recipes from the 80s

[Jake&IzzyLand]

Not sure if the sweet and sour meatballs you're thinking of are the ones my family loves but this is how we make them. I make small meatballs with ground beef, egg, a little milk, breadcrumbs and a bit of minced onion. Or you can buy a bag of frozen pre-made meatballs. Mix a 10 oz. jar of grape jelly and a 12 oz. bottle of chili sauce in a pan and heat it until the jelly melts and the mixture is smooth. Pour that over the meatballs. They're a big hit with my family and friends.

I ate King Vitaman too; I think it came out in the early 70's. I think it was similar to Captain Crunch, but was marketed as being more nutritious than other cereals. Also Quisp and Quake; from what I recall they all tasted pretty much the same and had way more sugar than today's version. Some of the cereals even had sugar in the name, which would be un-PC now...Sugar Pops, Super Sugar Crisp, etc.

They had green peppers and pineapple chunks along with some sort of sauce.

 

[shoney]

I remember my mom making a yellow cake then punching holes in it and topping it with chocolate pudding. They used to advertise it in the magazines as part of Jell-o pudding, I believe. Haven't seen one of those since I was little.


Oh and TV dinners in the foil. Loved the salisbury steak with the little brownie dessert. They took sooooo long in the oven.

 

[Jake&IzzyLand]

Oh and TV dinners in the foil. Loved the salisbury steak with the little brownie dessert. They took sooooo long in the oven.[/QUOTE]


Haha! You are right! They did!

I loved frozen french bread pizzas also.

 

[AppleDumpling]

They had green peppers and pineapple chunks along with some sort of sauce.

Sorry, not familiar with that. Why don't you just google it using the name and ingredients you know? There are tons of recipe websites. There's a good chance you'll find the one you're looking for or something close.

 

[smadath]

You might have luck searching for cookbooks on eBay or Abebooks, as well.

 

[CdnCarrie]

Well I don't think a specific cake or sweet and sour meatballs have anything to do with the 1980s. Just happens to be something you recall eating in that time frame.

Maybe pudding pops as they were so linked with Cosby/80s or pizza at McDonald's

 

[yoopermom]

I remember my mom making a yellow cake then punching holes in it and topping it with chocolate pudding. They used to advertise it in the magazines as part of Jell-o pudding, I believe. Haven't seen one of those since I was little.

My MIL (who's cooking hasn't changed since the 60s, I swear) introduced me to poke/punch cakes probably 25 years ago, and they've been a family favorite ever since. My DM, in fact, called me for "the recipe" since she wants to make one with green and red jello for Christmas. I laughed so hard! All you have to do is bake a yellow or white cake, and when it's not quite cool, poke the holes and pour the jello over it. The only trick is that you don't want the jello liquid or set up, but somewhere in between. (I just googled it, and kraft says to pour it over right away when it's pure liquid, but I've found it all settles to the bottom of the cake that way...) Cool whip on top and you're done, light and tasty dessert!

Terri

 

[Kitty 34]

You can get the King Vitamin off Amazon.

Wow, blast from the past.......my oldest son LOVED King Vitamin!!!

 

[powellrj]

Just jello salads aren't made like they use to be.

 

[Jake&IzzyLand]

Sorry, not familiar with that. Why don't you just google it using the name and ingredients you know? There are tons of recipe websites. There's a good chance you'll find the one you're looking for or something close.

I have, the problem is there are too many! Hoping someone knew what I was talking about. No big deal.

 

[ckcnj]

My mom had the Betty Crocker recipe card library. It had recipes for lots of stuff like that, although it was technically from the 70s. You might be able to find a recipe in a magazine or newspaper from the 80s if you want to do some digging.

 

[Pooh2]

Anyone remember no-bake banana split cake? My mom and aunt would make it for every family party. I still have the hand written recipe card from my aunt. She passed in 82. One of the ingredients listed is oleo

Our family made this and it was quite tasty as I recall!
It had eggs in it, so it became quite controversial though (after 10 years of eating it) because the eggs were not cooked. So we all threw out our recipe card. Mmm.. Don't recall anyone ever getting sick despite licking that dish clean!

 

[JJZMgailey]

For those of you who either cooked or ate in the 80s, what were your favorites?

My mom always made sweet and sour meatballs for new year's eve, she no longer has the recipe though. I love those things!!

I just happen to have an old 1980's cookbook from my first collection of them and there are three recipes for sweet & sour meatballs! This cookbook was from a company called Lund's Lights and all the recipes were contributed by friends of their family!

I hope one of these rings a bell for you!!

 

[jdb in AZ]

When was Spam popular? The kind that's edible (sort of) not junk e-mails. I remember it from the 1950's but haven't gone near it since.

 

[superme80]

My favorite was the Impossible Green Bean Pie by Bisquick. My mom would make it for Thanksgiving. My cousin and I are 3 helpings before we realized it was veggies. I still love it!
http://www.cooks.com/recipe/pm3ws3lb/impossible-green-bean-pie.html

 

[Jake&IzzyLand]

I just happen to have an old 1980's cookbook from my first collection of them and there are three recipes for sweet & sour meatballs! This cookbook was from a company called Lund's Lights and all the recipes were contributed by friends of their family!

I hope one of these rings a bell for you!!

View attachment 140165

Thanks so much!

 

[Julie's Haircut]

When was Spam popular? The kind that's edible (sort of) not junk e-mails. I remember it from the 1950's but haven't gone near it since.

Probably the 1950s and 60s were the heyday for Spam recipes. I understand it's still very popular in Hawaii. But it's sold in every supermarket elsewhere, so SOMEBODY must be eating it. My mom would slice Spam an fry it up in a skillet. Then serve with potatoes and vegetables. Ugh, I'm getting nauseous just thinking about it.

I don't remember any 80s specific recipes. But we had a Microwave cookbook that presumed everybody would be cooking complete meals using the microwave. My mom tried a few times, then announced that stove and oven was easier and tastier. Does anybody really use a microwave to "cook"? It's for reheating leftovers, nuking frozen stuff, popcorn, melting butter quickly, etc. Not to actually prepare a meal from scratch.

 

[CPanther95]

We only had Spam for Eggs "Benedict". Fried slice of Spam and melted Velveeta instead of Hollandaise sauce.

What I miss is Jello 1-2-3

 

[Julie's Haircut]

My mom had a few versions of the Joys of Jello cookbook. All kinds of oddball recipes using gelatin. Canned salmon mousse, Jello Salad Nicoise (tuna, green beans, hard boiled eggs, etc), Italian jellied antipasto salad, etc. She was never brave enough to try any of those.





For CPather95. Supposedly if you beat regular dissolved jello with a hand mixer, it would create the same thing.




I liked the tilted glass creations.

 

[Christine]

I loved those Jello Parfait mixes.