I'm going through all these old cooking magazines and typing the good-sounding recipes into my database. Just now I'm looking at Home Cooking from March 1988. Looking at the index, there are some pretty funny-sounding recipes:

Chocolate Tofu Nutritional Drink (it's like a smoothie with cocoa mix in it)
Eggplant Bread with Honey (quick bread, similar to zucchini bread)
Squash Pillows (yeast rolls with cooked winter squash)
Dutch Hustle Cake (a yeast coffee cake topped with apples)
Irish Lime Chocolate Fascination (recipe below)
Fudge Rice (chocolate rice pudding with a fudge topping)
Egg and Chips (hard boiled egg casserole topped with crushed potato chips)


This first one is also supposed to be good with ground beef or leftover ham.

Creamy Chipped Beef Casserole

2 packages chipped beef
1/2 of a 16 oz package frozen hash browns, thawed
1 can cream of mushroom soup
1 cup evaporated milk
2 tablespoons Crisco
1 can Durkee French fried onion rings

Snip the beef in bite-sized pieces. Brown in the Crisco until the edges curl, and drain. Mix milk and soup. Add beef, potatoes, and 1/2 can onion rings. Place in a 2-quart casserole dish. Bake, covered, for 30 minutes in a 350 degree oven. Remove the lid and crumble the remainder of the onion rings over the top. Return to the oven 5 to 10 minutes to crisp.

This sounds like it makes a ton - you could cut it down. I hate it when recipes don't list the ingredients in the order called for, but I didn't rearrange it for you, this is how they published it. I thought it was funny they had to tell us to serve it hot. Was there any doubt?

Yummy Baked Beans

4 cans pork and beans, drained
1/2 cup minced onion
1/2 pound diced bacon
3/4 cup grape jelly
3/4 cup enchilada sauce

Fry the onion and bacon and drain. Add jelly and enchilada sauce and mix well. Stir in the beans and pour into a casserole dish. Bake it for 1 hour at 350 degrees. Serve hot.

When I first glanced at the ingredients, I thought how fascinating! I won't be making it any time soon, but it's fascinating. Actually, it's relatively low in calories if you're interested.

Irish Lime Fascination

14 1/2 oz can evaporated milk
3 oz package lime Jello
2 cups hot water
1 cup sugar
1/4 cup lime juice
2 teaspoons lemon juice
About 4 drops green food color
2 cups chocolate wafer crumbs (8 1/2 oz)
1/2 cup melted butter

Chill the milk in the refrigerator for at least 1 day. Dissolve the gelatin in hot water and chill until the consistency of unbeaten egg whites. Whip until fluffy. Stir in sugar, lime and lemon juices, and food color to tint a delicate green. Whip the milk until light and fluffy and gold in the Jello mixture. Combine the cookie crumbs and butter and reserve 1/2 cup. Press the rest of it into the bottom of a 9 inch square pan. Pour in the whipped mixture and sprinkle the remaining crumbs on top. Chill overnight until firm.


And you know what? Reading about spring recipes makes the hot summer weather seem a little cooler.