Back in the “olden days” of children’s birthday parties, the standard fare was hot dogs, hamburgers or maybe inventive sandwiches of peanut butter and bananas or peanut butter and homemade chokecherry jam. And of course, there was birthday cake.
Research indicates the menu at modern birthday parties is much more complex.
With age comes health requirements that suggest hotdogs aren’t the most healthy choice, nor is peanut butter if one considers the oil content. And those darn bananas should come with one of those white chewable tablets to counteract the inevitable heartburn.
If I were planning my own birthday party menu, I think it might include one or more of the following recipes:
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Salmon Pie
- Pastry for a 9 inch pie crust, top and bottom
Filling:
- 3 cups canned pink salmon, drained and bones removed
- 1/2 cup carnation milk
- 1 egg
- 1/2 cup finely diced onion
- 1 cup finely chopped celery
- 1/2 cup drained, sliced olives, optional
- 2 tbsps. lemon juice
- 1 tsp. salt
- 1 tsp. pepper
Sauce:
- 1 cup carnation milk
- 1-10 oz. tin cream of celery soup
- 1/4 tsp. savoury
- 2 tsps. lemon juice
Combine all filling ingredients and mix well. Spoon onto the bottom pie crust. Cover with top crust, with air holes cut into centre.
Bake at 425 degrees F for 45 minutes. Once crust begins to brown, cover with a piece of foil to prevent further browning.
Remove pie from oven.
To make the sauce, heat the milk, soup, savoury and lemon juice until hot but not boiling. Turn off heat.
Slice pie onto serving dishes. Spoon sauce over pie and serve while hot. Serve with a garden salad. Leftover pie may be frozen, but without the sauce.
• • •
Oven Barbecued Sausages
- 2 lbs. link sausages
- 1/2 cup chopped onion
- 1/2 cup chopped celery
- 3/4 cup ketchup
- 4 tbsps. white sugar
- 4 tbsps. white vinegar
- 1 tsp. dry mustard
- 4 tsps. Worcestershire sauce
- 3/4 cup water
Place sausages in a large roasting pan.
Mix all other ingredients and pour over sausages. Cover and bake for two hours at 350 degrees F.
Note: If a thicker sauce is required, add a bit of cornstarch mixed with cold water and stir into sauce and continue to cook.
• • •
Crumb Cake
- 2 cups flour
- 3/4 cup butter
- 1 cup white sugar
- 1 cup milk
- 1 tsp. baking soda
- 1 egg
- 1 cup raisins
- 1 cup currants
- 1 tsp. cinnamon
- 1 tsp. cloves
Mix the flour, butter and sugar and use a pastry blender to make it into crumbs. Remove 1 cup of the mixture and set aside.
Dissolve the soda in the milk to make sour milk. Beat in egg. Add other ingredients and the remainder of the crumb mixture. Mix well.
Spoon into a greased and floured 9x13 inch cake pan. Sprinkle the reserved cup of crumbs over the top.
Bake at 375 degrees F for about 30 minutes or until toothpick inserted in centre comes out clean.
Joyce Walter can be reached at ronjoy@sasktel.net
