She preceded Julia Child and Martha Stewart ..... recipes for leftovers from Ida Bailey Allen

We continued our tradition of enjoying Thanksgiving buffet dinner at Silver Falls Conference Center, so I don't have leftovers to deal with until I actually do make our home-cooked turkey dinner one day this weekend. In advance, I thought I'd consult another of my grandmother's weird and interesting vintage cookbooks for some recipes for leftovers. The recipes below are from Ida Bailey Allen's Modern Cookbook 2500 recipes (Formerly Published as Mrs. Allen on Cooking, Menus Service), copyright 1935. If you had turkey, duck, or chicken for your Thanksgiving feast here are some ghastly-sounding recipes to laugh at, or, for the brave at heart, to try. There's also one you can use for leftover sweet potatoes and leftover rolls from your family feast.

This woman seems to have slipped from the pages of culinary history. She must have been a fascinating woman, and I say this based on the FOREWARD of her cookbook. The FOREWARD is too long to add to this post, but I think it is worth sharing at my blog. I will post it tomorrow, Saturday, so return if you are curious!

From TIME Magazine Milestones, July 30, 1973:

Died. Ida Bailey Allen, 88, who provided American homemakers with down-to-earth recipes in more than 50 cookbooks (Ida Bailey Allen's Modern Cookbook, Cook Book for Two); in Norwalk, Conn. Twice a widow, Mrs. Allen believed that good home cooking was an antidote to the rising divorce rate.

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back to basics recipes from old cookbooks: French Hamburgers I and II

We saw Julie and Julia Friday night at The Palace Theatre in downtown Silverton. It's a marvelous movie, and how Meryl Streep could not win the Oscar for best actress for her role as Julia Child is beyond me! I was inspired to try something I'd not cooked and Saturday made the Dill-Cabbage Soup recipe I posted earlier, using fresh organic dill and organic cabbage (we loved it). And I thought it's about time for another back to basics recipe here at Writerquake.

The cookbook I went for was an old favorite from the 1970s, a wedding gift in my first marriage. I haven't used this cookbook for decades because it's predominantly meat-based and I quit eating mammals in 1976. As I look through it now I realize there are some recipes I can alter somewhat and they would probably be great.

The Food Stamp Gourmet was published in 1971 and I have read more than a few comments online requesting that it be reissued. It was illustrated by Gil Shelton, creator of the Fabulous Furry Freak Brothers and several other classic underground comics. Just checked and there are two used copies available at Amazon, with three reviews there all giving this cookbook and its recipes 5 star ratings.

In honor of the whole resurgence of interest in Julia Child and her French cooking recipes I selected the following two "French" recipes for those of you who like beef. Again, I would consider trying these using ground turkey as an alternative.....

(Click recipes to enlarge)

To end, this video created in November 2007 by United Methodist TV provides food for thought.

The "Food Stamp Challenge" asks elected officials to live on the $21 weekly stipend and keep that experience in mind as they consider legislation. 

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Old Postcard Wednesday--Thor E. Byger "Rose"

An idealist is one who, on noticing that roses smell better than a cabbage, concludes that it will also make better soup.
- H. L. Mencken


There are some other old postcards for sale on the Internet that are also floral paintings by Thor E. Byger, a Swiss artist evidently from the town of Adelboden. His practice was to sign the postcards on the back. I've been unable to find a definitive date indicating when they were done, but it appears early 1900s.

This week's Old Postcard Wednesday comes with a bonus Back to Basics Recipe because of the above quote. The cookbook isn't anywhere near as old as the vintage postcard, even if it does look like it. I bought this cookbook in 1976, the year it was published. Here's the beginning of the introduction:

The Brotherhood of the Sun is a family of more than 300 people, who have dedicated themselves to living in harmony with all people and all things.

Our desire is to follow the simple laws of God and nature. In order to create an environment in which this is possible, we have established four communities upon thousands of acres of farm and ranch land in the coastal mountains around Santa Barbara, California. . .

Those were the days, the days of wine and roses and.....

The article about the Sunburst Community at Wikipedia is a fascinating account following the "family" from those early days to the eventual collapse, group split and moves to other states, return by some to Santa Barbara, and partial reincarnation of the community.