Pumpkin Pie Cake- Recipe Box #31

Apparently, I only have THIRTY ONE recipe boxes, because, I'm sad to say, this is the final post about my recipe box collection.  What a HOOT it's been to dig through these boxes, which, to be honest, I haven't spent much time doing.

Some observations:

- Some cooks are VERY VAGUE when writing down recipes!  Whether because they "just knew" what to do, or because they were in a hurry when copying things down, some of the recipes were COMPLETELY confusing to decipher.

- Many of these old recipes are in a sad state of decay!  There were several recipes in several of the boxes that were written on paper that has disintegrated, or the ink has faded, over time.  As a librarian, I feel a little bit of stress to be the "archiver" of these treasures before they disappear completely!

- There SURE were a lot of people who enjoyed WATERGATE CAKE!!!  I found the recipe in AT LEAST seven of the thirty one boxes.   I think I might have to try baking one someday!!

- Looking at the collections of treasured recipes from the various "previous owners" of these boxes has been an honor and a privilege! I feel like I've been "let in the kitchen door" to share in the cooking adventures of these people!

Okay...here's the last box:

Here's an intriguing recipe for Pumpkin Pie Cake.  The notation in the upper left hand corner says that it was obtained or enjoyed in November of 1993, and it's attributed to Helen R.  Here's the card:

Here's the recipe:

Pumpkin Pie Cake

1 lg. can evaporated molk

1 lg. can pumpkin

1 3/4 cup sugar

3 tsp. pumpkin pie spice

1 tsp. salt

3 eggs

Mix all together & pour into greased 9 x 13-inch pan.  

Sprinkle 1 box yellow cake mix over pumpkin mix.  Melt 2 sticks "marjarine"- spoon over cake.

Sprinkle 1 up chopped nuts on top.

Bake 1 hour 350 degree oven.

Let cool- top with Cool Whip.

Thanks for sharing this adventure with me, and...who knows...maybe next year I'll have added to the collection, OR will do a "Recipe Box Round Two" series of posts!

Enjoy!

Copper Pennies (Carrots)- Recipe Box #30

This is one of my FAVORITE recipe boxes...not because of the recipes, of which there aren't a ton, but because it's the box mom has, and which has been in her kitchen for as long as I can remember (and which I hope to possess some day!).

I bought this one on eBay from a seller from Elgin, Illinois on July 19th, 2010.  Here's the box:

Here's the card:

Here's the recipe, attributed to Martha Henderson:

Copper Pennies (Carrots)

2 lb. carrots

1 med. green pepper, sliced

1 med. onion

1 can tomato soup

1/2 cup salad oil

1 cup sugar or 3/4

3/4 cup vinegar

1 tsp. mustard

1 tsp. Worcestershire sauce

(1 tsp. basil)

Peel and slice carrots in rings.  Boil in salted water until fork tender.  Drain and cool.  In 2 qt. bowl alternate in layers carrots, pepper rings and onion slices.  Beat remaining items well and pour over vegetables.  

Refrigerate.  This salad should be made at least 24 hrs. before serving.  It keeps a long time.

(This "salad" may be served as a main course cold vegetable.)

Enjoy!

Cheese Straws- Recipe Box #29

This lovely old box came from Loft Antiques in South Minneapolis, Minnesota in September of 2014.  Here's the box:

It was, apparently, owned by Evelyn Hill Kroman:

Here's the card:

Here's the recipe:

Cheese Straws

1/4 t. salt

few grains pepper

few grains paprika

5 T. flour

1/2 T. fat

1/2 c. grated cheese

2 T. milk

1/2 c. bread crumbs

Add salt, pepper, and paprika to the flour.  Chop in the fat.  Add crumbs and cheese and enough milk to make stiff dough.  Knead until smooth.  Roll out to 1/8 in. thickness.  Cut in narrow strips.  Place on buttered baking sheet and bake at 350 degrees until delicately brown.  Pile log cabin fashion on plate and serve with soup or salad. 

Enjoy!

Brownies- Recipe Box #28

Not sure where this box came from, but I think I have posted two others with the same graphics...can't always be choosy when I find one that actually has recipes in it.  You'd be surprised how many EMPTY boxes are for sale in antique stores across America!

Here's the box:

You can't beat a classic!  Here's a brownie recipe attributed to Katherine Hemker.  Here's the card:

Here's the recipe:

Brownies

1 cup sugar

1/2 cup margarine

4 eggs

Cream.  Add 1/4 tsp. salt, 1 cup flour, 1 tsp. vanilla.  Mix well.

Add 1 lb. can Hershey syrup, 1 cup chopped nuts.

Bake 40 minutes at 350 degrees in a 9 x 13 inch pan.

1 cup white sugar, 1/4 c. milk, 1/4 c. butter.  Mix and boil 1 min.  Add 1/2 cup choc chips.  Beat until chips are melted.  

Pour on brownies while hot.

Enjoy!

Borscht- Recipe Box #27

This rather nondescript, but LONG, recipe box is full of good recipes!  I found it at Thora Mae's Antique Store in Canon Falls, Minnesota on March 2nd, 2013.  Here's the box:

When Duane and I took a cruise on the Baltic Sea, St. Petersburg, Russia was one of the ports of call.  We had an AMAZING borscht as part of the tour.  This one looks good too!

Here's the recipe:

Borscht

6- lge Beets

1/4 cup Butter

1 lb. beef Diced

1 Onion minced

1/4 head cabbage shredded

8 coups chicken stock

1 tsp sugar

2 tsp salt

1 tsp pepper

1 1/2 cups sour cream

Blanch beets in boiling water 5 minutes.  Drain & remove skins.  Dice the beets.

Heat the butter in a lg. pot.  Brown the beef.  Add onions & beets.  Saute 5 min.

Add the cabbage & stock.  Simmer for 2 hours or until beef is tender.

Add sugar, salt & pepper.

Serve with a Tbs. sour cream per bowl.

(Stock)

Chicken bones (2 1/4 lbs); 10 cups cold water; 2 celery stalks, coarsely chopped; 2 carrots, coarsely chopped; 1 onion coarsely chopped; 1/2 tsp. salt; 1/4 tsp. pepper; pinch- rubbed thyme; pinch- dried oregano leaves; pinch- rubbed sage.

Add chicken bones to water with rest of ingredients.  Simmer, uncovered, 3-4 hours.  Skim off grease.  Remove meat bones & veg.  Strain through a sieve.  Chill stock & remove fat from surface.

Enjoy!

Waikiki Meat Balls- Recipe Box #26

Here's an AWESOME extra long box that came from Louisburg, Kansas on December 9th, 2010, via eBay:

It dates to the 70's, based on the dates on some of the clippings, and this AWESOME ad for a record club on the back of a clipped recipe.  You have the option of making your purchase in vinyl, 8-track, cassette, or 7-inch reel...I don't even remember the 7-inch reel format!

Here's the ad:

The box also includes directions for making a Water Proofing solution:

There are many delicious, hand-written recipes, but I thought the "Waikikkii" Meatballs looked especially tempting.  Here's the card:

Here's the recipe, attributed to Judy L.:

"Waikikkii" Meat Balls

1 1/2 # ground beef

2/3 cup cracker crumbs

1/2 cup minced onion

1 egg

1 1/2 ts. salt

1/4 ts. ginger

1/4 cup milk

Mix and make into walnut size (meatballs).

1 T. shortening

2 T. cornstarch

1 #13 1/z oz. can pineapple tidbits drained - save sirup

1/2 cup brown sugar

1/3 cup vinegar

1 T. soy sauce

1/3 cup chopped green pepper

Brown meatballs - set aside.  Make sauce & put all together several hours before serving.

The recipe doesn't say what to do after assembling, but I'm assuming they get placed in a crock pot or chafing dish to stay hot.  I'll leave that up to you to decide!

Enjoy!

Heath Bars- Recipe Box #25

I think this box was another auction find by my dad.  Here's the box:

It doesn't appear to be super old.  The recipe below has a note that says "Made in '83 Good", and many of the recipes from clippings are from the 90's.

Today's recipe is for "Heath Bars", attributed to "Barb".  One of Duane's coworkers brought some of these to the office during the holidays.  They are very good!  Here's the card:

Here's the recipe:

Heath Bars

Line cookie sheet (13 x 9 x 1/8 inch) with foil shinny side down.  Butter foil.  Place saltine crackers side by side.  Boil 1 cup butter, 1 cup brown sugar for 3 min - Pour over the crackers.  Bake 5 min. at 400 degrees.  Sprinkle 12 oz. pkg milk choc. chips over top with hot (?).  Spread evenly.  "Refrigate" & cut.

Note at bottom says: "I put back in oven to melt.  Hard to cut up too cold."

Enjoy!

Mock Mayonnaise- Recipe Box #24

I found this box at Thora Mae's in Canon Falls, Minnesota on October 27th, 2007.  It's pretty nondescript:

I found an intriguing recipe for "Mock Mayonnaise".  Could be a good alternative to "fattier" mayo...I'm curious to try this!  The card states "Good", and "Very Good", so it sounds like it's...good!

Here's the card:

Here's the recipe:

Mock Mayonnaise

1 c. cottage cheese

2 tb. salad oil

1 tb. cider vinegar

2 tsp. sugar (crossed out)

1 tsp. salt, pinch (crossed out)

1/2 tsp. dry mustard

2 paprika or chili powder shakes

dash pepper

Blender- med. speed.  Cover, refrigerate, 2 weeks, (1 cup).

Enjoy!

Cabbage Rolls- Recipe Box #23

I found this box at an antique mall in Rogers, Minnesota.  There are several recipes typed on letterhead and from newspapers around North Carolina, which, I assume, is where this box originated.  Here it is:

The recipe I've chosen from this box is for Cabbage Rolls.  They look delicious!  Here's the card:

Here's the recipe:

Cabbage Rolls

4 large cabbage leaves

1/4 pound ground beef

1/4 pound bulk pork "saugage" (sausage)

1/4 cup chopped onion

1/2 cup cooked rice

1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce

1/2 teaspoon Dijon mustard

1 egg

1 cup tomato juice

2 tablespoons brown sugar, optional

In a large saucepan, cook the cabbage leaves in boiling water for 5 minutes; drain and set aside.  In a medium skillet, brown beef, sausage and onion; drain.  Stir in rice, Worcestershire sauce, mustard and egg; mix well.  Spoon about 1/3 cup onto each cabbage leaf.  Fold in sides and roll up leaf; place with seam side down in a greased 11 inch x 7 inch x 2 inch baking dish.  Pour juice over rolls; sprinkle with brown sugar if desired, cover and bake at 350 degrees for 50 minutes, uncover and bake 10 minutes longer.  Yield:  2 servings.

Enjoy!

Sweet Potatoe Biscuits- Recipe Box #22

Not sure where this lovely box came from, but it contains ALL SORTS of interesting bits and pieces of the life of the person who previously owned it.  Here's the box:

It contains a letter written by a Colonel Patrick, dated January 31st, 1943, asking for a witness to come forward to give information about some sort of crime...

It contains a knitting pattern for "Swivel Socks"...

There's a letter to Marge and John (I'm assuming Marge is the original owner of the box) from friends with a recipe for stew, dated March 16th, 1943...

There's a business card from New York...

It includes directions to "Paper a Wall"...

It contains a vaccination certificate for John Trapani from June 13th, 1947...

There's ordering information for some fun gingerbread men cookie cutters...

There weren't many original recipes in the box, but I did find one that looks tasty for Sweet Potatoe Biscuits.  Here's the original:

Here's the recipe:

Sweet Potatoe Biscuits

1 c. flour

1 c. sw. potatoe cooked

3 t. baking powder

4 TB fat

1 t. salt

2 t. sugar

1/2 c. milk

Mix & sift dry ingr.  Cut in fat, put in milk and mashed sw. potatoe.  Roll on board.  Cut in biscuits form.  Bake in 450 degree oven.

No baking time given.  Most likely 10-12 minutes, but I'll leave that up to you!

Enjoy!

Cherry Dumplings- Recipe Box #21

I found this recipe box at Thora Mae's Antiques in Canon Falls, Minnesota.  It's pretty utilitarian, and, I didn't realize, not very full of recipes.  Here's the box:

According to the card, this recipe is "Swell":

Here's the recipe:

Cherry Dumplings

1 can cherries add

1 cup sugar with

1 tsp. flour added.

Cook until thickens.

Sift together

2 c. flour

4 level tsp. bk. powder

1 tsp. salt

1 tsp. sugar

Blend 4 tbsp. shortening, butter, or Crisco.  Add enough milk and stir until mixture leaves the sides of the bowl.  Keep dough as soft as can be handled.  Form into one large doughnut siz of pan fruit is cooking in.  Drop inot hot fruit mixtgure and cook 20 minuts without lifting lid of pan.

Good luck!

B.L.G.  (No idea who B.L.G. is, but that's how the recipe concludes.

Enjoy!

Katie's Cupboard Baked Lima Beans- Recipe Box #20

Here's another wooden box.  I found this one at Granny's Attic in Mt. Ayr, Iowa on September 1st, 2012.  It's not super old...most of the recipes date to the mid 60's.

Here's the box:

Here's the card:

Here's June Johnson's recipe:

Katie's Cupboard Baked Lima Beans

Cook 1 lb. lima beans in salted water till almost done . (Do not soak beans over night).  Drain & put in casserole.  Pour this mixture over beans.  1/2 c. brown sugar, 1/2 c. cream, 1/2 c. katsup.

Bake at 350 degrees oven 1 hour.  If needed more moisture add some more cream.

Enjoy!

Pork Chops Supreme- Recipe Box #19

Here's a rather utilitarian box, with mostly clippings and recipes from boxes and bags.  It's not very old, as dates that I could find were late 80's, and mid 90's:

It's always interesting to see what other items end up in some of these recipe boxes...like this wedding invitation from May 21st, 1983:

The location is listed as Harlowton, which places it's origins in Montana.  Perhaps I found it at an antique store when we took a trip to Glacier National Park (or, possibly on eBay).

Here's the sheet of paper with today's recipe:

Here's the recipe:

Pork Chops Supreme

4 pork chops "cut edges to avoid curling".  Spread lightly with prepared mustard & roll in flour & brown.  Put in greased 9 X 9 inch pan & add 1 can chicken rice soup rinsing can with 1/3 c. warm water & add.  Bake 325 for 1 hr. 

Use 1 pkg Top of Stove Dressing follow instructions on pkg.  The last 15 min. top each chop with dressing & red apple slice.

Enjoy!

Helen's Hot Rolls- Recipe Box #18

As seems to be typical with my collection, I don't know where this one came from.  There's a calendar page (with a recipe on the back) from August of 1956, and one of the newspaper clippings has a date of 1977, and is from a Shreveport, Louisiana newspaper.

Here's the box:

Here's the card:

Here's Helen's recipe:

Helen's Hot Rolls

2/3 cup shortening

1 cup milk

1 teasp. salt

1/2 cut (cup?) sugar

1/2 cup lukewarm H2O

2 pks. dry yeast

5 to 6 cups sifted flour

2 eggs

Melt shortening, add sugar & salt & pour milk over it.  Add flour until stiff- like cake dough & let rise until doubles, then add eggs & beat well.  Add flour til stiff.  Roll 1/4 inch thick.  Cut with cutter & brush with melted shortening & fold over.  Place on pans & cook until brown- pans of this may be frozen & used later.

**No oven temp or time for this recipe, but a Google search suggests 425 degrees for 10 to 12 minutes.

Enjoy!!

Coconut Dream Bars- Recipe Box #17

Today's box was found in Anoka, Minnesota.  Duane and I were early for our friends Kyle and Kim's wedding on August 25th, 2012, so, OF COURSE, we located an antique store in which to kill some time before the ceremony!

It's not an overly full box, and the cards are discolored, so it appears to be fairly old...maybe the 40's and 50's?  Here's the box:

Here's the card:

Here's the recipe:

Coconut Dream Bars

1 cup flour

3 heaping tablespoons brown sugar

1/2 cup butter (I only use small amount of butter)

Cream, pat in a 8 x 10 tin 

bake 10 minutes in 350 oven- take out and put following mix on top.

1 1/2 cup brown sugar

2 eggs, unbeatened

1/4 tsp. salt

1/2 tsp.. baking powder

3 tbsp. flour

1 cup coconut

Enjoy!

Mix and spread over crust bake 30 min. at 350

Punch- Recipe Box #16

Believe it or not, this recipe box ONLY contains recipes for punch:

I didn't even know there were this many recipes for punch in existence in the world!  This recipe was located near the front of the stack, is credited to Mable and Carole, and looks really good (and TANGY)!  Here's the card:

Here's the recipe:

Punch

1- 6 oz. frozen lemonade

1- 6 oz. frozen orange juice

1- 6 oz. frozen pineapple juice

water as on directions of cans

12 oz. apricot nectar

1/2 cup lemon juice

1 qt. lemon sherbet

2 qt. ginger ale

Enjoy!

Hot Rye Rounds- Recipe Box #15

Here's another purchase from eBay.  This one came from a seller in Peoria, Illinois on April 30th, 2008.

Here's the box:

There's a notation in this recipe that it comes from "Jane", and it's a make ahead appetizer.  It looks tasty:

Hot Rye Rounds

1 lb. ground beef (Jane used Louis Rich ground turkey)

1 lb. hot pork sausage (she used Louis Rich turkey sausage)

1 lb. process cheese (Velveeta)

1/2 tsp. dried oregano

1/2 tsp. garlic powder

2 loaves party rye

Brown together and stir ground beef & pork sausage.  Drain off all drippings.  Stir in cheese and melt.  Add oregano and garlic powder.  Spread on individual party rye rounds while warm.  Put on cookie sheets, freeze, then bag in a freezer zip lock.  To serve, heat under broiler until bubbly.  Makes 48.

There's a bonus recipe for CHEESE SPREAD at the bottom:

1 cup chopped onions

1 cup mayonnaise

1 cup Swiss cheese (8 oz. package)

Mix well in oven proof casserole.  Bake at 350 degrees for one half hour.  Should be brown on top.  Serve with triskets.

Enjoy!

Church Supper Ham Balls- Recipe Box #14

Apparently, I have my own recipe box tucked in amongst all of the other boxes I've collected:

I'm a little freaked out that I REALLY don't remember it, but I blame it on the fact that I started adding recipes and creating a "favorite recipe" cookbook called FLAIR (Frequently Looked At Interesting Recipes) YEARS AGO:

I have to laugh...as I was choosing a recipe, I kept thinking..."wow...this person's hand writing looks EXACTLY like mine!!"  Oy!

I had a hard time choosing, since I picked all of the recipes in the box, but I decided to add my friend Claudette's AWESOME "Church Supper Ham Balls".  Here's the card:

Here's the recipe:

Church Supper Ham Balls

1 lb. ground ham*

1 lb. lean sausage*

2 cup sof bread crumbs

2 eggs

1 c. sour cream

1/3 c. chopped onion

2 T. lemon juice

1 tsp. curry powder

1 tsp. ground ginger

1 tsp. powdered mustard

1/8 tsp. nutmeg

1/8 tsp. paprika

Lightly, but thoroughly, combine meat & crumbs.  In a medium bowl, beat the eggs, add sour cream, onion, lemon juice & spices.  Blend well.  Form into balls (I can usually get 12 out of this recipe) and place in a greased 9 X 13-inch baking dish.  Bake uncovered at 350 degrees for 1 hour.

BASTING SAUCE:

1 c. brown sugar

1/2 c. water

1/2 c. cider vinegar

1/4 tsp. black pepper

Bring to a boil & baste the ham balls during last 15 minutes. 

* Card says "or buy 2 pounds of ham loaf at Jack & Jill's", which was one of our local grocery stores!  Nostalgic!!

Enjoy!