Recipes

About the Recipes:

Cooking and baking have always been a part of my life. Part of that means being able to experiment and learn what goes together. Historic recipes leave lots of room for experimentation and interpretation. Some of the ingredients that were common back in the day are not around anymore or hard to come by. Also, personally, my family does not eat a lot of bread, sugar, or meat for various reasons. Combining those facts with my historical food experiments can be a little hard. But that is all part of the fun! 🙂 My goal is to include at least one to two recipes per month focused on the food history topic that I am highlighting that month. I like to think of them as historically inspired recipes.

My personal philosophy when it comes to food is if it tastes and looks delicious, you will enjoy eating it. I am sure that you have heard of the Chinese saying, “You eat first with your eyes, then your nose, then your mouth”. With that in mind, I try to season my recipes and foods with more spices, herbs and flavorings instead of sugar and salt.

Sugar is necessary to create good baked goods, but I don’t think most recipes need as much sugar as they usually call for. Hence, I have made the decision to cut as much sugar out of a recipe as I can or use alternative sweeteners such as honey, maple syrup or molasses. If you try the recipe and find you want the baked item sweeter, by all means, add a little more sugar! All of these recipes are tailored to my family and what we like, but feel free to experiment and change things up. That is what the history of food and recipes is all about, experimenting and testing with the ingredients we have until we get something that satisfies our appetites and tastes delicious!

Also, please read carefully through each recipe and make sure that you have all the ingredients, utensils and time that you will need. 🙂

I am always open to new ideas, suggestions and corrections! So, if you have something to pass along, please feel free to do so!

 

Breads and Breakfast:

Angel Biscuits
Baked Oatmeal with Homemade Vanilla Maple Sauce
Blueberry Muffins with Lemon Honey Butter
Chai Spiced Cranberry Orange Bread

Mayonnaise Biscuits
Oatmeal Bread
Western Soda Biscuits

Main Dishes:

Chicken Chow Mein
Hobo Dinner
Salmon Loaf
Texas Hash

Sides:

Ambrosia with Honey Cream
Old Fashioned Applesauce
Southern Green Beans
Spinach Salad
Squash Casserole
Sweet Potato Casserole
Truly Homemade Cranberry Sauce

Desserts:

Abraham Lincoln’s Gingerbread Cake
Coconut Pudding Jello
Grandmother’s Molasses Cookies
Great Depression Cake
Homemade Peppermint Patties
Homemade Oreos
Indian Pudding
Jam Cake
Our Family’s Favorite Snickerdoodles
Peach Pie
Presidental Lemon Rice Pudding

Snacks:

Matzo Energy Balls
Story Time Snack Mix

Drinks:

Hot Spiced Lemonade
Lacto-Fermented Ginger Beer