated.
10 comments:
Hi, I'm blog stalking.
Loved your post. It gave me an "Ah-ha" moment. Doing the kitchen work at once - that is what my grandmother said her mother used to do. Hadn't thought of it in years. (Grandma didn't practice the method herself - probably because she worked outside the house.)
Instant (non-cook) pudding came out in the 1960's (I think). I remember Mom bringing it home for us to try. It was awful! It was grainy and had a funny taste. The box (to be cooked) pudding was around, but we almost always made it from scratch.
I'm surprised that your cookbook doesn't have a recipe for plain vanilla pudding. Oh, I just looked in the 1950 Betty Crocker cookbook - creamy (boiled) pudding is called Cornstarch Custard.
Packrat, my cookbook does include a recipe for Chocolate Custard, together with Plain, Coffee, and Caramel. It's funny though that in the month-of-menus section they refer to this particular dessert as Chocolate Pudding. It just makes me think they had the boxed mix in mind. I'm not sure! At any rate, it's been a long time since I had any pudding that didn't come out of a plastic cup with the seal on top - so just cooking it up with the mix is an adventure for me!
Thanks for the date on instant puddings. And please stalk my blog any time you want! Thanks for the suggestions.
Hi Jitterbug--there's a fabulous award waiting for you on my blog. Come and get it! And thanks for all your great posts.
Hi Jitterbug,
I'm just curious about how you spend your non-working hours on weekdays. I know you are getting up earlier to pick up the bedroom, make breakfast and the weekly wash. I'm curious about evenings - Do you work out? Do you watch TV? Read? More housework?
Weenie_Elise, I feel so fabulous! Thank you so much!!! I'll have to decide what my most fabulous addictions are...
lastmango2, it depends on the night. I do have some evening chores that I still have to remind myself to do. Just a general tidy up for the living room - and washing whatever pots and pans have been soaking in the sink since breakfast. I also have to make sure there's room in the dishwasher for tomorrow's breakfast dishes. If not, time to run the dishwasher.
On Sunday nights, I sort my laundry. On Monday nights, I put away clean laundry and get the ironing ready. On Tuesday nights, I iron. On Wednesday evenings, I do a little marketing on the way home from work. Thursday evenings are now for cleaning the bedroom. It feels a bit like I've taken on a part-time job! Some of these things don't take very long, but the bedroom does and I know the kitchen is going to...
When I'm not doing housework, I like spending time with family and friends (especially my nieces!), watching bad reality TV, listening to vintage radio programs. I walk for exercise during my lunch hour this time of year, but it'll soon be too hot here to be outdoors during the day (or evening), so I've got to come up with a new exercise plan. Maybe my '40s magazines will have some suggestions!
That pudding looks lovely, actually. I already sort of naturally do this. Well, not naturally, but I have the same household book ( I bought it after reading your blog) but hadn't really noticed that either, but just sort of do it that way.
I just got a cook book put out by campbells soup that has some very interesting pics and recipes. I plan to make as many of them as I can, only I need to find some oxtail soup, maybe I will have to make some homemade!
I'm back - groan ;) If you live where it is hot, I don't have an answer for you for exercising. I do know that by the time water was hauled for filling the laundry tub, the clothes hung out on the line and brought in, the floors scrubbed, the garden was hoed, the chickens fed, the eggs gathered, the cow milked and fed, etc, etc, Mom and Grandma didn't need to exercise. Heck, I didn't NeeD to exercise in the 60's.
Note to 50sgal - good luck finding ox tails. I haven't seen any in years. Boiling a batch of beef ribs and skimming off any fat is a good alternative. (The stock freezes well, too, but that isn't an vintage way of doing things.)
50s gal, those canned soups were a sensation for American housewives! They quickly replaced homemade soups and I'd guess by the '60s they'd virtually replaced most sauces made for casseroles.
Packrat, you're dead on with the exercise bit. The calories I spent on cleaning the kitchen... Between getting on and off stepstools, reaching, twisting, applying elbow grease - housework works about every muscle you've got!
love the old ad!
I love the serving suggestions in vintage ads. Who'd have thought of arranging graham crackers so artistically around a chocolate pie?!?
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