Depression era side dishes

I hope you all don't mind - I am putting my recipes on the computer so i can burn CDs for my girls, and I thought since we may end up eating this way again some day, I might as well cut and paste the old ones here

Creamed cabbage
2 T butter or lard
1 medium head cabbage, cored and sliced thin
1 large onion, chopped
1 1/2 cups milk
4 eggs beaten
1 c bread crumbs
salt and pepper to taste

Grease a shallow casserole or cake pan. Melt half the butter in a large pot and add the cabbage and onion and cook until tender, stirring often. Add milk and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to low and simmer for 5 minutes. Gently pour in eggs, stirring constantly. Stir in 3/4 of the crumbs, and the salt and pepper; mix well. Pour into casserole dish and top with remaining cracker crumbs. Dot with butter. Bake about 30 minutes until brown, at whatever temperature you are using for the rest of the meal.

**Now, I usually end up adding a cup or so of shredded cheddar cheese, and use crackers instead of bread crumbs, but this recipe came from the '30s.

Every winter they would find ways to use up the corn that didn't have time to ripen

Green corn pudding

(her family had a milk cow and hens, most people probably would not have been able to make this dish regularly)

2-3 dozen ears of green corn
3 quarts milk
6 eggs
2 T sugar
salt, pepper, and cayenne (optional) to taste

Split the kernels on the ear, then scrape out the meat and leave the hulls. Mix all the ingredients together and bake for several hours at 300 or so degrees. Serve hot with butter. (I add chopped green chilis when I make it)

Tomato dishes:


Tomato bread pudding

1 quart tomatoes with juice
3 slices bread, torn up
2 tablespoons butter
salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste

Pour the tomatoes in a shallow dish, put the bread on top, dot with butter and season according to taste. Bake to brown at whatever temperature you are cooking other things at

Now we usually add some parmesan cheese, garlic and onion salt. Sometimes I add a couple beaten eggs and half a cup of milk.

Tomato fritters

1 quart tomatoes with juice
1 medium onion diced
1 c. bread crumbs, cracker crumbs, cornbread crumbs, etc
salt and pepper to taste
oil or lard to fry in

Mix the tomatoes, onion and crackers. Season with salt and pepper. Let sit for about 15 minutes or until it's like a thick batter




Heat oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Form into patties, fry until golden on both sides.

Potato pudding

3 c mashed potatoes (can be white or sweet)
1 c sugar (less if using sweet potatoes)
1/2 cup butter
1 cup flour
1 quart milk
4 eggs
salt to taste
seasonings to taste: cinnamon and nutmeg for sweet potatoes, or vanilla for white potatoes

Mix together, put in casserole dish and bake until set and golden brown at whatever temperature you are using.