Frankfurter-Cheese Bake reinvented, Women's Day November 1952

When I proposed making hotdog casserole my dear Hubby let out a sigh ending with a weak ok.  Kind of like a forlorn little boy whose mother asks him to sit down and eat his dinner of liver and onions.   But when I offered to change it up and add his homemade chili that was packed away in the freezer I could see in his eyes that he was hooked.

After thinking about it a bit this recipe became Chili-Dog Casserole.  Hubby and I were thrilled.  We both crave a good chili dog every so often.   The kids all had their reasons not to like it though.  One doesn't like hotdogs, one doesn't like casseroles, and the other joined her siblings in solidarity but did say she liked the cheese.  So why did I bother to make a dinner that has two strikes against it?  First I thought it sounded interesting.  Totally screams "LET'S GET CREATIVE!" in the logic-be-damned way 1950's food just does.  And second, we were really tired of holiday food.  If there's the perfect antithesis of a wholesome Thanksgiving dinner it's got to include hot dogs, right??

Here's the original recipe:

Here's our version:

6 Hotdogs, chopped
1 Medium onion, chopped
A little olive oil
8 Slices white bread
1C Shredded cheddar cheese
1.5 C Leftover chili or canned chili

Preheat oven to 350.
Sauté the onions in a little olive oil over a medium heat until transparent.  Add the hotdogs and stir occasionally until slightly browned.  Spray a square 8X8 inch pan with cooking spray.  Cut the bread slices in half.  Layer 4 slices of bread on the bottom of the pan.  Top with the hotdog mixture, then 1/2 of the cheese, and then 1/2 of the chili.  Place the rest of the bread on top of the chili and press down slightly.  Top with the remaining chili and cheese.

Bake for about 30 minutes until heated thru and the cheese is melted and lightly browned.

Here it is just out of the oven.  Yummmm.

And here it is plated up.  We had some fruit with it.

This is the type of dish you'll either love or hate.  (I'm thinking if you've read this far you are in the "love" camp.  Thanks for staying with me, peeps.)  I honestly I wouldn't bother trying to make it healthy using tofu dogs, wheat bread, and low fat cheese.  The beauty of this recipe is you get the taste of a greasy hot dog joint without the expense or having to eat standing up.  Plus it's a great way to use up homemade chili.  I will make it again for me and the Hubster.  Maybe a romantic dinner with candles?  Ha ha.


Sarah

Cheesy Tuna Bake, American Home magazine, March 1949

Ok, truth be told this is just Tuna Casserole.  But I couldn't call it that.  "Tuna Casserole" brings back memories of canned cream of mushroom soup, tuna, and peas heated with pasta and heaped onto a plate in a big sloppy mess.  Doesn't all that '70s goodness sound appetizing?

Here's the original recipe:

Here's my version:

1 lb Box of pasta, cooked al dente
2 T Butter
2 T Flour
1 C Milk (I use whole milk as this is what we have in the house)
Salt and pepper to taste
1/4 lb Deli American cheese
1-7 OZ Can of tuna
1/3 C Unseasoned breadcrumbs
1/2 t Garlic powder
1T melted butter

Heat the butter over a medium low heat in a large pot.  (Why a large pot?  So you can mix everything in it and not have to wash a bowl too.)  Stir in flour.  Add milk slowly and stir until there are no lumps.  Use a whisk if you like and pretend you're Julia Child.  Add salt and pepper to taste.  Boil until the sauce thickens a tiny bit.  (Congrats.  You just made a white sauce, the classic kitchen staple before Campbells' Mad Men told us we could cook with their soup.)

Preheat oven to 400.  Take the pot off the heat.  Add the cheese.  Melt and stir.  Add the tuna, separating with a fork, and stir so it's distributed evenly.  Stir in the pasta.  Put it all in a casserole dish.  Mix breadcrumbs with garlic powder and then with melted butter.  Sprinkle over tuna/pasta mixture.  Bake for 15 minutes or until breadcrumbs are brown and tuna/pasta mixture is heated thru.

Here's what you get:

My family thought it was good.  Kind of like mac and cheese with tuna, which I suppose it is.  I served it with a crudite plate and overpriced organic strawberries.  Everyone liked it for dinner but the leftovers didn't fair so well.  The re-heating made it a bit dry.  The pooch didn't mind and loved it as a topping on his usual dinner.

Just for fun here's the picture of how Cheese Tuna Casserole is supposed to be served:

Apparently you're supposed to leave the tuna unmixed and pop it out of the can in the center of the pasta.  Then garnish it with dried parsley.  They're really trying to elevate this dish to a gourmet meal.   But this is after the war.  Things were looking up.  War rations were a thing of the past as was the economic uncertainty of the Great Depression.  Perhaps radishes cut to look like roses was all it took to feel good about life again.

Here's the cover of the magazine. (Never heard of American Home Magazine?  Check it out here and in my post here.)  It's just darling and really captures the idealism of the 1950's which was just nine months away when this issue hit newsstands.

These kids look appropriately bundled for the kind of March we've been having.  I hope it's beginning to feel spring-like where you live.  The sun is out today but I still need a jacket...sigh...

Sarah

Recipe two-fer: Bacon-Corn Casserole and Baked Apple Wedges, Woman's Day January 1952

Happy New Year, my dear readers!  My January 1952 Woman's Day magazine has this adorable baby on the cover:

Can you imagine receiving this magazine in the mail?  I much prefer it to the celebrity covered magazines of today!

I made two recipes from this issue.  The first is a Bacon-Corn Casserole.  Hubby and I feel like we're in a dinner rut so we were up for trying something really different.  I also love the idea of casseroles.  I suppose it's my gravitation towards decades past.  To me "casserole" congers up images of vintage kitchens with happy families gathered around the table.  Complete meals with side dishes, dessert, a table with full place settings... I could go on but I won't.

Here's the original:

See in about the middle of the blurb it says "•To make corn casserole".

This recipe is part of an article called, "Let dinner cook by itself" in which four meals, including a main dish with sides and a dessert,  are cooked in the oven at the same temperature and for the same amount of time.  These oven dinners touted meal simplification for "career-girls" and "busy homemakers".  Heat and eat frozen meals (ie: TV dinners) wouldn't be a part of our culture until 1954  so a plan such as this, even with at least 15-20 minutes of prep time and 25-90 minutes of unattended cooking time, was heaven for the busy lady of the house.  The article promises and "end to pot watching and frantic timing".  Sounds good to me!

Here's my version:

Preheat oven to 425.

1/2 LB Bacon
2 & 1/2 C Whole kernel canned corn, drained
2 & 1/2 C Creamed style corn
1 Egg, well beaten
2T Parsley, chopped
1t Salt
A few shakes of pepper

Chop bacon into small pieces, reserving 3 slices.  Cook pieces in a medium size pot over a medium heat.  Stir until brown.  Turn off the stove.  Drain excess bacon grease in pot but don't blot bacon.  Add both types of corn to the pot along with egg, parsley, salt, and pepper.  Mix well.  Divide into 4-5 individual oven compatible dishes.  Top with remaining bacon strips.  Bake in oven for 35 minutes.

The result:

Everyone liked it well enough.  But no one loved it.  The general consensus was that this casserole would be better as a side dish.  It was very rich and would be balanced perfectly by a simple grilled chicken.  My motivation for trying this recipe was to reduce the amount of meat we eat on a weekly basis.  Going meatless one night a week put my family into a panic so I thought I could try a new "less meat" dish.  Successful less meat meals for us are canned tuna on a green salad and breakfast for dinner with from scratch pancakes, scrambled eggs or bacon, and fruit.  I was hoping to add the Bacon-Corn Casserole to the rotation.

The recipe made more than enough for 4 meals.  As a side dish it could probably serve 8.  I would make it in a 9 X 12 glass baking dish.  I think a 8 X 8 would be too small.  It may freeze ok but I didn't try it.

Another oven dinner in this article had this recipe for Baked Apple Wedges:

The recipe is the last in this blurb where it says, " • For dessert".

This is so simple you really don't need a recipe but it was there:

4 Cooking apples, cored and sliced in wedges
1/3 C sugar
1/4t Cinnamon
Butter to taste

Mix the sugar and cinnamon.  Place apples in a greased shallow baking dish.  Sprinkle liberally with cinnamon-sugar mixture.  Dot with butter.  Cover and bake in your preheated oven with the Bacon Corn Casserole for about 20 minutes.  Remove foil and reduce temp to 350.  Bake another 10 minutes. (If making this without the casserole just bake at 375 for 40 minutes, uncovering after the first 20 minutes of baking time.)

This was the best part of the meal.  I barely got to take a picture!

Can you just imagine all its gooey yumminess?!!?

This is basically apple pie filling so you can serve it like a crustless apple pie with vanilla ice cream or top with toasted pecans.  Or turn it into a crumple by topping it with an oatmeal/flour/sugar/butter mixture when you take off the foil for the last 20 minutes of baking.  You can also adjust the amount of butter and sugar to your liking.  It's nice to have warm fruit deserts in the winter because we get so tired of eating the fruits available in the winter.

Other notes:

The Bacon-Corn Casserole calls for "Number 2" cans of corn.  This is a no longer used measurement of canned contents that equals about 2 & 1/2 cups.  Ironically a "Number 2-1/2" can holds about 3 & 1/2 cups.  Go figure.  I can see why this system is no longer used.  It may have originally corresponded to the types of canning jars used in home canning back in the day.  (If any of you readers out there are canners please let me know in the comments below.  I'd love to hear from you.)  I found the can size to cups conversion chart in the front cover of my 1950 copy of the Betty Crocker's Picture Cook Book.  If you ever see one of these at an estate/garage sale snatch it up!  It's full of very interesting information in addition to some great vintage recipes!  Here's a pic of the conversion chart for your reference:

Love the term "picnic" can!  (Second from the top.)

I hope everyone is safe and warm in this arctic winter we're having, at least here in the US.  My kids were supposed to go back to school today after the winter break but classes were cancelled and are again tomorrow.  We had an electronic free afternoon and watched a movie, played a game, and had popcorn.  It was all good for about two hours.  And then it wasn't...

Sarah