Nellie's Corned Beef and Cabbage

Name a more iconic March dinner. I'll wait.

This is probably one of the stranger St. Patrick's Day I've ever celebrated, but fortunately I managed to get out and get my hands on a brisket to share this traditional favorite with all of you well in advance of panic buying and social distancing. 

Corned beef and cabbage is one of the most iconic holiday dishes, but many people are quick to claim it's not "authentic" Irish cuisine. Much like spaghetti and meatballs and chop suey, corned beef and cabbage is rather an American spin on a traditional Irish dish. That doesn't make it less authentic, just that it's a staple of a community that isn't centered in Ireland itself. Read on to find out more about this tasty dinner I wish I got to enjoy more than once a year!

Gabby makes President Obama's Favorite Chili

An unusual but tasty spin on chili!

Our final entry in our Black History Month series comes from the personal archive of the Obamas! To share it with you, I brought out Gabriela McBride, AG's first Black Girl of the Year character. Gabby runs for student body president in her third book, so besides being a modern girl who would have grown up during the Obama administration and probably been incredibly excited to see girls like her living in the White House, she felt like a good fit to share this unique but tasty recipe for one of my personal favorite foods. Read on to see what's for dinner with Barack and Michelle!

Blaire's Hug in a Bowl

Or broccoli cheddar soup!

Blaire's time as Girl of the Year is coming to an end, and before she rides off, I wanted to try my hand at at least one more of the recipes American Girl released to celebrate her time in the sun. She might make the occasional appearance around these parts the same way Grace does, but the odds of American Girl producing any other Blaire content moving forward is pretty slim, and I have to admit, this recipe caught the interest of this cheese loving blogger from the moment I read her books. Read on to learn how to make Blaire's famous Hug in a Bowl yourself!

Angela's Pasta Fagoli

A family favorite, perfect for feeding a crowd!

This recipe comes straight from the family archives. I've said before about how my great-grandmother (the same lady behind our delicious family meatball recipe) was hands down the best cook in the family. She'd make pasta and tomato sauce from scratch, and my dad didn't even know he liked Italian food before he tried her cooking. Like many talented cooks, Nana didn't write down any of her recipes because she worked from taste and touch rather than specific measurements, so if you wanted to learn how to make something, she had to walk you through it herself. 

Unfortunately, this means quite a lot of her specialties have been lost to history, but my mom learned how to make this tasty, hearty soup that's served as the main course at countless family gatherings, and she very kindly took the time to show me how to make it myself. If you're looking for a really east, very tasty dish, definitely consider giving this one a try!

Emily's Oslo Lunch

Keeping British kids fighting fit during World War II!

I feel like September has always been a really rough month for the blog. I'm usually in the middle of moving, starting a new job, finishing grad school, or recovering from planning a wedding. 2019 had been especially unkind motivation wise, so this post is one of three that probably should have gone up way sooner, and will end up being backdated. Whoops. 

Anyway, one thing I've also been trying to do this September is eat better. As I've discussed before, historical recipes and eating "better" by modern standards often aren't really compatible. What was considered healthy for a pioneer family in 1854 is vastly different for an office worker in 2019, because I'm not getting up at the crack of dawn every day to do backbreaking labor like every member of the Larson family would have been. One period that does have surprisingly healthy - and often surprisingly not that bad, if not good - recipes to offer is World War II, especially when looking into British dishes, where rationing was a lot more intense than it was in the United States. Read on to see an experimental meal that helped British school kids stay healthy in spite of food shortages!

Blaire's Awesome Sauce

A sauce that's chock full of veggies and pretty easy to make!

In April, I shared the official recipe for Blaire's dairy-free chocolate chip brownies with you, and spoke about how this year's Girl of the Year has to deal with the frustration of developing lactose intolerance, which means a lot of adapting for this aspiring chef. In her second book, Blaire Cooks Up a Plan, her primary theme makes a pretty big shift, from adapting to food intolerance (and a sort of half hearted attempt at discussing screen addiction) to confronting food insecurity by helping those in need. 

This recipe is inspired by Blaire's community service project, and is featured as a recipe in the back of Blaire Cooks Up a Plan the same way the brownies were. Read on to find out more about this recipe, as well as how to make it yourself!

Melody's Tomato Watermelon Salad

A tasty dish with some difficult history.

Today we're featuring a recipe that involves some pretty dark moments in American history. This watermelon tomato salad from the Sweet Home Cafe Cookbook published by the National Museum of African American History and Culture is a very interesting, refreshing side dish to any summer get together, but features an ingredient that has a pretty complicated and often upsetting history in the Black community. Its reputation as such is the fault of white supremacists looking to put down Black entrepreneurs in the wake of the Civil War. They took a symbol of Black freedom and entrepreneurship and turned it into an icon of Jim Crow America. 

I'm speaking, of course, about the watermelon.

Lily's Homemade Anko Paste and Red Bean Popsicles!

Experimenting with new ingredients to make a yummy treat!

Red bean ice cream and other red bean flavored sweets have long been something I go out of my way to sample when a restaurant offers them. For some Westerners, the idea of using beans to make a sweet dish probably sounds a little strange or unappetizing at first, but I've gobbled up everything I've ever come across that's flavored, stuffed with, or otherwise full of this sweet, creamy goodness. 

After Nanea was released and it was confirmed that she had a Japanese best friend, I knew I wanted to make something that either featured red (adzuki) beans, or red bean paste (anko) as a way to investigate the history of one of my favorite treats, and to try my hand at making my own desserts featuring this unique ingredient. 

There was just one problem: finding anko paste!

Ivy's Fried Rice

Putting leftovers to good use since 600 AD!

These last few months have felt like an actual whirlwind in our apartment. Between planning our upcoming vow renewal, business at work, trying to get some academic articles written and published, adopting a cat, and keeping up with the blog, I feel like I haven't really had a chance to catch my breath since... maybe February? 

Because of that, it's been very difficult to plan and prep meals, which means anything easy and quick (while still healthy - ish - and filling) has been a huge asset. I'm hopeful that once things settle down again, I'll have more time and energy to devote to non blog related meals, but until then, it's been fun to experiment with some traditional go to's that are easy to make, full of vegetables, and a way to get rid of leftovers that's been used for generations. 

I'm speaking about fried rice, of course!

Josefina's Chicken Fajitas

The perfect easy weeknight dinner!

So as many of my readers know, I am actually a really lazy cook when it comes to non blog related culinary adventures. Cooking after a long day at the office is not something I find especially relaxing, so I'm a big believer in cooking something big on the weekend and then rationing the leftovers over the course of the rest of the week. Because of that, I'm constantly on the look out for new things to add to my repertoire of dishes that create lots of leftovers. 

Take the humble fajita for example! This Tex-Mex classic is a great option if you're looking for something that you can put your own spin on, or follow a recipe that will get you a hot and tasty dinner on the table in about half an hour. Read on to see how you can make these for yourself!

Nanea's Lomi Lomi Salmon

A classic luau side dish that's easy to make no matter where you live!

Last year, I told you all about my research project about the history and influence of tiki bars. In that whole long, exhausting, fun, frustrating process, I ended up finding out quite a lot about the history of how Americans have interpreted and interacted with Hawaiian food over the years. Something I found very interesting - although not necessarily surprising - was that at the height of the tiki culture craze in the 50's and 60's, there tons of recipes and cookbooks being published saying they were examples of authentic Hawaiian recipes, but most of them were written by white Americans, most of whom had very little interaction with Hawaii themselves. 

The recipe I'm about to share with you today is one of the major exceptions to that rule: Hawaii Cookbook & Backyard Luau by Elizabeth Ahn Toupin. It's one of the many vintage cookbooks I acquired to write my article, and I've been dying to crack it open and try out some of the recipes. This past weekend, I finally had the time to do just that and I'm very excited to share the results with you guys!

Jane's Tart of Green Peas

An Elizabethan classic that makes for a fun modern side dish!

Jane has been a great addition to the blog because experimenting with Tudor and Elizabethan recipes can be a lot of fun. Sometimes, the flavor profile is just a little bit off from a modern perspective, and some recipes I'm not sure I'm brave enough to ever try myself, but a lot of the recipes I've posted about here are actually pretty tasty, as well as being interesting. 

Take this pea tart for example! I was clued into this recipe from Joyce White's A Taste of History blog, which I've shared with you guys before. Joyce is a really talented food historian and the past recipes I've tried from her arsenal have come out pretty well. This pea tart - actually a pea pie - is adapted from a 1596 cookbook by Thomas Dawson entitled Good Housewife's Jewel. It's a really easy recipe to try out in your own home, and with the exception of one key ingredient, you won't have to look high or low for most of the components. 

What's that ingredient, you ask?

Emily's Lentil and Parsley Soup

An authentic WWII recipe that could have done with some workshopping...

One of my favorite things to pick up on my various adventures are historical cookbooks. I've acquired quite a number of them since I started this blog, to the point of where my cookbook shelf is overflowing and I can't bring myself to Konmari any of them because they're all such nice publications! 

This year, I'm doing my best to try and dust off a few of them, including the one I got today's recipe from: Victory in the Kitchen: Wartime Recipes. It was published by the Imperial War Museum, one of my very favorite museums. Visiting their impressive exhibits in the early 2000's helped get me really excited about World War II history, so I was eager to try something out. 

The results... weren't exactly what I was hoping for, but hopefully it'll be interesting for everyone to get a look at what kind of stuff you might run into when trying out another historic recipe.

Kaya's Seaweed and Mushroom Salad

An unusual salad that really brings the earthy flavors!

In 2019, I am trying my best to eat a little healthier. Trying is really the operative word there, because I still catch myself snacking on a lot of stuff I probably shouldn't, but I've been brainstorming ideas for blog posts that are a little more waistline friendly to share with everyone, and this one wound up being a very interesting experience indeed. 

This salad comes from the pages of the Cafe Mitsitam cookbook, one of the best resources for recipes inspired by the Native Peoples of North and South America. I've visited the cafe many, many times and have made a few recipes from the cookbook on the blog in the past - like these delicious pumpkin cookies - but I returned my borrowed copy of the cookbook to my aunt and uncle before I moved down to DC. I finally got my hands on another copy, and almost immediately decided to give this unusual salad a shot. Read on to learn about its connection to Kaya!

Julie's Pizza Fondue

A rediscovered family favorite straight out of the 1970's!

Family recipes are one of my favorite things to explore on my blog. So many of them are things I’ve grown up eating for so long, or hold such special places in our hearts that the idea of preserving them online, sharing them with everyone, and just plain learning how to bring them to life has a lot of appeal. Getting at the history behind them is a lot of fun too – I loved my maternal grandma’s story of how she realized her Lazy Jane Casserole is actually just an easier version of Julia Child’s famous beef bourguignon! 

This one is a little more enigmatic than most of the family recipes I’ve spotlighted in the past. Unlike the others, this recipe was actually lost for years, and many people figured they would never get to eat it again. Its history is still a little foggy, but at long last, I got to make and try my paternal grandma’s famous pizza fondue! And I’m very excited to share the recipe with all of you. Read on to see how you can make this 1970’s favorite of my dad and his four sisters!

Melody Makes Lazy Jane's Weekend Casserole

A no fuss alternative to a French classic!

Colder weather has officially set in, which means it’s time to break out all those comforting, stick to your ribs dishes. (I say as if I haven’t made this dish in the summer time before…) 

Lazy Jane’s Weekend Casserole is a family favorite perfected by my grandmother, and it’s something I always eat way too much of when she makes it for me. When I asked for the recipe and what the history behind the dish was, she told me something that I really wasn’t expecting: it actually has a loose connection to one of the most famous trends in cooking in the 1960’s! Got any ideas what it might be?

Breakfast from Samantha's Cook Book

A full course breakfast fit for any Turn of the Century enthusiast!

My fiancée was teasing me the other day about how I secretly want to be a 1920’s society wife a la Downton Abbey or something, and honestly? She might be right. I love thinking of different themed parties to throw, from tea parties, birthdays, holidays, historically themed potlucks… I think this is something that actually goes back to when I was a kid. I loved thumbing through the catalogs we used to get filled with birthday party props and themes. 

Of course, planning and executing these events often takes time, equipment, money, and manpower, plus people to eat whatever food you prepare and I just don’t always have that these days. But I was going home for the weekend last month, and decided I might as well try execute one of these historically themed food parties I’ve been dying to try my hand at. 

So, welcome to Samantha’s Turn of the Century Breakfast!

Ivy Revists Tuna Noodle Casserole

A peek into what I’ve been eating for the last year…

We’re kicking off the start of a new school year with yet another throwback post because last year I had really great intentions about keeping pace with the blog… and then reality kind of threw those off. Whoops. This time, instead of a relic from when I was still living at home, we’re going to take a look at one of my first culinary adventures in my new kitchen. 

So when I first got to grad school, I got really, really sick. Like, can’t hold down any solid food for a week sick. So did my dad apparently, and we think it was either fruit at the hotel we had stayed at’s buffet, or a chicken sandwich, but my mom and brother were eating basically the same food as us, so who knows. Either way, not a good first introduction to a new life in a new city. 

Once I got better, I was faced with the task of making sure I was eating more or less three times a day without the help of anyone else. This sounds fine at first, but in reality takes a bit of adjusting to, even for someone who enjoys cooking like I do. I know that probably sounds silly or maybe even embarrassing that I as a 25 year old hadn’t been fully responsible for feeding myself on a regular basis before this. I ate in dining halls on campus in undergrad and my mom usually made dinner when I lived at home, so this was my first real exposure to how daunting and repetitive meal prep can be. 

Figuring I could make a habit of mixing meal prep with future blog posts – an endeavor that apparently died with this recipe… - I decided to whip out my Betty Crocker New Boys and Girl’s Cookbook and give their recipe for tuna noodle casserole a shot.

Nanea's Carrot and Pineapple Muffins

A World War II era favorite with a tropical twist!

Everyone, meet Nanea Mitchell! She’s American Girl’s newest historical character, and comes from 1941 Honolulu, Hawaii. I plowed through her books as soon as I had them out of the box, and can safely say as someone who specializes in Pacific War history, they are pretty darn great. Besides covering the attack on Pearl Harbor and the resulting changes in Hawaii very well as well as age appropriately, Kirby Larson has done an exceptional job showing how 1941 Hawaii was an extremely diverse community where neighbors participated in cultural exchange every single day. 

Often involving food. Lots and lots of food. 

Picking what Nanea’s first recipe on the blog should be was a tough one, but these muffins are a tasty snack for just about any time of day, even if I can’t exactly in good faith call these health foods.

Refrigerator Pickles with Rebecca

The perfect no fuss snack for a hot summer day!

I’ve been sitting on this post for almost a whole year, which is both embarrassing and an indication of just how busy I’ve been. Which I know, I know, I’ve been complaining about a lot when I do have the time to post, so I’ll try to hush up about it as I keep trying to clear out my backlog of posts from last summer. 

July is apparently National Pickle Month, which made this one a priority to get out to you guys as soon as possible, or at least before the month was over. Although pickling has been around for thousands of years and the Chinese were the first to invent the modern pickling process, in the US, cucumber pickles have become pretty heavily associated with Jewish immigrants in urban centers like New York. Have you ever wondered why that is? 

Well, read on and wonder no more!