November 30, 2005

Karo Syrup Holiday Sweets


Some of my most requested items during the holidays are Karo Corn Syrup recipe booklets. Karo is a favorite ingredient for candies and other sweets.

One that's quite popular is a small paper hangtag booklet called Karo Holiday Suggestions (1980, 8 pages). Perhaps because it's such a small item (only 2-3/4 x 3-1/4 inches), it was easily lost or misplaced, and that's the reason people are always looking for it.

The booklet has a Christmas theme motif on the front cover and the inside has little red page decorations with red recipe titles. Sometimes they still have the elastic hanger.

The recipes in this booklet are:

Divinity
Quick Popcorn Balls
Quick Chocolate Fudge
Peanut Brittle
Crazy Crunch
Mosaic Fruitcake
No-cook Fondant
Fruitcake Glaze
Candied Fruit Bars
Pumpkin Pie
Deluxe Pecan Pie
Butterscotch Sweet Potatoes
Dainty Lace Wafers
Spicy Cranberry Sauce
Nesselrode Sauce

Other Best Foods brands are suggested in the recipes: Mazola Margarine, Nucoa Margarine, Mazola Corn Oil, and Argo Corn Starch. The recipes use both light and dark corn syrup.

DAINTY LACE WAFERS

1/2 cup unsifted flour
1/2 cup finely chopped walnuts
1/4 cup Karo Light Corn Syrup
1/4 cup Mazola or Nucoa Margarine
1/3 cup firmly packed light or dark brown sugar
2 tablespoons milk

Stir together flour and nuts. In 1-1/2 quart saucepan stir together remaining 4 ingredients. Bring to boil over medium heat, stirring constantly. Immediately remove from heat; gradually add flour-nut mixture until well mixed. Drop batter by rounded quarter teaspoonfuls onto foil covered cookie sheet 2 inches apart. Bake in 350 degree oven 7 minutes or until golden brown. Cool on wire rack 5 minutes or until foil may easily be peeled off cookies. Store in tightly covered container.

Makes 7 dozen (2-inch) cookies.

November 26, 2005

1968 Flashback: Campbell's and the Food Groups

In the 1968 revised edition of Easy Ways to Delicious Meals (204 pages), the Campbell Soup Company was still working to help homemakers incorporate the Campbell brands of convenience foods into their meal planning.

This hardcover cookbook contains 465 quick-to-fix recipes, has a spiral wire binding and is illustrated with color photographs.

In the front of the book they demonstrated how their brands easily fit into the recommended Four Basic Food Groups of the Daily Food Guide. They have the four groups divided as follows:

1. Milk, Cheese, Ice Cream
2. Meat, Poultry, Fish, Eggs
3. Vegetables and Fruits
4. Cereals, Bread, Macaroni, Noodles, Rice

Campbell's Soups (Condensed and Frozen)
1. Soups that contribute to the Milk Group: Cheddar Cheese, Clam Chowder (New England Style), Cream of Asparagus, Cream of Celery, Cream of Chicken, Cream of Mushroom, Cream of Potato, Cream of Shrimp (frozen), Oyster Stew.

2. Soups that contribute to Meat Group: Bean with Bacon, Beef, Beef Broth, Chicken & Stars, Chicken Vegetable, Chili Beef, Consomme, Cream of Shrimp (Frozen), Green Pea with Ham (Frozen), Oyster Stew (Frozen) Pepper Pot, Scotch Broth, Split Pea with Ham, Vegetable Beef.

3. Soups that Contribute to Vegetable Group: Bisque of Tomato, Chicken Vegetable, Clam Chowder (Manhattan Style), Cream of Asparagus, Cream of Potato, Green Pea, Minestrone, Scotch Broth, Spit Pea with Ham, Tomato, Tomato Rice, Vegetable, Vegetable Beef, Vegetarian Vegetable.

4. Soups that contribute to Cereal Group: Beef Noodle, Chicken Gumbo, Chicken Noodle, Chicken Rice, Chicken & Stars, Minestrone, Noodles & Ground Beef, Scotch Broth, Tomato Rice, Turkey Noodle.

Campbell's Beans: These canned products contribute to both the Meat and Vegetable Groups. Products include Barbecue Beans, Beans & Franks, Beans & Ground Beef, Pork & Beans.

Franco-American Spaghetti-Macaroni: These canned products contribute to Cereal-Macaroni Group. In addition, several contribute to Milk-Cheese Group and Meat Group (as you can tell from listed ingredients). Products include Macaroni with Cheese Sauce, Macaroni 'n Beef in Tomato Sauce, Italian Style Spaghetti, Spaghetti in Tomato Sauce with Cheese, Spaghetti 'n Beef in Tomato Sauce, Spaghetti with Meatballs.

Bounty Main Dishes: These canned products contribute to Meat Group and Vegetable Group. Products include Beef and Chicken Stews, and Chili con Carne.

Swanson Frozen Meat Pies: Contribute to Meat Group, Vegetable Group and Cereal Group: These include Beef, Chicken, Tuna, Turkey.

Swanson Frozen Prepared Dinners: Contribute to Meat Group as well as Vegetable Group and Cereal Group. These include Beans and Franks, Beef, Chopped Sirloin, corned Beef Hash, Filet of Haddock, Fish 'n' French Fires, Fired Chicken, Fried Shrimp, Ham Loin of Pork, Macaroni and Cheese, Meat Loaf, Salisbury Steak, Scallop, Spaghetti and Meatballs, Swiss Steak, Turkey.

The passage of time has changed the Basic Food Groups (there are now five) and some of the Campbell's products listed above are no longer available. It's fun to glimpse back to 1968 to see some of the products offered and compare them to the ones available now.

November 25, 2005

California Apricots

California produces 95% of the apricots grown in the United States, with most of the orchards located in the San Joaquin Valley.

You can find fresh California apricots at your grocer and at farmer's markets from approximately mid-May through the early part of July. Fresh apricots are also imported from Chile, New Zealand, Canada and Mexico.

Fortunately, we aren't limited to only a couple of months out of the year where we can enjoy California-grown apricots, as they are also available dried and canned. Del Monte has a brand called Orchard Select, offering premium variety apricot halves packaged in old-fashioned mason-style jars.

Simply Sensational... California Apricots is a modern recipe booklet published by the California Apricot Advisory Board. It's undated and has 28 recipes that use fresh, canned and dried California apricots. Nutritional information is given for the canned and dried varieties.

A few of the recipes in this booklet that use fresh apricots are Apricot Stuffed Chicken, Pasta Apricot Salad, Apricot and Pork Salad, and Irresistible Fresh Apricot Pies.

Stir-Fry Pork and Apricots, Apricot Pina Colada, and Spiced Apricot Sauce are some that used the canned variety.

Dried apricots are a great snack all by themselves, but you can also use them in these recipes: Apricot Chutney, Apricot Pumpkin Muffins and Apricot Whole Wheat Bread.

I've included the following recipe for Apricot Pepper Jelly because I think it would make a nice Christmas or holiday hostess gift. Since fresh California apricots aren't in season right now, you can easily find the dried. This recipe is one of those from the booklet.

APRICOT PEPPER JELLY

This gourmet jelly is superb with cream cheese and crackers and is a zippy complement to roasts.

1 cup red or green bell pepper strips (about 1 med. pepper)
2 cups cider vinegar
1/3 cup drained canned (or bottled) whole jalapeno peppers, rinsed; stems and seeds removed*
1 to 1-1/4 cups dried California apricot halves, finely slivered (6 oz. bag)
6 cups sugar
1 pouch (3 oz.) liquid pectin
5 drops red or green food color (depends upon type of bell pepper used)

Combine pepper strips, vinegar and jalapeno peppers in an electric blender. Process stop-and-go fashion until somewhat ground, but small chunks remain. Combine with apricot strips and sugar in saucepan; bring to a boil. Boil 5 minutes. Remove from heat; skim off any foam. Cool 2 minutes, then mix pectin and food color. Pour into sterilized jars and fasten lids. Process in boiling water bath for 15 minutes if desired. Cool.

* If available, use 1/3 cup fresh jalapeno peppers instead of the bottled ones.

Makes 6-1/2 cups.

November 24, 2005

Eagle Brand Chocolate Cheesecake

Happy Thanksgiving! Hope you all will have a lovely day.

Yesterday I did a little pre-Thanksgiving baking. I tried a new (for me) recipe from a 1986 issue of Best of Favorite Recipes Magazine, Quick & Easy Desserts (96 pages). This issue featured Borden Eagle Brand Sweetened Condensed Milk as the main name brand ingredient in all the recipes.

Yes, like everyone else, I use a lot of Eagle Brand Milk during the holidays. Most of the time I still use my trusty Joy of Cheesecake cookbook for cheesecakes, as it's never failed me yet. But I thought I'd try something different this time and used the Luscious Baked Chocolate Cheesecake recipe from the magazine, partially because it was marked as "Super Quick". Also because Eagle Brand was on sale at the grocery, and I stocked up on several cans.

This recipe, as it happens, is the one shown on the cover. (Did I subconsciously choose this recipe due to that?)

It was indeed, super quick to put together, and I even used my hand mixer rather than my big stand mixer.

We cut into it last night. The crust wasn't soggy; the texture of the cheesecake itself was good, which meant to me that the cooking time of 65 minutes was just right.

It did have a very powerful chocolate flavor, and although I would have preferred that the chocolate flavor and the crust be a bit sweeter, I thought it turned out well. I used the semi-sweet chocolate chips. I believe it could benefit from a drizzle of raspberry sauce as garnish, so I'll fix that up today for the rest of the servings.

LUSCIOUS BAKED CHOCOLATE CHEESECAKE (Super Quick)

1/3 cup margarine or butter, melted
1-1/4 cups graham cracker crumbs
1/4-cup sugar
3 (8-ounce) packages cream cheese, softened
1 (14-ounce) can Eagle Brand Sweetened Condensed Milk (not evaporated milk)
1 (12-ounce) package semi-sweet chocolate chips or 8 (1-ounce) squares semi-sweet chocolate, melted
4 eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 300 degrees. Combine margarine, crumbs and sugar; press firmly on bottom of 9-inch springform pan. In large mixer bowl, beat cheese until fluffy. Gradually beat in sweetened condensed milk until smooth. Add remaining ingredients; mix well. Pour into prepared pan. Bake 1 hour and 5 minutes or until set. Cool. Chill thoroughly. Garnish as desired. Refrigerate leftovers.

Makes one 9-inch cheesecake

November 22, 2005

Velveeta Cheese and the Holidays

November and December are great months for food shopping because the grocery stores run special sales on the most popular brand name products that people use during the holidays. It's a good time to stock up.

One of those products is Kraft Velveeta Process Cheese Spread. You can use it in a lot of dishes from Thanksgiving straight on through New Year's.

Fresh Ideas From Velveeta (1986, 29 pages) was a freebie booklet with the purchase of a 2-lb package of Original Velveeta or two other Velveeta products (such as Hot or Mild Mexican or Slices). In the back of the booklet were instructions for ordering extra copies.

It has a yummy photo of asparagus spears with cheese sauce on the front cover. Velveeta is great for cooking because it melts and blends so easily. Even the Amish women use Velveeta and they're well known for their great home-cooked food.

This recipe booklet contains 35 recipes and several of them are suitable for holiday dinner side dishes, soups for cold shopping days, or snacks and dips for football games or other get-togethers. These are all easy recipes. Other recipes in the booklet, although not listed below, lend themselves to quick and easy lunches and dinners during the busy season.

Some of the recipes in this booklet that might work well particularly well during the holidays are:

South-of-the-Border Dip
Snappy Vegetable Dip
El Pollo Nacho Platter
Creamy Broccoli Soup
Seafood Bisque
Fruit 'N Cheesy Grill (a grilled cheese sandwich with dates, walnuts and raisins)
Cheesy Potato Skins
Golden Mashed Potatoes
Savory "Hollandaise" Sauce
Sauce Supreme
Imperial Shrimp on Rice
Classic Macaroni and Cheese
Nouvelle Fettucini
English Egg Muffin

The recipes are illustrated with color photos, the food showing up well against the black backgrounds, enticing you to get busy in the kitchen.

I'll share this recipe for the cheese sauce because it's perfect for those fresh or frozen vegetables that you'd like to dress up a bit for your holiday table.

SAUCE SUPREME

1/2 pound Velveeta Pasteurized Process Cheese Spread, cubed
1/2 cup Kraft Real Mayonnaise
1/4 cup milk
1 teaspoon dry mustard

Combine process cheese spread, mayonnaise and milk; stir over low heat until smooth. Stir in mustard. Serve over hot cooked vegetables.

Makes 1-1/2 cups

Microwave Directions: Combine all ingredients in 1-quart measure. Microwave on Medium (50%) 4 to 6 minutes or until smooth, stirring every 2 minutes.

November 21, 2005

Kellogg's Cereal Treats or Snacks


Sweet Treats, by Kay Kellogg, is a small, 12-page promotional booklet that was published by Kellogg's sometime in the late 1960's or early 1970's. Its purpose, no doubt, was to help you find a way to use more of their Ready-to-Eat boxed cereals.

The first page of the booklet suggests that you use these recipes as an alternative to candy:

"Hippety-hop to the barbershop
To buy a stick of candy.
One for me, one for you,
One for sister Mandy!"

"No need to follow the advice of this old nursery rhyme if you have a package of Kellogg's Ready-to-Eat Cereal in the cupboard and these Sweet Treats recipes."

"Just make them
Quick and dandy"

The cereal companies now call their modern, pre-packaged versions of some of these recipes "snacks." A snack sounds healthier than candy doesn't it?

The booklet contains nine recipes:

Apple Jacks Bully Busters
Chocolate Scotcheroos
Cocoa Balls
Cocoa Krispies Squares
Froot Loop Fancies
Rice Krispies Marshmallow Treats (with variations)
Scotch Treats (with variations)
Rice Krispies Daties

COCOA BALLS

4 cups Kellogg's Corn Flakes or 1 cup Kellogg's Corn Flake Crumbs
1/2 soft butter or margarine
1/3 cup granulated sugar
1/3 cup cocoa
1 egg, slightly beaten
1 teaspoon vanilla flavoring
1 cup snipped shredded or flaked coconut
1/2 cup chopped nutmeats
Confectioners sugar

1. If using Corn Flakes, crush into fine crumbs.
2. Combine butter, granulated sugar, cocoa and egg in medium-sized saucepan. Cook over low heat, stirring constantly, until mixture is well-blended and slightly thickened.
3. Add vanilla, coconut, nutmeats and Corn Flake Crumbs; mix well.
4. Shape into small balls, about 1 inch in diameter. Roll in confectioners sugar.
5. Store in tightly covered container. Roll again in confectioners sugar before serving.

Yield: 3 dozen balls about 1 inch in diameter.

November 20, 2005

The Dot Hog Recipe

I met my current SO at Christmastime. The relationship showed promise right from the beginning--he appeared with several large tins of his mother's homemade candy and cookies. Patience Candy, Caramels individually wrapped in waxed paper, Chocolate Fudge with Pecans, Mexican Wedding Cookies. Yum! All those goodies and I didn't have to make them.

He also raved about something else his mother usually fixed for him every Christmas: Dot Hogs. I didn't know what those were. Never could find a recipe with that name.

The next Christmas, she sent him several large ziplock bags full of Dot Hogs. Hmm, Pigs in a Blanket, or homemade rolls with a hot dog inside. By that time I had known him long enough to learn that he thought it was fun to switch the first letters of words. We still get a good laugh out of me hunting for the Dot Hog recipe.

There are two quick-and-easy Dot Hog recipes in Recipes with Crescents, Biscuits and More, a Pillsbury Classic Cookbook (April 2002, 96 pages). These work well if you're not up to making your Dot Hog dough from scratch.

One recipe is Easy Crescent Dogs, the classic recipe with a hot dog and a slice of cheese wrapped inside a Pillsbury Crescent Roll. The other is Sausage Snack Wraps, the appetizer version, with cocktail-sized smoked link sausages wrapped in the crescent roll dough.

Those two recipes have been around for a long time, so you might have them elsewhere in your recipe collection. There are, however, lots of other recipes in this issue that look pretty tasty and easy to make with the Pillsbury refrigerated dough.

The Table of Contents categories are: Dinner Favorites, Easy Appetizers, Breakfast Bonanza and Desserts & Sweet Treats.

Biscuit Barbecups, Italian Biscuit and Biscuit Bake, Deep Dish Pizza Pie Bundle, Chicken a la Grands, Southwestern Cornbread and Chicken Casserole, Jalapeno Pepper Snackers, Maple Pecan Crescent Twists, Cream Cheese-Raspberry Coffee Cake and Biscuits and Peppered Sausage Gravy are just a few of the recipes found in this issue.

Since I like to make of meal of appetizers and snacky-type foods, I think this one sounds good: Parmesan Pizza Snacks, which are pepperoni and mozzarella cheese cubes wrapped inside the Pillsbury Refrigerated Garlic Breadstick dough and then baked. Dip these in pizza sauce.

November 18, 2005

A 1929 Thanksgiving Dinner

The function of The National Live Stock and Meat Board, founded in 1922, was to promote the consumption of beef, lamb and pork. That being so, it's no surprise that there was no turkey on the Thanksgiving Day menu in their promotional booklet, Housewife's Meat Calendar - 1929 (46 pages).

The booklet is divided into twelve sections, one for each month of the year. Each month features some type of special seasonal party, dinner or other meal. A menu, recipes for the meat dishes, suggestions for table decorations, and helpful household hints are given for each occasion.

The month of November features a Thanksgiving Dinner. The following suggestions are taken from this booklet:

MENU

Fruit Cocktail
Olives - Celery
Roast Suckling Pig
Dressing
Mashed Potatoes - Gravy
Cauliflower Au Gratin
Creamed Onions
Candied Sweet Potatoes
Cranberry Jelly
Hot Rolls
Raisins - Nuts
Mince Pie - Cheese
Coffee

TABLE DECORATION:

"The centerpiece of fruit or of fruit and vegetables is most appropriate for the Thanksgiving dinner table. A pumpkin, hollowed out, may be the container for the fruit, which should be as varied as possible. Clusters of grapes or, lacking the malaga grapes which may be found in some markets, clusters of table raisins may be placed so they seem to be spilling over the sides or, fruit and vegetables tumbling from a cornucopia, emblem of plenty and symbolic of the harvest season, may be used.

Place-cards representing fruit and vegetables may be used, or the clever artist may paint Puritan men and maidens and cut out the figures, leaving a card for the name and pasting a strip of stiff paper on the back so that the figures will stand at each place.

Candles always add to the attractiveness of the Thanksgiving Table and orange or brown ones will fit in nicely with the color scheme. Brass holders for the candles are charming with the pumpkin centerpiece. Compotes of nuts and candies complete the decoration."

November 17, 2005

The Turkey Responsibility

It's time to think about cooking that Thanksgiving turkey. Decisions, decisions. Fresh? Frozen? Whole Bird? Turkey Breast? Roasted? Fried? Injected? Order it fully cooked from the grocery store? Eat dinner at Luby's Cafeteria? There are a lot of choices these days.

In my family, the preparation of the Thanksgiving dinner has traditionally been shared amongst all of the women. Everyone contributes a dish. My mom or aunt always did the turkey and dressing. My cousin and I, or various other relatives, always brought the vegetables, dessert and rolls.

One year while we were in the kitchen getting things ready, it occurred to me that I had no clue about how to actually shop for or cook a turkey. Up until that time, I only had a vague idea of what was involved (i.e. you had to get up early). It struck me then, that someday my mom and aunt weren't going to be there, and that the younger generation would be depending on us.

This realization marked the end of any thoughts I may have still harbored about feeling young. My cousin or I responsible for the turkey? Yikes!

It was time to learn how. I volunteered to fix the turkey the next holiday. Buying the turkey and cooking it was much more complex than just sitting down at the table and choosing either white meat or dark. How many pounds should I buy? Then, how to thaw it out? Did I have a cooking pan that was large enough? Was it done yet? Oops, don't forget the giblet gravy. All those details were almost overwhelming to me. I got through it the first time (and the second and third) with many phone calls to my mom.

Since then, I've used the oven cooking bag method, the paper bag method, and the frozen turkey with and without a pop-up timer. Last year I was in a location where a fresh turkey was easily found, so I tried that. The fresh variety sure took care of the defrosting question.

From now on, if I have the opportunity, I'll choose fresh. Or, if the snow gods are good, I'll choose Park City and skiing over the Thanksgiving holiday. There are worse things than having Thanksgiving dinner in a restaurant at a ski resort.

For those of you facing your first turkey and all those decisions, there's plenty of help available. Butterball traditionally offers assistance, now providing the choice of 1) visiting their website, 2) calling 1-800-BUTTERBALL or 3) emailing the Butterball Turkey Talk-Line (see their website).

Your trusty government offers helpful online advice and recommendations at their USDA website with a list of links to their Fact Sheets which cover various turkey issues.

You may have wondered, since the topic of this blog is food company cookbooks, if I would ever get through my reminiscing and mention them. Yes, I'll do that now.

In the past there have been many recipe booklets published that have to do with Thanksgiving Dinner and the Turkey. Here are several examples that focus primarily on the turkey portion of the dinner:

Talking About Turkey: How to Buy, Store, Thaw, Stuff, and Prepare Your Holiday Bird

Home and Garden Bulletin No. 243 - (U.S. Department of Agriculture, 1984, 20 pages) This booklet contains the information the title says it does. A great basic, no-nonsense, no-frills guide.

In comparing it to the current USDA Fact Sheet, I noticed that the only thing that had changed since 1984 was the adjustment of some of the time allowed for roasting and thawing. They're still pretty much in the same ballpark.


Talk'N Cook with Butterball

(Swift & Co. (Swift/Hunt-Wesson Foods), 1984, 12 pages) Some Q&A, Comparison of Roasting Methods and Special Tips, Recipes for Turkey and Turkey leftovers.

Some of the recipes are Breast of Turkey with Apple Raisin Sauce, Hot and Spicey BBQ Turkey, Tex-Mex Turkey and Cheesy Turkey Chowder.

Always in Good Taste...Butterball

(Swift & Co. (an ESMARK Company), not dated, 12 pages)

Tips, Comparison of Turkey Roasting Methods, and several recipes for accompaniments like stuffings, vegetables, salad and dessert, and recipes for turkey leftovers.

Some of the recipes are Pear Stuffed Squash, Maple Pecan Pie, "Lite" Mushroom Stuffing and Turkey Italiano.

Turkey Everyday and Holidays

(Poultry and Egg National Board, not dated, circa 1950's, 32 pages)

Contains turkey cooking methods, carving, general information, recipes for Main Dishes, (oven and top of range), Salads, Sandwiches and Stuffing/Dressing

This vintage booklet talks about how "modern" turkeys come in forms to meet any demand--large or small, halves or quarters, disjointed and cut up, or by-the-piece. "Formerly turkey was largely restricted to roasting--Now there is a size and style so that turkey can be barbecued, broiled, fried, or fricasseed...for "everyday" meals and "holiday" dinners."

November 15, 2005

Fresh Rolls From Your Freezer

Does anyone remember those great yeast rolls from their elementary school cafeterias? In 1963, the plate lunch at my school (available for a mere 26 cents) always included one of these rolls. Slightly crusty on top, brushed with a bit of butter, they were fresh, hot and tasty.

As much as I love to eat fresh bread and rolls, I'm not much into actually making them myself. What works for me is Rhodes Bake N Serv frozen bread or roll dough. As far as I'm concerned, the only effort required is remembering to remove them from the freezer ahead of time. These rolls remind me of the ones from the school cafeteria.

To make the rolls, about 3 or 4 hours before serving, I place 9 of the frozen dough balls into an 8x8-inch baking pan and put it on top of the refrigerator or stove. I usually cover with a towel or plastic wrap. They thaw and rise, and then you just pop them in the oven to bake. After they're done, just rub the tops with butter.

They provide great homemade taste for minimal effort and go wonderfully with your regular meals or with your Thanksgiving or Christmas dinner. They're great plain, just cooked straight out of the bag, but the Rhodes people also have a lot of recipe ideas and tips on how to turn the plain dough into things even better.

Irresistible Recipes (1997, 16 pages) is a booklet with 19 recipes that use Rhodes frozen bread dough, roll dough, and includes one recipe using their frozen cinnamon rolls.

To give you an idea of some of the different things you can do with the frozen dough, a few of the recipes in this booklet are listed below. Three of the recipes in the booklet are winners from the Rhodes Employee Recipe Contest and are marked with an asterisk.

Carrie's Spinach Twist*
Kim's Artichoke Appetizers*
Cheddar-Onion Bundt
Scott's French Toast Bundt*
Onion Rolls
Kolachy Rolls
Southern Bread Pudding
Greek Focaccia
Sally's White Garlic Pizza

The front cover shows Ear-resistable Corn, which is made from the roll dough. This idea would make a nice harvest-type accent for your breadbasket on your Thanksgiving table.

Rhodes has published quite a few other promotional booklets. In the rear of this booklet is a mail-in offer for some other Rhodes promotional recipe items:

1997 set of recipe cards (24 cards)
1996 set of recipe cards (24 cards)
The Campers Kitchen Booklet
Dough Sculpture #1 Booklet

The booklet also has a 50-cent manufacturer’s coupon with no expiration date printed on the last page.

You can to www.rhodesbread.com to get on their mailing list and receive their future recipe booklets via snail mail.

November 14, 2005

Sweet Moments with Dream Whip

I always associate Dream Whip Whipped Topping Mix with my grandmother. She’s been gone since 1988, but I never fail to think of her when I pass by the Dream Whip boxes in the supermarket.

General Foods developed Dream Whip in 1957, so it's quite possible that she used that product the whole time I knew her. I don't recall her ever whipping up a little carton of cream or using Cool Whip after it was introduced in 1966.

For holiday dinners she always brought a bowl of her Waldorf Salad: apples, raisins and pecans mixed into the whipped topping, and just a hint of mayonnaise flavor. Her pecan and pumpkin pies (that were slightly burnt around the edges during her later years) were garnished with dollops of Dream Whip.

General Foods published Sweet Moment Desserts (44 pages) in 1963. The featured ingredients were Jell-O Pudding & Pie Filling (the kind you cook, not instant) and Dream Whip.

It's a handy little cookbook in that the recipes fit into quite a few of the dessert categories. There are recipes for pies; a section called "Puddings Plus" that includes nice variations and add-ins for plain puddings; a section of special desserts for company (think Cheesecake, Chocolate Bavarian and Coconut Pecan Torte); Frozen Desserts; and it finishes with a chapter on sauces, toppings and fillings.

The recipes in this older booklet provide a nice balance between the current trend of finding all the ingredients for an entire dessert in one box and cooking strictly from scratch. Much of the time the new "quick and easy" recipes and methods provide me with about the same amount of satisfaction as I get from driving through McDonald’s.

While I'm not ready to chuck all convenience foods entirely, lately I find myself reaching for Dream Whip instead of Cool Whip, and preferring cooked pudding over the instant.

I take pleasure too, in the fact that I continue to use my grandmother's 40-year old electric hand mixer to whip up those packages of Dream Whip. Those are sweet moments for me as well.