When Life Gives You Onions, Make Onion Soup

A bag of (Sale! Super low price!) organic onions have been sitting in my cabinet begging to be used before they go bad. This onion soup from one of my favorite diet books, Slenderella, turned out to be perfect for a day like this. What is a day like this? One in which my husband is home sick. One in which there is a nice snow on the ground, but icy weather is threatening to keep me homebound even longer with aforementioned sick husband.

This soup really could not be easier. Slice some onions. Brown some onions. Add some stock. Easy peasy. I do recommend using a mandolin (or a food processor if you are fancy), to slice the onions because it makes the job faster and the thin, uniform onions cook evenly and are nicer in a soup than thick onions that slide off a spoon. I left off the cheese and made it a complete meal by serving it with a spinach-roasted pepper tart I made with Trader Joe's awesome transfat free puff pastry.

Onion Soup
Adapted from Slenderella Cookbook, 1957. The recipe calls for beef stock; I used a vegetarian beef broth powder that I bought last summer from Butterfly Herbs a neat little store in Missoula, Montana. The recipe is so basic that it seems to be begging for modifications, maybe wine or a little thyme, but it really is just fine as is.

2 Tbs butter or margarine
4 cups thinly sliced onion
2 Tbs flour
1/2 tsp black pepper
6 cups beef-flavored stock
6 Tbs grated Sap Sago cheese

Melt the butter in a saucepan. Saute the onions over low heat until brown. Sprinkle with the flour and pepper, stirring until brown. Gradually add the stock, stirring constantly to the boiling point. Cover and cook over low heat 45 minutes. Add salt as necessary. Serve with grated cheese.

Recipes Listed by Cook Book

A periodically updated list of my cook books and the recipes that come from each one.










250 Ways to Serve Vegetables

Mashed Turnips











Better Homes and Gardens: Recipes from Famous Places

Pumpkin Muffins









The Bisquick Cookbook, 1964

Apple Slump













Boston Cooking School Cook Book

Book Review
Chocolate Cake
Cranberry Sauce
Curried Green Tomatoes
Eggless Chocolate Cake
Fifty Basic Recipes
Mashed Potato Baskets
Orange Frosting
Peach Muffins
Rhubarb Filling
Sauteed Mushrooms and Green Beans
Scalloped Sweet Potatoes and Apples
Snow Cake
Southern Corn Pudding










Festive Foods: Wisconsin Gas Company

Chocolate Peanut Butter Bars
Coconut Drops











Gourmet Cookery for a Low-Fat Diet, 1961

Casserole Potatoes












Just How: A Key to the Cook-Books

Tapioca Pudding












Kitchen Tested Recipes

Baking Powder Biscuits
Party Cookies
Quick Gingerbread













Purity Cookbook: The Complete Guide to Canadian Cooking

Tangy Mashed Sweet Potatoes












Putting Food By, 1974

Sun-Cooked Strawberry Jam














Rumford Complete Cookbook

Flaky Pastry
Oatmeal Crisps











Slenderella Cook Book
Book Review
Cucumber Salad
Onion Soup
Whole Wheat Bread











Three Meals a Day: Cooking, Table, Toilet, Health

Floor Wax
Frugal Graham Flour Muffins
Griddle Cakes












Weight Watchers Cook Book
Mushroom Puree









Recipe cards, new cook books and other miscellaneous recipes

Brown Sugar Cookies
Lebkuchen
Sweet Potato Pecan Burgers
Oven-Baked Brown Rice

Last Minute Visitor Cookies

A few weeks ago I was surprised to find a heavy envelope in the mail from my great aunt. She wrote to say she and my great uncle don't have a computer so my Dad had sent her a print out of an entry I had written about her mother, my great-grandmother. In the envelope there were some of my great-grandmother's hand written recipe cards, and my great aunt also wrote her memories of each of the recipes.

The one I'm sharing today is for Brown Sugar Cookies. My aunt wrote that they were "light little things" and that her "father enjoyed them with his coffee." They come together very quickly and use basic ingredients that most people have on hand.

They are also a great "last minute visitor cookie" because they are what is often referred to as an icebox cookie. That is, you make the dough and put it in the refrigerator until you are ready to use it. The recipe said it makes three rolls, but I made four and they are good sized cookies. Though I can't say for sure, I think these will be fine baked from the freezer. I have two in my freezer now so I should know soon enough.

A little digression here...I made some icebox cookies years ago and had a roll of them waiting in the freezer for visitors. My parents unexpectedly dropped by when I wasn't home. My boyfriend baked the cookies and, no doubt, impressed them even though I had done all the hard work. I still married him.

Now, if you have a special classic recipe to share with me, you might just get a delivery like the one my aunt and uncle are about to get. (I also added some cashew brittle that I made this morning if you're wondering what else is in that tin.)

Brown Sugar Cookies

Adapted from a recipe card from my great-grandmother. You may be able to see from the card that the recipe is devoid of certain directions like how to bake them, so I made those parts up. She also suggested adding a "little more" butter which I did not do, but I'm sure that would make them even better. I used pecans but any nut you like would probably work here. Feel free to improvise; I think Grandma Reardon would like that.

1/4 cup boiling water
1 tsp baking soda
1 cup brown sugar
1 cup white sugar
1 cup butter or margarine
2 eggs
1 cup nuts
2 tsp vanilla
3 1/2 cups flour

Mix together the boiling water and baking soda. Set aside to cool. In a large bowl, cream the sugars and butter. Mix in the eggs. Add the nuts and vanilla and mix well. Stir in the flour. Stir in the water and baking soda mixture.

Divide the dough into four equal portions. Roll about 1 1/2" thick. Wrap in waxed paper and refrigerate for an hour or more.

Preheat the oven to 350. Slice and place on greased cookie sheet. Bake about 12 minutes, until light brown. Baking time may be longer depending on how cold the dough is.

Slimming Bread

How does one make slimming bread? By following the recipe from the Slenderella cook book of course! What makes this bread different? Hmmm, the ingredients look like just about any whole wheat bread recipe. You mix it and knead it and let it rise. Looks pretty normal to me.

Oh. Here it is at the end of the recipe. "Each loaf makes 27 slices 1/3 inch thick--30 calories each." Bread sliced 1/3 inch thick? Riiiiiight.

Whole-Wheat Bread or Rolls
Adapted from the Slenderalla Cookbook, 1957.

1 package yeast
1 tsp sugar
1 1/4 tsp salt
1/2 cup lukewarm water
1 cup skim milk
1 Tbs butter or margarine
2 cups sifted whole wheat flour
1 cup sifted flour

Combine the yeast, sugar, salt, and water. Stir until yeast dissolves. Scald the milk; add the butter and let cool. Add the yeast mixture and the flour. Beat until smooth. Knead on a lightly floured surface until smooth and elastic. Place in a greased bowl, then turn dough over. Cover and let rise in a warm place until double in bulk. Punch down.

You can chill part of the dough up to 1 week. This will make 2 loaves or 24 rolls.

For rolls: Break dough into small pieces and put in muffin pans. Cover and let double in bulk. Bake at 400 about 20 minutes.

For bread: Divide the dough into 2, shape and place in 2 loaf plans. Bake at 375 for 45 minutes. Remove from pans at once and let cool on a cake rack.

A few tips from the Classic Cook...

If you are like me and do not have a stand mixer (yet) I highly recommend you buy a dough whisk. I use this one from King Arthur Flour and I really can't believe I used to mix bread dough with a wooden spoon.

The dough will feel quite sticky when you first start kneading it (see first picture). It may need a little extra flour but try to keep kneading and not add extra flour unless it absolutely needs it. Eventually, the dough will become smooth and elastic (see second picture). I've read that it's really difficult to over knead the bread if you do it by hand so don't be afraid to keep going.

Finally, an easy way to shape rolls is to roll the dough into little balls and put three in each muffin cup.

Food for the Soul

This week our CSA share included turnips. I'm never quite sure what to do with them and I am sad to admit that I have let a few rot away in the fridge. My dad mentioned that my great grandmother used to mash them, so I went looking for a recipe for mashed turnips and found a few, all similar and all fairly simple. Have you ever had mashed turnips? They are not sturdy like potatoes, they are more watery and taste a bit like cauliflower.

Since they seem to be a fairly neutral side dish, I decided to use them on a soul food platter. Of course, after tasting the barbecued tofu, swiss chard and turnip greens (didn't want to waste 'em!), mashed sweet potatoes, and whole wheat corn muffins, my husband said, "I've had soul food and this isn't it." Whatever. He had seconds.

Mashed Turnips
Adapted from 250 Ways to Serve Fresh Vegetables, 1950.

2 1/2 pounds turnips
1/2 to 1 cup water
1 tsp salt
1/8 tsp pepper
3 Tbs butter

Pare turnips and cut into cubes. Heat water and salt to boiling, add turnips and return lid to pot to prevent water loss due to steam. Reduce heat and simmer 20 to 35 minutes until soft. Drain turnips and mash together with butter and pepper.

Cool Cukes on a Hot Day

For a couple years, we lived in a house without air conditioning and we were constantly looking for ways to stay cool in the summer. We installed an attic fan, but mostly we opened and closed windows, turned fans off and on, didn't use the oven at all and barely used the stovetop. Instead, we often cooked on the grill or made salads or something else fast and cool, often with produce from the garden.

Moving into a condo meant we now have air conditioning and a CSA instead of a garden, but we still look for cool foods in the summer and I still keep oven use to a minimum. This Cucumber Salad recipe from Slenderella is a great side dish or can be made into a meal with tomatoes and fresh bread. It lasted a couple days in the refrigerator, but it did start to get a little watery.

You can see from the picture that the cucumbers I used aren't standard green cucumbers. They are yellow with pale green insides and lots of seeds, though I don't know the variety. They are a little sweeter than regular cucumbers and, since they were from Clagett Farm, they are organic and didn't require peeling because they had no wax on the outside.

Cucumber Salad
Adapted from "Slenderella"

4 cucumbers, sliced thin (peel if coated in wax)
3 Tbs cider vinegar
2 Tbs sour cream
1/4 yogurt
1/2 tsp salt
1 Tbs chopped dill

Soak cucumber in ice water for 30 minutes, and drain well. Mix together the vinegar, sour cream, yogurt, salt, and dill. Mix with the cucumbers and chill.

Classic Dieting

Let's start with the title: slenderalla cook book. And the picture. Do you see that? The pink silhouette with a 12 inch waist? Is that what I should look like? Is that the pose I should strike after straightening the house and refreshing my make-up and fetching slippers and a scotch on the rocks for my husband when he returns from a long hard day at work? Does the 30 day 1200 calorie a day menu provide enough calories for me to pose and fetch and clean and freshen and straighten and pour? Or have I earned the extra calories in the 1500 calorie a day menu?

Surely this violates my own no-kitsch rule. I mean, really, it has a recipe for crab meat in aspic. Crab. Meat. In. Aspic. But beyond these recipes, beyond the pink silhouette, and a height/weight chart that measures women's height with 2 inch heels on, there are good recipes and surprisingly sound advice and observations.

Sounding like a modern writer, Waldo talks about "freak" diets, including "hard-boiled eggs and grapefruit, 3-day 'miracle' diets, 8-day 'health' diets, 10-day 'wonder' diets, and 18-day 'Hollywood' diets." She warns that these may lead to brief weight loss but may result in boredom and "ravenous hunger." As a woman opposed to ravenous hunger, Waldo had me hooked.

She warns of shifting social patterns with shorter work hours and more television. Emotional eating, the myth (for most people) of physiological reasons for being overweight, and calorie counts for popular foods are all included.

The recipes are well organized and include calorie counts (though the counts seem a little low in some cases and there is no other nutritional information), and there is a large section on desserts since deprivation of things you love isn't necessary for slenderella-wannabes. Chapters are pretty straightforward and include interesting topics such as "pickles and relishes" and "outdoor cookery." Non-kitsch recipes include cheese puffs, pepper caponatina, lentil soup, orange and onion salad, curried eggs, peach pie, and cheese cake.

My first edition Myra Waldo classic was snagged at Fenwick Books, a used bookstore in used in Leonardtown, Maryland. If you want your own copy you can find newer editions online, like the one here.

The Most Boring Picture Ever, but the Bread is Good

Perhaps I should have found something more colorful for my first post. Some berries, or tomatoes, or, if that's too crazy, maybe something with two shades of brown. Instead, it's this: brown bread, with a hint of sweetness and two types of whole grains.

“Cooking with Wholegrains,” a cookbook by Mildred Ellen Orton published in 1951, contains a brief history of whole grains by Vrest Orton. The Ortons operated a grain mill in Vermont, and Mr. Orton notes that prior to 1850 all cookbooks were whole grain cookbooks. The discussion of enriched flour, large companies, and human preference for food that isn’t good for them, is not out of place in 2007. The recipes encourage creativity and there are helpful notes throughout. I snagged my copy at a used bookstore; I don’t see many available online.

For our camping trip, I made a corn meal and whole wheat quick bread that (I’m hoping!) will hold up well in the August heat. It came together very quickly, especially since I ignored the suggestion to sift the dry ingredients into the wet. I know, I know, this can be an important step but I skip it whenever possible. As I am anxiously awaiting an order of non-aluminum baking powder, I substituted a mix of baking soda, arrowroot, and cream of tartar (found in this excellent cookbook), used melted butter instead of shortening, and used a 9x9 pan.

Early American Hot Bread
adapted from “Cooking with Wholegrains”

1 egg
1 cup milk
2 Tbs honey or maple syrup
2/3 cup corn meal
2 ½ tsp baking powder
3 Tbs melted shortening

Grease 8x8 pan and heat oven to 425F.

Beat egg until light; add milk and sweetener. Mix dry ingredients and sift into egg mixture. Add melted shortening. Mix together and pour into pan. Bake 20 minutes.

(The recipe also includes this note: “This hot bread is grand provender for growing kids to thrive on.”)