No Pattern Required

We are off to buy some paint today for the trim on our ranch (us too, Sable!), but before we go out, I just thought I would share these super-cute kerchief ideas from a 1940′s book called The Home Handicraft Book.  I picked up this book at a recent sale, and it is a gem.  I love all these styles!

Another gorgeous Alden B. Dow home for sale this week!  The Calvin Campbell home is really beautiful, Tom and I go past it all the time on our runs. They are asking $364,731, which is a pretty exact number, if you ask me.  Anyway, it is on almost an acre that backs up to Dow Gardens, has over 5100 square feet and was built in 1940.  The buit-in features in this house are totally incredible.  Take a look!

Oh, and it is on the National Register of Historic Places!  If you want to read more about the details of this home’s construction, check out this blog entry on Michigan Modern!

Welcome to this week’s Mid-Century Menu, the “fun” feature on the blog in which I get to pick a recipe from my collection of vintage cookbooks, make it, and then feed it to my husband for dinner.  Poor Tom!

And this week it really is poor Tom, because I am cooking out of a Spry cookbook.  This particular Spry book was published in 1949, and I think is one of their earlier cookbooks. Now, I am not sure if you guys are familar with Spry cookbooks, but Spry was a vegtable shortening product, similar to Crisco, and the spokeswoman for Spry was “Aunt Jenny“, the universal older aunt who looked like your grandma and had never had any children of her own, so she could spend time baking you 15 kinds of cookies and cakes.  I had one of those aunts. Everyone has one of those aunts, which makes Aunt Jenny believable and comforting. 

To a point.

Now, Aunt Jenny hosted a radio show and had her own line of cookbooks promoting Spry to housewives everywhere, and was a memorable and successful spokeswoman.  She is also incredibly scary. She is really excited about Spry, and not afraid to show it.  Even if we are afraid to look.  She also is famous for lines like, “With Spry, we can afford to have cake oftener!” and “Start enjoying fried foods today!”

For example, here is Aunt Jenny showing “Bride” (who apparently doesn’t deserve a name, even though her husband gets one) the secret to “Cake Success” using the Spry method.

Scary, isn’t it?  At least Jack’s boss is impressed with Nameless-Wife’s cake.  Whew. What a relief.

Aaaanyway, there are also other recipes in the Spry book that aren’t cake but still have a ton of Spry in them. Fried chicken seems to be #1 in the cookbook, but didn’t seem crazy enough for the Menu.  Then I stumbled upon this little beauty:

It looks like a version of tuna noodle casserole, except instead of noodles you just use potato chips.

What? What!?!?! 

And did you know that three cups of crushed potato chips is almost an entire large bag of chips?

You had better believe I found a winner!

Oh, and I also made one of those crazy Spry cakes to round out the menu. I mean, I had to, right?

The assembled ingredients. Check out the bowl of crushed chips. Yipe!

Four tablespoons of vegetable shortening, melting in the pan.  I have never made a white sauce with shortening before, and I had no idea how it was going to taste.

The flour, added to the pan.  As a side note, the flour immediately started frying as soon as I added it. Yum.

Adding the milk/mushroom liquid mixture.  As a side note, this is the second time I have used the liquid from canned mushrooms in the Mid-Century Menu, which is strange because before that, I don’t think I had EVER used it!

Here is the nice, smooth white sauce without a single lump. Huzzah! Also, the parsley and grated onion.

Now, the layering begins. A cup of crushed potato chips is spread on the bottom of a dish. So many, many chips.

The tuna and the canned mushrooms go down.  Yes, there are some fresh mushrooms in there.  I had them in the fridge and I wanted to use them up, so I thought I would throw them in there.

Pouring white sauce over the whole thing. Oh Lord.

The casserole, all layered ending with the potato chips.  I tried to get a shot of the layered look, but I don’t think it was distinct enough for the camera to capture it.

And here it is!  Fresh from its 35 minute stay in the oven.  I took the cover off for the last 5 minutes so the chips on top could brown a little. I am not sure if it made a difference, but I tried!

Here is the table, ready for dining. Tuna-Mushroom Scallop, fresh beans, rolls, milk and a Chocolate-Mallow Cake!

Taking the first bite…and….

It’s good!!!

“Really?” I asked, “Is it really good?”

“Well, it tastes like a pile of potato chips with tuna on it.  I love potato chips!”

I took a bite.  Ugh. It was so, so, so salty.  He was right, it tasted like potato chips with tuna on it.  The white sauce made everything kinda gooey, and didn’t really add much flavor.  It mostly tasted like canned mushrooms.

But when we were almost done, I noticed a change in how Tom was eating.

“I can’t eat any more of this.  Blah.”

The chips had finally gotten to him. Finally.

The verdict:

Tuna-Mushroom Scallop: Strangely good, but not by any means healthy.  Like eating a giant pile of potato chips with sauce slathered over them.

Mallow-Nut Fudge Cake:  A little dry, but still pretty good.  The fudge frosting was interesting, but just ended up tasting like fudge. The cake could have used some real icing. The whole thing was very, very sweet!

Hello, everyone!  Welcome to Vintage Crafty Saturdays, where I post a fun vintage pattern, craft or idea from my huge collection that I keep in my studio.  Since I have more ideas and patterns than I could ever use, I thought I would share them with you!

I know, I know. The Ruth Wyeth Spears Sewing book. Again. Sorry to post out of the same book for three Saturdays in a row, but I just love the ideas in this little book. And the illustrations, which are also fantastic. 

Hopefully, Tom and I are on the beach soaking up some sun right now!  In the meantime, here is a really cute idea to make an unlined silk lampshade.  Looks like a lot of pins, but if you have some extra vintage fabric that you are looking to use up, this might just be the idea for you!

*Note to everyone: This just may be me being overly paranoid, but not sure of the fire safety rating on this one.  I am sure it is fine, but if you have any doubts, please do some research before assembling your lampshade to determine whether or not this may be a fire hazard.

Anyway, enough of that. On to the instructions.  Once again, please click the instructions to enlarge them!

Yes, I see the irony in posting about vintage house plans on a site called “No Pattern Required”, but hey, you don’t have to use them. They are just suggestions.

My paternal granfather was a huge packrat. He must have kept every paper, mailing, gas bill and greeting card he ever received. But you don’t hear me complaining. It is that pack-ratish tendency that brings us this very post. Or, this series of posts.

 This great book was purchased from Edward Heines Lumber Co. in 1940 for 25 cents. It was probably about the time that Grandpa was trying to decide if he wanted to build or buy. As a side note, he ended up by a brick duplex on Chicago’s north side, but that is another post.

The first plan in this book is a cute one called the Comfortable Ranch.  Some of the highlights mentioned are a large porch, a big fireplace with hearth in the living room, two large bedrooms and both horizontal and vertical siding on the outside.

So, why only two bedrooms? Besides the financial constraints of 1940′s, the book points out the advantages of only having two large bedrooms vs. more bedrooms. It is better to have two bedrooms of comfortable size, the book states, than to crowd too many rooms into a given floor space. Proper exposure of the rooms so that they secure the prevailing breeze is necessary, and cross-ventilation is very important.  I suppose I can see their point, but I feel sorry for all the kids in this house that were forced to share a bedroom!