Breakfast from Addy's Cook Book

A peek into Ruth Walker's kitchen!

Next up in my slow, slow attempt at cooking everything in the original Pleasant Company historical character cookbooks are the breakfast offerings from Addy’s Cook Book. After 2017’s success at making everything on Samantha’s breakfast menu, I decided a long term goal for the blog would be making the full course meals included in these cookbooks. It’s quite an undertaking, and so I don’t think I’ll be churning out one every month, but it had been a while since I’d featured an Addy recipe and decided she seemed like a good candidate for the full course meal treatment. 

Like Samantha’s breakfast, Addy’s menu is filled with things that are both historically something the character might have eaten for a fancy, full breakfast, and are still largely familiar items to modern Americans: grits, sausages, gravy, biscuits, fried apples and scrambled eggs. I enlisted the help of my wife to help me prepare everything and we invited two of our neighbors over to enjoy this peek into dining in the past. Read on to see how it went!

Ivy's Egg Drop Soup

A centuries old soup that's perfect for beating that winter chill!

Winter has officially hit the Mid-Atlantic, and last weekend I decided we were in need of some soup. Not just any soup: egg drop soup. 

This light but filling dish has been on my to do list for a super long time, and now I wish I'd tackled it sooner. It's extremely easy to make, with only a few ingredients and is ready to eat in about fifteen minutes max at the absolute most. Read on to find out how you can give this a shot yourself!

Kirsten's Homemade Butter

Bringing a taste of frontier life into your own kitchen!

For my next step in my quest to eventually, at some point, make every single recipe in the official American Girl Cook Books and Cooking Studios (at least the historical ones, anyway), I decided to try something out that had caught my eye in Kirsten's cookbook a long, long time ago: homemade butter. It's something we totally take for granted as something we can just go to the store and buy, so seeing it featured in a cookbook is sort of an unusual thing, and it's something I can safely say I've never done before, so I've been eager to give it a shot for a long time. 

Originally, I had planned on it being a good way to kick off the new year, as it only requires one ingredient and equipment I've already got in my kitchen, but then life got in the way in the form of a very delayed flight back home from the holidays, and so I've been fighting burn out pretty hard this month and hoping to get back into the swing of things. Last weekend, I finally buckled up to get my taste of the pioneer life and see just how easy it is to make butter in a jar.

Melody's Triple Chocolate Layer Cake

A cake worth singing about!

One of my early goals when I started this blog was to make human sized replicas of various food items that showed up in the AG character's collections. I've been a little inconsistent in making that happen over the years, but decided to take on an interesting challenge (for me) to kick off the new year. 

I'm very excited to present to you with my version of Melody's birthday cake! Read on to see how I tried to bring this model cake to life.

Chinese Takeout with Lindsey

A staple of Christmas day plans for generations!

Last year, NPR posted an article discussing the history of different holiday traditions that often go undiscussed: eggnog, jelly donuts for Hanukkah, and, of course, the tradition of Jewish families eating Chinese food on Christmas. Did you know it goes back to at least 1935? 

This year, we decided to pay tribute to that tradition with our own "Jewish Christmas". Read on to find out a little more about this classic holiday treat!

Nanea's Wartime White Fruitcake

The fruitcake people actually want to eat!

Thanks so much to everyone who entered the giveaway! It was a lot of fun reading about everyone's favorite holiday recipes. And congratulations again to Shannon! I hope you and your dolls enjoy your set of rum balls from Pippaloo. 

Today, we're going to be tackling a classic but controversial holiday treat: fruitcake. When I told people I was going to be giving this a shot, almost everyone's reaction was instinctively very negative. I've met very few people in my life who have genuinely liked fruitcake, or who are even willing to give it a try, although funnily enough my wife fits both categories and was genuinely excited to see how this came out. 

Part of the reason why it's such a hard sell to people is because the perception is that they're very artificial, stale, or just generally old and bad. Countless people have joked about having a crazy great-aunt who gifts everyone the same fruitcake year after year, or using it as a door stopper instead of eating it. I must be crazy for giving this a shot, right? 

Wrong! Spoilers, but this 1940's recipe for fruitcake was a lot tastier than I was expecting. It's also got some really cool history, and I'm very pleased to be sharing it with you guys.

Kit's Raisin Spice Cake

A thrifty way to spread some holiday cheer!

Great Depression holiday recipes are a little hard to come by, and without a waffle iron (or Kit's waffle iron...), I'm kind of out of luck making Kit's signature holiday treat. I'd considered making some of the cookies from her cookie set, but it looks like timing wise, that's going to have to wait until next year thanks to a slightly inconvenient work project. At least I already have an idea for next December! 

What I ended up making instead was an interesting version of a frugal, holiday appropriate cake. It actually reminded me of a better version of a recipe we made a few years ago... and doesn't include any salt pork!