Mounds Candy Box

A friend picked up this super cute vintage Mounds candy box at a flea market for me earlier in the year.  It's a bit beat up on the upper right corner but I love those little candy making elves so much I don't notice!  I wonder if any sound or film clips may happen to be out there featuring this "great new advertising on television and radio" they bubble speak of.

 Little inside touch:

"Indescribably Delicious"

Ken-L-Ration, note it's appetizing aroma!

 Mr. Husband surprised me with these vintage promo pieces from Ken-L- Ration dog food (but cats love it too!).  I had been eyeing this set of salt and pepper shakers and the below wall pockets many years ago on ebay but never bought them due to my cheapskate ways. 

Just as the vintage ad says below:

"Surprise your wife with gay-cheerful-exclusive ... 

Puppy and Kitty Salt and Pepper set!"

Only 25 ¢!

(Plus 2 Ken-L-Ration labels)

"Open a can, see it's chunks of meat, note it's appetizing aroma.  Ken-L-Ration is the one dog food that's made with Lean, Red Meat---choice cuts of U.S. Gov't Inspected horse meat!"

A birthday cake

It's going to come to fruition that we all are going to have a "quarantine birthday"....maybe even a few by the state of how things are going.

For my birthday this year I didn't do much decorating.  No color coordinated streamers or balloons.... just a cake.  I figured if I wanted to make it to my next birthday I had better not be out and about searching for the perfect shade of pink napkins.

{For my cake flavor I went with our favorite: Hummingbird Cake .}

Last year's birthday theme was inspired by a set of vintage napkins I bought on ebay.  I then decided that for my future birthdays I would pick out a vintage birthday thingamabob and decorate around it.  After a few years I should build up a nice little collection and then use those things together as my decorating theme of random vintage birthday stuffs there on out.  

This year's addition is oh so cute!

Wooden hand painted animal picks/ candle holders in their original packaging!  The holes drilled into their noggins for the candles were too small so I just used them as decorative picks.  I was very careful with opening the package and have everything intact still so I can display them either way.

For my birthday dinner we stayed home since restaurants are full of covid cooties (I don't trust take out either).  I decided it would be fun to have something that I loved to eat as a child...frozen fried chicken!  When the world was normal I never bought it because the professionals at Popeye's know how to do it right.  I thought this was a great opportunity to not force normalcy but go with alternative but meaningful options.  We went all out with instant mashed potatoes, gravy in the jar, canned corn, and frozen biscuits that are baked in the oven.  It was a fun childhood comfort meal and the frozen fried chicken was like eating/enjoying a memory.  Mr. Husband also got me a bunch of lovelies from ebay (vintage papery stuff/ Mr. Potato Head set featuring Frankie Frank but I like to call him Willie Wiener!) that I will scan/photo and post in the future. 

It turned out to be a nice quarantine birthday at home...

 

Bonus birthday bit:

Mr. Husband put this magnetic letter message on the toaster for me to find.

Birthday Table Cloth

I happened to stumble across this absolutely adorable vinyl vintage table cloth last year while perusing ebay.  It wasn't the right colors for my birthday theme then but I had to get it (it was also a great price, 10 bucks with shipping).

The artwork is superb and I love the family celebrating from baby to grandparent.  Here are a few more of the illustrations:

Mayonnaise Cake

Oh. It's. On. Mrs. Filbert!

Mayonnaise in a cake!?  It's not such a goofy idea considering that mayo is mostly just oil and eggs, basic cake ingredients.  But will the cake's flavor have the zip and tang of mayo?  Should I frost it in tuna fish?  Garnish it with pickles?
Let's find out!

I did a bit of searching and was able to find the vintage recipe from Mrs. Filbert:

image source

I also found a few modern recipes out in internet land such as by Duke's Mayonnaise (which happened to be the brand of mayo I was using).   I went with Mrs. Filbert's recipe for the most part but used 1 cup of mayo as directed by Duke's. I expect the pink disks seen on the original vintage cake are peppermint patties.  I was going to sub them with pink candy melts but the store was out.  Being the 'use what I've got and make it work' kinda gal that I am, I made a mini batch of marshmallow fondant, tinted it pink, cut it in rounds, and then air dried them till firm.  I also made a papery centerpiece featuring Mrs. Filbert with Duke Mayo as her sidekicks for some extra pizzazz.

So how did it taste?
The cake did not have a mayo flavor what so ever!  It was actually pretty ho hum.  I probably would not make it again unless I was in dire need of cake and was out of eggs and oil. It also could be I am not a big fan of chocolate.  I may have to try this cake again with applesauce as shown in the recipe above.

For fun I made my cake appear to be on the cover styled after the original cook booklet (with PB's photoshop help)!

P.S.: Duke's Mayo has a mug cake recipe that I thought sounded like a fun idea.

Peanut Cream Cake

{image source}
Life Magazine July 1939

National Peanut Day was earlier this week but I got more peanutness to share!

"Here's a pal to summer desserts!'

I have to agree!  It was a pal to me by being so easy to make and absolutely delicious! I made it even more simple by using a pre-fab chocolate cake mix and just iced it with the easy recipe for Peanut Cream Frosting in the ad.

 I kinda made this dessert before using the same technique of shortcuts for a Teacher Appreciation Luncheon back in 2018.  The one I made then was a bunt cake and I covered it in a peanut butter drizzle and chopped peanuts.  This attempt is as close as I am going to get to following the original recipe and look.  The flavor is so good, like a cake version of a Reese's cup!


{click recipe for enlargement}

Lemon Blossom Pie

 I came across this ad for Lemon Blossom pie and had to attempt to make that awesome center flare!  I could not fully make out the recipe for the suggested pie so I went with a re-attempt of Opie's Lemonade Pie.

I think the flare turned out looking pretty decent.  To make the flare pieces I used rolled out pie crust dough and free hand cut out the pieces with a knife then baked on a cookie sheet.  I ask that you ignore my horrible bulky crust edging though.  It might be time for me to step away from the powdered box pie crusts and try out a real recipe.  This stuff is just not working for me.

Opie's Lemonade Pie filling worked out wonderful this time.
 In my first attempt the pie filling never set and I called it Piedding (Pudding like pie).  It tasted great but was runny.
This time I put the beaters and the mixing bowl along with the condensed milk inside the freezer until everything was chilled.  I also noticed something that I don't think I did before.  The original recipe calls for a 6 oz can of frozen lemonade.  There's no such thing.  There are 12 ounces in a container and I am pretty sure I used the entire can before...hence why it was probably so runny.  Oops!

Food packaging in mid century times was different, usually having smaller quantities, which could explain this 6 oz can deal.  Only this recipe is from a more modern book. I assumed the recipes were either new or updated for now.  That's what I get for assuming, I guess.  But I have to admit I liked the flavor of the runny recipe a bit better.  It was much more tart with the double dose of lemonade.  Sooo...now I got to figure out how to use all of the lemonade but not get a runny pie....

National Peanut Day

Happy National Peanut Day!  To celebrate I made us a Nutter Butter Cake!

This cake was a delicious peanut overload: Peanut cake, peanut frosting, crushed and whole nutter butter cookies.  I think it would have been cute to fashion the cookies to look like Mr. Peanuts!

I can't take claim for this fantastic peanutty idea { original recipe here} which happens to be a modern recipe. Every now and again a decent idea is brought to the table in current decades. I make vintage recipes 95 % of the time but when I come across a new one that involves interesting twists using weird or fun ingredients (pickles, macaroni molded into a brain shape, or a sweet potato cake with potato chip topping) I am stoked to try it out.
 I usually just put up a link to the recipe's website and tell every one to hop on over to get the deets.  However it has been happening too many times that the source is removed and I am pissed because I don't have access to the recipe anymore.  So I am going to start including the recipe here but be wary it will be my version with my changes.

Nutter Butter Cake

3/4 c. butter, softened

1 c. loosely packed brown sugar

1/2 c. granulated sugar

1/2 c. crunchy peanut butter

1/2 c. fat free yogurt (or sour cream)

1 tbsp. almond extract

3 large eggs

2 1/2 c. all-purpose flour

2 1/2 tsp. baking powder

1/2 tsp. salt

3/4 c. skim milk

1. Preheat oven to 350°.  Grease cake pans. In a large bowl using a hand mixer, beat together butter, sugars, and peanut butter until light and fluffy. Add yogurt, eggs, and extract, and mix until smooth.
2. In a separate bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, and salt. Add half of the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients, beating until just combined. Pour in the milk and mix until fully incorporated. Add remaining dry ingredients and stir until just combined. 
3.  Pour batter into prepared cake pans. Bake until a toothpick inserted into each comes out clean, about 35 minutes. Cool before frosting.

Peanut Cream Frosting
2/3 cup unsalted butter softened

1 1/2 cup confectioners sugar

1/2 cup peanut butter

Cream butter thoroughly.  Add 1 cup sifted confectioners sugar gradually and cream until very light and fluffy.  Add 1/2 cup peanut butter, a small amount at a time, creaming well after each addition.  Add 1/2 cup confectioner sugar cream til smooth. 

Decorate cake with Nutter Butter cookies, whole and/or crushed. To get the peanuts to stand on the top layer of the cake I used wide bamboo toothpicks behind the cookies to prop them up.

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Pick this past peanut post where I crafted up some peanut fashion accessories: 

National Peanut Day 2015

Frosty Pineapple Pie

Frosty Pineapple Pie!  Sounds like a great way to beat back this horrid summer heat.
Reviewing the ad you may notice  🠄 "see opposite page for recipe" but since I found this ad out in random image internet land I didn't have access to the ingredients list.  Not having a recipe hasn't stopped me before, as I can just make it up.  I'm not that good with pies though and the best I could have done was vanilla ice cream with pineapple mixed in and placed in a prebaked pie crust.  I was also curious what was really in this pie.  Was it Cool Whip or maybe cottage cheese?   I did some internet searches and low and behold..I found the original recipe! 

Frosty Pineapple Pie:

Boil 1 1/4 cup crushed pineapple.  Stir in 1 pkg lemon jello til dissolved.  Mix in 3/4 to 1 cup sugar depending on sweetness of fruit.  Cool til stiff.

Whip stiff 1 cup undiluted carnation evaporated milk* with 1 tbsp lemon juice.  Pour on top of jello mixture.  Beat in slowly on low speed.  Pour into baked and cooled pie shell.  Chill at least 1 hour.

*To whip carnation, chill in fridge tray until soft crystals form 15-20 minutes.

Success tip: For a fluffy high pie be sure jello mixture is almost stiff and that the evaporated milk is whipped until it stands in stiff peaks.
🍍   🍍   🍍   🍍

So the secret ingredient is evaporated milk!
I followed the "success tip" and my pie was a gorgeous fluffy high pie as the original image showed.  It unfortunately deflated as I didn't know that after making the pie it apparently should be stored in the freezer.  I put it in the fridge and it weeped a far amount of liquid along with the deflating.  As far as taste went it was ehh, kinda bland.  I may have been better off with the ice cream/ crushed pineapple idea I had originally.

Strawberry Long Cake

 Strawberry "Long Cake"!  It's the lazy version of short cakes.  It would seem to me that it would shorten baking time by not having to make individual cakes.  It would also shorten serving time by cutting steps for the stacking/layering construction.  Maybe it should be called Strawberry Short Cut Cake! 

{click image for recipe enlargement}

The bottom batter is typical cake, next layered with sweetened strawberries.  The final layer is a topping made of butter, sugar, and flour dolloped around, something I have never done before.

My cake had a few issues.  The strawberries could have used additional sugar as they were more tart than I like.
Also, I accidentally over-baked this dessert because I never set a timer.  I generally say it's done when it looks done.  The topping threw me off by looking underdone all the while the bottom was burning. At that point my nose kicked in (my other tool to tell if a dish is done) and clued me into the need to remove the cake from the oven.  That's just my quirky way of cooking.  I suggest you guys set a timer and taste your berries before putting them in the cake.  All things that a wise baker would do!

Bacon and Egg Pie

Bacon and egg pie is a savory and delicious dish that can be put together quickly and takes only about 30 minutes to bake.  I found the below vintage image out in no-link-back internet land and could not make out the recipe.

I doubted it was much more than bacon, eggs, a crust, seasonings, shredded cheese, and the obvious product shown of evaporated milk.  Sure enough on the Carnation website they had a recipe that fit this to the letter!  They call it Quiche Lorraine, ooh la la!

Here is my slightly altered recipe:

One unbaked pie crust

6 slices turkey bacon cut into pieces

1 cup Fat Free Shredded Cheddar Cheese

12 oz Fat Free Evaporated Milk

5 eggs, beaten

seasoning of your choice (I used Tony's creole seasoning) added to beaten eggs

Green onions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Sprinkle cheese and chopped up bacon on bottom of pie crust.  Turkey bacon doesn't have to be precooked.  Pour egg and seasoning mixture into pie crust. Bake for 30-35 minutes.  Sprinkle chopped green onions on each piece before serving.  I tried to get fancy by making my green onions into garnish curls.  To do this you cut green onions into short strips and soak in ice water for a few minutes. 

I thought this dish was very good, velvety smooth!  I could see adding a vegetable such as chopped fresh spinach or broccoli florets to boost up it's nutritional value.

Peach Baskets

"Peach baskets owe their glamour to gloriously juicy, tree-ripened Del Monte Peaches.  All of the wonderful things peaches can do to brighten any dish, Del Monte Peaches can do best!"

Glamour, glorious, wonderful, best!
I love these old ads with their intense propaganda...just for peaches!

I found this image out in internet land and the resolution was so weak I could not make out the recipe, but that's not really a concern to me.  I rarely follow recipes too closely anyhow.  I prefer to make it up as what I see in the picture.  For this dessert I saw white cake squares with white icing, toasted coconut, half of a glamorous peach, and jelly mint leaves.  I didn't do the candy leaves because I don't know any old ladies that will let me have some out of their crystal candy dishes, so I used real leaves.  Extra fiber if you choose to eat the garnish!



I figured I had not strayed too far from the original recipe and these turned out tasting quite "glorious"!

I then happened to find a better scan of this ad's recipe and the mystery of what was really involved was revealed!

Bread slathered in condensed milk, dipped in coconut and baked!?
I have turned bread into  "cookies" , "waffles", and Bread Betty "Dessert" before so
I probably would have given the original recipe a go!
I guess this is one time I took the non-kooky route.
That will happen when you are trying to keep up a glamorous appearance for the best and most wonderful peaches there are. 
(BTW....I used generic peaches, ha!)

Baked Hamburger Sandwich

Here is a quick and simple dish I made inspired by an ad from 1962 called American Hamburger Sandwich:

{image source}

or Baked Hamburger Sandwich in 1960:

The recipe requires a can of Hamburger Steak and Onions, of which I don't think is made anymore, and that is probably a good thing.  The other prime component is scone dough, and in my mind equals biscuit dough.
Since this canned Hamburger Steak and Onions isn't going to happen I was free to do my normal thing with making up the recipe.  Sloppy Joe seemed like the kinda filling I would like in a Baked Hamburger Sandwich so that's what I went with.  Use your own favorite recipe because mine as follows is pretty vague: brown in a skillet 1 pound of ground turkey with onions, add 1 can of tomato sauce, and spices such as Tony's and garlic salt, simmer for a bit.  I then mixed up a batch and a half of Jiffy biscuit mix (luckily for you all there is a recipe for this on the side of the box).  I placed half of the dough on the bottom of a glass 8x8 baking dish.  Next layer down the meat mixture.  I then placed a few slices of American cheese on the meat (making this a Baked Cheese Hamburger Sandwich).  Lastly roll out the rest of the biscuit dough to fit over the top of the meat.  I also sprinkled some shredded cheese on top before putting into the oven at 450 degrees for 15 minutes.

It was very tasty as one would expect.  You can put just about anything on a biscuit and it will turn out pretty good.  Well, maybe not jello.  I don't think that will ever catch on.