Grandmother Wren

How to start your day – in 1960

Here's a nicely rhymed recipe for Oatmeal Pudding - written by Mrs. Maria J. Moss in her book, A Poetical Cook-Book, published in 1864.

OATMEAL PUDDING.

Of oats decorticated take two pounds,
And of new milk enough the same to drown;
Of raisins of the sun, stoned, ounces eight;
Of currants, cleanly picked, an equal weight;
Of suet, finely sliced, an ounce at least;
And six eggs, newly taken from the nest:
Season this mixture well with salt and spice;
’Twill make a pudding far exceeding rice;
And you may safely feed on it like farmers,
For the recipe is learned Dr. Harmer’s.

Another recipe – this one for Oatmeal and Peas Porridge from the booklet Twenty-five Cent Dinners for Families of Six by Juliet Corson, Superintendent of the New York Cooking School – 1878   

Oatmeal and Peas.—Cut quarter of a pound of fat pork or bacon, (cost four cents,) into pieces half an inch square; put it in the bottom of a pot with two sliced onions, (cost one cent,) and fry ten minutes without burning; season with two teaspoonfuls of salt, one of sugar, and one saltspoonful of pepper; (cost of seasoning one cent;) then add three quarts of cold water, and one pint of peas, (cost five cents,) and boil the whole gently until the peas become quite soft; then stir in enough oatmeal to thicken, about a quarter of a pound, (cost two cents or less;) simmer for twenty minutes, and then eat hot. It is the healthiest kind of a meal, and costs thirteen cents, or less.

Pease porridge hot,
  Pease porridge cold,
Pease porridge in the pot,
  Nine days old.
Some like it hot,
  Some like it cold,
Some like it in the pot,
  Nine days old.

Mama has an apron in a lovely shade of blue, don't you agree?

Another reason to celebrate today – it's Blue Monday at Smiling Sally's. Visit her!