When Lunches Were Lunches, Part III

1950's food pyramid found on Pinterest.

Continuing the series of hearty lunch ideas from The American Woman's Cook Book, here are some of Mrs. Berolzheimer's recommendations for sandwiches (there are 21 pages of sandwich recipes but this includes tea sandwiches.  Does anyone serve tea sandwiches anymore?).

Panavia, this first one's for you:

Peanut Butter and Onion Sandwiches

1 cup peanut butter
1/4 cup mayonnaise
1 small Bermuda or Spanish onion

Beat peanut butter, add mayonnaise and spread sandwiches.  Slice onion in very thin slices and put a layer of these over mixture on bread.

Cheese Sandwiches

1/2 pound American full cream cheese, grated
2 tablespoons melted butter
1/4 cup cream
1/2 teaspoon dry mustard
Salt, paprika

Mix all the ingredients thoroughly and use between buttered slices of bread.  This filling will keep indefinitely in closed jars in the refrigerator.

Russian Sandwiches

1/2 cup cream cheese

1/4 cup chopped olives

1/4 cup chopped pimientos

1/4 cup mayonnaise

Lettuce leaves

Boston brown bread

Spread the cream cheese on thin slices of Boston brown bread.  Spread an equal number of buttered slices with chopped olives and pimientos mixed with mayonnaise dressing.  Press together in paris with a crisp lettuce leaf between.

Egg Sandwiches

Hard-cooked eggs

Capers or pickles, if desired

Salt, pepper, paprika

Slice the eggs and lay the slices between thin buttered slices of bread.  Season to taste with salt, pepper and paprika and add a layer of chopped capers or pickles if desired.  These are good for lunches for traveling or for picnics.

Chicken, Ham and Celery Sandwiches

1 cup cooked chicken meat

1/2 cup celery

1 tablespoon green pepper

1/4 cup mayonnaise

1/4 cup cooked ham

Mince the chicken, ham, celery and green peppers.  Mix with the mayonnaise and spread on buttered bread.

Beef Sandwiches

1 1/4 cups cold roast beef
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 tablespoon tomato catchup
1/2 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
1 tablespoon melted butter

To minced cold roast beef, add the salt, tomato catchup, Worcestershire sauce and melted butter.  Spread on buttered bread, cover with a second slice, and cut into fancy shapes.

I'm not sure why the egg sandwich recipe above is considered good for traveling or picnics; without a binder such as mayonnaise or butter, I think the filling would wind up all over one's lap.  The beef and chicken/ham recipes reflect an era when a big chunk of some variety of baked or roasted protein was the centerpiece of every Sunday dinner and a thrifty cook had to come up with a way to use the leftovers.

If you are tempted to try the Russian Sandwiches, here is how to make the bread.

Boston Brown Bread

1 cup corn meal
1 cup rye flour
1 cup graham flour
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup molasses
2 cups sour milk or buttermilk

Sift corn meal, rye flour, soda and salt together and mix well with graham flour.  Add combined molasses and sour milk and mix well.  Fill greased molds 2/3 full, cover closely and steam 3 hours.  Remove covers and dry tops in moderate oven (375°F).  Makes 3 loaves.

I believe that people re-used clean metal cans of some sort -- baking powder or maybe coffee -- as molds for Boston brown bread, covered with greased foil, pleated to allow expansion and tied tightly around the tops with kitchen string.

Next week -- Mrs. Berolzheimer's "Miscellaneous Sandwiches and Sandwich Fillings," many of which aren't bad.

Caturday!

(I know this looks like Reserve Cat.  But it isn't).

Quote of the Day

A woman is the only thing I am afraid of that I know will not hurt me. ~ Abraham Lincoln

I Want To Clone This One

It occurs to me that I have not taken the time to introduce my new (well...since September)  Americorps member, Fernanda*.

She is not a pre-med competitive swimmer but she is a runner, an honors graduate, tri-lingual, and her parents let her go backpacking to South America when she was a freshman in college.  She got as far as Peru, volunteered with an earthquake recovery agency  there, and wound up spending six months running their volunteer program.

Her very first week on the job was the airport crash drill (that's her in the second photo, applying moulage to a victim). I asked her to put together folders for the exercise evaluators.  She cross-referenced and color-coded them.

In January I assigned her the job of putting on a Family Preparedness Day at the local Home Depot.  The manager was so impressed with Fernanda's ideas for children's preparedness games that she forwarded them to corporate.

I am giving my annual guest lecture to the global public health class at That Other University and I asked her to meet with me and brainstorm some ideas. She arrived in my office with an outline, a Powerpoint, and an interactive decision-making roleplay for the students.

I really like the kid, but it's hell trying to live up to her.

Grrrsday

Caturday!

Quote of the Day

A leader is a dealer in hope. ~ Napoleon Bonaparte

1940's Sewing - Some Winter Hoods

Left-click to enlarge.  My notes say I pinned this from a website called www.fabulousfrenchvintagepattern.com, but when I trace the link back I can't find the pattern. #555 looks like it would be easy to recreate from a square of jersey or (unauthentically) polar fleece.

Vintage Advertising - Orange Crush

From Woman's Home Companion, August 1921.

When Lunches Were Lunches, Part II

(FYI: Posting has been problematic as our internet connection was iffy for a couple of days.  Bad weather tends to either knock it out completely or slow it way down).

Continued from The American Woman's Cook Book, 1948.

"Be sure to include crisp, crunchy vegetables that will give the meal some contrast.  In a packed sandwich lunch, texture and flavor are of great importance.  Sandwiches have a tendency to be soft and too easily become soggy.  Pack lettuce separately, to be added just before eating.

The men in the family will prefer spicy condiments and sauces on their sandwiches, while the school child will like a mild, more delicate flavor.

Plan for milk in every lunch box you pack.  If in doubt whether milk can be bought or will be bought at work or school, send milk along in some form in food or just cold or hot milk in the thermos bottle.  Use evaporated milk in cooking if at any time fresh milk is scarce.

All too easily lunch box meals fall into a set pattern.  it is only by the most careful planning that a lunch box is appetizing and has variety and balance each day.

MENU SUGGESTIONS

Cream of Spinach Soup

Crackers

Egg Salad Sandwiches with Lettuce

Raw Vegetable Strips

Apple     Cup Cake

Peanut Butter, Bacon and Lettuce Sandwiches

Cauliflowerets     Carrot Sticks

Hard Cooked Egg

Gingerbread      Grapes

Milk

Cream of Tomato Soup

Ham Sandwich with Mustard and Lettuce on a Bun

Celery       Olives

Fresh Pear        Cookies

Oven Baked Beans    Catchup

Boston Brown Bread Sandwiches

with Cream Cheese Filling

Cole Slaw

Applesauce

Milk

American Cheese Sandwich with Catchup and Lettuce

Tossed Vegetable Salad

Dressing (in container)

Pickles

Cake       Orange

Cocoa

Beef Stew       Pickle Relish

Bread and Butter Sandwiches with Lettuce

Whole Tomato       Crisp Radishes

Fruit Cup (in container)

Hot Coffee

Mrs. Berolzheimer directs her readers to the sandwich recipes found on page 131.  Some of them are lulus, and I'll print them next week.

Knitting - A Doily Edging from 1916

From Woman's Home Companion, May 1916.

Vintage Advertising - Palmolive

I wonder when their advertising staff decided to drop Cleopatra as celebrity spokeswoman in favor of a middle-aged manicurist named Madge.  From Woman's Home Companion, April 1914.

When Lunches Were Lunches and Giants Walked The Land

 THE LUNCH BOX

“As much care is needed in selecting and preparing the food for the lunch box as for the other meals served to the family.  If the lunch is inadequate or lacking in food essentials throughout the year, the individual’s whole nutrition will be seriously affected, and his work will suffer.  The lunch box is one of three meals, not just a “snack,” and should possess the following characteristics:

1. It should be abundant in amount for a hungry, healthy individual.  A little too much is better than too little.
2. It should be chosen with regard to nutritive needs of the individual, and in relation to the whole day’s food.
3. It should be clean, appetizing, wholesome and attractive.

Food Selection Plan

Plan it the day before.  Select from the following one food from each group.  Make the lunch box bear its full share of responsibility for liquid as well as solid nourishment.

MILK, in food or drink.
BREAD, enriched or whole grain in sandwiches.
MEAT or cheese or eggs or fish.  In sandwich fillings, salads or hearty main dishes.
FRUIT, at least one.  Whole or in salads or desserts.
VEGETABLES, at least one, in sandwich filling, salads or in hearty main dishes.  Use leafy green and yellow vegetables, and use them crisp and uncooked often.

Plan to have leftovers for the lunch box.  Meat loaf or pot roast that will make good sandwiches, sliced cold.  Gingerbread or stewed fruits.  Don’t specialize in starchy foods.  Always include some kind of surprise such as; Whole tomatoes in season, radishes, celery, carrot or green pepper sticks, pickles, olives, dried fruits, nut meats, or cookies.

Keep in mind the season of the year in planning menus.  In winter have something hot and invigorating in the thermos bottle: Hot soup, coffee, tea, baked beans, hot chocolate, or stew.  Something cool and refreshing in the summertime, such as lemonade, tomato juice, fruit juices, chocolate milk shake, milk, iced tea or iced coffee, canned fruit juices.  And do not forget the straws.”

Ruth Berolzheimer, The American Woman’s Cook Book, 1948.  Next week:  suggested menus.

Caturday!

He's obviously pondering string theory.  I just wish he'd done it with the cheap Coats & Clark polyester sewing thread and not the DMC tatting cotton.

Grrrsday

It Sounds Too Good To Be True

This.

The Waiting Is The Hardest Part

We are still not Kühlschrankfähig and the water was not hooked up as promised on Friday (which is why dinner, right now, looks as though it's going to be tuna fish sandwiches) but progress is being made.  About 60% of the old kitchen stuff is back in the cupboards. Tomorrow night, and all shall be well. Supposedly.

Except the glass cupboard doors which apparently have fallen off a truck.  Our contractor is on the hunt and I wouldn't want to be in the guilty party's shoes -- the guy's muscles have muscles.

This was taken standing in the living room, looking through the dining room into the new, open kitchen.  And yes, it has occurred to me that I can no longer shut the door on any mess.

Grrrsday

You Will Notice Something's Missing

Viz., the new refrigerator that was supposed to be delivered today.  We came home to a cheerful voice on the answering machine telling us that he was calling to confirm delivery.  This, after Brian made it clear to the store that a) the contractor would be there today and b) if there were any questions, not to call the home # but  rather my cell phone.  

Do people even listen anymore?  Because we had the same experience when dealing with my credit union, leaving voice mails giving explicit instructions not to call the number listed on the account, because it was the home # and one is there during the day.  It took three phone calls and my nastiest lissen-up-yew-maggots voice before it got through to them.

On the plus side of the ledger, the backsplash on the built-in cabinet and the countertops are gorgeous. I'll have to try for a better shot during daylight.

Poulet à la Réaménagement

A shout out to the Presto people.  Without this, we probably would have starved.

Assemble your batterie de cuisine --  electric skillet, one dinner fork, one spatula, one heavy coffee mug, one gallon sized freezer bag, one cardboard plate that is deep enough to hold a couple of fistfuls of flour (it would be a good idea before starting any of this to go upstairs and look for the flour).

Put a coffee-mugful of water and a tablespoon of butter in the electric skillet.  Turn it to 400° until it bubbles.  Pour in a bag of red potatoes, cut all to one size if necessary.  Sprinkle with salt, put the lid on the skillet, and turn it down to 200°.  Keep an eye on it for an hour or so, prodding the potatoes with the fork occasionally.  When they are done but still have a little firmness at the core, scoop them up and put into whatever microwave-proof bowl you can find in the disorder.

Freeze in place when power goes out to half the basement and wait for spousal unit to put down the power tools and descend to the basement to flip the circuit breaker. Agree that it would probably be a good idea to postpone the rest of the dinner prep until he's done.

Take two chicken breasts and while they are still partly frozen, slice them into two cutlets each.  Put them in the freezer bag, one at a time, and pound them to an even thickness with the coffee mug which you are using because the mallet is still in one of the old cabinets that have been pushed into the spare bedroom.  

Don’t break the mug.

Put a three quarters of a mug or so of flour – assuming you have found it -- in the cardboard plate and season with salt and pepper.  If you managed to locate the spice rack while you were looking for the flour, add a half teaspoon of dried and pulverized thyme.  Dredge the chicken cutlets in the seasoned flour.

Dump the water out of the electric skillet, wipe it out, and heat it to 350°.  Pour in a couple of dribbles of cooking oil.  Add a tablespoonful of butter.  When the butter foams, brown the chicken cutlets on both sides.  Turn the skillet down to 250°, push the cutlets to one side, add a jar of drained green beans (the can opener is still missing), cover and let cook for about five minutes, until the chicken is done and the beans are heated through.

Walk out to the other room and pop a few of the potatoes in the microwave that’s sitting on the table there, just long enough to reheat them.  Serve with the chicken and the green beans.  Save the rest of the potatoes and two of the chicken cutlets for tomorrow night so that you won’t have to go through all of this again.