As the 80th anniversary of this paper nears, I am taking time to reflect on prairie lives and how things have changed.
I can picture the prairie women reading the column years ago, in their housedresses. Good clothes were saved for town and church. They may have been reading at tea time, a much needed break from the physical labour that was required to keep a home and family operating. Perhaps a homemade cookie or square accompanied the hot drink.
She would be looking forward to the evening visit with her neighbour. I can see hollyhocks waving outside the window, I can smell the “old man bush” and I can see the path to the garden that produced much of the family’s food.
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Things have changed through the years. I now picture a farm woman glancing through the paper while enjoying a canned drink and a stick of a Kit Kat bar. She is in her cutoffs sitting in her home office retrieving mail from the internet while the dishwasher runs in the background.
I believe that we are still looking for the same things that the women and families looked for 80 years ago. We still want to positively interact with friends and families, we still want easy and nutritious food for our families and we still want to look and feel good about ourselves. I think that this column has accomplished what it was set up to do in 1923 – to assist families with everyday living and to help in any way to better their lives.
The following old recipes were sent to me four years ago as a good threshers’ meal or an ideal Sunday supper.
Roast chicken and vegetables
5-6 pound roasting chicken 3 kg
1 cup chopped celery 250 mL
1 medium onion, chopped
1/2 cup butter 125 mL
2 tablespoons poultry 30 mL
seasoning
1/2 teaspoon sage 2 mL
8 cups day-old bread, cubed 2 L
1/2 cup chicken broth 125 mL
1/2 teaspoon paprika 2 mL
1/4 teaspoon salt 1 mL
pinch pepper
6 baking potatoes, peeled
and quartered
6 carrots, peeled and sliced
In a skillet, sauté celery and onion in butter until tender, about five minutes. Add poultry seasoning and sage. Place the bread cubes in a large bowl. Stir in celery mixture and chicken broth and mix lightly. Just before baking, stuff the chicken. Place the bird in the roaster, tying the drumsticks together. Combine paprika, salt and pepper and rub over the chicken.
Bake uncovered, at 350 F (180 C) for 11/2 hours, basting every 30 minutes. Place potatoes and carrots around the chicken. Cover and bake 11/2 hours longer or until vegetables are tender. Serves four to six.
Note: I like to add fresh dill to the dish in the summer. Just chop and sprinkle over the roaster.
Rice pudding
3 1/2 cups milk 875 mL
1/2 cup uncooked long 125 mL
grain rice
1/3 cup sugar 75 mL
1/2 teaspoon salt, optional 2 mL
1/2 cup raisins 125 mL
1 teaspoon vanilla extract 5 mL
cinnamon
In a saucepan, combine milk, rice, sugar and salt. Bring to a boil over medium heat, stirring constantly. Pour into a greased 11/2 quart
(1.5 L) baking dish. Cover and bake at 350 F (180 C) for 35 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add raisins and vanilla. Cover and bake for another 10 minutes. Sprinkle with cinnamon, if desired. Serve warm or chilled. Store in refrigerator. Yield four to six servings.
This old-time cookie recipe is a great snack.
Gingersnaps
2 cups flour 500 mL
1 teaspoon ginger 5 mL
2 teaspoons baking soda 10 mL
1 teaspoon cinnamon 5 mL
1/2 teaspoon salt 2 mL
3/4 cup butter 175 mL
1 egg
1 cup sugar 250 mL
1/4 cup molasses 50 mL
Cream the butter, sugar, molasses and egg. Add spices, soda and salt to the flour and add to the sugar mixture.
Roll in small balls and then roll in granulated sugar.
Place on ungreased pan and bake at 350 F (180 C) for eight to 10 minutes.
I would also like to share these handed-down jam recipes while the fruit is in season.
Sunset jam
2 pounds pears, chopped 1 kg
fine
1 cup crushed pineapple 250 mL
3/4 cup maraschino 175 mL
cherries, drained and chopped
juice of one lemon
7 1/2 cups sugar 1.75 L
Mix well and bring to a boil, over high heat, stirring constantly. Boil hard for one minute and remove from heat. Stir in two packs of Certo. Skim for five minutes and put into sterilized jars. Process. Makes five pints (1.5 L).
Peach jam
30 peaches, peeled
2 lemons
4 oranges
Chop the above ingredients and measure in cups. Add one cup less sugar than fruit. Boil until thick and add a small bottle of maraschino cherries, drained and chopped. Pour into hot jars and seal. Process.
For any canning questions, contact Bernardin at 888-430-4231 or to find its website, visit www.producer.com and click on links in the news.
Looking back through the years
The “Cut This Out” section in the Progressive (later the Western Producer) featured household hints for the homemaker. Here are a few from January 1924:
- Worn spots in boot linings can be mended with adhesive tape, and much wear on the stockings is thus prevented.
- When making berry pies, cut the lower crust half an inch larger than the top and fold over like a hem. You will find the juice never leaks out.
- Don’t pick up little pieces of broken glass. Wet a woolen cloth, lay it on the floor over the fragments and pat it.
- When two glass tumblers stick together, put cold water in the inner one and hold the other in warm water. The inner will contract and the other will expand and the glasses will separate.
- When the cake sticks, turn it gently upside down and place a damp cloth over the bottom of the pan. It will come out easily.
- If it is necessary to have your hands in water a great deal, keep a bottle of vinegar handy. Shake a little on your hands each time you dry them. It will keep them white and smooth.
- If corks are too large for bottles, just soak them in hot water for a few minutes to soften and try again.
Blueberry correction
In the Aug. 7 column, the Blueberry Delight recipe was missing one cup (250 mL) of margarine or butter in the crumb mixture.
Thank you to all of our readers who sent in an old-time recipe for our sponge toffee request.
Sponge Toffee
3 cups sugar 750 mL
11/3 cups Bee Hive corn 325 mL
syrup
1/4 teaspoon salt 1 mL
1 teaspoon unflavoured 5 mL
gelatin
1 tablespoon cold water 15 mL
1 tablespoon baking 15 mL
soda
Oil a nine x nine inch (22 x 22 cm) or a 10 x 10 inch (25 x 25 cm) cake pan or two loaf pans.
Combine sugar, corn syrup and salt in a large saucepan. Stir over medium heat until sugar dissolves, then continue cooking, stirring occasionally.
Soak gelatin in the cold water.
When candy mixture reaches 290 F (150 C), the hard crack stage, immediately add the baking soda, then the soaked gelatin, in that order. Stir rapidly, then remove from the heat and continue to stir until the candy becomes thick and golden, about 11/2 minutes. Turn into the prepared pan.
Allow to cool thoroughly. Loosen candy from edges of the pan and remove. It may be necessary to dip the pan in hot water for a moment to remove it easily.
Cut or break in pieces. Wrap closely in waxed paper and store in a tightly covered container.
Taking 10
If a poor night’s sleep is making it hard for you to concentrate, a few minutes of down time may be all you need to rejuvenate your mind.
According to research by A.J. Tietzel and L.C. Lack, a short power nap could improve your concentration levels even more effectively than a longer nap.
In a recent study of sleep-deprived people, those who napped for a mere 10 minutes were more alert for three hours afterward than people who took a 30-minute power snooze.
Jodie Mirosovsky is a home economist from Rosetown, Sask., and one of four columnists comprising Team Resources. Send correspondence in care of this newspaper, Box 2500, Saskatoon, Sask., S7K 2C4 or contact them at
team@producer.com.
