Sweetened pear halves, stuffed with a cream cheese and whipped cream filling, garnished with a light sprinkling of mild cheddar cheese, and if you're feeling fancy, finished off with a maraschino cherry.

Pear Salad

This is not so much a recipe, as it is a nostalgic reminder of this delicious holiday side from the past. It's so old school, that some of you my age and older may even remember seeing this at school.

Hardly anybody really thinks about pear salad much anymore, and I'd venture a guess that very few of the younger generation even know anything about it and likely wouldn't be all that receptive to it either.

A near lost south Louisiana classic, calas are a flour and yeast fritter, made with cooked rice and flavored with sugar, cinnamon and nutmeg.

Creole Calas (Rice Fritters)

I've certainly mentioned this before, but we eat a lot of rice here in the Deep South, and there's almost always some leftover. We have lots of ways to use that leftover rice (just click that link to see a few) including sweet things, like rice pudding and these sweet rice fritters, called calas.

A near lost classic, Calas hold a past in the city of New Orleans, though their origins date back more likely to Africa. In the French Quarter, Cala ladies would wrap fresh, piping hot Calas in towels and carry them in a covered bowl on top of their heads, hurrying to the streets to sell them, shouting "Calas, belles calas, tout chauds!"

Photo Credit: Times Picayune

A wonderful heirloom recipe dating back 100 years, this simple pecan cookie bar is topped with a brown sugar meringue layer, giving them a slightly crisp, cracked topping.

Original Old Fashioned Mud Hen Bars

You may never have heard of Mud Hen Bars before, or you may have seen them for first time in the last couple of years across the explosion of food blogs, but it's actually one of those recipes that's been around even longer than I have.

Mandarin Orange Cake is what this dessert is typically known as in this part of The Deep South, but in many other areas of The South, this is more commonly known as Pig Pickin' Cake, though it has many names.

Mandarin Orange Pig Pickin' Cake

How y'all liking that vintage Tupperware Cake Taker plate up there?

I know for photo styling I should have used my mama's fancy footed cake plate, but this is one of those refrigerated cakes so in the cake taker it went. This one, in that classic mustard color, dates back to the 70s of course, and has been used many, many times. I actually have two of them - one was mine from back then and the other my mama's, which she very well may have purchased at a Tupperware party at my house!

I also have the rectangular one for sheet cakes. Anybody else still have one of these oldies hanging around?

Old Fashioned New Orleans Creole Bread Pudding with Meringue

A rich, meringue topped, New Orleans style Creole bread pudding soufflé, drizzled with whiskey sauce and perfect for any special occasion, holiday or event.

Old Fashioned New Orleans Creole Bread Pudding

When most of us think of bread pudding, we think of a simple country dessert, born out of leftover bread that is tossed together with a belly warming custard. It really is like a hug y'all!

Crockpot Candy Peanut Clusters

Crockpot Chocolate Peanut Clusters are a favorite holiday candy made from a mixture of almond bark, baking chocolate, semi-sweet chocolate chips and peanuts.

Crockpot Candy

Crockpot Candy Clusters are a popular confection at Christmastime everywhere, and usually includes pretty much the same combination of ingredients - some kind of mixture of chocolate, along with almond bark and peanuts.

I wanted to use a combination of honey roasted peanuts along with regular dry roasted peanuts this time, so I decided to pair up the almond bark coating, with a bittersweet baking chocolate, instead of the German chocolate that is often typically used.

A heritage recipe, today's English Pea Salad is made up of frozen or canned peas, mixed, at minimum, with celery and onion, and dressed with a mayonnaise or sour cream based dressing. I've added some bacon, dill and chopped boiled eggs in mine here, but it's wide open for personalization.

Old Fashioned Cold English Pea Salad

Cold Pea Salad is another holiday dish you may remember from your grandma's kitchen during the major holidays. Called English Pea Salad, it's more widely known these days as simply Cold Pea Salad, and is a long held holiday favorite, though it's really a great side dish for anytime of the year.

Shipwreck casserole is a super easy to put together, layered casserole, made with ground beef, onions,  potatoes, and veggies - here I used carrots, bell pepper and celery - and added a layer of rice.

Shipwreck Casserole

There is not a single thing particularly unique to me about this Shipwreck Casserole. It's just one of those meat and potatoes, family-pleasing casseroles with a funny name that's been around a long time. It's actually known by a couple of other names too, like Dinner in a Dish, 7-Layer Casserole or Meal in One Supper, but there are at least two stories of lore that are attached to how the name shipwreck came about.

Cornflake Candy is another heritage recipe you may remember from your grandmother. They are a simple blend of sugar, corn syrup, peanut butter and cornflake cereal that are a Christmas classic.

Old Fashioned Cornflake Candy

Another one of those old fashioned treasures that's been around forever, cornflake candy is super easy, and is a treat that is certainly fondly remembered around the holidays. There are a few variations of it around these days, but this is the classic version, with the addition of some vanilla. Feel free to embellish to your heart's desire though, if you like. Coconut, peanuts, chocolate chips and raisins are a few of the typical, modern add-ins.

Like those old fashioned Ting-a-Lings, these are a well loved and easy treat to add to your holiday cookie and candy trays. The one thing that you need to remember is that this sets up quickly, so have everything ready and work quickly.

Waldorf salad is a fruit salad of apples, grapes or raisins, and nuts, tossed with a mayonnaise dressing. Served alone as is, or over a bed of shredded or whole leaves of lettuce, it's a holiday favorite. Add chopped, cooked chicken for a great main dish salad anytime of the year!

Waldorf Apple Salad

Like the Hot Brown, Waldorf Salad comes to us from the kitchen of a hotel, this one the Waldorf in New York City. It is said to have been created oddly enough, not by the chef, but by the maitre d'hotel, or kitchen manager, Oscar Tschirky for a 1893 society party. I actually have made two different varieties of this salad, trying to get one that looked good in a photograph. Just ain't happening y'all, though I tried! Some foods just refuse to be photogenic.

Apple Dapple is a well loved heritage cake made with apples and pecans, and glazed with a crunchy brown sugar maple topping.

Apple Dapple Cake with Maple Glaze

This is such a tasty and moist apple cake, and you can make it a day ahead, because it gets even better, making it a perfect addition to the holiday table. I first met this cake 30 years ago, though frankly I'm sure it's been around even longer than that, meaning you can count on it being well-tested and reliable too.

 

A gumbo of beef, made with a 7-steak, and cooked down with The Trinity trio, okra, and a little bit of chopped tasso for some heat.

Seven Steak Gumbo

As far as I can discern, 7 steak gumbo had to have been born out of frugality.

Unlike its more pricey seafood cousin, it is a gumbo of beef and okra, but of a fairly inexpensive cut of beef, similar to round steak. Seven steak requires slow braising or stewing in order to bring out it's delicious, tender flavor, making it a suitable candidate for a gumbo.

It's called 7 steak because of the bone in it that is shaped like the number 7, when you can find it where the butcher hasn't removed it already, that is. I fix it most often as a Cajun smothered steak, but it can be used pretty much anywhere that you would use a braising steak.

Old Fashioned Broccoli Salad with Bacon and Pecans

Old fashioned broccoli salad, made with red onion, celery, carrots, raisins, nuts and bacon, and a mayonnaise, vinegar and sugar dressing. Serve as is, over spoon over leaves of romaine lettuce.

Old Fashioned Broccoli Salad

This poor ole broccoli salad has been languishing around for me to showcase it on the blog forever. Very patience little green veggie. Truth is, while The Cajun won't even give it a fair run, broccoli is one of my favorite veggies. I love to eat it most just simply steamed to be honest, though I've been known to fry it on occasion too. What can I say?

This old fashioned, creamy, boiled dressing has a unique, tangy flavor that is excellent on coleslaw, potato salads and vegetable salads, like Old Fashioned Broccoli Salad.

Old Fashioned Southern Boiled Dressing

Another one of those classic heritage recipes, old fashioned boiled dressing has sort of fallen out of favor with the convenience of commercially bottled dressings. It's history was one of the common folk, dating back to the the time prior to the late 19th century, when only the wealthy were able to afford the finer cooking oils for fancy vinaigrettes and creamy dressings.

I guess you could say that it sort of falls somewhere between a hollandaise sauce and homemade mayonnaise, but with the familiar tangy, sweet and sour flavor we southerners love. It's one of my favorites and it really takes next to nothing to whip it together either. Despite the name, just like Boiled Drinking Custard, it should never actually be boiled, but only simmered slowly in a saucepan or in the top of a double boiler until thickened.

Most commonly used as dressing for pasta salads, potato salads or plain boiled potatoes, in coleslaw, in deviled eggs, drizzled over meats, or tossed in vegetable salads, like Broccoli Salad. It can also be thinned down with milk to make a fabulous salad dressing for lettuce wedges.

 

Old fashioned peanut butter balls are a rich dessert, both in its heritage and its taste. A classic Christmas confection, peanut butter, butter and powdered sugar are rolled into balls and dipped in chocolate. If you remember these from your childhood, one bite will take you right back.

Old Fashioned Peanut Butter Balls

In the Deep South, we don't typically do buckeyes, the peanut butter and chocolate confection from Ohio, that is partially dipped so that the result is patterned after the nut of the buckeye tree. We do peanut butter balls down here. The concept, of course, is the same, we just completely encase our peanut butter balls in chocolate. Raise your hand if you have memories of these peanut butter balls at Christmastime. I certainly do.

Grandma's Old Fashioned Boiled Custard Recipe and Eggnog Base

A heirloom recipe, Old Fashioned Boiled "Drinking" Custard, was once used regularly as a simple drink meant to sooth the sick. It's a rich and creamy beverage, just like Grandma used to make, delicious anytime and an excellent base for homemade eggnog.

Old Fashioned Drinking Custard

Looking for the best eggnog recipe? Well, look no further than old fashioned boiled custard, because that is the beginnings of a most excellent eggnog. I'm pretty sure that boiled custard, or "drinking" custard as it was once commonly referred to, is decidedly southern. Not only is it a traditional drink in The South for the holidays, but it was often used to comfort those in the sick bed. I do know one thing for sure, we southerners absolutely do love our custards, and we love them in many forms.

Old Timey Rum Balls or Bourbon Balls

Rum or bourbon balls made with crushed vanilla wafers, powdered sugar, cocoa, ground nuts and bourbon or rum. Balls may be rolled in a variety of coatings including powdered sugar, cocoa mixed with powdered sugar, ground nuts or crushed cookies.

Old Timey Rum Balls

Old timey bourbon or rum balls have been a holiday favorite here in The Deep South for as long as I can remember, and this is the basic recipe, with a few coatings and add-in variations. While I know that cake balls and cookie truffles are all the rage these days, to me these are the original title holder since the 1960s.

Old fashioned baked custard made from eggs, whole milk, sugar, nutmeg and vanilla with a sprinkling of optional coconut.

Old Fashioned Baked Custard

I had a taste for some old fashioned baked custard the other day.  Whether it was the freezing weather prompting the simple warmth of the hot custard itself, or because I hadn't been eating enough eggs lately, the craving was very specific. I wanted this delicious, heart warming custard.

Old Fashioned Ting-a-Lings, The Easiest Christmas Candy Ever!

Old Fashioned Ting-a-Lings, made with melted chocolate and cereal, are a fantastic addition to your holiday sweets tray, as stocking stuffers, and as party favors to hand out to those holiday guests.

Old Fashioned Ting-a-Lings

These little Ting-a-Ling candies have been around as long as I have and they have always been a holiday favorite - best yet. They truly have to be the easiest candy ever!

A lot of folks make these using chow mein noodles these days, but they originally started off back in the 1950s made with Wheaties cereal, and later, a wider variety of cereals. With the crunchy noodles, they are called Haystacks, and I've included that variety in the notes with the recipe.

Poor man's steak, made with bottom round steak and slow simmered in a cream soup mushroom gravy with caramelized onion.

Steak and Gravy with Onion

The first cookbook I ever received, was the 1973 red, ring-bound Betty Crocker's Cookbook, given to me by my mama. I still have it. Anybody else?

Round steak and gravy is one of the first dishes that I learned to cook from Betty Crocker as a young bride, what seems now 100 years ago, though the dish has gone through a bit of transition since back then. In fact, I'd say that the School of Betty Crocker was the beginning of my book learnin' culinary education!