Vintage Recipe - Parsnip Fritters

One for me to try next week. I've never made parsnips, so we'll see if they are edible by my husband's standards. This recipe was in my antique A&P cookbook and I did not convert it to modern format. There are some recipes in this book that I just don't even know about. What is a salsify, oyster plant, or a vegetable marrow?

Parsnip Fritters

Boil 4 or 5 parsnips; when tender, take off skin and mash them fine, add to them a teaspoonful of wheat flour and one egg; put a tablespoon of lard or beef dripping in a frying pan over the fire, add to it a saltspoonful of salt; when boiling hot, put in parsnips, make it in small cakes with a spoon; when one side is a delicate brown, turn the other; when both are done, take them on a dish, put a very little bit of the fat which they were fried over, and serve hot. These resemble very nearly the taste of the salsify or oyster plant, and will generally be preferred.

German Potato Salad

Yet another vintage recipe from the shoe box to try, although I must confess I made only half of this recipe, as Leo just is not fond of it. I had to by guesstimate as there were no amounts on this card with the exception of 2 level tablespoons of flour and a handful of sugar.

German Potato Salad


8-10 Potatoes
8 slices bacon
2 tbs flour
½ cup Cold Water
½ cup White Vinegar
½ cup Sugar
1 onion - Chopped fine
salt - To taste
pepper - To taste


1. "Boil & Slice potatoes with jackets on"
2. Cut bacon in pieces and fry
3. Add bacon pieces to potatoes, but reserve bacon grease
4. To bacon grease add flour, water, & vinegar and cook over medium heat until sauce thickens
5. Add onion, sugar, potatoes and bacon to skillet and stir until everything is covered in sauce.
6. Salt & pepper to taste and serve warm.

Servings: 8

Vintage Recipe - Cherry Fluff Salad

I thought something different for a fruit salad would be nice. When I was sifting through the "shoebox" I found this one. You probably could substitute pie fillings as well to make it blueberry fluff or peach fluff or apple fluff...

Cherry Fluff Salad


1 Can Cherry Pie Filling
1 8 oz Container Whipped Topping
1 can Condensed milk
1 20 oz Can crushed Pineapples
1 cup Small marshmallows


Combine all ingredients and refrigerate for one hour. You can add nuts if desired.

Vintage Peanut Butter Recipes

More vintage recipes from the ever fun shoe box. These were all on a single newspaper clipping with ads on backside dated 1974.

Peanut Butter Muffins

2 cups sifted flour
3 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
¼ cup sugar
1/3 cup Peanut butter, smooth or crunchy
2 eggs
1 cup milk
¼ cup vegetable oil

1. Sift together dry ingredients
2. Cut in Peanut butter
3. Combine beaten eggs and milk and then pour into dry ingredients
4. Add oil and stir just enough to moisten dry ingredients
5. Pre-heat oven to 400.
6. Pour batter into greased muffin pans (2/3 full)
7. Bake in preheated oven for 25 minutes.

Servings: 12
Preparation time: 10 minutes
Cooking time: 25 minutes
Ready in: 35 minutes

Peanut Butter Banana Bread

2 packages Active dry yeast
1/3 cup warm water
¾ cup smooth peanut butter
½ cup packed brown sugar
¾ cup mashed bananas (about 2 bananas)
1 egg
1 cup scalded & Cooled Milk
1½ tsp salt
6 cups flour

1. Dissolve yeast in warm water and let set until bubbly.
2. In a large bowl beat together peanut butter & brown sugar until creamy.
3. Stir in the bananas, egg, cooled milk, dissolved yeast, and salt Blend mixture well.
4. Add 2 cups of flour, and stir vigorously. Keep adding remaining flour until dough is stiff.
5. Move dough to a well floured board and knead well for about 10 minutes. Add additional flour as needed to keep dough from sticking to board.
6. When dough is smooth and elastic, place dough in large greased bowl and flip dough so both sides are greased.
7. Cover loosely and let stand in warm place (85 degree F.) until double in bulk, about 1½ hours.
8. Punch dough down and divide in two equal parts. cover dough and let rest 10 minutes
9. Shape dough into two loaves by rolling dough out until about ¾ inch thick. Wrap or roll dough like a jelly roll and seal ends and place in 2 loaf pans
10. Cover and let rise in warm place again until double in bulk.
11. Preheat oven to 350 degrees and then bake for 40-45 minutes
12. Allow to cool in pan for 10 minutes before removing from pans

Yield: 2 loaves
Preparation time: 3 hours and 30 minutes
Ready in: 4 hours and 15 minutes

Yummy Fruit Sauce
Great over fresh fruit or ice cream

1/3 cup peanut butter
½ cup sugar
1/3 cup dark corn syrup
1/3 cup water
½ tsp salt
¼ cup raisins or candied fruit
½ tsp vanilla

1. Measure and set aside smooth or crunchy peanut butter
2. Combine sugar, corn syrup, water, & salt in saucepan. Let simmer for 10 minutes.
3. Cool to lukewarm, then stir in peanut butter. Stir until well mixed
4. Stir in raisins or fruit and vanilla.
5. Serve over fresh fruit or ice cream.

Preparation time: 10 minutes
Cooking time: 10 minutes
Ready in: 25 minutes

Vintage Recipe for Creamed Beans & a Helpful Hint

Well, this page in the show box had little notes scribbled all over it. The first is this recipe for Creamed Green Beans or Wax Beans.

Marie's Good Creamed Beans


¼ cup milk
¼ cup Mayonnaise
2 tbs Minced Onions
1 can Wax beans or Green beans



1 Drain beans and warm them up
2 Mix milk, mayo, and onion and pour over beans
3 Warm briefly and serve


Servings: 4
Preparation time: 15 minutes
Cooking time: 10 minutes

Serving size: 1 serving
Percent daily values based on a 1500 calorie diet.
Nutrition information calculated from recipe ingredients.


Now being the ever careful dieter that I try to be, the nutrition was calculated with skim milk, low-fat mayo, and minced onion flakes. If you rinsed the canned beans or cooked fresh beans, I am sure you could get that sodium level down, too!


Amount Per Serving
Calories 36.81
Calories From Fat (2%) 0.67
% Daily Value
Total Fat 0.09g 0%
Saturated Fat 0.03g 0%
Cholesterol 0.31mg 0%
Sodium 110.98mg 6%
Potassium 135.83mg 5%
Carbohydrates 8.73g 4%
Dietary Fiber 1.47g 8%
Sugar 2.31g
Sugar Alcohols 0.00g
Net Carbohydrates 7.26g
Protein 1.49g 4%

Also noted was a tip for removing grease spots from clothing. It says to simply place corn starch on spot, iron over starch, brush off and repeat until spot is gone.

A Shoe Box of Recipes

Yes! I was lucky enough to get a shoe box full of handwritten recipes at an estate auction. The lady had been a momm a school teacher, and an active church member, so the box is loaded with recipes.

Now I simply do not have the time to test and photo all of these right now, but I am busily entering them into my Diet Pro program, so that they will be saved.

I thought it would be fun to share them, even if I don';t get them tested immediately, so I will aim to do share some each week.

Here is one that sounds yummy.

Potato Refrigerator Rolls

1 cake Bakers Yeast ½ cup lukewarm water 2/3 cup shortening 1 tsp salt ½ cup sugar 1 cup mashed Potatoes 1 cup scalded milk 2 eggs 6 cups flour 1 To mashed potatoes, add shortening, sugar, salt, and eggs. Cream well. 2 Dissolve yeast in lukewarm water and add to lukewarm milk. Stir into potato mixture 3 Add Sifted flour to make a stiff dough. You may need additional flour. Toss on floured bread board and knead well 4 Put in large bowl and let rise until double in bulk 5 Knead lightly, rub over top with melted butter and place in refrigerator until ready for use 6 1/2 hour before using, pinch off dough and shape into rolls as desired. Cover and let rise until light. 7 Bake 15-20 minutes at 400 degrees. Servings: 24 Yield: 24 rolls Cooking time: 20 minutes

Amount Per Serving
Calories		205.81
Calories From Fat (31%)		63.99
		% Daily Value
Total Fat 7.09g		15%
Saturated Fat 2.77g		18%
Cholesterol 25.41mg		11%
Sodium 136.73mg		8%
Potassium 97.84mg		4%
Carbohydrates 30.33g		13%
Dietary Fiber 1.16g		6%
Sugar 4.86g
Sugar Alcohols 0.00g
Net Carbohydrates 29.17g
Protein 4.67g		12%