It doesn't get more classic - or springtime perfect - than this 1930s strawberry shortcake recipe

My word, is this year barreling along quickly! We're nearly 5.5 months into it already and in just two months time (to the day), it will be my 31st birthday. Wow! Before then though, we get to savour what is arguably one of the most pleasant and appealing times of the year, late spring. Gone, for nearly all of us north of the equator, are the snowmen and parkas, and yet we haven't hit the point of needing to sleep with a fan mere inches from our faces yet either.

These days, brief, bold, fleeting, and undeniably beautiful bring with them an abundance of perks, very much including all of the awesome fresh produce that is hitting the farmer's market and grocery store shelves again. Our local farmer's market (which I blogged about here back in 2012) kicks off once more this month and I'm sure you'll spot Tony and I down there on many a Saturday morning in the coming months (when we're not out yard saling, that is! :)).

Today's featured vintage recipe calls on an ingredient that you can usually find being sold there, but which is farmed on far greater scale in the Lower Mainland (aka, Greater Vancouver Area) of our beautiful province, thanks to the lush climate, damp soil, and idea growing conditions for this beloved fruit in that neck of the urban woods: the humble, delicious strawberry.

Not only are strawberries one of my favourite fruits ever, they're also one of just a teeny, tiny handful of fruits and vegetables that (knock wood!) my various medical conditions that are strongly influenced by dietary factors has allowed me to continue to safely eat through thick and thin on the health front over the years. I love, love, love strawberries, so this is a very good thing and with locally and provincially grown options in the stores and market stalls again, I'm going to be chopping down on even more of them than usual during the balmy, sun-kissed days of the second half of spring.

The following vintage recipe, which dates back to 1939, is as classic as strawberries themselves. It's a snap to whip up and is quite budget-friendly, too, making it a great choice for a weekday dessert and/or if you need to feed a large crowd.



{Like lemonade, ice cream cones, and sweet tea, spring and summer just wouldn't be the same without strawberry shortcake and this great 1930s version is as classic as they come. It's ideal for Mother's Day, garden and tea parties, birthdays, picnics, BBQs, and everyday desserts alike. Vintage recipe image source. Click here for a larger, easier to read size of this vintage Spry shortening ad.}


Strawberry shortcake has to be, to my mind, one of the most springtime perfect desserts ever! It's also tasty as the day is long and generally adored by diners of all ages. For my fellow gluten-free folks, I would suggest making a GF white or yellow sheet cake either using your favourite mix or recipe and then employing a round cookie or biscuit cutter (or even a wide-mouthed drinking glass) to stamp out circles to use for the cake layers in this mouthwatering dessert.

If strawberries aren't your favourite, or you can't eat them for whatever reason, you can easily swap in another type of berry, such as raspberries, blackberries, red or white currents, boysenberries, huckleberries, or (my mom's favourite) blueberries. Peaches, nectarines, and apricots, especially when they're in season come July and August, are rather sublime here as well, and then as the weather gradually grows nippier again, I never say no to stewed or baked pears, apples, or plums used in towering shortcake stacks like this either.

As I always like to mention with vintage recipes that involve, as many of them (especially desserts) do, shortening, if it's not your first choice of cooking fat, by all means sub in butter, margarine, or a vegan margarine instead (you could even try using solid coconut oil, if desired).

Save for making them safe for me to eat, I don't usually alter my strawberry shortcake recipes much. I adore the classic combination of airy, soft cake, silken whipped cream, and juicy, plump berries precisely as they are. That said, if you'd not tried it before, I do recommend lighting toasting (a toaster oven or couple of minutes under the broiler work well there) your rounds of shortcake for a fabulously lovely twist every now and then. The subtle crunch that the cake takes on really adds an exciting layer to this timeless dessert.

And should you be so inclined, especially when the dog days of summer strike, even the most die-hard of strawberry shortcake purists will likely be on board if you'd like to add a bit of vanilla (or another flavour) of ice cream to the mix as well, either in lieu of, or along with, the whipped cream.

Strawberry season, like these near magically gorgeous days of May, won't be around forever, so while they're still here, why don't you join me in stocking up on fresh fruit and serving your family and friends plate after plate of lip-lickingly awesome strawberry shortcake this spring!

Two frighteningly delicious 1930s Halloween dessert recipes

More than Christmas, more than Valentine's Day, and yes, even more than Easter, in my books, no other holiday calls for sweet treats in quite the same way that Halloween does. That isn't to say that those three, and numerous other special events, are worthy and deserving of being filled with sugary foods, they certainly are, it's just that as someone who eats very little sugar the whole year round, when my most favourite day of the entire twelve month calendar rolls around, I want to go to down on the dessert front something fierce!!

I might not be a little kid traipsing home at the end of the night with my pillow case full of candy any more, but that doesn't stop me from tossing caution - and calories! - to the nippy autumn wind and whipping up a sizeable storm of sweet, sweet, oh-so-sweet treats come the second half of October.

In the (haunted) spirit of Halloween being just five more days away, I've unearthed a pair of frighteningly fantastic 1930s Halloween recipes that I think you'll adore every much as I do to share with all those who are eager to do the same.

You'll likely find that you have to click through to their Flickr page in order to fully read these marvelous 1930s Halloween recipes, but doing so is well worth it to savour both the lovely vintage imagery here and to have the ability to bake these All Hallows Eve goodies for all the goblins, ghosties, and witches at your house this year. (And to all my fellow gluten-free folks, I've found that two boxes of most gluten-free cakes mixes, such as those from Betty Crocker, are a great stand-in here for the cake batters called for in these scrumptious vintage recipes.)





{An Enchanted Chocolate Cake and Jack O’ Lantern Yum-Yums (cute little festive pumpkin face topped cupcakes) are sure to entice one and all to the table faster than if they were being chased by a werewolf, Dracula, or a horde of zombies this Halloween! Image source.}



No matter if, like me, dessert is a rare occurrence around your house, an everyday event, or something in between, this is the time of year for thoroughly loading up on your favourite treats. They don't have to be sweet, but they should always be special and a far cry from your everyday fare.

Whether you go wild for roasted pumpkin seeds, gaga for caramel apples, or fancy a slice festive cake like the two tasty vintage recipes here today, be sure to fill your table and plate full of foods that celebrate the wonder and merriment of this sweetly spooky Halloween season!

Introducing a new static page of vintage recipes

On a dark and stormy night recently, as rain pelted the windows with vicious ferocity and the room was illuminated by the blinding flash of wild bolts of lightning, the idea came to me that it was high time that I rounded up all of the recipes that have every appeared here and plunked them down in one handy-dandy spot so that readers everywhere could quickly and easily scroll through the tasty dishes that have been featured here over the years and find just the thing for their next family meal, dinner party, or even holiday feast alike.

How the two events - a turbulent storm and the idea of making a static page (in the navigation bar at the top of the site) full of vintage recipes - came to be connected is really anyone's guess. I think though that it may have to with the fact that, for as long as I can recall (and part of me has always liked to think that this is because I born on a stormy night) whenever a tempest approaches, and then begins its frenzied dance across the graphite hued sky, I find myself filled with a sort of electric energy that always gives me a lot of mental clarity and makes me feel immensely recharged for a short spell. As such, it doesn't surprise me at all that this idea arrived amongst the claps of thunder on a sizzling hot, soaking wet evening.

As long time readers and new followers alike are likely to know, sharing my love of both food history and cooking has always been a key element here at Chronically Vintage. Recipe posts started popping up early on in this blog's life and have continued on a regular basis ever since. Whether I was dishing about some of the recipes that have been near and dear to me and my family for years (and in some cases, generations) or posting the instructions for a highly varied array of old school eats, there's been no shortage of culinary fun here.

I'm really thrilled actually that the this idea popped into my head, as it's one of those things that as soon as you think of it, it seems so incredibly obvious and which you know you need to implement asap. And so, my dears, that's exactly what I did. Starting that very night, I began culling through back posts and gathering up as many recipes as I could find (each recipe is listed as a link which takes you to the post where it originally appeared).

I tired diligently to track down each and every recipe that has ever appeared on this site, but should you ever happen to find one that isn't listed on the newly created vintage recipe page, please let me know and I'll add it on the double.




{Like myself, I know that many of your adore both cooking and vintage recipes, so I hope that you'll discover (or rediscover) some awesome meal ideas on this newly created page. Charming 1940s illustration of a happy homemaker via Captian Geoffrey Spaulding on Flickr.}


After mulling over how best to arrange the recipes, I decided to list them alphabetically within various categories (such as main dishes, vegetable dishes, cookies, desserts, etc), as I figured that this approach would best mirror how many cookbooks are arranged and would facilitate the easy finding of any type of dish you might be trying to locate a vintage recipe for.

As new recipes spring up here, they too will be added to the list shortly thereafter, so that whether you're hunting for something you remember seeing back in 2010 or a tasty treat from just last month, you can quickly scroll through the list and track it down.

Cooking and all things pertaining the culinary arts have been very near and dear to my heart, and I've adored sharing so many easy, classic recipes with you over the years. I hope that you'll enjoy this new vintage recipe page and look forward to sharing many, many more virtual meals with you in the future.

1930s Orange Cake is the bee's knees!

✯ Day 285 of Vintage 365 ✯

 

It's by no means a secret to say the 1930s were a challenging decade - indeed, they were one of the hardest in recent human history. Yet, even in the face of immense hardship, the decade was able to produce many wonderful, endearing recipes.

Likewise, it also gave up scores of incredible people, including my maternal grandma, Bernice, who was born on October 14, 1930. With her birthday just around the corner this Friday, I knew that today's recipe post simply had to feature a cake.

Much like many aspects of the thirties themselves, I wouldn't call my grandma flashy. Far from simple, but in no way chichi either, she's a woman of dignified class and charm, beauty and spirit who's taught me much over the years.

My grandma's never been the most girly-girl of gals, instead her style is refined and classic, elegant and unfussy. Thus a bells-and-whistles sort of birthday cake piled with mountains of frosting or multi-coloured embellishments just wouldn't seem right for her special day.

Instead, if I was able to celebrate her birthday this week with her in person (we live on opposite sides of the country, so unfortunately that's not possible this year), I would make her the delicious (not to mention entirely au courant) sounding Layered Orange Cake pictured below.

{Fresh, sweet, and wonderfully suited to an array of occasions, this delightful 1930s orange cake is sure to go down a treat (to borrow a term from the Brits) at your next event. Image via Daily Bungalow on Flickr. Click here for a larger version of this delicious vintage cake recipe.}

 

True to the thrifty spirit of the 30s, this cake calls for a minimum of ingredients, most (if not all) of which any one of us would have on hand right this very moment.

While not ornate, there's nothing boring or plain Jane about this lovely citrus dessert. You could proudly bring it out all year long, for anniversaries, showers, bake sales, dinner parties, holidays, and of course, birthdays, too!

It’s an endearing gem of a recipe that’s every bit as sweet and timeless as my grandma herself.

Getting in the mood for Cinco de Mayo with 1930s Mexican recipes

✯ Day 124 of Vintage 365 ✯

 

Happy first Wednesday of May 2011, my wonderful dears! How are you each on this fine spring day? I hope that you're well and that this month is off to a positive start for each of you. I'm still buzzing with the spirit of May Day and looking for reasons to celebrate, which got me thinking about the fact that tomorrow is Cinco de Mayo (which means "the fifth of May" in Spanish).

Though May 5th is sometimes erroneously referred to as Mexico's Independence Day (that falls on September 16th), it is in fact the day which commemorates the Mexican army's victory over the French during 1862 the Battle of Puebla (about forty years earlier Mexico had won its independence from Spain, however the country's fate - and ability to stand as its own nation - were still fought over in various skirmishes and wars, including the Battle of Puebla).

Today, while not a national holiday in either Mexico or the US, Cinco de Mayo is widely celebrated, especially amongst Americans with Mexican heritage (interestingly, Cinco de Mayo has become more widely celebrated - including annual May 5th parades being held in various US cities - in American than south of the border in Mexico, where it is most noticeably observed by those in and around Puebla), and it's certainly open to being observed by anyone who wishes to delve into the spirit of Mexican history.

Without a doubt, one of the best (and most delicious!) ways to celebrate any country's history and culture is through its food. Mexican cuisine, while particularly famous for certain dishes and ingredients (such as corn and chili peppers), is a rich, diverse branch cooking that's been popular in America - and throughout the world - for quite a long time now.

In the spirit of celebrating Cinco de Mayo, today's pair of vintage recipes (for Hominy and Chili Scramble and Spanish Beans) are ones with a distinctly Mexican vibe to them, as interpreted by US brand Gebhardts in the 1930s.

{Colourful image featuring vintage Mexican recipes from a 1932 Gebhardt's cookbook that comes by way of Eudaemonius on Flickr. Click here for a larger version.}

 

Both of these recipes sound extremely easy to whip up, require just few ingredients to make (I'm not entirely sure what "Mexican sauce" refers to in the Spanish Means recipe, perhaps what we chili sauce today?), and quite tasty sounding. (If you're looking for canned hominy, it can be found from brands like Juanita's on Amazon.com.)

Whether you try out on of these 1930s dishes, opt for a different vintage Mexican recipe, or turn to your favourite Mexican foods of all time, I hope you'll join me in celebrating Cinco de Mayo with a meal full of wonderful south of the border flavours that sure to put everyone at your table in festive mood!

Vintage 365: Great 1930s Valentine’s Day party ideas

✯ Day 44 of Vintage 365 ✯

With just one more merry day to go until St. Valentine's Day whistles into town, cupid in tow, I thought it would fun to share a delightful vintage page from 1935 featuring an array of great party ideas that can easily be put into play at the last moment (aka, for a planned or impromptu party tomorrow).

Beautifully illustrated, this elegant page (which comes via Millie Mott's Flickr stream) features ideas for everything from Valentine's Day table decorations to party games, invitations to a festive menu (of minced ham sandwiches cut into heart shapes, raw carrot strips, party ice cream with peppermint stick sauce, heart cookies and fruit punch - yum-yum! I'd be happy to serve that easy, enjoyable sounding spread) and is the sort of wonderful glimpse into the past that instantly makes me smile.

Whatever you have planned for tomorrow, my dears, I hope that you have a marvelous day that's worthy of a great vintage inspired party! :)