“It’s difficult to think anything but pleasant thoughts while eating a homegrown tomato”.
Lewis Grizzard
A recipe from Irma Rombauer’s Joy of Cooking 1974 called French Tomato Salad has been the inspiration for a a flavorful addition to my catered salad bars. The recipe calls for six thinly sliced tomatoes arranged overlapping on a serving plate and poured over with a French (vinaigrette) dressing and sprinkled with minced shallots or thinly sliced green onions.
Thinly slice tomatoes and arrange overlapping in shallow serving dish. Carefully insert a basil leaf in between each of the tomato slices. (If using, insert a slice of mozzarella in between each of the tomato slices then insert a basil leaf between each tomato and cheese slice). Sprinkle finely chopped sweet onion over tomatoes.
In a small shaker jar, combine dressing ingredients, shake well and pour over vegetables (and mozzarella). Refrigerate salad for at least two hours to blend flavors. Serve cold.
Recipe Compliments of Cookbooklady.com
Also taking inspiration from the 1950s Italian Caprese Salad consisting of sliced tomatoes, sliced mozzarella cheese (made with buffalo milk if you want to be authentic), fresh basil and olive oil (Americans often add a little balsamic vinegar as well to give the salad some zip), I have created a hybrid version of these two recipes that is colorful and packed with flavor. I call it Summer Tomato Salad (with or without mozzarella cheese). During late summer when fresh tomatoes are at their peak, I serve this salad often and I sometimes even make a light meal of it for myself (recipe below). Enjoy!
<p class="has-drop-cap has-text-align-justify" value="<amp-fit-text layout="fixed-height" min-font-size="6" max-font-size="72" height="80">We have come to the time of year in the northwest when the bounties of summer are being harvested and preserved. My green beans and tomatoes have been canned, the peppers have been roasted and put in the freezer, the peaches and pears are in jars lining the pantry shelves and the local grain has been harvested. Just around the corner, the apples will be ready to pick and process into applesauce and pie filling, the onions and potatoes are ready to be dug, the pumpkins are turning orange and the county fair has come and gone. Our blissful daytime temperatures are in the 80s with our nighttime temps flirting with freezing and the children have gone back to school (although school in 2020 looks somewhat non-traditional).We have come to the time of year in the northwest when the bounties of summer are being harvested and preserved. My green beans and tomatoes have been canned, the peppers have been roasted and put in the freezer, the peaches and pears are in jars lining the pantry shelves and the local grain has been harvested. Just around the corner, the apples will be ready to pick and process into applesauce and pie filling, the onions and potatoes are ready to be dug, the pumpkins are turning orange and the county fair has come and gone. Our blissful daytime temperatures are in the 80s with our nighttime temps flirting with freezing and the children have gone back to school (although school in 2020 looks somewhat non-traditional).
<p class="has-text-align-justify" value="<amp-fit-text layout="fixed-height" min-font-size="6" max-font-size="72" height="80">Early in my elementary career, schools across America began experimenting with school lunch or hot lunch as we called it. Today school lunch is as American as apple pie, but up until then, generations of children brought their lunches from home. While reading from an old cookbook — <em>Watkins Cook Book</em> 1948, I discovered some advice, albeit dated, for packing a child's lunch box. Early in my elementary career, schools across America began experimenting with school lunch or hot lunch as we called it. Today school lunch is as American as apple pie, but up until then, generations of children brought their lunches from home. While reading from an old cookbook — Watkins Cook Book 1948, I discovered some advice, albeit dated, for packing a child’s lunch box.
The Lunch Box
Throughout most of the twentieth century, cookbooks were seen as a way of educating housewives on food safety, nutrition and technique. If the cookbook was sponsored by a food production company, one would also find nouveau recipes and methods for using their products. Watkins Cook Book 1948 is one of these cookbooks. Intertwined in the advice and advertising we can catch a glimpse of how lunches might have been prepared and what American school children might have been eating post WWII:
A lunch should be packed in a well-ventilated, sanitary container to protect the food and to keep it compact and odorless upon opening (is that possible with a tuna fish sandwich?). Waxed paper should be used to wrap all food, and covered jelly glasses (remember those in our grandmothers’ cupboard) are excellent to use for baked beans, vegetable salad, applesauce, baked apple or for a pudding. Highly-seasoned and rich foods should not be placed in a lunch box.
Milk in some form should be included in the daily school lunch — either plain milk, malted milk, or hot or cold Watkins Cocoa, which may be carried in a pint milk bottle or in a thermos bottle, using a straw for drinking. Fresh fruit in season is appetizing and healthful.
Hard cooked eggs, cooked 30 minutes (yes the book says 30 minutes), are as digestible as soft-boiled. Peeled, wrapped in a lettuce or cabbage leaf and waxed paper, they will make an appetizing salad. Cooked vegetables as a salad add a note of interest to a box lunch. Raw carrot sticks or celery sticks made crisp in cold water, dried and wrapped in waxed paper make a tasty accompaniment to a meat sandwich. Do not pack hot creamed meat, fish and poultry dishes as the food may sour when kept warm for several hours.
The lunch box should contain sandwiches, a raw vegetable, a relish, fruit, pudding, cookies and a beverage (More on a complete school lunch below).
If sandwiches are to be kept a long time, do not use lettuce or other salad greens. Use a mayonnaise dressing as the oil will not soak into the bread.
For making sandwiches in quantities, wrap them in a napkin dipped in hot water and wrung dry. Or wrap in waxed paper and fasten with a rubber band.
Sandwich Fillings
Watkins Cook Book 1948 offers the following suggestions for sandwich fillings. I wonder how popular or even practical some of these suggestions were back then, however, a #7 on wheat toast sounds pretty good.
A Compete School Lunch with Advertising
Extending the suggestions for sandwich filling, Watkins Cook Book 1948 lists ten ideas for complete school lunches (mixed with a little advertising). I wonder about the feasibility of these lunches as they seem quite labor intensive and unrealistic. However my mother-in-law packed her children’s lunches with sandwiches made from homemade bread well into the 70s…then she would go out and milk the cows (No kidding!) It also seems like a lot of food for a child.
Tuna and Cream Cheese Sandwiches
Most of the time when I took a cold lunch or sack lunch to school, it contained a tuna sandwich on store-bought white bread and that wasn’t bad. I actually liked them especially with potato chips placed under the top slice of bread just before eating. It makes me hungry just thinking about it. A number of years ago I purchased a cookbook that I often refer to — Cooking from Quilt Country 1989 by Marcia Adams — featuring Amish and Mennonite recipes. This book contains a recipe for a tuna salad with cream cheese, toasted pecans and lemon juice. I adapted the recipe and served these sandwiches at a women’s luncheon a few years ago. The ladies enjoyed them and many asked for a copy of the recipe. Thankfully the tuna fish sandwich is not obsolete, it has just had a makeover. (Well drained canned chicken can be substituted for the tuna as well). Enjoy!
Cucumbers taste like summertime. Simply sliced with a sprinkling of salt or added to a green salad they are a refreshing bite. We are all familiar with the classic Cucumber Salad made with slices of fresh cucumber marinated in vinegar and salt and pepper. Its a recipe that has been around for generations. In this post, I’m sharing another favorite cucumber recipe — Cucumber Salad with Sour Cream Dressing. It is a combination of sliced cucumbers and leeks seasoned with fresh garlic and dill and marinated in a sour cream dressing. I have served this dish as a part of a catered salad bar and as a summer side-dish and it is a crowd pleaser. Enjoy!
Slice cucumbers and leeks
Toss together in a bowl.
Add garlic, seasoning salt and dill to cream cheese.
Peel cucumber, if desired, and cut in 1/4″ slices. Thinly slice leeks and toss vegetables together in a bowl; set aside.
To prepare dressing, whisk together sour cream and seasoned rice vinegar in a small bowl. Stir in minced garlic, seasoning salt, dill weed, salt and pepper.
Toss cucumbers and leeks with prepared dressing. Refrigerate for two hours or more in an air-tight container to allow flavors to blend. Serve cold and garnish with additional dill weed.
Option: For a tasty and colorful addition, slice a fresh Roma tomato in 1/4″ slices and add to the dressed cucumbers and leeks.
Most of the time when I took a cold lunch or sack lunch to school, it contained a tuna sandwich on store-bought white bread and that wasn’t bad. I actually liked them especially with potato chips placed under the top slice of bread just before eating. It makes me hungry just thinking about it. A number of years ago I purchased a cookbook that I often refer to — Cooking from Quilt Country 1989 by Marcia Adams — featuring Amish and Mennonite recipes. This book contains a recipe for a tuna salad with cream cheese, toasted pecans and lemon juice. I adapted the recipe and served these sandwiches at a women’s luncheon a few years ago. The ladies enjoyed them and many asked for a copy of the recipe. Thankfully the tuna fish sandwich is not obsolete, it has just had a makeover. (Well drained canned chicken can be substituted for the tuna as well). Enjoy!
FARMER'S WIFE MAGAZINE 
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