Tag: tomato

Clearly Midwestern 1950’s Spaghetti Sauce

SO CLOSE to being a good recipe. I know why that ingredient was added, but Grandma Rachel…no. Vintage Recipe card for spaghetti sauce.

Once you see it, you’ll know an Italian grandmama was nowhere NEAR this recipe. That said, I guarantee this was the height of fancy cooking for a 1950’s housewife in the upper midwest. Forgive them, for they know not what they do.

Grandma Rachel and her Midwestern Midcentury Spaghetti Sauce – photo credit Grans Kitchen Table
Spaghetti Sauce Recipe Card – Grandma Rachel

Smooth pasta sauces tended to be preferred in my grandma’s set. Instead of blending some of the tomatoes to get a smoother consistency, and to make it more familiar to the Dakotan palate, condensed tomato soup was usually added.

I apologize, but my mom was barely born when this recipe was put to paper.

Just the Recipe – Vintage Midwest Spaghetti Sauce from the 1950’s

One interesting thing I noticed while going through my Grandma’s recipes. Over time, especially in the past 15 years, companies have reduced the sizes of products. Example: The “typical” can of tuna that was 6.5 ounces in Grandma’s day, is either 5 or 5.5 ounces now. Hence why I use my sister site to post just the recipe, so I can make allowances for any changes or substitutions needed to account for modern adjustments to measurements and food availability.

Enjoy!

Grandma’s Garden – Yellow Pear Tomatoes

My grandparents had three gardens. A community garden, a garden at my Uncle Tony’s house and the home garden behind the garage. The flower garden was my Grandmother’s domain and the vegetable gardens were my Grandfathers. With one exception, the yellow pear tomatoes. I don’t recall ever having any other fresh tomatoes from the garden.

In the house, there was always a bowl of yellow pear tomatoes. No surprise, really, as yellow was her favorite color. Yellow roses, yellow iris. The wall of her kitchen were yellow. The tablecloth on the round kitchen table at the west end of the 1950’s galley kitchen, yellow. Even my grandmother’s midcentury home was painted a soft yellow.

As much as I loved my grandmother, I am surprised my childhood favorite color wasn’t yellow. It was lilac. The other color in my grandmother’s flower garden.

Grandma's garden. End of season Yellow Pear Tomatoes.
End of season Yellow Pear Tomatoes. Photo Credit Grans Kitchen Table.

The End