Hey, my mom used to make that!

1956 Hamburger Upside-Down Bake

Here's a twist on shephard's pie. Instead of mashed potato, this 1956 recipe uses corn bread.

Hamburger Upside-Down Bake

1 lb. hamburger
1/4 cup chopped onion
1 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. chili powder (optional)
1 bottle Del Monte Catsup
1 can (12-oz.) Del Monte Brand Golden Whole Kernal Corn
1 pkg. (approx. 8 oz.) corn muffin mix

In a 10-inch skillet with oven-proof or removable handle, combine first 4 ingredients with 1/2 cup of the catsup. (Be sure to use 10-inch skillet, or cornbread layer will be too thick.) Break meat apart with fork; fry until just brown. Push meat back around edge of skillet; spread undrained corn in center. Mix muffin batter as directed on package; pour evenly over meat and corn. Bake in hot oven (425˚F) 20 to 25 min. or until muffin layer is done. Remove from oven, let stand 5 min., and turn out upside down on warm serving plate. Heat rest of catsup and serve as sauce. Serves 4 to 6. 

 Click here for another retro upside-down bake.

Via saltycotton

Retro Fruit Salad Dressing

 Not sure how I feel about adding oil to my fruit salad. 

 This recipe comes from a 1952 ad.

1/2 cup orange juice
1/4 cup pineapple juice
1/4 cup lemon juice
1 cup Kraft Salad Oil 
2 teaspoons sugar
1 teaspoon salt

Combine all ingredients in a glass jar with a tight-fitting lid. Shake until ingredients are thoroughly blended. Chill dressing to heighten flavor. Shake well each time before using. 

 Click here for another fruity dessert recipe from the past.

Via hmdavid

Retro Happy Hour: Whiskey Flip

This cocktail includes cream, egg and a sprinkling of nutmeg, so if you like egg nog this is worth a try.

Alas, I don't drink egg nog and the thought of a raw egg in my cocktail kind of grosses me out. Remember, I'm weird about eggs.

1 egg
1 tsp. powdered sugar
1 jigger Kinsey Whiskey
2 tsp. cream

Shake well with cracked ice and strain into cocktail glass. Sprinkly grated nutmeg on top. 

This recipe comes from a Kinsey Whiskey/Gin booklet from the 1950s.

Click here for another retro cocktail recipe from the same booklet.

 

Via alsis35

Retro Recipe: Tabasco Baked Beans

I often add prepared mustard to canned baked beans. This recipes calls for a few other ingredients, as well.

Here's the 1951 recipe for Tabasco Baked Beans.

1 1-lb. can baked beans
2 tbsp. pickle relish
1 tbsp. prepared mustard
1/4 tsp. Tabasco
4 slices of bacon

Mix beans with pickle relish, mustard and Tabasco in shallow baking dish. Top with bacon. Bake in moderate oven (350˚F) for 30 minutes. Serves 4.

 Click here for another retro meatless meal.

Via Retro Adverto

Retro Baked Pork Chops

Here's another retro recipe from Hunt's Tomato Sauce.

Here's the 1955 recipe for Baked Pork Chops.

4 pork chops (1 1/2 lbs.)
fat
1/3 cup finely diced celery
2 tbsp. brown sugar
juice of 1/2 lemon
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. mustard
1/8 tsp. pepper
2 cans Hunt's Tomato Sauce
1/2 cup water

Brown chops in fat. Place in shallow greased baking dish. Sprinkle with celery, brown sugar, lemon juice and seasonings. Pour Hunt's Tomato Sauce and water over the chops. Cover baking dish and bake in moderate oven (350˚F) 1 1/4 hours or until chops are tender. Makes 4 servings.

 Click here for a retro recipe for pork chop casserole.

Via Tikitacky

Retro Dinner: 7-Layer Casserole

Pretty much the only work involved in making this one-dish meal is chopping onion and pepper, and opening some cans. It does require a total of one and a half hours of baking time, so it's probably not a good option for dinner after a long workday.

This recipe is from the 1950s.

Preheat oven to 350˚F. Then layer these ingredients in a 2-qt. baking dish with a tight-fitting lid:

• 1 cup rice, uncooked
• 1 cup canned whole kernel corn, drained
• Sprinkle with salt and pepper. Pour 1 8-oz. can Hunt's Tomato Sauce and 1/2 can water over first two layers.
• 1/2 cup each finely chopped onion and green pepper
• 3/4 lb. uncooked ground beef, seasoned with salt and pepper
• Pour second can of Hunt's Tomato Sauce and 1/4 can of water over everything
• Cover with four strips of bacon that have been cut in half

Cover the dish and bake at 350˚F for 1 hour. Uncover and bake about 30 more minutes. Makes 4 to 6 servings.

Click here for another one-dish meal recipe from the 1950s.

Via Kitchen Historic

Retro Recipe: Edible Easter Baskets

 These edible baskets are adorable. And full of fiber, if you care about that sort of thing.

Really, you could fill these baskets with just about anything — even fresh fruit if, like me, you had your fill of fruit cocktail in your elementary school cafeteria.

 

Crunchy Fruit Baskets

2 cups* (16 - 17 oz.) of Del Monte Fruit Cocktail
5 shredded wheat biscuits
1/2 cup shredded coconut
1/2 cup melted butter or margarine
1/4 cup sugar
1 pint vanilla ice cream

 Chill the fruit cocktail in the refrigerator. Crumble biscuits with your fingers until very fine. Mix with coconut, sugar and butter. Butter 6 custard cups. Cut 6 strips of plain paper (1/2" x 7") and place strip down sides and across bottom of each cup so ends extend over edge of cup. Now divide the crust mixture evenly into cups. Using back of a teaspoon, press firmly onto bottom and sides of cups. Bake in moderately hot oven (375˚ F) for 10 minutes. Cool at least 20 minutes in cups. Carefully lift out by paper ends. Drain fruit cocktail. Spoon ice cream into baskets, fill with well-drained fruit cocktail and serve.

* The original 1953 recipe calls for 2 No. 303 cans of fruit cocktail.

 Click here for another retro-tastic recipe that uses fruit cocktail.

Via saltycotton

Retro Happy Hour: Whiskey Daisy

This recipe comes from a Kinsey Whiskey/Gin booklet from the 1950s.

1 jigger Kinsey Whiskey
juice of 1/2 lemon
1 tsp. Grenadine 
1/2 tsp. powdered sugar

Shake well with cracked ice and strain into mug or 8 oz. glass. Add cube of ice and decorate with fruit. 

 

 Click here for another retro cocktail recipe.

Via alsis35

Retro Recipe for hatching Easter egg cake

Honestly, I don't think this is a cake for beginners. Or people who aren't slaves to detail.

Applying the dyed coconut exactly where you want it — and not letting it fall where you don't — is a daunting task.

This recipe is from a 1969 ad for Baker's coconut.

Using 1 box of cake mix, bake an 8-inch and a 9-inch layer cake. Cool. Cut 9-inch layer as show in diagram A and 8-inch as shown in diagram B. Split 2 ring sections from diagram B. Arrange pieces as shown in diagram C, placing split rings sections above and below smaller zigzag piece.

Next, make 4 1/2 cups (2-egg white) Seven Minute Frosting; secure cake pieces with frosting. Tint 3 cups frosting pink with red food coloring; frost egg portion of cake. Frost rest of cake with remaining frosting.

Now, using 1 package (7 oz.) Baker's Angel Flake Coconut and food coloring, tint 1/2 cup coconut yellow, 1/3 cup coconut pink and 1 cup coconut green. Sprinkle yellow coconut over head, neck and beak. Sprinkle green coconut over nest, and remaining white coconut around diamonds.

Decorate with string licorice sticks and jelly beans.

Here's a close-up of the diagram.

Click here for a recipe for individual Molten Spiced Chocolate Cabernet Cakes. (They're mush easier to make than it sounds.)

Via one of my other blogs, Found in Mom's Basement

 

ADDENDUM posted 28 March 2013

Am still feeling guilty for discouraging you from trying the above recipe. Hope this makes up for it.

I just came across photos of a super-easy bunny cake idea from 1956. And when I say super-easy, I mean a child could put together this Easter rabbit — which is a good thing because the type is too small to be readable.

Click the image to enlarge it.

Via alsis35

Retro Easter Egg Cake

This recipe calls for Swan's Down cake and frosting mixes, though you could easily use your favorite mix brand instead or, better still, make the cake and frosting from scratch.

The directions make much more sense if you can see the illustrations in the ad. To enlarge the ad, just click it.

This recipe is from 1953.

Bake Swans Down Yellow Cake Mix in two 8-inch layers, following direction on package. Make Easy Chocolate Frosting, using the recipe on the back of the blue and yellow package of Baker's Unsweetened Chocolate. 

1. Cut each cake layer in two, about 1/4-inch off-center. This will make two large and two smaller pieces.

2. Place these four pieces together with frosting between them, the smaller pieces on the outside. Stand them upright, cut side down, on cake plate.

3. Trim outside pieces at the top outer edges to help round off the sides of egg for egg shape.

4. Then trim off lower ends of outside pieces, slicing diagonally, to give cake an oval shape at base.

Cover the whole mound with remaining frosting. filling in to make an egg shape. Decorate with white and tinted frosting and jelly beans. Make a nest of green-tinted Baker's Coconut around egg. To serve, cut across the egg, making four-layer slices of cake.
 

This Square Dance Party Cake would also make a nice Easter dessert.

Via SaltyCotton