You may think people of the 21st century have been the only ones concerned about eating healthily.
Not so.
This vintage recipe from 1980 is as fresh and original as one you may find in today’s health/ recipe magazines. It is full of vitamins, fiber, and protein all in one easy-to-make dish that is yummy for any time of the day.
Simply named ‘Fruit Salad’, it has a combination of ingredients I’ve not seen before — especially with the addition of a sweet potato.
Confession: I had never purchased a sweet potato outside of the Christmas season, which I then use for a fabulously sweet casserole, although with a pecan topping, actually tastes like dessert (plan on seeing it here next December).
I didn’t even know if raw sweet potatoes were available at my grocery and was delighted to find that they were.
(I forgot to include the can of pineapple tidbits in the photo)
Another confession – I have never before purchased dates. I had only ever eaten them in a date pudding dessert Mom made at Christmas decades ago.
No disrespect to dates or my mother, but it was enough to turn me off of dates completely.
But I decided to give it a go for the sake of this vintage recipe and am I glad I did!
As stated above, this is an easy, healthy dish that would be great served at breakfast or to take on the run in a covered container. The addition of sour cream and yogurt means it should be kept refrigerated, so keep that in mind.
I found this recipe quick to make, especially with my new Ruk slicer which my daughter purchased for me for Christmas.
I have been cutting up a lot of fruits and veggies for years and she knew this item would save me lots of time and effort. And it did!
Here is a photo of the two apples cut up using my new slicer.
One last thing I like about this recipe is its adaptability. I’m tempted to add coconut, raisins, sunflower kernels, grated cheese, and other salad-like ingredients. Make it your own and feel free to clean out your pantry and frig!
Another item that I have learned to love over the years included in this recipe is yogurt. By the time this cookbook was published in 1980, I had only ever eaten yogurt in high school home economics class. The only flavor served to us female students (females were the only ones allowed to take home ec – the males took shop) was plain and unsweetened.
It was one of the grossest things I had ever been forced to swallow and I vowed to never eat it again.
If I had seen this ingredient in this cookbook the year it was published by Home and School Association of Church of St. Therese, 2222 Lower Huntington Rd, Fort Wayne, Indiana, I would have ignored it.
Today, four decades-plus later, our frig is full of yugurts of various flavors, textures, sugar, and protein content.
One person in our family eats it for fun. Another focuses on its healthful content. We have a lactose-free yogurt that tastes delicious and is low in calories – Carb Master by Kroger. They have great flavors, a favorite currently being the mango.
It just goes to show how culinary tastes have changed for the better over the decades.
Degree of Difficulty for this recipe based on the following scale:
1– Easy (5 ingredients or less; little prep time)
2– Somewhat easy (10 ingredients or less; less than 1 hour of prep)
3— Not for a weeknight (between 1-2 hours of prep)
4—Challenging (you’ve got to be kidding; who thought up this recipe?)
**
(I have to share this humorous story that happened to my sister when she went into a grocery looking for dates to make Mom’s date pudding as mentioned above.
Unable to find the dark fruit on the shelves (“Is it shelved with canned fruits or in the produce?” she wondered), she stopped a male employee who looked to be in his early 20s. “Do you have dates?” she asked.
The young man looked at her for a minute before replying. “I do,” he said. “They are all special. How about you?”
Trying to hold back a laugh, my sister explained that she meant the fruit. He quickly led her to the aisle where the dates were shelved — with the raisins. We had a good laugh when she later recounted the episode.)
Fruit Salad
2 apples, grated coarsely
1 sweet potato, grated
1/3 c. cubed pineapple
¼ c. dates
¼ c. nuts
For dressing, mix 2 T. pineapple juice, sour cream and yogurt.
My notes:
- The recipe only calls for the sweet potato to be ‘grated.’ I didn’t want to eat it raw so I used a vegetable peeler to take off the skin, cubed it and steamed it for 10 minutes in the microwave. It was pretty soft so if you prefer a firmer fruit, then leave it in the microwave for a shorter time.
- Chill well after mixing because the sweet potato will be hot.
- It doesn’t specify how much sour cream or yogurt to use – I opted for ¼ c. of each which seemed perfect.
- No plain yogurt was available in our frig so I used banana which was tasty. I’m sure any flavor would work.
- The recipe makes about six servings — perfect for a work week of lunches!
#Vintage #Vintagefood #cooking #recipes #cookbook #Vegetable #Fruit #healthy #Dairy #Hamandpotatoquiche #VintageEats #Vintagerecipe #Vintagecookbook #cookyourbooks2025 #cookingfrommyshelf #cookbookchallenge #cookbooks #vintagerecipes #BakingFromScratch #BakingLove #Recipes #Food #Recipe #Cooking #Homemadefood
Vintage Eats of Kayleen Reusser 
Leave a comment