I just remembered this from the old days. Back in the early 1960s our grocery store - the Snow White Grocery in Berthoud, Colorado - occasionally sold dishes, cookbooks, or pots and pans on the end of the aisle as a sort of installment thing where I think each week there was a featured item to encourage you to get it that week, and when you were done you had a whole set of something. Some stores might still do this, but I don't feel like I've noticed it in a long time.

The only thing I remember my mother collecting this way is a set of cookbooks.

Actually, she collected two sets so that my sister and I could each have a set, but typical of my mother, she gave my sister her set and kept my set for herself. I could take you around this place and show you a lot of 'my' things that I had to wait for my parents to die before I took possession of while my sister had 'hers' to use for more than 20 years. Just a side note.

Anyway, the cookbooks were published by Better Homes and Gardens, and each had a theme like Low Calorie, Barbecues, Baking, and so on. There must have been 8 or so of them, and they are around here somewhere. Every so often I come across one of them and enjoy the 1960s photos of family life and serving dishes.

Today I am entering recipes in my database and came across one in my mother's handwriting that I recognize from those cookbooks. That was before we knew about cholesterol (people were blissfully keeling over in the prime of life with clogged arteries, cigarette and highball in hand) so today I would probably use olive oil instead of the butter. Some stores sell grated fresh ginger in tubes in the produce section, but if you don't have any, go ahead and make the dish - you won't miss it. And I don't see why you couldn't use canned diced tomatoes in the winter, maybe draining off the juice first. This probably serves four to six, so cut it down accordingly if there are fewer of you for dinner, but it would be good the next day for somebody's lunch.

1 1/2 pounds sirloin steak cut into 1/8 inch strips
1 tablespoon paprika
2 tablespoons butter or oil
2 cloves garlic, crushed
(1 teaspoon grated fresh ginger)
1 cup sliced green onions including tops
2 green peppers cut into strips
2 large fresh tomatoes, diced
1 cup beef broth
1/4 cup water
2 tablespoons cornstarch
2 tablespoons soy sauce
Cooked rice

Sprinkle the beef strips with paprika and saute in the butter with the garlic. Add the ginger and vegetables and cook until crisp-tender. Add the 1 cup broth. Combine the cornstarch with the 1/4 cup cold water and soy sauce to make a paste. Stir into the simmering broth and simmer, stirring, until thickened. Serve over cooked rice.


I know this looks like a lot of ingredients to certain people, some of whom live in Florida, but it's not that bad after the first time because like a car trip, you will recognize the landmarks.