Real honest to goodness recipes from America's heartland prepared in the spirit of the Lord (the Christian Lord) so as not to muss more than one dish. Economy, thrift, and Campbells' Cream of Mushroom soup - isn't that what Jesus would want?
Chicken Ring
1 whole chicken (or grouse, pheasant, quail, or prairie snark)
2 cups bread crumbs
1 cup cooked rice
Ingredients for Gravy:
Splash of broth
¼ cup cream
1 ½ teaspoon salt
3 cups milk
4 well-beaten eggs
Cook bird until tender. Take chicken off bones and cut into chunks avoiding buckshot. Add bread crumbs, rice, salt and milk. Add eggs taking care not to shatter the shell. If you do shatter the shell, try not to worry about it too much, you probably won’t go to hell for it. Mix together ingredients and locate ring mold on upper left shelf in between the rusted duck press and the beet whipper. Grease mold and bake for about an hour or so at 325 degrees. Allow to cool before unmolding, otherwise you’ll have an ungodly mess reminiscent of last year’s Hot Liver Kugel. Make gravy and serve ring on a fancy dish.
Frieda Furrburger
A Taste of Christ Lutheran
Sharon, WI
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Stuffed Heart with "Surprise" Sauce
1 Calf's heart
2 cups breadcrumbs
1 tsp. fat
1peeled onion
1 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper
1/8 tsp herb
"Surprise" Sauce: 1 can cream of mushroom soup
Wash the heart thoroughly and remove veins and arteries. Soak about 15 minutes in acidulated cold water. Soak the breadcrumbs in water to soften, then mix with fat and seasonings. Stuff the heart with half of this mixture. Sew the opening together, sprinkle with salt and pepper, then dredge in flour. Brown quickly in a hot greasy frying pan. Place the onion in the bottom of a casserole, place heart on top, add 1 cup of water, cover, then bake at 350 degrees for 2 hours. Serve on a decorative platter, then immediately discard, because nobody's going to eat a cow heart and you know it. Instead, serve "Surprise" Sauce in large bowels with crushed crackers and pickles on the side.
Katherine Fisher - Director
Good Housekeeping Institute - 1927 edition
Tater Tot Jamboree
2 pounds ground beef
1 cup of diced onion
2 cans of Cream of Mushroom soup
1 teaspoon salt and pepper
1 large bag of frozen vegetables
1 large bag Tater Tots
Brown ground beef mixed with onions and salt and pepper. Put in a large, rectangular pan. Or a medium square pan. Or two pie pans. Or just find a big pot that isn’t too dusty. Then cover with soup. Sprinkle frozen vegetables over soup layer and place Tater Tots end-side up, resembling tree stumps after the great Cahokia fire. Bake at 375 for 1 hour. Serve with red-flavored Kool-Aid.
Alvira Whipplenutz
Eastern Star Women’s Auxiliary
Keokuk, IL
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Spaghetti Pie
Pie shell:
8 oz. spaghetti
2 tablespoons butter
1/3 cup grated Parmesan cheese
2 well-beaten eggs
Filling:
1 cup cottage cheese
1 cup shredded mozzarella cheese
Sauce:
1 pound ground beef
½ cup chopped onion
1 large can spaghetti sauce
Cook spaghetti according to directions, anyone can do that. Then stir butter, parmesan cheese and eggs into hot spaghetti. Form spaghetti mixture into a “crust” in a ceramic pie plate using the palm of your hand or anything else that’s flat and clean. Cook, uncovered, until spaghetti crust is as firm and crunchy as a creosote shingle. In a frying pan, sauté the beef and onion and add sauce. Heat until bubbly, then turn off stove. Now is a good time to either take a short nap or go out back and see if the weevils have gotten to the cabbage yet. Next, if you feel up to it, spread cottage cheese all over the “crust” and fill pie with tomato mixture. Cover with waxed paper and cook 6 to 7 minutes. If it looks worth eating top with mozzarella cheese and cook for 1 additional minute until it begins to ooze. Let stand 8 to 10 minutes before cutting into wedges. Serve on pie plates and hope to God know one thinks it’s mincemeat.
Germaine Hickenlooper
5th Presbyterian Church of ChrisCookbook
New Newbrunswick, MN
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Surprise Casserole
1 pound hamburger (or other ground meat product)
¾ cup cubed processed cheese
1 package egg noodles
1 can Cream of Mushroom soup
1 can Cream of Celery soup
2 tablespoons grated Parmesan cheese
½ cup bread crumbs
Salt and Pepper (optional)
Season hamburger meat with salt and pepper. Form meat into balls around cubed cheese. Cook meatballs in skillet until brown on all sides. Be sure to wear proper clothing, this does not mean a tub top. Drain grease carefully and save in coffee can under sink (the grease not the meatballs). Cook noodles until they’re done, then place in lightly greased casserole dish. Stir in soups, Parmesan cheese and meat, then top with bread crumbs. Bake in 375 degree oven for 45 minutes then tell everyone you’re going out to dinner - that’s the surprise.
Louella Lidbury
Church of Christ Savior Cook ‘Em Up
Climax, MI
Yankee Doodle Goulash
Handful of diced onions
Oleo
1 pound hamburger meat
1 cup cooked macaroni
1 can Cream of Chicken soup
½ cup water
½ cup catsup
Some bread crumbs
In a large skillet, brown onions in oleo, then add burger meat. (If your Lutheran and using butter, try not to scorch it.) Combine onions, meat, macaroni, soup, water and catsup and place in a good sized casserole. Sprinkle with the bread crumbs and bake at 350 until done (about 1 hour). If the family doesn’t like it, tell 'em you’ll make turnip casserole next it they don’t shut their yaps and dig in. (May also be used for small plaster repairs.)
Jinny Linn Shlepperer
1st Methodist Church Whip-Up
Dust Creek, OH
Beef Tongue Piquant
1 fresh tongue
1 carrot
1 red pepper
1 onion
1 stalk celery
1 pinch of salt
Place the tongue in a kettle and cover with boiling water, adding the vegetables and seasoning. To keep the cat from getting at it, cover and cook until tender. Take the tongue from the kettle and remove the skin and root. Shake off excess moisture and make it sing a little song, if you think that kind of thing is funny. When you’re done with such nonsense, put it back in the kettle and reheat. When it starts to resemble something other than a gigantic cow’s tongue, slice it in half-inch strips and serve it on a large plate with a can of warmed white sauce. If it turns out to be too piquant, send it to the Mexicans down the road, they welcome a good tongue now and then.
Mavis Willey
3rd Methodist Church, Our Lord and Savior Cookbook
Peotone, IL
Checkerboard Square Clam Crunch
¼ cup Flour
½ teaspoon Baking Powder
¼ teaspoon Salt
1/8 teaspoon Pepper
1 tablespoon Parsley, chopped
6 ½ oz. Can of minced clams
1 Egg, beaten
2 cups Rice Chex cereal
Oil for frying
Sour Cream on the side
For God’s sake do not drain the clams! Combine flour, baking powder, salt, pepper, and parsley. Slowly add clam liquid from can until smooth. Carefully add egg to clam mixture. Mix well. Speak softly to the clams, they’ve had a hard life. Stir in Rice Chex to coat then stand around for 10 minutes. At this point it’s ok to eat some of the Rice Chex. What else are you going to do, cure cancer? Heat oil to 1/8th inch in clam skillet. If you don’t have a clam skillet try not to worry about it too much and use a regular skillet. Drop heaping tablespoons of clam stuff into the hot oil, being careful not to burn your self, the children or the cat. Pat the clam globules into 8, 3-inch patties and brown over medium heat. Turn once, unless you’re a busy body then turn twice. Drain patties on absorbent paper towels, set on decorative serving tray, then sit around and look at the wallpaper.
Louella Cromley
Eastern Star Cook Book
Moose Head, MI
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Dream Cream Corn
30 fresh cobs of corn
1 pint half & half cream (or, if you've got it, the top skimmings from your best milker)
1 stick butter
salt and pepper to taste (optional)
Cut kernels from cobs with a knife sharp enough to de-branch a maple tree but not sharp enough to sever any major arteries. Put kernels in pan with butter, cream, salt and pepper. Cover and bake 1 hour at 300 degrees, stirring occasionally. Eat as much as you can stand, then throw the rest in the freezer next to last year's Dream Cream Corn.
-Marva Yearly
The 4-H Little Cookers Cook Book
Peotone, IL
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Homemade Soap
This isn’t a dish, but what else are you going to do with
all of that clean, strained grease you’ve got lying around.
5 pounds clean, strained grease
1 can lye
1 teaspoon Borax
½ cup Ammonia
¼ cup gasoline
1 quart soft, cold water
1 teaspoon oil of sassafras (or any other kind of perfume
that will detract horse flies)
Dissolve lye in pint of soft water. Melt grease, strain, then cool. Add 1 pint of cold water to lye solution. Add grease. Add remaining ingredients and stir well. Line a wooden box (like a peach box or a bible case) with several layers of newspapers and then a cloth wrung out with cold water. When soap has thickened up, pour into box. Before soap sets up too hard, cut into circles, squares, or the profiles of your favorite saints. Soap will be ready in two weeks (or just before the Lutheran Ham Jam, whichever comes first).
Betty Ruedebusch
The Lutheran Women’s Club Cookbook
Topeka, KA
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Hot Lunch Dish
1 cup Campbell’s Cream of Mushroom soup
1 cup milk
1 small package Velvetta cheese
1 small jar of pimentos
1 green pepper (cut fine and parboiled)
6 hard-cooked eggs (cubed)
¼ pound Spam (sliced, diced, cubed, shredded, ground, or otherwise deconstructed from damp, brick-like form)
Dissolve cheese in milk, add soup, pimento, green pepper, eggs and meat. Cook over low heat while re-adjusting support hose and worrying about the weather. Then, dissolve 1 tablespoon flour in ¼ cup milk to thicken, stirring often. Serve over Chow Mein noodles or just take out back and throw at the cow. (Serves 4)
Eunice Ringstmeyer,
American Legion Auxilliary Cook Book
Palatine, IL
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Ham Loaf
2/3 pound ground ham
1/3 pound ground pork
1 cup cracker crumbs
2 eggs beaten
¼ teaspoon pepper
1 cup milk
Topping
1/3 cup brown sugar
1 tablespoon dry mustard
¼ cup vinegar
Mix above ingredients and put in a 4x8 pan. Do not be alarmed if uncooked ingredients look like Ralph McPherson’s forearm after the combine accident. Spread on topping. Bake at 350 degrees for 50 minutes. (Serves one large family.) Warn children if they feed ham loaf to the dog there will be no nut logs for Christmas.
Marion Bowlhoffer
Women’s Club Cook-A-Rama
Wauwautosa, WI
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Mother Burton’s Hot Dish
2 cups Creamettes Macaroni, uncooked
2 cans Cream of Mushroom soup
2 cups milk
2 cups cooked meat (hog, chicken, cow or other)
4 hard-cooked eggs, crumbled
½ pound grated American cheese
½ green pepper, chopped
1 teaspoon salt
Pinch of pepper
1 small pimento, chopped (optional)
Handfull of crushed potato chips
Mix all ingredients and place in a bowl no larger than your head, refrigerate overnight. Smooth into a 9 x 13 casserole dish and bake at 350 degrees for 1 ½ hours. Top with crushed potato chips or anything else that’s crunchy and lying around the house. (Serves 1 Methodist picnic)
Nelda Burton
The Ladies United Methodist Cook Book
Kalamazoo, MI
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Hot Potato Chip Dish
1 large bag potato chips
1 can peas
1 can diced chicken (or tuna in a pinch)
1 can cream of mushroom soup
Arrange layer of chips in baking dish. Then a layer of peas. Then a layer of chicken. Repeat layers, then pour can of soup over everything and top with crushed potato chips. Bake in 350 degree oven for about ½ hour or until it solidifies into a cream-colored mass. (If the husband gripes, tell him it’s either this or goat feed. That should shut him up for once.)
Mrs. Homer Graper
Palmyra Heritage Cook Book
Palmyra, WI
