Dessert Fake-Outs

I know, I know. Foods can be versatile. I love salted peanuts on top of a savory dish (almost) as much as I love sweet peanut butter cups for dessert. Fried rice can be as yummy as rice pudding. But there are some words that make me expect dessert, and finding out that they mean something else will kill the recipe for me, even if it may not be that bad.

Lousene Rousseau  Brunner's Magic with Leftovers (1955) makes me crazy with dashed expectations.

When you see _______ Shortcake, how do you fill in the blank? I think "Strawberry," and I'll bet you do, too. But Ms. Brunner has other ideas:

This is not really a crazy recipe-- basically a meat-and-vegetable sauce over biscuits-- but calling it a shortcake makes me expect dessert, so this sounds disgusting!

Let's try another one. _______-Almond Mousse. If you're thinking "Chocolate," I like the way you think. But Magic with Leftovers has other ideas:

To be fair, though, this could be named just about anything and I still wouldn't be excited about it. There is a reason cold, congealed meat dishes went out of style. The only proper use of mousse is dessert.

Okay, let's try one more. Pineapple Upside-Down ________. Okay, you probably didn't say "Cake" because you know how this game works. But what could possibly fill in that space?

Here's a hint: You'd need this recipe to make it.

Yes, you'd need to start with Ham Loaf to make Pineapple Upside-Down Ham Loaf!

Okay, there is NO saving this recipe for me since I hate ham loaf AND the sweet-and-savory ham-pineapple combo that other people adore. But maybe if you like ham with pineapple this sounds okay?

These last two recipes make me think "Meat Shortcake" might not be so bad....