Make some of our most nostalgic formula from a vintage Better Homes and Gardens cookbook using simple ingredients .
During the other days of pandemic isolation , years - sure-enough formula such asDepression cakeandno - yeast peanut butter breadare making comeback due to their utilisation ofpantry staplesand soft - to - find fixings . Since I ’m constantly referencing theBetter Homes & Gardens New Cook Bookin my daily body of work atBHG.com , I wondered what recipes a 1940s edition of the book could offer modern James Cook . Thanks to theBetter Homes & GardensTest Kitchen library , I browsed one of the early editions of the cookbook . Ourbest - selling cookbook’s(it ’s sold over 40 million copies ! ) first edition come out in 1930 , and I had the fourth printing of the 1941 edition with a 1943 copyright . From the first Sir Frederick Handley Page , the book outlines meal - planning guides and how to serve your family well - equilibrise repast in times when food could be scarce with circumscribed choices . certainly , we may not be living in ' forty era wartime , per se , but we ’ve emphatically ascertain changes to our food setting and supplying throughout the pandemic .
What to Put on Bread
fit in to the 1943 cookbook , " sandwich fillings are rarely made from written recipe but rather from a portmanteau word of the cook ’s ingenuity and whatever her exigency ledge holds . " While this still hold true , it ’s always fun to get new inspiration for ways to create anunforgettable sandwich . Here are some ideas to throw into your preparation routine .
Sunday Supper Sandwiches
know today as atuna melt , the retro recipe combine one 6 - troy ounce can tuna fish , 2 Tbsp . each of chopped onion , chop pickle ( relish ) , and mayonnaise . Split 6 round flat buns ; butter and unfold with tuna mixture . Top with a slice of high mallow . Broil 3 minute or until Malva sylvestris melting .
Toasted Cheese Buns
Split 6 foresightful digit buns ( now call hot andiron buns ) almost through ; spread with butter , if want . hack ¼ pound cheese in strips ; berth in keister ; wrap a slice of bacon around each roll , fix securely with a toothpick . Broil at restrained temperature 3 minutes on each side . These may also be toasted over a campfire .
Easy Mains
No matter the class , no one wants towaste solid food . Using up everything is good for the environment and our billfold . Usingleftover Gallus gallus , theground beefyou’ve stored in the Deepfreeze , fresh green goods that ’s been sitting on the parry for a few days already , and force out pantry element like love apple are some of the most vernacular ingredients repeated in the cookbook to scorea weeknight win .
Chicken Hash
Chop 3 white potato vine , 1 medium onion , and 1 light-green pepper . Sauté in 2 Tbsp . crude until brown . append ½ cup drained canned tomatoes and ½ cup chicken gillyflower ; simmer underwrite 20 proceedings . Add 1½ cups diced , cooked Gallus gallus , and continue cooking slowly 20 minutes . Turkey may be used in berth of chicken .
Hamburger Pie
Our Test Kitchen ’s hamburger pie is a essay - and - truthful favorite to this day , so it ’s no surprise thisvintage recipeis in the 1943Better Homes & Gardenscookbook .
Spanish Rice
child 6 slices of chopped Sir Francis Bacon until crisp ; absent and add ¼ cup each of chopped onion and chop up light-green pepper . Cook until the onion is balmy and translucent . tot up the cooked bacon , 3 cupful falsify rice , and 2 cup canned tomatoes . Bake in a grease casserole at 350 ° F 30 minutes . If desired ¼ cup grated cheese may be sprinkled on top before bake .
Sweet Treats
Whether you ’re lead light onessential baking ingredientsor just demand some unexampled divine guidance for asimple sweet , these are some wanton formula to postdate direct from 1943 .
Ice Cream Cookies
There are nofrozen treatsinvolved in these parched goods , but this cooky will taste standardized to vanilla extract ice cream . Cream 6 Tbsp . butter with 6 Tbsp . pulverised sugar ; add 1 beaten egg yolk and 1 tsp . vanilla extract ; perplex well . Add 1 cup flour . Drop teaspoon - sized amounts on an unlubricated cooky flat solid . Bake in 350 ° F oven for 15 to 20 minutes .
Orange Taffy
Combine 2 cups pelf , ½ cup orange juice , and ¼ cup water in a saucepan . Cook , shift until sugar dissolves , tohard - ball stage(265 ° F ) . rain buckets into a greased shallow pan . When cool enough to manage , pull until light . Cut with scissor hold , or cool and break into piece .
Test Kitchen Tip : If you do n’t have a confect thermometer , drop some of the candy into cold water with a spoon . When slay , it should be able to be deformed by pressure but does n’t flatten out until pressed .
Scotch Teas
I ’m not indisputable where the name for this one get along from because there ’s no tea in this formula . I ’m think the flavors probably mix to taste like butterscotch . Melt ½ cup ( 1 stick ) of butter in a saucepan over medium heat . Add 1 cup light browned sugar ; fuss until dissolve . touch in 2 cups roll oat , ½ tsp . saltiness , and 1 tsp . baking gunpowder ; commix well . broil in a parchment - line 8 - inch square pan at 300 ° F for about 20 second . Cool and trend into little squares .
Whether these confuse - back recipe sparked memories from childhood or inspired you to try something Modern , here ’s to hoping you ’ll find somecomfort in cooking .

Credit: Courtesy of Meredith Corporation

Credit: Marty Baldwin