Cooking With Sheila In The 60's

It's fall here in the midwest.  Crisp air, falling leaves, putting away the lawn mower and getting out the snow blower.  For me, that means a busy time with my pattern shops (listed at the top of this page in the header) and custom orders for the holidays.  It also means simple dinners.  Soups, stews, crusty homemade bread and hot sandwiches.   

I have some little foodie tid-bits from the 1960's I thought some of you might find interesting:

1962 -  Andy Warhol exhibits his Campbell Soup Can painting

1963 - Julia Child's The French Chef debuts.

1965 - Cool Whip and Tang hit the supermarket

1965 - Pringles too

Deviled eggs appear at dinner parties as fancy finger foods, which I think is hysterical!  Jackie Kennedy puts a French chef in the White House and in 1964, pop top soda cans allow us to drink colas without a can opener.  The toaster was the most popular appliance and do you remember The Galloping Gourmet?

It's the time of year I stock up on canned items for my pantry.  Canned beans (all sorts of white, black, red, chick peas and black eyed peas).  The beans are great for minestrone soup using leftover meat and veggies.  I make my own hummus using a can of chick peas or white beans, olive oil, lots of minced garlic, some lemon juice, salt and pepper, a dash of hot sauce and a teaspoon of peanut butter (instead of the traditional tahini). 

Pick up some canned potatoes for sautéing in a pan with Cavender's seasoning and olive oil and serving with eggs.  Much quicker than using raw potatoes.  

Canned green beans sautéed with cherry tomatoes, olive oil, salt and pepper and minced garlic.  Have Campbell soups of all kinds too.  I use them in casseroles and as a base for soups.  I'm a firm believer in canned items as long as you know how to use them.  I also stock up on frozen veggies of all kinds.  Peas, mixed vegetables, hash browns, breakfast sausage and so on.  

Jarred sauces are a fav too!  Alfredo sauce to use with cooked pasta, some leftover chicken, a handful of peas and maybe some cherry tomatoes.   

As I write this, I have 3 chicken thighs simmering in a pot with water, onion scraps, two celery stalks, one carrot, minced garlic and some herbs.  It will be the base for chicken noodle soup with dry egg noodles and some frozen mixed veggies.   After I strain the stock, debone the chicken and cut it up into pieces, I put just the chicken and stock back in the same pot.  I put the heat back on to simmer, add a small handful of the dry egg noodles to cook until just done.  I plop in a pat of butter, a teaspoon of dried parsley and some half and half.  Served with crusty bread or rolls, it's a complete meal.

Read about the crusty bread on this post.

If you'd like to try Greek Chicken, read the post here.

Happy cooking!

Sheila

Food tip:

I buy two cans at a time.  That way, when I use one, I have another ready to go.  When I use the first can, I add it to the grocery list to pick up just one can the next time I go to the store.