Old Time--my time--recipe collection

As we dashed out of the cottage this morning to return to Columbus, I grabbed my "Home Builders Treasure Chest" recipe collection of the Ogle County, Ill. Home Bureau. The group was formed in 1939 and the book was published in 1957, so I thought it would be fun to post some items on my class reunion blog. It was one of my mother's recipe books that I inherited after her death in 2000. She had joined Home Extension after all her children were grown and gone. I'm not sure what the group was doing by then, she could have "written the book" on being a good homemaker, although I think she did learn some crafts. This group changed its name in 1962 to Ogle County Homemakers Extension Association.



I enjoyed looking through it reading the names of the ladies from Mt. Morris and Forreston I remembered. Then I came across a recipe by Fran Babler, mother of one of my classmates, who died about two weeks ago at 95. I have pleasant memories of Fran and her children, and as it turns out I learned on this trip, that my husband and my classmate Mike were in the Air Force ROTC drill team together. Mike went into the Air Force after the U. of I. and later became a commercial pilot. So here's his mom's recipe for Oatmeal Cake.

1 C oatmeal
1 C boiling water
Let stand while you mix the rest of the cake.
1/2 C shortening
1 1/2 C brown sugar
2 eggs
1 C flour
1 t soda
1 t baking power
1/4 t salt
1 t vanilla
1/2 C nut meats
Cream shortening and brown sugar. Add eggs and beat well. Add sifted dry ingredients. Lastly add oatmeal mixture, nuts and vanilla. Bake at (350) to (375) for 30 to 40 minutes (loaf pan).

My family likes a caramel frosting but that is a matter of preference only.

Reading through this, it was clear ideas about good nutrition have changed in the last 50 years. Many of these recipes were probably family favorites and reflect an earlier time--like pie crusts made with lard--even by 1957 Crisco was probably preferred, at least that's what my mom was using. Scrambled brains and eggs; stag dinner (broiled t-bone, french-fires, french fried onions, chef salad, cheese-apple pie); parsnip casserole; and all manner of fish held together in a gelatin goo. Also, you can hardly find a vegetable that isn't potato or corn. There are over 50 pages devoted to sweets and desserts--but only 10 to vegetables--and those were mostly potato or cabbage casseroles. I could almost feel my arteries hardening as I read! Although crisp, cut vegetables were suggested for snacks and garnishes. I saw almost nothing using rice and very little on beans.

There was one recipe for pizza in this collection--under "foreign foods." Both my husband and I remember trying pizza for the first time when we were seniors in high school and didn't think it was too special, but by the time we met 2 years later, we were both fans of this "foreign" food.

And yet, people weren't as overweight in the 1950s as they are today. Probably they were just picking, cleaning and cooking right out of the garden and didn't put those dishes in the recipe collections figuring everyone knew what to do with a panful of green peas or fresh cut asparagus. This food wheel was published in the back of the collection (not in color), and was produced by the USDA in 1943, apparently still in use 15 years later. Pasta and rice aren't listed, although it would be in group 6.

Considering the obesity problem we have with the USDA pyramid, maybe we should go back to the wheel--or maybe the government doesn't have all the answers--ya think? Here's the dedication:
Here's to the Homemaker,
The mother, the cook
Who firmly believes
In a cookery book.

Assembled within
Is a very small part
Of secrets we've shared
Some close to the heart.

But sharing a secret
Or sharing a care. . .
The Best Part of All
Is learning to share.

Cover Title: Home Builders Treasure Chest
Inside title: Favorite recipes. Compiled by Ogle County Home Bureau, printed by R. Wallace Pischel, Marceline, Mo., 1957