Tag: 1980's Recipes

Baked Breast of Chicken

Baked Breast of Chicken

by Andi Cohen-Rabiner ♥ 0 Leave a Comment

A Recipe from Something Different for Passover (1986)

About the Recipe

It’s Passover, and I’m at Becky’s house again! We usually go a bit crazy with the cooking, but definitely had a new challenge working within our confines. We pulled this chicken recipe out of a book that would have been from our childhood. It was the kind of thing that was going to be really good, or really not (I even had a matzah pizza recipe on standby in case this didn’t work).

Y’all… this is freaking delicious. So good that I’m working on adapting it for regular around the year eating. That said, there were a lot of things that we kind of had to work out in order to make this recipe work. I’m going to go ahead and note the changes in italics so that you also have a successful chicken bake. Bon appetit!

About the book

I’m usually pretty wary of books from the ’80’s, but this one is so sweet! It goes through all of the traditions of the Passover seder. There are menus for the first and second seders, and everything is neatly sectioned out for easy reference throughout the holiday. There’s nothing particularly special about it, but it did feel like childhood paging through it.

The Recipe!

Ingredients:

4 whole chicken breasts, boned
1 cup soup nut crumbs (We used matzah panko, which was perfect! Regular panko/breadcrumbs should also work but would render the recipe not kosher for Passover)
1 t ground ginger
1 t garlic powder
1/2 t salt
1/4 t white pepper
2 eggs, well beaten
1 cup apricot preserves
1/2 cup white wine
2 T pareve margarine (Butter also works fine, as would a neutral oil in a crunch)

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350*F. Cut chicken breasts in half (We did not cut the breasts, and they turned out fine. You could cut them crosswise into two big halves, which also should work if you want smaller pieces). Rinse with cold water and dry well with paper towels.

2. Combine soup nut crumbs, ginger, garlic powder, salt, and pepper in a shallow dish.

3. Dip each chicken part in beaten egg, then in crumb mixture. Arrange in a single layer in a baking pan.

4. Combine preserves, wine, and margarine. Microwave on high setting for 5 minutes, or bring to a boil in a small saucepan. Pour over the chicken breasts and bake for 1 hour (We baked our HUGE chicken breasts for about 40 minutes, and they were perfect. Absolutely do not wait an hour before checking your chicken. Use a meat thermometer and cook until the thickest part measures 165*F).

Sweet-and-Sour Pork

Sweet-and-Sour Pork

by Andi Cohen-Rabiner ♥ 0 Leave a Comment

A Recipe from Southern Living 1981 Annual Recipes (1981)

About the Recipe

I love Chinese food. My husband also loves Chinese food. Over the years we’ve both made our own copycat recipes for various things – stir fry, fried rice, egg drop soup. Absolutely nothing that we tried before tasted like it does fresh out of the cardboard box. Until now.

I’ll admit from the get-go that this is a little bit more tricky than the usual recipes that I highlight, but it’s well worth the effort. It tastes just like fresh from the hole-in-the-wall sweet and sour pork. Yum!

This is definitely a recipe that you can play with a little bit. I used red and yellow peppers, because that’s what I had in the house. I also added some mushrooms and onions to give us a little bit more from a nutrients perspective. Other great veggie additions would include snow peas, water chestnuts, bamboo shoots, carrots, the list goes on! I plan on trying it again cutting down the sugar and using pineapple and pineapple juice. We even discussed using some mango when it comes in season again.

About the Book

Usually I put the breaks on when I see a book from the 1980’s. The ’80’s were a strange time in culinary history – lots of low-sugar / low-fat / low-taste things going on. But this one looked interesting, and it came from my cousin so I thought I’d give it at least one try.

The book is divided into months with appropriate recipes in each month. Obviously I decided to do one of the February recipes, and I have to say that it tasted even better as the Nor’easter whipped snow around our house. We also get some Mardi Gras / New Orleans inspired dishes (okra and “French Quarter” green beans), though I’m positive that my NOLA friends would giggle at the ingredients. And of course, plenty of chocolate desserts for Valentine’s Day.

I think I’ll pull this out again come March…

The Recipe!

Ingredients:

2 T peanut oil
1 1/4 lbs boneless pork shoulder, cut into 1-inch cubes (about 2 1/2 cups)
1 t garlic salt
1/8 t pepper
1 3/4 cups water
2 medium-size green peppers, cut into 1-inch pieces
1/2 cup raisins
1/3 cup sugar
1/3 cup vinegar
2 T cornstarch
1/4 cup soy sauce
3 cups hot cooked rice

Directions:

Pour oil around top of preheated wok, coating sides; allow to heat at medium high for 2 minutes. Add pork, and stir-fry about 5-6 minutes. Add garlic salt, pepper, and water. Reduce heat to low; cover and simmer about 25 minutes or until pork is very tender.

Add green pepper; cook, uncovered about 4 minutes. Stir in raisins, sugar, and vinegar. Dissolve cornstarch in soy sauce, and add to pork mixture. Cook stirring constantly, until thickened and bubbly. Serve over hot cooked rice.

Note: I used yellow and red peppers, and added onions and mushrooms. There’s plenty of sauce, so feel free to load this up with veggies!

Old Fashioned Cake

Old Fashioned Cake

by Andi Cohen-Rabiner ♥ 2 Comments

A Recipe from Kamp Kookery (198?)

About the Recipe

I’m always hesitant when it comes to cooking recipes from the ’80s. It was not a great time in culinary history – low-fat, low-cal, low-sugar, no sugar – the list goes on. The good news is, this recipe is none of these things. I can imagine that this cake recipe was first made in grandma’s kitchen in the 50’s/60’s when all things “Hawaiian” (aka banana and pineapple) were very in fashion, and nothing was low-fat.

This is a total winner of a recipe. It’s delightfully crunchy on the outside, with a moist, fluffy inside. The pineapple melts away and just leaves its sweetness behind to linger with the banana. All told, this tastes like an especially rich banana bread. It’s perfect for luncheons and dinner parties to go with a cup of decaf.

About the Book

Unfortunately, there’s not a ton to be found about this community cookbook, but here’s what I know: It was published sometime in the ’80s by the Ginter Park (Virginia) Junior Women’s League to benefit Camp Easter Seal – East. The camp was in the process of being built at the time and was set up to be available to all mentally and physically handicapped children and adults in the state of Virginia. It still is in existence today, and if you’d like to find out more check out the website here.

One more note on this one – there are nearly 400 pages of recipes in this book, and the Junior Women’s League had to turn people away! All that said to mean – these are truly the best of the best that this community had to offer. That’s the crux of why I love community cookbooks to begin with, and I’m so glad to find that this one doesn’t disappoint.

About the Glassware

What better use for the Federal Glass Atomic Flower snack plates, than a little bit of after dinner cake? It’s truly what these ’50’s era plates were designed for, and I swear it makes little snacks taste just a little bit better. Sadly, they’re without a teacup companion for the time being, but they serve as the perfect tiny platter all the same.

The Recipe!

Ingredients:

3 c flour
1 t. cinnamon
1 t. salt
1/2 c. nuts (optional)
1 t. soda
2 c. sugar
1 can (8 oz.) crushed pineapple (don’t drain)
1 1/2 c cooking oil
1 1/2 t. vanilla
3 eggs
2 c. diced bananas

Directions:

Oven temp 350*F. Grease an 8 or 8″ tube pan; set aside, sift together dry ingredients. Add undrained pineapple, cooking oil, vanilla, eggs and bananas to dry mixture, mixing until blended. Do not beat. Bake for 1 hr. 20 min. Cake will crack slightly on top. Cool in pan on rack.

 

Pork Chop and Potato Hot Pot

Pork Chop and Potato Hot Pot

by Andi Cohen-Rabiner ♥ 0 Leave a Comment

A Recipe from Elephant Stew (1980)

About the Recipe

Oh my, where to start with this one… Usually when there’s a marked down corner in a cookbook it means one of two things:

  1. I have tried a recipe on this page and it is very good. I need to save this page for later.
  2. I have not tried this recipe yet, but it seems like something I want to make.

I don’t know which one this was, but whew boy! This recipe needs some help. It’s a good method of cooking pork chops, but it’s super super super bland. A few recommended swaps from me:

  • Marinate the pork chops ahead of browning them. Your favorite barbecue sauce would work well, or even just a good pork rub with some olive oil.
  • Season the potatoes and onions. You don’t need much, some salt and pepper will do.
  • Ditch the canned soup for some sliced sharp cheddar cheese. If you’re attached to the creamy, processed feel that the soup brings, go for some American cheese slices or Velveeta.

About the Book

Usually when a recipe is such an uninspired dud as this one is, I ditch the book. It goes on my shelf or I give it to a friend who may get better use. But this book is just too adorable to give up on. My version is published in 1980, but I believe there are other years available. It’s a fundraiser book (which does mean that there are bound to be a few winners in here) for the Association for the Study of Childhood Cancer, and many of the recipes come from the Junior Women’s Club of Virginia.

The book is filled with illustrations from children and cute little tips at the bottom of the recipe pages. Check out the hot dog tip above to get a feel for those little gems. I’ll post some more when I cook out of this again. In the meantime, enjoy a few more pages from this delightful book.

The Recipe!

Ingredients:

4 pork chops
1t. salt
1/8 t. pepper
1 med. onion, sliced
4 med. potatoes, peeled and sliced
1 can condensed cheddar cheese soup, undiluted

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350*. Trim extra fat from chops. Sprinkle chops with salt and pepper and brown well on both sides; drain on paper towels. Place chops in shallow 2-qt. casserole. Arrange onion and potato slices on top. Spoon soup over all. Bake, covered, for 1 hour or until meat and potato are tender. Serves 4.