Boo! Are you scared? No? How about this: It's 1953! You've got to take care of 3.3 kids, sew everybody's clothing, make several lemon meringue pies per month without the aid of a stand mixer, host the ladies' luncheon once every six weeks (even though you just know Doris is judging you for neglecting to dust the lampshades), and pay the grocery bill with the pittance Thomas gives you every two weeks. Now, maybe you're breaking into a cold sweat. That's perfect for Halloween month! I mean, October. Let's get ready for the big month by checking out what Rawleigh's Good Health Guide Almanac Cook Book (1953) recommended for the Spooky Season.
Once again, the month's recipes seem just a little off. Now that the weather is cooling, Rawleigh recommends a refrigerator cake (rather than, say, back in June when home cooks were expected to whip up baked prune whip and banana nut loaf). And yes, while corn and hot dogs are available year round, those main ingredients for the trying-to-sound-fancy Vienna Corn Pudding read as more summer than fall to me.
The Creole Noodle Skillet makes me wonder what constituted "Creole" in the 1950s. My current theory is that if a dish had onion, green pepper, and tomato in it, it was likely to get a label that white midwesterners would consider "ethnic." If the onions, tomatoes, and green peppers got seasoned with oregano and/or garlic, the dish would be considered Italian. (Sorry, Eye-talian!) If the mixture got chili powder and maybe a couple drops of hot sauce if the cook felt brave, it would probably be considered Mexican (unless rice was involved, in which case it would become Spanish). And if it got no additional seasoning to go with whatever other main ingredients went into the dish, it was Creole.
Fall does creep into this month's recipes, though. There's a pumpkin pie on Friday, and the Potato-Hamburger Pie definitely sounds cozy for a chilly night.
Now what about the Libras' horoscope? I'm most intrigued by the closing lines: "You are sensitive to harmony or inharmony and can tell upon entering a home what the prevailing conditions are. You want to help everybody." I think that means that if Joseph and Barbara invite the gang over for dinner, it's best to let Ruth (the resident Libra!) arrive first. She'll be able to tell if the "happy" couple intends to spend the entire evening like they did last time--bickering over whether they spent too much on the TV-- and she'll be happy to try to mediate while everybody else makes their excuses and flees if the answer is "yes."
Now, what is the Rawleigh product-of-the-month for October?
How to give husbands all the pies they want?! 😮 And, of course, the rest of your family, or your in-laws, or your visiting friends?! 😲 The '50s were a lot more unbuttoned than I realized.
Oh, wait. The ad means actual pie. Of course, you still have to whip the meringue without the aid of a stand mixer, but the imitation lemon flavor filling is a little easier to make with a mix than it was to make from scratch.
Happy October! Sorry I terrorized you with the line about the rest of the family, in-laws, and visiting friends. 😈
For well over a decade I had a container of lemon pie filling. I never used it and when I was cleaning my cupboards looking at expiration dates I realized that it didn't have one. Apparently these last forever.
ReplyDeleteIt's pretty easy to leave them in a corner and just forget about them, especially if you're not really inclined to make pies.
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