Hey, my mom used to make that!

Perk up your vegetables with a retro Lemon Butter Sauce

Here is the 1972 recipe for Madeline's Lemon Butter Sauce:

3 tablespoons butter or margarine
1 tablespoom instant minced onion
1 teaspoon fresh grated lemon peel
2 tablespoons fresh squeezed lemon juice
1/4 cup chopped parsley

Melt butter in small saucepan; add onions, lemon peel and juice. Pour over well drained, cooked vegetables; add parsley and toss. Great on broccoli, asparagus, cauliflower, Brussels sprouts, zucchini, carrots, cabbage, potatoes.

Click here for another lemony retro recipe.

Via jbcurio

Celebrate tonight's Olympic opening ceremonies in London with some retro English fare

Whip up a very easy Welsh rabbit called Golden Rabbit. Or try a version called Ched-O-Bit Egg Rarebit.

For dessert, try the kinda-sorta English Coronation Cake.

Of course, what would an English celebration be without cocktails? I have recipes for Gordon's John Bull, Bloody Mary (named after Queen Mary I) and Pimm's Cup.

Retro Happy Hour: The Ward 8

Click here to learn how to make a Sidecar.

Via Rogers Park Retro

Retro-atrocious Super Salad Loaf

Have a look at this recipe. It's hysterical. (Unless you're the poor sap who has to eat it.)

To make it, one starts by carving a hole out of an unsliced loaf of bologna. Then one fills the hole with a mashed peas and gelatin combination.

And this is a recipe you serve to company. Yikes.

Here's the World War II-era recipe for Super Salad Loaf:

Scoop out center of a 1 1/2-pound piece of bologna, leaving a shell.* Soak 1 tbsp. plain gelatin in 2 tbsp. cold water and dissolve over hot water. Mix 1 1/4 cups cooked mashed peas with 1 tbsp. Real Mayonnaise, 2 tsp. minced onion, 1/2 tsp. salt, 1/4 tsp. pepper. Add dissolved gelatin and pack into bologna shell. Chill thoroughly. Place on platter on salad greens. Heap with Real Mayonnaise. Garnish with radish roses, parsley and onion rings, as illustrated.

*NOTE: Use left-over bologna in sandwich fillings for next day's lunches.

Click here to see another thifty loaf recipe, this one from 1949.

Via genibee

Retro veggie burgers

"Peaburgers" is such a terrible name. Think of these as falafel-like patties.

Here's the retro recipe for Peaburgers as seen in the above Batchelors ad.

1 can Batchelors peas
2 teacups brimful stale breadcrumbs
2 level teaspoons salt
1 level teaspoon pepper
1 tablespoon ketchup or piquant sauce
1 level teaspoon mustard
3 tablespoons thick brown gravy
Pinch herbs
1 egg (optional)
2 tablespoons chopped onions

 Chop and fry onions in a little fat and water until soft. Mash peas and mix all ingredients together including onions. With floured hands form into eight shapes. Fry in shallow fat for 10 minutes. Serve with potatoes and gravy.

Serves 4.

 For a burger recipe made with ground beef, click here.

Via Shelf Life Taste Test

It's fruit. It's cake. It's pie. It's retro-tastic!

Here is the recipe for Fruit Cocktail Cake Pie as it appears in the above ad from 1956.

1 can (1 lb. 14 oz.) Del Monte Brand Fruit Cocktail
1 pkg. lemon pie and pudding mix
2 egg whites
2 tablespoons sugar
1 small angel food, sponge or pound cake (6 to 7 inches in diameter)

Drain fruit cocktail. Measure syrup; add enough water to make 2 cups. Use to make pudding by package directions. Make meringue with egg whites and sugar. Fold hot pudding into meringue. Chill slightly. Cut cake into 16 wedges. Place 12 around edge of deep 9-inch pie or cake pan, 4 on bottom. Pour in pudding; chill 3 hours. At serving time, top with drained, chilled Del Monte Fruit Cocktail. Serves 8.

Click here for a 1988 recipe for citrus pie.

Via ccerruti

Retro Happy Hour: Sacramento Sangrita

A little something retro to cool you off on this fine summer day.

And if the weather where you are isn't fine, all the more reason to treat yourself to a cocktail.

Here's the recipe for Sacramento Sangrita as it appears in the above ad:

3 parts Sacramento Bloody Mary Mix
2 parts tequila
2 parts orange juice
1 part lime juice
1/2 part grenadine or to taste

In a shaker half-filled with ice cubes, combine ingredients. Shake well. Strain into a salt-rimmed glass filled with ice. Garnish.

Click here to learn how to make an Orange Blossom cocktail.

Via Eudaemonius

The retro tuna casserole with an unfortunate name

Crusty Tuna Surprise.

The surprise is that it's actually good.

Here's the 1964 recipe for Crusty Tuna Surprise:

1 can (10 1/2 oz.) condensed cheese soup
1/2 cup milk
2 cups cooked rice
2 cans (6 1/2 or 7 oz. each) Star-Kist tuna
1/4 cup chopped parsley
3/4 cup Kellogg's Corn Flake Crumbs
2 tablespoons butter or margarine, melted

1. Combine cheese soup and milk.
2. In greased 1 1/2-quart casserole arrange layers of rice, tuna, parsley, and cheese soup mixture; repeat layering.
3. Combine Corn Flakes Crumb with butter. Sprinkle over tuna mixture.
4. Bake in hot oven (425˚ F.) about 15 minutes and serve hot.

Yield: 6 servings

Click here for a retro recipe for pork chop casserole.

Via Shelf Life Taste Test

Fish Loaf recipe from 1949

Here's the 1949 thrifty recipe for fish loaf:

2 cups flaked cooked fish
1 1/2 cups tiny cubes dry bread
1/4 cup chopped Heinz Sweet Mixed Pickles
1/2 cup finely-diced celery
1/4 cup finely-chopped onion
3 eggs, beaten
1 can (10 oz.) Heinz Condensed Vegetable Soup, undiluted

Combine fish, bread cubes, pickle, celery and onion. Combine beaten eggs and soup; add to fish mixture and mix lightly. Line greased loaf pan (4 1/2" x 8 1/2") with greased paper; fill with fish mixture. Bake in a moderate oven (350˚), until set — about 1 1/2 hours. Let stand in warm place 10 minutes, then turn out and garnish attractively. Cut into thinck slices and serve with suitable sauce; or loaf may be served cold. Yield — 6 servings.

If you don't feel like chopping pickles, use pickle relish. If you can't find Heinz soup (it's more popular in the UK than the USA), you can use Campbell's.

Click here for a couple of salmon recipes.

Via jbcurio

Retro Brunch: Bacon and Egg Pie (today we call it quiche)

Bacon and Egg Pie is the perfect brunch food.

Actually, it's a perfect meal for any time of day.

Here's a close-up of this 1959 recipe:

If you don't feel like making your own pie crust, substitute a refrigerated Pillsbury pie crust. I've tried other brands, but I think Pillsbury is the best.

For the cheese (which I shred rather than grate), Gruyere is my favorite for quiche.

Click here for a retro recipe for Egg Nests.

Via old school paul