September 28, 2005

The Julie/Julia Project Book

The first blog to really catch my attention was the Julie/Julia Project, a blog about a NYC secretary who made a vow to cook her way through all the recipes in Julia Child's Mastering the Art of French Cooking. In a year. No small goal, that.


I started reading the blog after all the entries had been completed (but before Julia Child passed away). It took me three days to read it all. My eyes were burning and fatigued when I went to bed at night from staring so intently at the computer screen all day.

I was captivated and fascinated.

The blog was a combination of so many things. A cooking lesson, as she chronicled every (sometimes humorous) detail of the recipe preparation. A look at life in the Big Apple, through the eyes and words of a regular person as opposed to that of a celebrity or the wealthy, as Julie traveled to work, went on her food shopping expeditions and lived in a tiny apartment. The examination of the give-and-take in personal relationships, as the Project also affected the lives of her relatives and friends for those 365 days.

Part of the blog's attraction to me was that I love New York City and all that it is. I'd like to live there, although short of winning the Powerball, I'll realistically never realize that dream unless I reconcile myself to living in a cardboard box. A perfectly legal glimpse into the personal, everyday life of a live New Yorker was not to be passed up.

I admired her perserverance. Firstly, for basing the Project on a cookbook that taught French cooking. It would have been a lot easier to choose a title like "4-Ingredient Meals." Secondly, for sticking with it even though she worked full-time; had to master some difficult cooking techniques, often on some less-than-palatable sounding dishes; that she sometimes had to strain the budget on the ingredients; and for not giving up even when it reached the crazy stage.

I also had to admire her husband, Eric, for the support he showed towards The Project. Not many men are good-natured enough to get through something like this.

All in all, it was an inspirational example in the art of self-discipline. 365 days goes by pretty quickly when you actually think about it. What exactly did I accomplish last year that was so great?

And as a surprising result of her months of getting up close and personal in the kitchen with Julia, Julie Powell got a book deal out of her blog. The Seattle Times did a book review today of this blog-turned-book, Julie and Julia : 365 Days, 524 Recipes, 1 Tiny Apartment Kitchen.

My copy of the book has been ordered and is on it's way. Buying the book is the least I can do for all the inspiration and entertainment that Julie's blog provided me.

September 27, 2005

Party Treats with Nabisco Cookies

What were creative Moms serving up at birthday parties and other child-size celebrations in the 1950's?

Back when Wilton wasn't a household name when it came to decorated cakes, they got a little creative inspiration from the food companies.

The National Biscuit Company published a wonderful little booklet called Children's Party Treats (20 pages) during that decade.

The booklet presented twenty recipes and food decorating ideas, many of them reflecting popular children's interests of that era: Cowboys and Indians, the space program and the circus. Nabisco brand cookies, naturally, and brick ice cream were some of the standard ingredients used to create these little treasures.

For the delight of junior cowboys and cowgirls, there were campfires made of Veri-Thin Pretzel sticks, tepees built of Nabisco Waffle Cones, and scenes populated by Nabisco Cowboys and Indians Cookies.

The space program was addressed in two ideas, the Rocketship Special (with rockets made of bananas and Nabisco Sugar Wafers) and Midget Missiles (individually molded, cone-shaped ice cream accessorized with Oreo Creme Sandwich bases, Sugar Wafer fins and Maraschino cherry satellites perched on top).

Circus and carnival ideas included a Ferris Wheel constructed with Tinker Toys, the buckets holding cookies instead of people; a Merry-Go-Round made with a lazy Susan and a hatbox lid; a shoebox Cicus Wagon that carried ice cream cones; and Barnum's Animal Crackers riding atop large marshmallows.

The Maypole Party Dessert is shown on the front cover. If my scanner weren't broken, I'd love to show a photo of each and every idea.

While these ideas might not captivate the imagination of children today, who are long used to the fast action of video games and computers, they were sure to have been a hit fifty years ago.

September 25, 2005

Occident/King Midas Flour Cookies

Like to bake cookies?

Occident and King Midas Flour produced a set of recipe booklets devoted entirely to cookies. These were published by the Peavey Company of Minneapolis, Minnesota and are not dated, although the booklets and their recipes appear to be fairly contemporary in age.

  1. 120 Bar Cookie Recipes
  2. 117 Bar Cookie Recipes
  3. Quick-as-a-Mix Quick Cookie Recipes

While the first two cookbooks are devoted entirely to bar cookies, the third collection has a variety of types: bar cookies, drop cookies, candy-like cookies, a rolled-type cookie prepared without rolling or cutting, and a special section called Double-Quick cookies.


September 24, 2005

Minute Tapioca Contest Recipe Booklet

When most cooks think of tapioca, a starch that's extracted from the roots of the cassava plant, they think of pudding. However, tapioca is also used for thickening, as a meat extender and as a binding agent.

From Soup to Dessert with Minute Tapioca, (32 pages, 1928) contains revisions and additions to the previous Minute Tapioca Cook Book which was published in 1923.

This revised edition contains 78 recipes from a world-wide contest in which 121,619 housewives from both home and abroad participated. The recipes were judged by Miss Mabel Jewett Crosby, Miss Katherine A. Fisher and Mrs. Elizabeth A. MacDonald, and were tested and retested in the educational department of The Minute Tapioca Company.

The recipes are used in a variety of desserts, as an ingredient to soups, souffles, omelets and entrees, and one page is devoted to using Minute Tapioca as a healthful addition to the diets of children.

Some of the dessert recipes are Maple Coconut Cream, Chocolate Minute Tapioca, Honey Fruit Minute Tapioca, Pineapple Cake Crumb Pudding, Strawberry Custard Cake and Fig Tapioca.

Using Minute Tapioca as a 'Precision Ingredient,' there are recipes for pies such as Lemon Pie, Golden Surprise and Strawberry Pie (where it's used as a thickener). A few of the soup recipes include Iced Fruit Soup, Salmon Bisque and Tomato Bisque.

An omelet recipe is given that promises smooth, light results if Miute Tapioca is used--it's proclaimed to strengthen the cell walls of the beaten eggs.

Something I though was unusual was the recommended use of Tapioca as an ingredient in sandwich fillings--make your sandwiches ahead of time and still have a moist filling without soggy crusts. Some of the filling recipes are Cheese and Olive, Egg Salad, Meat Salad and Fruit-Nut Filling.

Use Minute Tapioca as a meat extender in recipes for Salmon Croquettes, Celery and Tuna Souffle, Meat Loaf, Chicken Croquettes and more.

The delightful, old-fashioned color illustrations in the booklet are quite attractive.

September 23, 2005

Frozen Food Lockers

I found an unusual booklet in an incoming batch of advertising cookbooks. It's not actually a cookbook, but it is food-related. It's interesting that someone kept it all these years in with their old recipe books.

The softcover booklet (63 pages) is a 1950 publication, Bulletin 490 from the Agricultural Experiment Station at the University of Wisconsin, with the title "Frozen Food Lockers & Home Freezers in Meat Distribution."

The lower half of the front cover shows a woman and a young girl loading things into an old-fashioned chest freezer. The upper half of the cover shows a nondescript square building with an old car parked out front.

"What the heck is a frozen food locker?" I ask myself. Remember, I'm a city girl and our food came from the Henke's or the A&P. It's possible that if there had been hunters in our family then I might be a bit more informed. I grew up eating fresh Gulf Coast seafood from nearby Galveston and Kemah--no need for freezing--it was always fresh.

A frozen food locker was a storage facility where people rented a small individual space to store large quantities of frozen foods that they didn't have room for at home.

We had a butter yellow Frigidaire refrigerator with the freezer compartment on the bottom. Much like those that the appliance manufacturers are producing again today. That's where we kept our frozen food and it was plenty big enough. Though come to think of it, my aunt's freezer compartment in her old icebox was hardly big enough to hold much more than two ice trays. She could have used a frozen food locker.

According to the booklet, "few business enterprises in the United States have had as rapid growth as the frozen food locker plants. The number of plants increased from 200 in 1935 to approximately 11,000 by the spring of 1948. These plants are of real benefit to rural and urban families in the preservation and storage of meat, fish, fruits and vegetables, and a convenience to many farmers in slaughtering livestock. Along with the growth and developement in recent years of the frozen food locker plants is the development of home freezer units for similar food preservation and storage."

The information in this booklet provides the results of a study that was done to appraise this development and how it might impact the field of livestock marketing, meat distribution and consumption. Nine states in the North Central Region participated and the resulting report provides quite a bit of information on the habits of consumers and their food freezing habits in these areas during this time period.

Maybe the previous owner of this book was thinking of starting a plant of their own and needed to get the scoop.

I Googled and came up with a website that tells the history of the American Association of Meat Processors. This trade organization was previously known as the National Frozen Food Locker Institute (NFFLI) and it gives a nicely illustrated history of the food lockers.

If you're in the dark like I was, you might find the history interesting.

September 22, 2005

Raisins, Raisins in Everything

Okay. I like raisins as well as the next person. They taste good in cinnamon bread, sprinkled over my bowl of oatmeal, and in these great cookies called Chunkies that I get from the bakery at the West Point Market.

But some of the recipes in the promotional cookbook Avoid Menu-Monotony with Delightful Sun-Maid Recipes carry it a bit too far. Perhaps raisins were a lot more popular in 1932. Perhaps the home economists at Sun-Maid were stretching things a bit and they just ran out of ideas.

On the other hand, maybe you've been searching for one of the unusual recipes in this booklet for a long time.

Nestled in amongst the traditional recipes such as Raisin-Oatmeal Cookies, Sun-Maid Bread Pudding, Sun-Maid Dark Fruit Cake, Sun-Maid Nut Bread and Layer Spice Cake are some dishes that don't seem to do much for my appetite:
  • Raisin Angel Food Cake
  • Pineapple Raisin Ice Cream
  • Raisin Orange Ice Cream
  • Chocolate Raisin Ice Cream (okay, maybe this would be good)
  • Raisin Fudge Squares
  • Casserole Raisins and Carrots
  • Raisin Rice Brittle (a Rice Krispies Treat with raisins)
  • Raisin Cocoanut Candy
  • Raisin Spaghetti Ring
  • Pickle Sandwich Filling
There is one recipe that might have possibilities: Sun-Maid Cheese Biscuits. I might give that one a try. Mostly because anything with cheese in in can't be all that bad.

September 21, 2005

Wilton Candy Making

A lot of information is packed into the 44-page booklet Wilton Candy Making for Beginners (1982).

There is no wasted space in this publication. Easy-to-follow instructions are short and to the point. The text is complemented by color photos that show the candy making techniques as well as the finished products.

If you're not familiar with Wilton candy making, you should know that it involves the use of a product called Wilton Candy Melts. The confections aren't made from scractch--rather you melt the bags of Candy Melts and pour the melted candy into flat rubber molds or the plastic three-dimensional stand-up molds.

What's covered in the booklet:
  • What you need
  • How to melt coating
  • How to mold candy
  • How to paint molds
  • How to dip candy
  • How to make hard candy
  • Basics of decorating
  • Packaging candy for gifts
  • Candies for Christmas
  • Candies for Easter
  • Candies for any occasion
  • Candies for Valentine's Day
  • Candies for Birthdays
  • Making a candy house
  • Decorating a cake with candy
  • Recipes
  • Supplies

The Recipe section contains recipes for Creme Centers, Truffle Mixture, Cherry Cordials, Peanut Butter Filling, Mints, Buttercream Icing and Royal Icing.

The Supplies sections shows a variety of molds: classic shapes, lollipops, holiday shapes, greeting card molds, character molds, stand-up molds and super flex lollipop and mini molds.

The process is laid out so simply that I'm almost inspired to get up from the computer and go into the kitchen to make some candy!

September 14, 2005

American Cereal Company

An early advertising cookbook for Quaker Oats was Cereal Foods and How to Cook Them, edited by Sarah Tyson Rorer. The recipe booklet was first published in the early 1890's by the American Cereal Company, forerunner to the Quaker Oats Company. There were 500,000 copies of the first edition. One million copies each of the second, third and fourth editions were printed.

In 1894, an edition with a premium offer for a set of 12 trade cards was distributed at the Pan American Exposition held in Chicago.

The fifth edition of this booklet, revised and enlarged, was published in 1899. It claimed to be the only complete book on the subject of cereal cookery, and instructed housewives on how to cook a variety of cereal and grain products besides oatmeal.

This booklet was promoting many other of the American Cereal products: oats, corn meal, hominy, farina, barley, parched farinose and rye. Some of the other brands besides Quaker were FS (Schumacher's), Pettijohn's, and Hower's.

The booklet contains recipes for breads, biscuits, buns, rolls, breakfast cakes, porridge, mush, crackers, cakes, crullers, doughnuts, croquettes, custards, fritters, gems, griddle cakes, gruel, and infant food. This is the place to look if you need to know how to prepare Barley Water, Samp or Sweet Rusk. There are also several pages of kitchen advice.

Two pages inside show illustrations of come of their brightly colored product packages. The American Cereal Company was a pioneer in early food product packaging. Their 2-lb boxes showed the product brand name, sometimes had recipes, and extolled the virtues of the product.

September 12, 2005

1949 Woman's Home Companion Recipe Offers


A while back I was the lucky recipient of a stack of vintage Woman's Home Companion magazines, most of them dated in the 1940's. One thing that hasn't changed over the years are the number of brand name food advertisements in each issue.

Occasionally the food ads contain mail-in offers for recipe booklets. The magazine advertisements are a good way to date the booklets and leaflets that don't show a publishing date.

The sixteen mail-in offers found in the June 1949 issue of Woman's Home Companion are:


  • Armour and Company - For additional recipes for Pantry-Shelf Meals, write Marie Gifford. A freebie!
  • National Association of Ice Industries - Mail a postcard today for your free copy of "Money-saving Tips on Marketing" -- a 24-page guide to buing vegetables, poultry and fish.
  • Crisco - New! Bigger! Better! Crisco Cook Book. Just out, gives you 161 exciting new recipes, lots of full-color picture pages. Send 25 cents in coin and a Crisco label, any size, for New Recipes for Good Eating.
  • French's - Free! New Recipe Book "Dining Delights." Send name and address.
  • Ten-B-Low - Free 20 delicious recipes, including many unusual and easy-to-make desserts. Just write Sally Ross.
  • Wesson Oil - Recipes? Yes, 218 for you in "How to Win Compliments," grand 100-page cookbook. Many color photos. Send name, address, and 25 cents in coin.
  • Swift'ning - Send 75 cents for set of two Heart-Shaped aluminum Layer Cake Pans , and folder of Special Occasion Cake Recipes. Also send paper disc from inside a can of Swift'ning or red portion of unwinding band.
  • Star-Kist Tuna - Mail coupon for a 24-page booklet filled with exciting, kitchen-tested tuna recipes. Illustrated in color. (Booklet has a ship on the front cover named Star-Kist and the word "Tuna" in large letters.)
  • Pillsbury - Get valuable articles at real savings Pillsbury Coupon plan. Extra-value coupon with each Pillsbury package. Write for free Premium bBooklet to Pillsbury, Minneapolis, Minnesota.
  • Kraft - For more ideas on glorious cheese tray assortments for all occasions write for your free copy of "And then--he Cheese Tray."
  • Wear-Ever - Send for the free Wear-Ever folder on "Secrets of Making Better Coffee." It includes recipes featuring delicious coffee-flavor treats. Write Margaret Mitchell, Director of Wear-Ever Test Kitchens.
  • Kerr - Get free 24-page booklet, "Let's Eat Home Canned Foods," and 100 free jar labels. Valuabkle information on modern canning methods, time tables, many new recipes.
  • American Meat Institute - Illustrated booklet, showing six "thrifty use" ideas, yours for 5 cents in coin.
  • Swan's Down - Send name and address for Swans Down's new "Guessing-Gone" recipe folder--things you've always wanted to know for perfect cakemaking!
  • Karo - Send for this new book Free! Just send for the Karo booklet, "Finer Canned and Frozen Fruits". Send a postcard with your name and address.
  • Lea & Perrins - Free! Recipe Book. Write Lea & Perrins.

September 11, 2005

Die-Cut Promotional Cookbooks

Die-cut advertising cookbooks are a fun sub-category of promotional cookbooks to watch for. These are booklets and leaflets that are in the shape of something other than the standard sqaure or rectangular-shaped book; sometimes they're in the shape of the product that they're promoting.

These booklets were more expensive to publish, hence they're usually more scarce than other types of promotional recipe booklets.

Some examples of die-cut booklets are:

The White House Cereals Recipe Book, undated, by Standard Rice is in the shape of a cereal box.




The Mazola Salad Bowl, 1939, by the Corn Products Refining Company has the bottom half of the booklet cut out around the shape of a wooden salad bowl.


The Frito Kid's Party Ideas for Kiddies, 1954, by The Frito Co. has the top edge of the booklet cut out around the shape of the Frito Kid's cowboy hat.



September 10, 2005

Cast-Rite Cook Ware

A late 1920's brochure from Cast-Rite Cook Ware of Chicago, Illinois shows some of the kitchen utensils the company produced. If you collect this brand of cook ware, the list below may come in handy:

  • Preserving Kettle

  • Pie Rack

  • Reversible Griddle-Broiler

  • Dutch Oven

  • 2-Quart Sauce Pan

  • 3-Quart Sauce Pan

  • 4-Quart Sauce Pan

  • Casserole

  • Oval Roaster (Single or Double)

  • Tea Pot

  • Beverage Urn

  • 6-Inch Fry Pan

  • 8-Inch Fry Pan

  • 10-Inch Fry Pan

  • Custard Cups

  • Gas Waffle Mould

  • Electric Waffle Mould

  • Double Fry Pan

  • Triplicate Set

  • Tea Kettle

  • Turkey Roaster



Dr. Arnold H. Kegel is named as the Chicago Commissioner of Health, which helps date the brochure. According to the testimonials printed on the rear page, both from Cast-Rite users and Dr. Kegel, the health benefits of cooking with these utensils was nothing short of miraculous.

"Cast-Rite Cooking Cooking Builds the Fence - Guarantees Health and Happiness for All"

"Better a Fence at the Top of the Cliff Than An Ambulance Down At the Bottom"

September 09, 2005

Borden Circus Spectacular


In 1976 Borden produced a promotional recipe booklet that featured a circus party theme. It was a 16-page paper booklet called Circus Spectacular.

What draws me to it is that the color photos illustrating the completed recipes and the clown page decorations look so festive and partyish. The finished dishes are complemented by a proliferation of circus figurines--elephants, circus coaches and clowns nestled on the table in amongst the serving pieces.

There are budget-pleasing recipes for snacks, treats for kids, family fixin's, sandwiches and desserts--about 28 recipes in all.

Also included are a page of tips to "Make Your Circus Party Spectacular" and a page of circus facts. A condensed version of the party tips follows:


  • Create a circus mood with balloons, paper streamers and clown hats;

  • Every child wants a circus treat to take home, so fill a colored bag with boxes of Cracker Jacks and animal crackers, as well as some of the treats listed in the recipe section;

  • Fun-time Food Tricks the Children can do, such as make their own soda fountain treats, Create-a-Circus-Clown ice cream cones; and Clown Salads; and

  • Hostess Helps - the use of Borden brand convenience foods.

I haven't seen too many of these booklets around. It may have been a mail-in offer as the copy I have is creased lengthwise as if to fit in a mailing envelope.

Something available today for busy moms and other party-givers that wasn't around in 1976 is the ability to order party supplies online. It's possible to find all the necessary supplies to fit your party theme without ever leaving home! No sitting in traffic? I'm all for that!


Celebrate with The Party Works

September 08, 2005

Oscar Mayer 6-in-1 Guide


Ellen Edwards, Home Economist for Oscar Mayer in Madison, Wisconsin, developed a series of six promotional recipe booklets that were combined as a set and called the Six-in-One Guide to Good Eating - Sausage Recipes for Every Occasion.

The booklets aren't dated, but they look to be circa 1960's or 70's. The set is contained within a 4" x 9-1/4" blue cardstock-weight envelope. Each stapled booklet has a different color scheme on the cover that is carried through to the interior page decorations (orange, gold, purple, red, turquoise and green).

The titles of the recipe booklets are:

  1. Feeding the Gang

  2. Buffet Suppers

  3. Party Starters

  4. Cookout Fun

  5. Breakfast and Brunch

  6. Pack and Tote Foods
Each booklet consists of eight pages of recipes and tips. Contrary to what the outer folder implies, the recipes use more than sausage products. They also call for the use of Oscar Mayer bacon, ham, weiners and luncheon meats.

I thought these were of note because it's quite possible that the outer envelope was often discarded, leaving the booklets to be more commonly found individually rather than as a set.


    September 07, 2005

    Quaker Oats History

    Some of my part-time reading has been The History of the Quaker Oats Company by Harrison John Thornton. It's an out-of-print book that I borrowed from the library.


    This book is rich in detail. The author's research was done for his doctoral dissertation and he was given access to many of the company's original archives and records. Since this book was published in 1933, he also had the opportunity to speak firsthand with many of the early players such as H. P. Crowell and John Stuart.

    I'll probably write more after I've finished the book, but to give you an idea of the information inside, I'll list the Table of Contents here:

    Chapter I - Oats in History
    Chapter II - The Early Oatmeal Millers of America
    Chapter III - Rivalry and Consolidation
    Chapter IV - Oats and the Human Appetite
    Chapter V - Changing the American Breakfast
    Chapter VI - Oats and the Scientist
    Chapter VII - The Milling Process
    Chapter VIII - The Commerical Preparation of Animal Feeds
    Chapter IX - The "Quaker" in Court
    Chapter X - Building a World-Market
    Chapter XI - A Century of Progress

    The content has many facets that I find iteresting: it's about food history, early American agriculture, brand history, product marketing and advertising, and a bit of regional history thrown in as well.

    September 05, 2005

    Labor Day Reading

    Since it was the Labor Day weekend, no labor for me. The book I've been reading for the last several days ends simultaneously along with the holiday weekend and the summer.

    I thought Linda Ellerbee's Take Big Bites: Adventures Around the World and Across the Table was a good read. Having reached her 60th birthday, the author reflects on growing older and looks back on where her journey through life has taken her so far.

    She may be a transplanted Texan, but I sense that Texas remains within her. I recognize this because the humor with which she writes feels comfortable, something you miss when you're not around other Texans. There was something to make me laugh out loud in every chapter.

    She reminisces with individual stories that are focused on places she's been, the people she's met and the food that she ate while she was there. It's a book comprised of what I call "food memories."

    I didn't find it strange that she could recall whether or not she ordered onions on her enchiladas as a child, some 40-odd years ago, perhaps because I saw in her writing a bit of a kindred spirit. Food plays a huge part in many of my own travel destinations and memories.


    The book also strikes a chord within me as I've been doing a bit of reflecting of my own lately. I wonder how my life would have been different if I had had the courage/foresight/ability to go on my own to a foreign country when I was 18 years old like she did. Or even across the United States from the Texas Gulf Coast to newer horizons like California or New York. Is it too late to start now? After reading her book, I think that perhaps it's not.

    It makes me wonder about the Hurricane Katrina evacuees and how many of them will find their lives taking new, unexpected direction because of their being abruptly uprooted to a place far from home. How chance and misfortune might possibly be turned into opportunity--how many of them might find that proverbial window that opens when a door closes. How something positive might come from something so negative.

    "Nobody knows how we got to the top of the hill. But since we're on our way down, we might as well enjoy the ride..."

    There are a few recipes included in the book, usually at least one with each story. My mouth was watering over the Cream of Garlic Soup and Tzatzki and I was ready to whip out my pots and pans. But no labor in the kitchen this weekend either, because the stove's on the blink. The recipes will have to wait until the GE repairman arrives.

    .

    September 04, 2005

    Pillsbury Classic Cookbooks List

    Need to know if you're missing an issue from your Pillsbury Classic Cookbooks collection? Here's a list of the issues from November 2000 through September 2002:

    #237 November 2000 - Christmas Baking
    #238 December 2000 - Holiday Appetizers
    #239 January 2001 - Casseroles & Slow Cooker Meals
    #240 February 2001 - Soups & Stews
    #241 March 2001 - A Taste of the Bake-Off Cookbook
    #242 April 2001 - Brunches & Desserts
    #243 May 2001 - Grilling
    #244 June 2001 - Fun & Easy Mexican Cooking
    #245 July 2001 - Simple Summer Meals
    #246 August 2001 - Farmer's Market Vegetarian
    #247 September 2001 - Hamburger
    #248 October 2001 - Chicken & Fish
    #249 November 2001 - Holiday Cookies & Candies
    #250 December 2001 - Holiday Get-Togethers
    #251 January 2002 - Slow Cooker Recipes
    #252 February 2002 - Healthy HomeStyle Meals
    #253 March 2002 - Quick & Easy Bake-Off (40th Contest)
    #254 April 2002 - Recipes With Crescents, Biscuits & More!
    #255 May 2002 - Great Grilling
    #256 June 2002 - Family Gatherings
    #257 July 2002 - Fuss-Free Meals
    #258 August 2002 - Simply Vegetarian
    #259 September 2002 - 30-Minute Meals

    September 01, 2005

    McCall's Service Booklets

    For those of you who collect McCall's recipes and booklets, here's a list of the McCall's Service Booklets available in 1923. The booklets were available by sending your address and postage (usually 10 cents) to McCall's Magazine in New York City.

    Not all were cooking related--some of them pertain to managing a household, gardening and parenting.

    Spending the Family Income - Why true economy means living by a plan--what a plan of expenditure includes.

    A Group of Little Homes. Suggestions for the interior decoration of each room of the small house. Approved by Ruby Ross Goodnow.

    The Modern Home: How to Equip It with Mechanicl Servants and Manage it Wisely. by Lillian Purdy Goldsborough. Labor-saving devices and methods in a servantless home.

    Down the Garden Path. by Dorothy Giles of the Garden Club of America. Directions for flower and vegetable gardening.

    Some Reasons Why in Cookery. by May B. Van Arsdale, Day Monroe and Mary I. Barber. Recipes, based on scientific research, for delicious dishes.

    Time-Saving Cookery. Prepared by The House of Sarah Field Splint. Menus and recipes indicating how package and canned foods spare the home-cook time and work.

    Master-Recipes. by F. G. O. A new time-saving method in cookery. Ten recipes given in each of 15 master recipes.

    What to Serve at Parties. Compiled by Lilian M. Gunn, Department of Foods and Cookery, Teachers College, Columbia University.

    Parties All the Year. One for every month. by Claudia M. Fitzgerald. Suggestions for rhymed invitations, games, contests, stunts, costumes, prizes, refreshments.

    More Parties. by Claudia M. Fitzgerald. Like the above.

    Entertaining Without a Maid. by Edna Sibley Tipton. Correct table service for parties or for the family's meals.

    The Little Book of Good Looks. A common sense guide to personal loveliness. The methods of New York's most famous beauty parlors, combined with the advice of a noted dermatologist.

    The Bride's Own Book. Suggestions for formal and informal weddings in the church and the home.

    A Book of Manners. The etiquette of introductions, calls, invitations, gifts, manners at table and in public places, mourning, correspondence, children's manners.

    The Friendly Mother: A Book of Prenatal Mothercraft. by Helen Johnson Keyes.

    The Friendly Child. by Helen Johnson Keyes. Feeding schedules and other good advice for the child from babyhood to eleven years.