Last Saturday morning I woke up early to get some work done, but then I got a little side-tracked. I was sick of looking at a pile recipes on our countertop that I had to get through — since our sink was leaking I couldn't just shove them under there like I normally would. My recipe box was out of room because I kept collecting new and old recipes that I wanted to try again, get pictures, and post here on the blog. So I thought I'd just knock the job out. Well it took HOURS because I ended up sorting through them all and threw out a TON of recipes from before I turned into a real foodie.
I tossed all of them that called for corn syrup (although some recipes could be adapted to just maple syrup), pre-made dinner rolls (homemade is so easy), packets of seasoning mixes (throwing together my own recipes or even my own ranch dressing is so simple and tastes much better), and many more.
So I thought I'd show you a few of the more memorable recipes that I came across, back from my PRE-real foodie days. I figured you might have a good laugh over these — get a load of the ingredients, zowie!
#1: Velveeta – the fake food of the century (well, after oleo I guess), and Kraft dressing loaded with soybean oil and chemicals. Just those two disgusting ingredients in one recipe, yuck.
#2: Diet Mountain Dew, can you believe it? Sugar-free fake jello? Wow. I don't think I ever made this one, but just that it was in my BOX is scary!
#3: You can tell by my notes (in super sloppy handwriting) and how dirty this next recipe is that I made it a lot. Fat-free, sugar-free pudding and fat-free Cool Whip – yikes, what a big chemical cocktail! Marshmallows, too, oh my. I actually used to love this recipe – I'd take it places as a dish to pass. Of course I called it a “fruit” dish, not a dessert. (If I could ever figure out how to keep real whipped cream stabilized in dessert recipes like this, it'd be a not-too-tricky one to adapt. There's actually an idea at the real whipped cream post for how to do it, I just haven't tried yet.)
I also used to love things like Hamburger Helper, sadly enough (but here are my alternative real foodie versions), and I made those boxed potatoes all of the time, too. (My homemade cheesy potatoes or escalloped potatoes are so much better.) Pancakes and waffles were always made from a mix. Get this: I only bought margarine. Velveeta and Sugarbomb breakfast cereals were the norm. I can't believe I'm telling you all of this!
I didn't know what “organic” or “sustainably raised” or “chemical-free” even meant, and truly, I didn't much care. I only wanted meals to be fast and to taste good. Not that I wasn't concerned about our health; we exercised and I dutifully bought low-fat versions of whatever I could find, but I just didn't see yet that there was that big of a connection between food and the way our brains worked, how we felt, or our long-term health. It certainly wasn't something that I was taught in nursing school.
Thank God I was brought to the truth. Read about my “foodie conversion story” here. We still don't eat perfectly, but I've come a long way, don't you think?
Have you found any of your old scary recipes lying around that you could tell us about? Or maybe you just remember some of the not-too-sparkly ingredients that you used to cook with a lot in your kitchen?
More posts kind of on this topic that you might like:
- Read about healthy fats
- What's wrong with sugar-free? All about sugars – the good, the bad, and the disgusting
- Which meal each person in our family loves most
- A note to myself 10 years ago
- Life Changes – Five Ways They’re All the Same
- Our ‘family favorite meals' list (I used the same picture at both of those posts, so don't let that confuse you.)
- More disturbing vintage recipes — and I thought MINE were bad!
Just did this the other day too!!
~~Or maybe you remember the not-too-sparkly ingredients you used to cook with.~~
We used to make sugar candies with dipped-in artificial coloring. We stopped…so we still have a boxful of twelve mini-jars of color. It looks like paint.
“Magic Cow”. Strawberry syrup added to milk.
“Russian Tea”. This is Tang, Instant Tea and one ingredient I forgot.
Um, there were tiny silver balls for decorating cookies.
This really scares me!
I’m from Ireland and we wouldn’t really call mixing two store bought products a recipe. I read American blogs all the time but it is only starting to really sink in just how difficult it is the eat healthily in America. More power to you all!
I didn’t collect many recipes like that because I was a dyi hippie back in the day, but I have a recipe-box full from my grandmother….yikes!
Oh Kelly! This is awesome. Love your honesty. That peach melba drink is totally making me cringe!
Yes, low fat everything! Calorie counts next to each ingredient so I knew exactly how much we were consuming. I loved the kraft magazine that I would get in the mail. I made all of our food from those for years. That is a lot of soybean oil and velveeta folks!!
Great post! I can so relate!
Oh not really…I figure most of us have had our share if junk food…. I’ve had my share of junk food…but always deep down knew it was so bad…thanks to my grandma (who is now 94 years old!) She taught me how to cook and bake since I was a baby practically., along with my mom…but grandma had an old school kind of farm life experience that knew the real meaning of food and why we eat. We always used to read through nutrition magazines, books and whatever she could find about health and nutrition. I learned so much in those times of sitting and reading with her, talking about those things and growing up in the woods with nature, the berries, grapes, so much and even the little bit of farm that we had. It’s priceless! I know that my mom and us kids made some crazy desserts on ocassion, but nothing too weird. But I cannot get over the boxed mixes plus a bucket of cool whip and a bag of marshmallows, candy bars on top, “recipes”that I see so often on good ol Pinterest now! people just don’t know any better and we can’t judge them. Sharing info is best when it isn’t offensive, so that’s the route I take and just hope it helps out some of my fam and friends or strangers. 🙂
Haven’t been doing this for a year yet, so I still have my old recipes. Luckily, I have some old cookbook which are easier to adapt. Still haven’t found a tuna casserole recipe I like now that I make my own cream soup.
Hi Heather!
I think a real-food tuna casserole would be easy to pull off if you have your creamed soup recipe figured out. How about you try this and if it’s good, snap some pictures and we could turn it into a post if you’re willing?
1# of your favorite noodles, cooked
1 can of tuna (w/o chemical preservatives if you can find it)
and for the sauce, mix together
about 1/2 cup chopped fresh mushrooms, sauted in butter (if you like mushrooms)
about 3 cups of your cream soup (made with lots of butter and cream, hopefully?)
about 3/4 cup peas (if you like those)
plenty of sea salt and pepper until it tastes yummy, that’s key
That’s all just a big guess, but I’ve played around with recipes for years so it may work, let me know if you try it!
Kelly
now i can come out of hiding. thanks for fessing up
Actually I don’t. Having observed LOTS social networking posts, tweets, and comments by one particular natural cum whole/real/wheat free/low sugar/maple syrup/ eat real food personality and actually meeting them in real life and seeing their figure. I wonder if by swapping out the standard American diet for the “nutritionally correct equivalent” of same food did nothing for them except making them superior for their knowledge.
I used to make coca cola burgers. Still do make a velveet recipe once in a blue moon. Especially if I’m feeling nostalgic
Because I grew up overseas, where processed food wasn’t available, I kind of grew up in the real food movement and so never did use a lot of processed foods while cooking. BUT, then my husband and I did a long South Beach stint, which meant lots of sugar-free junk and and low fat dairy. I cringe to think of my sugar-free pudding and cool whip concoctions and the low fat cheese and nasty “south beach” crackers I ate every day. Oh, and the Kashi cereal and granola bars, and the skim milk, and the lean cuisines my husband used to take to work!!! No wonder it took a year to get pregnant! Let me tell you, since I switched to real foods, my body is totally different. Now, let’s just say, I am scary fertile.
I totally would have made the Mountain Due thing. lol As far as the Hamburger Helper, if the chemicals don’t get you, all the sodium will.
we all have to start some where and it’s usually the beginning!
yum! lol. Thanks for sharing. Very funny.
It’s funny now that I hear people sharing recipes that make me cringe, like spaghetti salad, where among the ingredients listed were whipped cream, marshmallow cream, mayonnaise and who knows what else. The other lady listening was saying “yummy, that sounds so good”, while I was having a mental puke.
My handwritten recipe book has gone through massive evolution as well.
funny.. I have always only eaten like a “foodie”.. I can’t stand the taste of prepared food.. I cooked from scratch when my kids were little, even when I worked. They grew up getting to go to Mcd’s like once ever 3 or 4 months.. but also back in the 70’s and early 80’s, even fast food was different. Not that it was good.. but it doesn’t taste like it does now days. I love it at the grocery store when I see a young family’s basket with ‘from scratch’ items and very little prepared foods.. good job foodies 😀
I’ve never made it, but I know I have a recipe for circus peanut jello salad. Gag!
Stabilizing whipped cream is easy! All you do is dissolve some gelatin powder in cold water until it’s set, and then put the bowl in another bowl of hot water to liquify it. (don’t put the gelatin in the hot water – just the bowl the gelatin is in.) Pour the liquid gelatin in with the cream, whip as usual, and that’s it.
@Rachel, I’ll try that next time I make it, there are so many recipes I could adapt once I have that down!
Kel
I got several huge Danish Butter Cookie tins full of recipes that called for truckloads of nasty ingredients. It was fun to look through them but mostly just to shake my head. On the other hand, I have a 1951 edition of The Culinary Arts Institute’s Encyclopedic Cookbook. It seems like lard (or other home-rendered fat) is the favorite ingredient.
velveeta in dips! velveeta in casseroles! velveeta!
I try to convert my old, shameful recipes to newer real foodie versions….I must have been the queen of cream of -soups…ick!
I’ve noticed that on my Pinterest boards. I used to pin lots of stuff and then never go back and actually look at it. Now that I’m pinning real food recipes (and actually going back and trying them) I’m seeing all the junk (“food”?) I used to pin. I’ve already cleaned out my cupboards…not it’s time to clean out the Pinterest boards!
Just purged my old recipes too
OMG! lol
Pre-real food, you would be hard-pressed to find a week where we didn’t have Pillsbury crescent rolls in our fridge! I would put anything in those!
I am 54 years old and have been collecting recipes since I was 13 years old. I used to get the Columbus (Ohio) Dispatch (on Wednesdays) for their food section and coupons. My dad took it, then when I got married, I took it. Back in the early to mid 70’s they also printed non-food recipes such as Whopping Cough recipes, how to make logs from newspapers, how to make a solution to make paper last for 50 years so it won’t crumble, and how to clear drains. These are just a few of the non-food recipes I collected that I can think of off the top of my head.
I now have over 7 recipe boxes of handwritten recipes! Lots of cookies, cakes, candies, salads, main dishes, pies, and vegetables dishes. I LOVE them! A labor of love over all those years as I collected and tried many of them. Many I have not, but I sometimes go through them and try something new.
I’ve been transitioning into a real foodie for the past 3-4 years. Ditched all the vegetable oils, all the table salt, all the boxed goods (mostly~I still often buy noodles and sometimes crackers as I’ve not found a recipe I like as well as saltines, which I only eat when we have chili or meatloaf), and since I’ve made most all of my foods from scratch since I was a teen, I’ve adapted many of the recipes that I’ve collected. If a recipe calls for vegetable oil (such as a cake), then I replace it with olive oil. If a recipe calls for powdered spice mix, then I make up my own powdered spice mix. If a recipe calls for canned veggies, I use fresh or frozen. There are many ways to adapt most recipes to a real food recipe, or as close as I can get it.
I have a very large family (8 kids/plus spouses, soon to be 16 grandkids), besides the extended family, and we often get together. I still make homemade noodles from eggs and unbleached flour. I still make special cakes and brownies for birthdays, as they are requested. I still make lasagna occasionally or stuffed shells and buy the noodles. But most of the time we eat a pretty decent ‘clean’ diet as I grow much of our own veggies in summer, buy mainly organic, and have found a farm to buy my eggs and a place to buy grass-fed beef. I have also been in a ‘pay-as-they-grow’ program for a Tamworth swine that will be sent to the butcher come March and we will have organic free-range pork.
Don’t toss all those recipes!!! Many can be modified. And I do have a wonderful caramel popcorn recipe that calls for some corn syrup that I make once a year at Christmas that I was able to make this year with organic corn syrup I bought online. This once a year treat will not kill us. It has been tradition for more than 35 years and my kids/grandkids would be terribly upset if I did not make this for them for the holidays. Christmas is the one time when I toss much of this eating out and we make our traditional cookies and candies. I do no over-indulge and many of them are given as gifts, but when I tried to stop I was pleaded with to ‘just make my favorite cookie this year’. Well, when you have so many kids/grandkids and friends, everyone has a favorite cookie!
I try to eat 90/10 real food. There are times when I go off the wagon, but most of the time we eat as clean as we can. However, during holidays are when we go off the real food wagon the worst. Those holidays are Thanksgiving, Christmas, and Easter. Just being real here.
I love “real” and it sounds to me like your family is VERY blessed to have you!! 🙂
Kel
Gosh, all of our recipes were scary. The ones that weren’t were dubbed expensive and only made a couple of times a year at best. My worst is my award winning Mocha Brownie “crap” lol..Boxed brownies, oreos, chocolate chips (not the good ones, the full of processed sugar ones) Whipped Cream or TruWhip (both full of oils/crap) and yes, it won a contest lol
I don’t think you have anything to be ashamed of. To have a conversion of any sort, you have to see that you have a need for something better, something you don’t have at the time. If you started out with eating none of those ingredients and fairly close to where you are now, would you see your need for conversion or change?
God bless your day, Kel, and all you do to help people eat radically different and healthier!
Sue E
For those who don’t know, Sue is one of my close in-real-life friends (part of our bible study! https://kellythekitchenkop.com/2009/12/dinner-with-our-bible-study-friends-what-are-your-favorite-potluck-dinner-recipes.html ) and Sue, I remember way back when thinking you were “a little over the top” since you *got it* long before I did, LOL! I try to remember that when others look at me like the freak I am!!!
Kel
Yeah, Kel, I was thinking that when I read this post. I remember telling you way back when about HFCS and trans fats while we were talking about peanut butter, and it took you very off guard! But God can work amazing things in our lives when our hearts are open, even about foodie things! (Our bodies and souls are so intertwined that whatever we do to our bodies affects our souls.)
Blessings! Stay warm!
Sue E.
I ditto what Katie said, and will add how hilarious it is to see “Yum!” written on the 3rd recipe! Oh, the innocence of taste buds!
I love that you posted this! I love that you have the guts to make yourself real and accessible to your followers! I have been making progress towards a real food diet too 🙂
Me too Kelly! I recently went through all of my my old recipes and threw almost all of them away!
That’s just about exactly what my recipe “box” used to look like, too, Kelly! I wasn’t taught any differently until about 8 years ago. My kids (all teens now) like to tease me about what they used to be able to eat when they were younger! 🙂