THEN: A traditional Waldorf salad is composed of  apples, mayonnaise, lemon juice, sugar, celery, broken nuts, and dark raisins.

NOW: Today we are twisting up the classic salad by using the now famed Honeycrisp apple (Oh my heart belongs to the sweetness of Honeycrisp), instead of the traditional tart Granny Smith. Honeycrisp apples were first produced in 1960 when the macoun and honeygold apple were cross-pollinated in a University of Minnesota breeding program, but it wasn’t until 1991 that the apple was made available to the consumer. (more…)

There seems to be as million ways to make good ole’ deviled eggs. My friend Mary Edwards posted a photo of her deviled eggs on Facebook and they looked so creamy and tasty I asked about her recipe. She says she has never measured and her ritual is something like this:

I had ten eggs here – so I whipped the egg yolks with a good amount of mayo – about 4 generous tablespoons – a couple of generous tablespoons of whole grain Dijon mustard, a little seasoned salt, a little sugar (about 1 teaspoon), about 2 teaspoons of Coleman’s mustard, and a couple of cap fulls of apple cider vinegar – and then I finish with a dusting of more seasoned salt & cayenne pepper.

This is a vintage cooking style at its best. (more…)

Introducing my first post in Cake Box Recipes. Since so many of my old cookbooks have recipes using cake mix, I thought it would make a nice category for The Vintage Cook.

OK, so everyone has a favorite movie theater treat, right? Usually I just stick to a salty bucket of over-saturated with butter-oil popcorn. But back in the day when candy didn’t cost an arm and a leg, I used to get Raisinets! Yum~ My girls would probably cringe, since they are of this age of those wax-coated, grainy, flavorless little cookie dough ball thingys. Oh but the Raisnets… could it be the idea of actually eating something healthy that got me hooked, or perhaps it was that sweet and slightly tart chewy combination? Who knows. But now, they EVEN HAVE DARK Chocolate Raisinets, oh goody gumdrops, it can’t be true.

Turns out that Raisinets are the number one largest selling candy in United States history. They were introduced to us in 1927 by the Blumenthal Chocolate Company and then Nestlé acquired the brand in 1984 (right around the time I started going to the movies!)

I hope you will enjoy this recipe. I played around with different combinations and finally got it exactly the way I envisioned. Now pass the popcorn please!~

Crock-Pot chose my original recipe as a first place win! It’s a warmer and goo-ee-er version of the Rustic Apple cake I’ve been making for years. It’s slow cooked, warm, spicy, and spiked. I’m certain the use of whole wheat flour is what makes this dessert so delicious. I can’t wait for the mailman to arrive with my prize package. 🙂 I hope you will enjoy this steamed in the crock-pot cake!

We call it Indian Rice Pudding in American but it’s more like a cold soup. I’m sharing with you a traditional recipe from one of my favorite cook books.

The movie Monsoon Wedding got me thinking about Indian food. It’s about an arranged marriage in India during the monsoon season which is usually in July. What I loved most about the movie was the portrayal of the leading men (the groom and the brides father.) They were handsome and honorable.

I watched it over three nights. It wasn’t a long movie but it was a busy week.

The book I picked from my collection to match this movie was originally published in 1973 by Madhur Jaffrey. This is a copy of the first printing.

I love this book. I’m not selling it in my Etsy shop, it stays with me! But I’m sure you can find a copy out there. The writing is so real and authentic. Look at what she says… Don’t you dare call it rice pudding! Ha! But does “rice pudding” sound so much better than “Cold Cardamom Basmati Soup?” How could our American taste buds relate? Pronounced KEY-EAR or KEEHD or rhymes with HERE if you don’t have a good Indian accent, which I don’t. 🙂

I just stared at the page when I read the recipe. How could this be? One Tablespoon of rice? HUH? When I made this recipe, I made half, just to be sure not to waste too much milk in case this was some type of publishing error. But it wasn’t. Count on the recipe to make 2-3 servings, max. It was difficult to find pistachios that were unsalted. So I bought salted, and then rinsed them in hot water. It worked just fine. I sprinkled some on top like the recipe specifies but really that crunch was too much. If you put them all in when it’s hot, they soften and are so delicious in the kheer by the time it’s chilled and ready to serve. This is really like a cold soup, often it is considered a milky pudding but not thick at all like the pudding we know. Let’s just stop calling it pudding right now! Ha Ha.

This was a simple twist today on the classic recipe below. I pureed some nice ripe mango and swirled it on the top. I also chose to use Basmati rice. Cardamom is a must and Vark is something I can’t seem to get my hands on. I found the closest thing to an earthenware bowl I could find. Whallah!

My Mom and I used to go to an Indian restaurant in Topeka and for dessert I usually got the kheer with a little dollop of mango ice cream. Something about kheer and mango, it’s a harmony of flavor.

A few minutes ago I sat in the kitchen, … relaxed in the dimness of a rainy evening. I’m pondering love and all the ways it evokes and evolves, or dissolves. That Movie, this Recipe….and ENJOYED every spoonful of this classic and flavorful Indian dessert.

Be sure to use Basmati rice and Whole Milk. 🙂 To reduce the cost, you can use some ground Cardamom to taste in place of the pods.