Good Friday: Green Tomato Pie

I love it when a cookbook is more than just a cookbook. Today's Food Friday comes from Bellaire's Own Historical Cookbook. Bellaire Women's Civic Club, Bellaire Texas. 1969.

This is the type of cookbook every community should publish, full of histories, vintage images and names. Oh and there are recipes, in fact the recipes are in a few chapters of this book including one entitled Early Families with Their Recipes.

So today's Food Friday is courtesy of Bellaire pioneer Mrs.  H. Z. Kelley.

I love how the recipe ends "Bake as apple pie and you will be surprised." I love fried green tomatoes and pickled green tomatoes so I'm sure I would love this.


Have a family from Bellaire, Texas? Email me and I would be glad to do a look up for you.

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Food Friday: Oh the Things you can do with Fritos

Today's Food Friday will be a little different. It contains no genealogical significance except for maybe your World War II era family liked to pick up recipe booklets and experiment. And just maybe those experiments found their way into the everyday food of your family and it's only when you try to serve that food at a potluck do people question how you came up with such an interesting food combination. Kinda like when I served a tater tot casserole at a work potluck.

So what has your family done with Fritos? Anything interesting aside from having them with sandwiches or serving them with dip? We actually do have an interesting Frito recipe in our family that involves using them for Chilaquiles. Imagine cooking the chips with oil, cheese, eggs and such. I didn't say it wasn't a heart stopper but let's face it anyone can be mesmerized by fried foods covered in cheese.

One of my all time favorite recipe booklets has to be an advertising book put out by the Frito Co of Dallas, Texas in 1947. As you can tell from the price tag on the cover, I got this booklet for the right price (free). Though to be honest, I would have paid much, much more.

From the collection of Gena Philibert-Ortega.

The recipes are great in this cookbook and include all kids of meals. One of the last pages of the cookbook explains why you should add Fritos to pretty much everything. They have "nourishing goodness." Sure that statement is right up there with "living near an atomic bomb test site will cause you no harm" but I digress.

I love a recipe book that provides menu ideas and this one does so beautifully with the page on "Children's Parties." Sure, what kid wouldn't want a good "Toasted Minced Tongue Sandwich" for their birthday followed by "Ice Cream topped with Frito crumbs." My favorite has to be the Frito Fudge which I am secretly planning to make for my family without their knowledge (please insert evil laugh here).

If all else fails you can just go to the old standby, Jello and Fritos.

Small Print Disclaimer: If anyone from the Frito-Lay company is reading this, I think you have a fine product and have eaten it on more than one occasion. But even you have to admit this is one of the funniest recipe booklets of all time. I do this out of love and with no intent to harm. I also am not saying in anyway that eating Fritos equals the damage done by living close to an atomic bomb test site.

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