Old Fashioned Gingerbread

With the holidays coming up I thought I'd share my late momma-in-law's gingerbread recipe.

Old Fashioned Gingerbread

1/2 cup sugar

1/2 cup shortening

1 cup molasses

2 cups flour

1/2 tsp soda

1 1/2 tsp ginger

1/2 tsp cinnamon

1/2 cup buttermilk

Nuts and raisins (to taste)

Mix first 3 ingredients until creamy.

Mix in dry ingredients; then the milk.

Stir in nuts and raisins.

Bake in large, greased and floured loaf pan for about 1 hour at 350 degrees.

Sulphured Apples

I found another old-timey recipe in our family cookbook, an old way of preserving apples.
Before there was electricity and before canning jars became more widely available, apples were preserved by drying or sulphuring. Sulphuring the apples prevents them from turning brown.
This recipe is also from my husband's Aunt Minnie.

Sulphured Apples

Peel, core and slice apples.

Put 1 thick layer of apples in a big stone jar or a wooden barrel.

Make a little hole in middle of layer of apples and set a little pan or saucer in it.

Put some hot wood coals in the pan; then put in 1 Tbsp. of sulphur on the hot coals.

Put a heavy blanket or old quilt over the jar or barrel to hold in smoke.

Keep repeating layers until you have as many as you want.

Make a new hole for each layer.

Take the amount of apples you want to cook out and soak in water for just a few minutes.

Then fry or bake or just plain cook them.

What is left in the jar or barrel can be left there until all is used up; or you can put in fruit jars and seal and set in a cool place.

Free Vintage Paper Dolls And Lacing Cards To Download

Remember paper dolls? There for a time you couldn't find them anymore, but they've enjoyed a surge in popularity and new ones are popping up everywhere.
I like the old ones. :)

Here a few links for free paper dolls.

From Karen's Whimsy, here is a paper doll from the December 1917 edition of Ladies' Home Journal:
Miss Betty Bonnet
Dresses for Betty Bonnet
More dresses for Betty Bonnet

The Bleu Door has a scanned collection of 1950's to 1990's Betsy McCall paper dolls from McCall's magazine.

This last link has some lacing cards you can print, then punch the holes with a hole punch.

Vintage paper doll set and lacing cards from Bella Dia.

You can also make your own lacing cards out of old greeting cards or post cards. Another idea is to print off a paper doll, dress it, scan it and print onto cardstock.

Enjoy!