Isn’t it funny how switching the norm around a bit can make something more exciting or unusual? This can definitely be said about having breakfast for dinner! It was one of my favorite meals growing up and still is today…especially if we were having pancakes. Easy to make and universally pleasing, having a pancake party, whether with friends or just the family, is the perfect way to spend an evening!
One of my 1960’s cookbooks offers some wonderful pancake recipes to get your party off on the right foot!
To start, you need the basic recipe, and believe it or not, the books says to start with Bisquik!
Basic Pancake Recipe:
4 cups Bisquik
2 eggs
3 1/1 cups of milk
Stir until combined then try any of the adaptations that follow:
Apple Pancakes
Fold 2 cups of chopped apple, 2 tbsp. of sugar and 1 tbsp. of lemon juice into the batter. Serve with Cinnamon-Maple Syrup.
Banana Pancakes (one of my favorites)
Fold 1 cup mashed ripe banana and 2 tbsp. of sugar into batter. Serve with honey.
Blueberry Pancakes
And 2 tbsp. of sugar into batter; gently fold in 1 cup of fresh, frozen, or drained canned blueberries. Dust pancakes with powdered sugar.
Spicy Blueberry Pancakes
Stir into batter 1 tsp. cinnamon, 1//2 tsp. nutmeg, and 1/4 tsp. cloves. Gently fold in 1 cup fresh, frozen, or drained canned blueberries. Serve with Lemon Syrup.
Orange Nut Pancakes
Fold 2 tbsp. grated orange peel and 1/3 cup finely chopped pecans into batter. Serve warm with maple syrup.
I absolutely adore cookbooks! To me, they are as fun to read as any book, and are a wonderful way to pass a rainy afternoon. I especially love older cookbooks as they give you a glimpse into past. From food choices that may have faded in popularity over the years, to types of gatherings that seem to happen very rarely. One of these gatherings is the Dessert and Coffee party. Designed for a late evening or even midnight get together, this party highlights a great cup of coffee and a few fabulous desserts. While I would make sure to sip on a cup decaf of coffee, the whole idea just sounds wonderful!
Enjoy!
Interested in hosting your own little Dessert and Coffee party? Why not use a vintage inspired coffee service set like this one:
Strawberries are, hands down, my most favorite fruit. I have always loved them and am fairly certain, I always will! 🙂
As a rule, I have never been a “cake” person, preferring instead fruit pies, shortcake, or biscuits. The lovely thing about strawberries, is that that little fruit goes great with all of the above mentioned desserts. As a young child, I would always ask for something with this little fruit for my birthday dessert. Add a huge dollop of whipped cream, and well, I was in heaven!
And with strawberry season just beginning to start, I thought I would share some strawberry recipes.
However, my most absolute, positively-favorite way to eat strawberries, is in strawberry soup! Smooth, cold, creamy, sweet…. and simply delightful!
Ingredients:
2 cups vanilla yogurt/ or buttermilk
1/2 cup orange juice
2 pounds fresh strawberries, halved (8 cups)
1/2 cup sugar
Additional vanilla yogurt and fresh mint leaves, optional
In a blender, combine the yogurt, orange juice, strawberries and sugar in batches; cover and process until blended. Refrigerate for at least 2 hours. Garnish with additional yogurt and mint leaves if desired. Yield: 6 servings.
So enjoy spring’s most favorite fruit…I know I will!
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You see, before my cat passed away, she viewed each and every egg as her personal toy. All of this was discovered during her first Easter with us. As usual, a week before Easter, I boiled a dozen eggs, dyed and decorated them to my heart’s content, and then placed them in a basket on the kitchen table. A few hours later, as I walked past the table, I notice one egg had rolled out of the basket and onto the floor. As it was cracked, I threw it away slightly puzzled as to what exactly happened. For the next three days I discovered one little runaway egg that had somehow made it out of the basket and landed somewhere on the floor. I was becoming annoyed and began to suspect the furry feline in the house.
Well, day four rolled around and I caught her right in the act. Paws deep in the basket struggling to get one rather large lime-green egg out. I scooted her away and placed them on a higher location -so naive -like she would be content to just stare at them after four days of fun! Well wouldn’t you know it, I caught her atop a shelf on day five digging at an egg with everything she had. And that was the last year I made Easter eggs. The only thing I couldn’t figure out was why only one a day? That cat was more psychological than I thought…..
Anyway!!!! As it is Easter, and as it comes early this year, I thought I would share a few of my most favorite and unique Easter egg ideas! So let’s get started:
I had never heard of the term “what-not” to explain a shelf until I was in my teen years shopping around an antique store. The shelves that earned this name were usually made of wood and often were painted white. A few had graduated shelving sizes while others were uniform and made to mount on a wall. Similar to this style…
While shelves from the 1880’s-1950’s varied in size, style, and location, their purpose never changed: to display one’s most treasured items!
While the term “what-not” isn’t used as often, the technique is still very much alive, and with even more creative shelving styles! I have collected several of my favorite examples of shelves featured in a variety of places in the home.
Here we go!
These open shelves in a kitchen, are perfect to display dishes and treasured pottery!
I love planning themed parties! And whether its just for a few family members or a large group, vintage party ideas are always a hit! So when it comes to Valentine’s Day, a holiday normally for two, why not shake things up and have a party for many!
Below are a few excerpts from a 1959 Better Homes and Garden’s Holiday Cook Book on hosting the perfect Valentine’s Day Dessert Party!
Once you have planned the menu and decorated the table, why not send out some cute invitations using these FREE downloadable imaged from THIS WEBSITE.
“Between the hours of two and eight on Christmas Day, several million people will either forget, or check outside the dining room, their diet and weight-reducing rules and eat with utter abandon.
And why not surrender on this occasion and eat your fill? Just think of the wear and tear on your system as you try to resist the appeal of the roast turkey with its crackling brown skin; savory and thick giblet gravy; snowy-white mashed potatoes as smooth and luscious-looking as ice cream; golden Hubbard squash so compelling with its seasonings of butter, salt, and pepper; tender white onions submerged in a mellow cream sauce; icy-crisp celery; sprightly cranberry sauce; fragrant mince or spicy pumpkin pie, or that other famous dessert, plum pudding, which in spite of its individual richness demands a fragrant hot vanilla sauce and creamy topping of hard sauce. What if you do pick up an extra pound by enjoying these good things? You can quickly lose it by finding something to worry about, or immediately after Christmas dinner you can go back to your Spartan rules which keep you slim and hungry.
However you are the judge regarding what you yourself should eat. And if you see fit to keep your appetite in check, you can at least have the satisfaction of serving old-fashioned calories dishes and watching your family revel in them. Here are a few suggestions:
Sausage Stuffing
8 c. coarse, soft breadcrumbs 2 tbsp parsley
1 c. diced celery 1 lb fresh sausage meat
2 small onions Salt and Pepper
In a large bowl, put in your breadcrumbs, finely minced celery, onion, parsley, and the sausage meat. Season lightly as sausage meat usually has enough salt and pepper. This stuffing is sufficient for an 8-kb turkey.
Now if your gamily has a craving for roast beed of Christmas Day instead of turkey or chicken, here’s a way to roast it that is rather unusual and very tasty. I call it Slow-Cooked Roast Beef. They type of roast I’d recumbent is the standing rib variety, and here’s the recipe:
Slow-Cooked Roast Beef
1 standing rib roast- 5 1/2 lbs 2 tsp. paprika
2 tsps dry mustard 2 tsp granulated sugar
1/2 c. boiling water
Start your oven at 325 degrees and while it is being heated, mix the mustard, paprika, sugar, and salt in a saucer. Rub the entire surface of the roast – bones and all – with this mixtures until you use it all up. Then place the roast in an uncovered pan – bones down – so that both surfaces of the meat are exposed in a vatical position. Place in the oven without adding water and roast in the oven for 1 hour and 11 minutes without basting. The reason basting is unnecessary is that the layers of suet on top of the meat melts during the roasting process and trickles down over the meat. At the end of 1 hour and 11 minutes at this low heat you will notice that the roast is browning beautifully. This is due to the sugar which, when used as directed, caramelizes instead of sweetens the meat. At this point you can add a little water, say 1/2 c., to the pan and continue roasting for 45 minutes. If you are a devotees of a rare roast of geek, let the meat stay in the oven for 2 hours and 4 minutes. Serves 8. “
So go ahead and enjoy those cherished recipes and the calories that come with them! You can always start fresh on December 26th! 😉
I also hope that you take some time to hop over to the new blog created by Tanya Dawson of Vintorian Publications to see a special article I wrote. The article is titled A Lady’s Accomplishment: Outdated or Reimagined, and is a wonderfully informative piece about the 19th century “accomplished woman” in connection with the women of today.
~Aimee
Source: Don’t Deny Yourself the Joy of Christmas Calories by Byron MacFadyen, Good Housekeeping: Volume 95, Number 6, December 1932
*** These recipes are taken from a historical source where the instructions in meat handling and cooking may not be the same as today. Caution and personal judgement should be taken when preparing these recipes.
Despite the plethora of available cookie recipes at Christmastime, I only bake two types. They are mine and my husband’s favorite and there never seems to a reason to bake any others (but never say never right? 😉 However, on Christmas Eve I love trying something new for dessert. My rules for this dessert are fairly simple: it must be easy, must be fairly light (especially after a heavy meal), and, of course, it must be delicious.
After spending a few wonderful hours researching and deciding I have, I believe, found what I want to make for this year. Although I do have a few weeks to still change my mind! 🙂
In the meantime, I thought I would share with you a few of my favorite ideas both from this year and from years past.
While I am not very good at decorating or elaborate creations as pictured below, I did like the idea of individual Victorian sandwiches.
Jello cake is delicious, light, and moist! Yum!!
The recipe for Lemon Marshmallow cookies from a 1919 Good Housekeeping, seemed very unique and fresh!
This Peppermint Stick cake sounds absolutely delicious! They would even be good as cupcakes… 🙂
Very elegant and seasonal, this cake would be lovely sitting out on a buffet table tempting all those who happen to walk by!
I made this candlelight cake before and it was a big hit! While it was a little tricky finding a candle large enough, I would definitely make this again…it would be good as an angel food cake as well!
What are your dessert traditions during the holidays?
Whatever they are, I hope they rise beautifully, are moist and tender, and appreciated by all!
