Eclecticity's Eclectic Blog

Aloha again!

You may not know this about me, but I love pineapples! And desserts! So, how could I resist this amazing pineapple cheese cake recipe? I mean, you’ve got pineapples (awesome) and cheese (awesome) and cake (awesomest) and not a single maraschino cherry in sight to ruin any of it (seriously awesome). Enjoy!

Taken from The American Heart Association Cookbook (1973)

You will need:

3/4 graham cracker crumbs

2 tablespoons margarine, melted

1 tablespoon oil

1 3-oz package pineapple flavored gelatin

1 cup boiling water

1 1/2 lbs low-fat cottage cheese

1/4 cup sugar

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 8.5 oz can crushed pineapple in juice, undrained

1 tablespoon water

2 teaspoons cornstarch

Combine the first 3 ingredients. Press onto the bottom of an 8 inch spring form pan. Chill. Next, dissolve the gelatin in the boiling water and cool to lukewarm. In a blender, thoroughly mix the cheese, sugar and salt. Slowly add the gelatin and blend well. Pour mixture into the chilled crust, and refrigerate until firm. In a saucepan, bring the crushed pineapple and juice, the water, and the cornstarch to a boil, stirring constantly. Cool 15 minutes and spread over the top of the cheese cake. Chill at least 1 hour. Yields 8 servings.

I’m gathering that the difference between a cheese cake and a cheesecake is the type of cheese (cottage vs. cream). I don’t think I’ve ever had a cottage cheese cake so I’m going to try this one out as soon as I get home tonight! Hopefully it’s as delicious as it sounds. I’ll let you know. And you, dear readers, should let me know what you’d like to hear about next! I’m sure there are plenty of pre-1975 dessert recipes in our cookbooks, and I’ll be glad to continue sharing them, but if there’s something else you’d like to hear about, just leave a comment!

A hui hou! (Until we meet again!)

Hello friends!

It’s beginning to feel like fall in this windy city of ours, and, I don’t know about you, but I love eating soup on days like this. Homemade soups are the best since you can omit things you don’t like and put in extra of things you do like. (Plus, they’re super easy to save for later or even freeze if you want!) Here’s a tasty sounding soup recipe that I found in Betty Crocker’s Good and Easy Cook Book (1954). I hope you soup-er like it!

You will need:

1 lb. ground beef

1 cup chopped onions

4 cups hot water

1 cup cut-up carrots

1 cup cut-up celery

1 cup cut-up potato

2 tsp. salt

1/2 tsp. pepper

1 tsp. meat extract

1 bay leaf

1 pinch of basil

6 whole fresh tomatoes, stems removed

Brown beef slowly in hot fat in a heavy kettle. Add onions and cook 5 minutes. Loosen meat from bottom of kettle. Add remaining ingredients, except tomatoes; bring to boil, cover and simmer for 20 minutes. Add the tomatoes and simmer for 10 more minutes. Serve a whole tomato in each bowl. Makes 6 servings.

If you’re like me and have never heard of meat extract (is it like maple extract? do they put a spigot into a cow and extract the meat? ewww), then you can use a beef boullion cube instead. Just as delicious without the weird cow image in your head. (Sorry about that.)

I know I put up a sweet treat recipe yesterday, but cookies are awesome so I’m not waiting to post this. Besides, you might have multiple BBQs to attend next weekend and thus you may be in need of more simple food ideas to make you a hit with your friends (not that you aren’t already). So, here you go!

Taken from The I Hate to Cook Book (1960) by Peg Bracken

You will need:

1 cup shortening

1 cup white sugar

1/2 cup brown sugar (packed)

1 1/2 cups flour

1 tsp baking soda

1 tsp cinnamon

1 1/2 cups quick rolled oats

3/4 cup finely crushed walnuts or pecans

1 tsp vanilla

1 egg

1 small glass

Cream together the shortening and both types of sugar. Beat the egg and add it to the shortening mixture. In a separate bowl, mix together the flour, baking soda, and cinnamon. Add the flour mixture to the shortening mixture. Next, add the oats, nuts, and vanilla to everything and mix it all up nicely. Chill the dough for one hour. Then put walnut-sized pieces on a greased cookie sheet. Butter the bottom of a small glass, dip it in granulated sugar, and flatten out the little pieces with the glass. Just keep doing this – you don’t need to rebutter the glass bottom, just resugar it each time. Then bake at 350 degrees for 10 minutes.

Once your cookies are done, you can take that small glass you used to smush them with and fill it up with milk and taste test a few before you take them with you to your Labor Day BBQs. Or you can use a larger glass. I won’t judge you.

Hello! I saw children marching off to school yesterday and sadly realized that summer is coming to a close already. I mean, Labor Day is only one weekend away! Eek! But, then I realized that although Labor Day may signify the end of summer, it also means that lots of people will be having BBQs. And the air will be filled with the tantalizing smells of grilled burgers and awesomeness. Huzzah! Now what to do about bringing something to share at said BBQs? Hmm…..how about a delicious strawberry pie that’s sure to delight taste buds of any age and is so easy that it ensures you a labor free Labor Day??

Taken from Betty Crocker’s Good and Easy Cook Book (1954)

 You will need:

1 baked 8″ pie shell

1 package strawberry flavored gelatin

1 cup hot water

1 package unthawed frozen sweetened sliced strawberries

Dissolve flavored gelatin in hot water. Add unthawed frozen berries. Break up berries with a fork. As berries thaw, gelatin thickens. When partially set, pour into pie shell. Chill until completely set. Just before serving, garnish with sweetened whipped cream.

See? Easy peasy! To make it even easier, you can use a ready made pie crust from the grocery store instead of trying to whip up your own. Just make sure it doesn’t require being baked in the oven since this is a chill(ed) pie. And if you want to shake things up, you could use raspberry gelatin and frozen raspberries instead of strawberries. Or a graham cracker pie shell! Yum!

Aloha Folks!

This is my very first contribution to Eclecticity’s fabulous blog, and, as their resident Hawaiian, I figured that a Hawaiian style recipe was very befitting for this! They look so ono*! Enjoy!

Taken from Barbecue: The Fine Art of Charcoal, Gas and Hibachi Grilling (1971)

Pork Pupus

Brown 1 1/2 pounds of boneless lean pork cubes ( 1 1/4 inch) in 1 tablespoon hot shortening in frypan over moderate heat until tender. Pour Kabob Marinade over meat (see below) : refrigerate until cooking time. Pour mixture into heavy shallow covered pan: heat on hibachi or grill 4 to 5 inches above low burning charcoal.  To serve dip hot pork into Pineapple Barbecue Sauce (see page 56). Yield: 10 to 12 appetizer servings.

Kabob Marinade

Combine 1/3 cup each of shoyu and lemon juice, 1/4 cup each of honey and grenadine or water and 1 tablespoon salt.

Sorry folks, but you’ll have to come visit the store if you want the recipe for that scrumptious Pineapple Barbecue Sauce. (It’s really the best part!!)

  *For those of you who aren’t familiar with the Kama’aina lingo: “ono”=”delicious”, “pupu”=”appetizer”,  and “shoyu”=”soy sauce”