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We have a fun Mid-Century Menu this week.  The recipes from this week come from Betty Feezor’s Best TV-Tested Recipes. This book was given to me by a co-worker of Tom’s, who apparently loves to see Tom eating questionable dinners because this is the second book he has given to me to use on the MCMenu. Awesome.

In any case, Betty Feezor was a lovely woman who had a cooking show on WBTV, a station in North Carolina. Her show ran from 1953-1977, and would broadcast during lunchtime to inform and educate housewives.  She also has the honor of being the first show to be recorded color. In the world! Wow.

Sadly, Mrs. Feezor died at age 54 of cancer. If you would like to read more about her, you can visit Betty Feezor’s BT Memories page.

Betty’s son, Bob, has uploaded some of her shows to YouTube. I watched what he had to offer, and decided I liked Betty’s style.  Here is a clip from a tribute to Betty Feezor that was aired on her 20th Anniversary show.

Isn’t she the sweetest? 

Of course, we looked through her book and picked the recipe that we thought looked the most…interesting.

I don’t know about you guys, but I have always wanted to make a recipe that had a half a cup of vinegar in it.  It just seems like a heck of a lot of vinegar to me and I was interested to see what it looked like.  And…tasted like.

And, of course, we had to pick a side dish.

Can you see how well this book was loved?  A bunch of pages in this book are filled with all kinds of splotches and stains.  The mark of a good cookbook!

I have found I am buying a LOT more generic ingredients when making the Mid-Century Menu.  Go thrifty Ruth, go.

The first layer of rice.

Crushed pineapple.

Pouring butter/sugar/juice mixture over pineapple.  At this point it smelled really, really good.

Pretty plain meatballs.  Only beef, pork and salt.

I cheated and used a cookie scoop to make these little guys.  Also, check out my new Fiesta color!!  Tom just got this set for me last weekend. And I love them.

Cherries, pineapple and green peppers.  A winning combo.

Browning meatballs. 

All mixed together!

This muck is actually the remaining ingredients all thrown together. Including a half cup of vinegar AND a half cup of corn syrup. Yum.

Help them! Help them!  The little meatballs, they never learned to swim!!! Aiieeeeeeeeeee!

So…glistening.  I’m almost blinded.

As a side note, Tom kept asking, “What’s in this?  What IS this?”  And I didn’t tell him.

Pineapple rice, down the hatch.

“It’s good.  Needs something though.  It is a little bland.”

I took a bite.  It was good, but more like a dessert than a side dish.

On to the main course!  Check out that maraschino cherry staring Tom down.

Gulp!

“It’s strange.”

“What do you mean?”

“Maraschino cherries should not be in this.  And you can totally taste the vinegar.”

The Verdict –

Hawaiian Meatballs: Very vinegary. We have eaten better.  Not terrible, but not our favorite.  It reminded me a lot of sweet and sour chicken from a Chinese take-out restaurant. Especially with the cornstarch in the sauce.  The maraschino cherries were a disgusting addition, and the worst part of the dish. Green peppers and maraschino cherries should never be eaten together. Ever.

Pineapple Rice In Casserole: Good.  I am not sure if I would serve this as a side dish, it should really be a dessert.  If I was making this again, I would cook the rice with a mixture of coconut milk and water, and then add a little cardamom and serve it for dessert.

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