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Thursday, April 27, 2017

1978's Eat Your Heart Out with Corn Dogs, Tomato-Cheese Strata, Cannelloni & more -- Vintage Cookbook TBT

Vintage Cookbook: Eat Your Heart Out - Patricia B. Sirrine, Norma B. Leavitt and Elaine B. Kiester

Publication Details: Eat Your Heart Out Publishing Co., 1978

"Eat Your Heart Out" is a quintessentially 70s Canadian cookbook. Published in 1978 it was something of a best seller with several printings over the next couple of years. It was put together by three sisters from Alberta and has over 200 pages of recipes.

These cover all the standard bases from soups, to breads (it has a very large selection of bread recipes in fact), to main dishes, etc. As always with cookbooks from this era there are a lot of classics, some reasonable takes on different meat recipes, some attempts at Chinese or Mexican style recipes that are of very mixed value, and some hilariously awful ideas like having a "jello salad" with Chimichangas! (Please don't do this.)

Many of the pages had little jokes or folksy quips at the bottom and the entire book has a very informal and actually quite charming feel.

Here we take a look at all the recipes associated with the (very) period photography in the cookbook. Sometimes the photographs have one recipe tied to them and sometimes they have several. But this is a large book and there are many recipes that would make it worth seeking out if you are a fan of classic, homestyle North American dishes from casseroles to roasts to a wide array of desserts.

(Click on images to enlarge)







(A previous contributor from BC, Chris Green might debate the title here!



















































7 comments:

  1. I grew up with this book and have lost it along the road. Can you share the oatmeal cookie recipe? I believe it states “better than Dad’s”. They are!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. 1/2 c brown sugar
      1/2 c white sugar
      Cream with
      1/2c butter
      Combine and beat until smooth:
      1 egg
      1tsp vanilla
      1 Tbsp milk
      Sift together and add to above:
      1 c flour
      1/2 tsp soda
      1/2 tsp baking powder
      1/2 tsp salt
      Beat together until smooth. Add:
      1 c rolled oats
      And one of the following:
      6 oz chocolate chips
      1 c raisin, nuts, coconut

      Beat well. Drop on greased cookie sheet 2” apart. Bake at 350 for 10-12 minutes.

      Delete
  2. Any chance you could post the rhubarb or apple crisp slash crumble recipe from that book?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Sure. I will try to find it and post it for you.

      Delete
  3. Hello! This was so very fun to find online! Patricia Sirrine is my grandmother on my mother's side! Her sisters are my great aunties. Only one of the sisters is still living. I received a cookbook from her when I got married. Most of the recipes, I was lucky enough to grow up on. my favorites include: the bran muffin recipe, the chicken recipe ("pat got this at the beauty parlor", I believe), and the BBQ hamburgers is always a hit. The party punch is always requested for me to bring to gatherings.

    I love the simplicity of the recipes and am grateful for their legacy of cooking and baking for those they love. Thank you for posting this blogpost!

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  4. Fun little fact, my grandpa helped edit the cookbook. If you knew Keith Sirrine, the jokes and quips on each page would make so much sense! He was a funny man in his serious way. My mom and aunts sold the cookbooks door to door.

    ReplyDelete