I made the cabbage soup on page 52. Instead of frankfurters, I used chicken and bacon. This is delicious and filling. Not expensive to make, and makes a lot. Thank goodness, because my husband ate 3 bowls right away.
This is an oversized, big cookbook with vintage photos. I see so many recipes in this book I am going to make because they are every day ingredients we usually have in our kitchen. I’m not seeing unusual ingredients that I have to go to a specialty store to find, and the dishes sound yummy. I’ll update my review with more photos when I do make the other recipes that are tempting me as I browse this large book.
I enjoy the look of vintage cookbooks and the ease of ingredients.
There are many recipes I am curious about from this cookbook. Jim and I have never had Borsch. I juice beets for us on a weekly schedule, so I keep beets in the refrigerator drawer. We were pleasantly surprised at the taste. I knew we would be ok with this recipe, because all the ingredients were items we liked. I will say, adding sour cream to this definitely takes it to another level of flavor. When I added the sour cream, I was reminded of the flavors of tomato soup. This made a lot, so I stored the leftover in the refrigerator in large mason jars. The second day, the flavor was even better. This was a fun dish, and we are glad we gave it a try. It’s hard to get a nice enough photo of a red soup dish (tomatoes and beets), and I don’t know how the online photos get the sour cream to float on top to make the photo more attractive/tasty looking. My photo barely shows the cream due to it sinking right away.
I am now looking at an Irish pork dish called Griskins. I have all the ingredients, and we will prepare it for a St. Patrick’s Day meal.
A neighbor gave us several jars of tomatoes from his garden last year (20 jars) I am finishing them up so I can hand them back to him; my husband goes over and helps him pick and can the tomatoes. Last night I made a tomato soup dish Jim’s grandmother taught me over 20 years ago, which takes brandy. So I’m using the bottle of Brandy she gave me. I wanted to show you the vintage bottle holder her husband made out of metal for her. I adore the look of this bottle holder – it sits proudly on top of my refrigerator.
Grilled Black Bean and Sweet Potato Quesadillas were made from a recipe I found in a Better Homes and Garden Ultimate Mexican 20011 magazine. (recipe in photos)
They are delicious!
Mammah’s Tomato Soup
2 jars of tomatoes (probably about 28 to 32 oz each)
½ cup broth (I have used vegetable – this time I used chicken)
3-4 Tbsp unsalted butter
1 onion, chopped
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 bay leaf
1-2 tsp brown sugar
2 Tbsp tomato paste
2 Tbsp all-purpose flour
½ tsp baking soda
Salt and pepper
2 Tbsp Brandy
½ – 2/3 cup heavy cream (taste it after ½ cup and decide)
(If you do not have cream, tear up 3 slices of bread, crusts removed. Add this with the sugar)
Drain tomatoes in colander set over bowl, press lightly to release juice. Pour tomato juice and chicken broth in large measuring cup (this should measure 4 1/2 cups) Set this to the side for later. Set tomatoes to the side.
Melt butter (I used a Dutch Oven) over medium heat. Add onion and garlic, cook until soft. Add ¾ of the drained tomatoes, bay leaf, and brown sugar. Cook stirring occasionally, about 15 minutes. If tomatoes brown before 15 minutes, move on to next step.
Add tomato paste and flour to pot and cook, stirring until paste begins to darken, about 1 or 2 minutes. Stir in reserved tomato juice broth mixture, the remaining tomatoes, baking soda, 1 teaspoon salt, and Brandy; bring to boil. Reduce heat to medium-low, and simmer until slightly thickened, about 5 minutes. Remove from heat. Discard bay leaf. When soup has cooled a bit, puree soup in blender (I scooped out enough to fill blender ½ way, pureed, poured in the large measuring cup I had used previously; did this until I had it all pureed. Return the soup to the pot. Stir in cream.
Papas Cutting Board 