Eclecticity's Eclectic Blog

Hello Friends!

The holiday season sure is a busy one here at Eclecticity!! Please forgive the period of non-blogitivity that happened in the interim! But, we’re back now and ready for a new and exciting year!! Yay!

So, to kick things off and get us back on track, I found a super delish sounding and seemingly simple old timey recipe from one of our newest old cookbooks in our ever expanding cookbook collection! This one comes from Secrets from Atlanta’s Best Kitchens by Earlyne S. Levitas. It’s a fantastic cookbook composed of various recipes from the best eateries in and around Atlanta in 1974. Enjoy!

BANANA BREAD

You will need:

1/2 cup shortening

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 cup sugar

2 eggs

2 cups sifted flour

1 teaspoon soda

3 mashed bananas

1/2 cup chopped pecans

Mix together sugar and shortening. Add salt. Add beaten eggs and slowly stir in dry ingredients. Add mashed bananas and bake in a well-greased loaf pan for 45 minutes in an oven set at 325 degrees.

See? Simply delicious!

And since it’s almost the New Year, how about an amazing cocktail recipe?!

This one comes from the same book as the banana bread recipe but it comes to us from the bar at The Midnight Sun. Cheers!

THE MIDNIGHT SUN COCKTAIL

You will need:

1 oz. gin

1/4 oz. apricot brandy

1/4 oz. peach brandy

1/2 oz. cherry heering (Danish cherry brandy based liqueur)

2 oz. champagne

Shake gin and brandies together very well and pour in a chilled glass. Then add 2 oz. champagne, stir, and serve immediately.

And then make another one right away because they’re super scrumptious!!!

Farm Journal's Complete Pie Cookbook!

 Hello Friends!

Siri and Bambi scored some pretty awesome stuff on their latest shopping excursion, and I just about exploded with joy when I saw this amazing cook book! Pies! Glorious pies! 700 different dessert and main dish pie recipes…my own little slice of heaven. (Lame joke, I know, but I couldn’t help it! Someone had to say it, so why couldn’t that someone be me?) Anyhow, I’ve been bursting to share some pie recipes with you, and I finally narrowed it down to this savory dish. It’s the perfect brunch/weekend pie!

Taken from Farm Journal’s Complete Pie Cookbook (1965) edited by Nell B. Nichols.

You will need:

6 slices bacon, chopped

1/3 cup chopped green onions

1 (1 lb.) pkg, frozen French-fried potatoes

2 tsp. salt

8 eggs

1/3 cup light cream or top milk

1/4 tsp. pepper

• Cook Bacon in 10″ skillet until golden. Add onions and continue cooking until onions are limp and bacon is growned. Remove bacon and onions; drain on paper toweling. Keep warm in oven on low heat.
• Pour bacon drippings from skillet; return 3 tblsp. drippings to skillet. Add frozen French fried potatoes, sprinkle with 1 tsp. salt; brown, stirring constantly.
• Beat together eggs, cream, pepper, and remaining 1 tsp. salt. Pour over potatoes. Cover pan and cook over low heat about 8 minutes. If top is not set then, lift up edges of mixture and tilt the skillet to let liquid run under. Place under broiler until top is completely set.
• Top with bacon and onions. To serve, cut in wedges. Makes 6 servings.

It may not be a very traditional pie but, the potatoes substitute for regular pie crust so that when the wedges are cut, it really looks like pie! I hope you enjoy it! And be sure to let me know if there are any other types of pies you’d like a vintage recipe for!

Hello!

As you should know by now, we love The I Hate to Cook Book here at Eclecticity. We love it so much that we ordered copies of the Updated and Revised 50th Anniversary edition which have just arrived today!! In honor of this momentous occasion, here is yet another delightful (and pointedly meat-free!*) recipe from Peg Bracken’s classic cook book!

You will need:

4 cups rice, cooked

4 eggs

2 tablespoons minced onion

1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce

2 tablespoons salt

1 pound grated sharp Cheddar cheese

small pinch each of thyme and marjoram

1 package chopped, cooked frozen spinach

1 cup milk

4 tablespoons melted butter

She beats the eggs till they’re light. Then she adds the milk and all the seasonings. Finally, she folds in the cheese, spinach, and rice, and pours the whole works into a greased casserole. After she pours the melted butter over it, she sets it in a 375 degree oven to bake for 35 minutes and she takes off her apron.

And, hopefully, she enjoys a refreshing martini while she waits for it to bake to perfection!

*Omit the Worcestershire sauce if you want to be 100% meat free with this since there are anchovies in it.

Good Evening Ladies and Germs Gentlemen!

I’m posting a dinner recipe pretty late today, but maybe I’m posting it just in time for any of you who have just gotten home from a long and arduous work day! This recipe is so quick and easy and delicious that your family (or self or pet or neighbor) won’t believe that you haven’t been slaving away all day to make it. This gem comes again from our favorite cook book!

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

Cook half a cup of rice while you fry one pound of crumbled hamburger and two chopped onions in two tablespoons of butter. Add the rice to it. then add:

1 1/2 cups canned tomatoes

1/2 teaspoon prepared mustard

1/2 teaspoon chili powder

1 teaspoon salt

1/8 teaspoon pepper

1 package frozen cut green beans

Cover this now and simmer it till the beans are tender but still green – about 15 minutes.

See? Easy peasy! Now you can sit back and relax with your favorite beverage in your hand (I’m going through a Coke Slurpee phase myself right now) and enjoy the rest of your night!

Hello from the Eclectic blog-o-sphere!

If you’ve been following our blogs, then you’ve probably gathered that we love vintage cook books. Well, one of our most favoritest cook books in our cook book collection is The I Hate to Cook Book by Peg Bracken (1960). It’s just so cleverly delightful and, most especially, full of relatively quick yet uber delicious and flavorful recipes. Mrs. Bracken was ahead of her time and she wrote with such effervescent charm that her book is not only a favorite cook book amongst those of us here at Eclecticity, but it’s also a favorite book book; it reads that well! It seems that we are not the only ones enamored of Mrs. Bracken’s work…many people in the last 50 years have enjoyed using/reading her cook book (including Meryl Streep!), and so it has been published again as a 50th Anniversary edition!  Woot woot! To celebrate, here’s a timeless recipe from our copy of the original…enjoy!

You will need:

2 1/2 lbs of fryer chicken (or 2 packages of frozen breasts or thighs, thawed)

3/4 cup uncooked rice

3 ounce can of mushrooms

1/2 stick butter

1 tablespoon grated onion (or half a garlic clove, minced)

2 chicken bouillon cubes dissolved in 1 3/4 cups water

salt, pepper

Flour and then brown the chicken in a little oil. While it browns, out the rice, salt, and pepper in a greases casserole dish and stew the grated onion (or garlic) about. Put in the mushrooms (juice and all). Arrange the chicken artfully on top, pour the bouillon over it, and dot with butter. Cover it. Bake it at 350 degrees for an hour. Makes 5-6 servings.

I’ve tried to veer away from posting mostly dessert recipes, but I just can’t help myself! They’re really the best things to make, and, besides, who doesn’t like dessert?! (Only crazies, that’s who.)

Taken from Betty Crocker’s Dinner for Two Cook Book (1958)

You will need:

1/4 cup shortening

1 cup light brown sugar (packed)

1 egg

3/4 cup sifted Gold Medal flour

1 tsp. baking powder

1/2 tsp. salt

1/2 tsp. vanilla

1/2 cup chopped pecans

Heat oven to 350 degrees. Melt shortening over low heat. Remove from heat and blend in brown sugar. Cool. Stir in egg. Sift together and stir in flour, baking powder, and salt. Stir in vanilla and pecans. Spread in well-greased and floured square pan, 8 x 8 x 2″. Bake 25 minutes until a light touch with finger leaves a slight imprint. Don’t overbake. (duh) Cut into bars while warm. Makes 18 bars (2 1/2 x 1″). They’ll keep soft and moist if stored in a tightly covered jar.

I want to go straight home right now to make these. Of course, I’d have to stop by the grocery store first and pick up a few things…namely a quart of vanilla ice cream to put on top of these decadently delicious sounding brownies! Alas, I have many more things to accomplish before I put myself into a sugar coma. Let me know if any of you try out these brownies for yourselves! I’ll feel better knowing I’m not the only indulgent one tonight.