Here I am, another Tuesday, another Vintage Menu Madness! I have challenged myself to cook one vintage menu in its entirety from one of my Vintage Cookery Books. This is something I have really enjoyed and that I hope you also enjoy!
I have always enjoyed Vintage Cookbooks. It is a love that began when I was a child. My mother had an old cookbook in her bookcase that I used to love looking through. As an adult, I would copy recipes out of it every time I visited my mother. Finally one day she gave it to me. I was thrilled to get it.
Since then I have been collecting Vintage Cookbooks as and when I could. I did have to leave a lot of them in the UK when I moved back to Canada, save a few really special ones, but I have been slowly re-collecting them since my return.
This week I decided to do something a bit different than a supper/dinner menu. I decided to do a breakfast/brunch type of menu and it was a lot of fun. I did have to begin by making one of the special ingredients myself a week ahead. Spiced Apple Rings. This was not something that is readily available in Canada.
I decided to make my own from scratch. I found a recipe on Just A Pinch that I liked. It didn't use those cinnamon hot candies that most recipes call for. They are also not available where I live, and, to be honest, I didn't want that bright red color for them.
I was actually really pleased with how they turned out. They had a lovely flavor.
This week's menu was chosen from a Better Homes & Gardens Cookbook entitled the Menu Cookbook. I was able to buy one of these, lightly used, on Thrift Books to replace my original copy which got left behind in the UK. It was originally published in 1972.
I had started collecting these BH & G cookbooks when I was still in High School, and this was one of my favorites! I hated to have to leave it behind in England, but was so pleased to have been able to get another copy!
The menu I chose was for a family brunch and looked really appealing in the book. It contains foods from the four basic food groups and was considered to be quite nutritious. Included in the menu were:
Sausage Breakfast Bake
Ingredients
- 2 cups (260g) packaged pancake mix
- 1 1/4 cups (300ml) whole milk
- 2 large free range eggs
- 2 TBS salad oil
- 1 (14oz) jar of spiced apple rings
- 1 (8-oz/226g) brown-and-serve sausage links
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350*F/180*C/ gas mark 4. Butter a 13 1/2 X 8 3/4 X 1 3/4 inch baking dish and set aside.
- Whisk the pancake mix together with the eggs, milk and salad oil, beating with a rotary mixer until smooth. Pour this mixture into the baking dish.
- Drain the spiced apple rings, reserving the liquid to make the apple maple syrup. Halve each sausage link crosswise.
- Place the apple rings in a decorative manner on top of the pancake mixture, along with the sausage halves. Do it so that you can cut the pancake into square sized servings if possible, when done.
- Bake in the preheated oven for 30 to 35 minutes. Serve hot, cut into squares with some of the syrup spooned over top.
Apple-Maple Syrup
Ingredients
- 1/3 cup (80ml) of the spiced apple liquid/syrup
- 1/3 cup (80ml) water
- 1/3 (67g) granulated sugar
- 4 tsp cornstarch (corn flour)
- 1 TBS butter or margarine (I used butter)
- 3/4 cup (180ml) maple syrup or maple flavored syrup
Instructions
- Whisk the sugar and cornstarch together in a saucepan. Whisk in the spiced apple syrup and the water. Cook and stir over medium high heat until the mixture starts to bubble and thicken.
- Reduce the temperature to a low simmer and simmer for one minute further. Whisk in the maple syrup and the butter. Keep warm and serve drizzled over top of hot squares of the sausage breakfast bake.
Baked Eggs
Ingredients
- 6 large free range eggs
- salt and black pepper to taste
- 6 tsp whole milk
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350*F/180*C/ gas mark 4. Have ready a large shallow baking dish.
- Butter six custard cups really well. Break one egg into each and sprinkle with salt and black pepper. To each egg add 1 tsp of milk.
- Place into a shallow baking dish large enough to hold all of the cups. Add hot water into the baking dish to the depth of 1 inch.
- Bake in the preheated oven for about 25 minutes, or until the eggs are firm.
These posts are so much fun! Thank you.
ReplyDeleteYou are very welcome Denise! They are fun for me too! xo
DeleteI had to chuckle when I read this paragraph. It's so the 50's (think June Cleaver). [smile]
ReplyDelete"Put the eggs into the oven 10 minutes after the Sausage Breakfast Bake has begun cooking so that they will finish baking at the same time. Now you will have 25 minutes to dress, read the paper, or do other tasks before serving breakfast to the family."
Your presentations are very colorful and appealing.
Thank you Elaine! When I was a girl I always wanted to grow up to be June Cleaver! lol xo
DeleteBaked eggs and spiced apple rings! Haven't thought about those for a long time! This looks yummy and doable! May check a store fore the spiced apples, even though I think the last time I bought some they were mushy textured, 30? or more years ago! Love your vintage recipe choices!
ReplyDeleteThank you so much Annie! These homemade apple rings were not mushy at all. I really enjoyed them. Not as red as the ready made ones but the flavor was really nice! xo
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