Vintage 4th of July recipes and a crochet pattern.

It's almost the forth of July which means that we can all look forward to a day off from work (if you live in the USA and your office actually gives you the day off). It's a day to spend time with friends and family and to eat delicious food. In celebration of one of the more fun holidays of the year (in my humble opinion) I busted out a bunch of my old cook books, personal recipes, and craft magazines to find some old school summer picnic fare. Some are a little odd, but some are pretty good. If you happen to try any of these recipes drop a comment and let me know what you thought of them.

Pear and Banana Salad
From the Workbasket July 1953 edition. 
For each serving arrange 2 pear halves on salad greens, one with cut side up, the other with cut side down. Peel banana, run tines of fork lightly down sides. Cut into 1/4 inch thick slices and arrange in half circle over-lapping slices in front of the pear halves. Garnish pear with a cherry or other berry and serve with a tart or sweet dressing.

Sweet Dill Pickles
From the Workbasket July 1953 edition.
- One Quart Dill Pickles purchased in store
- 2 cups sugar
- 1/2 cup terragon vinegar
- 1 tsp celery seed
- 1 tsp mustard seed
Wash and drain cucumbers, cut into chunks. Mix all other ingredients together and bring to a boil, remove from fire, let cool, and pour over chunked pickles. (Nancy note: This sounds awesome, though so not on the Bomber Girl diet plan... alas, maybe next year.)

Cherry Coke Salad
Date unknown, recipe from private collection originally obtained from Charming Vintage Recipes. 
- 1 package of cherry or black raspberry jello
- 2 cups water
- 1 12oz coke
- 1/4 cup cold water
- 1 #2 can crushed pineapple
- 1 #2 can bing cherries (Nancy note: #2 cans = 20oz)
- 2 small packages cream cheese (Nancy note: small package = 3oz)
- walnuts
Heat water and add jello to dissolve. Add 2 cups coke/cold water. Drain fruits and discard liquid. Add fruits, softened cream cheese and walnuts to jello. Mix, pour in mold, and chill.

Baked Beans and Lettuce Sandwiches
From Better Meals for Less Money (1917)
Press cold baked beans through a sieve; spread bread with butter, cover with a lettuce leaf, cover lettuce with beans, and sprinkle beans with chopped mustard pickle. Cover with a second piece of buttered bread. Brown bread or any dark bread may be used.

Apple-Lemon Summer Cooler.
Personal collection, ca 1950ish.
- 1 quart apple juice
- 1/2 cup fresh squeezed lemon juice
- 1 fresh peach
- 1/2 cup fresh strawberries
- 1/2 cup fresh raspberries.
Dice peach and strawberries, place with raspberries in bottom of pitcher. Add apple juice and lemon juice. Stir and chill. (Nancy note: I like mine with a little more bite so I tend to add more lemon juice, but it's really up to you.)



And just for fun I present this pattern for this crochet American Flag from the July 1974 edition of Workbasket. I typed out all the abbreviations and rewrote a few things to make the pattern more readable.

You all know you want that office. Don't lie, I know you do. 

American Flag
Yardage: You will need 20 ounces of white yarn, 16 ounces of red yarn, 12 ounces of blue yarn, and 4 ounces of gold yarn. All worsted weight.  (Nancy note: That's about 900 yards of white, about 760 yards of red, 570 yards of blue, and about 170 yards of gold. They're definitely using cheap scratchy acrylic for this so if you're going for historical accuracy go find some Red Heart value yarn.)
Gauge: 7 single crochet equal 2 inches
Hook: Size F

Work Begins on lower edge.
Base Row: Starting with red chain 218, single crochet in second chain from hook, single crochet in each chain across, chain 1, turn.
Pattern Row 1: Single crochet in each single crochet across. Chain one, turn.
Repeat Pattern Row until there are 11 rows of red. Fasten off (Nancy note: Fastening off is really up to you,  you can also carry the red yarn up the side as you go.)
Join white and work 11 pattern rows.
Continue Changing colors from red to white until 3 red stripes and 3 white stripes are completed.
Change to blue and single crochet across 109 stitches. Chain 1, turn.
Continue in blue until 77 rows are completed.
Join red in first single crochet after first blue row. (Nancy note: this might be a little confusing so I made a diagram.)

Work 11 rows of single crochet in red for first short stripe, fasten off.
With White, work 11 short stripe rows.
Work 4 red and 3 white short stripes.
Sew blue panal to edge of short stripes with small stiches. (Nancy note: Use whip stitch or blanket stitch.)

Stars: Make 50. With white chain 4, join into a ring with slip stitch.
Row 1: Chain 1, stitch 15 single crochet stitches inside ring, join to first single crochet stitch with slip stitch.
Row 2:* Chain 6, slip stitch in second chain from hook, single crochet in next chain, half double crochet in next chain, double crochet in next chain, treble crochet in next stitch, skip 2 single crochet, slip stitch in next single crochet, repeat from * around until you have 5 points. Join with slip stitch and fasten off leaving about 12 inches of tail to use to sew star on.
Sew stars on blue panel as shown in photograph (Nancy note: or like in any photograph of the flag), 6 in a row for 5 rows and 5 in a row for the 4 rows between them.

Fringe: With gold, cut strands about 6 1/4 inches long. Fold 3 strands in half and put them in every other single crochet around. Trim strands to even them out.

Tomorrow I bust out my Bicentennial magazines so stay tuned.