Health Food Pudding and Nursery Cake - 250 recipes by Elizabeth Craig

 I can't wait to try out some of the recipes in this vintage cookbook

Health Food Pudding

4 oz breadcrumbs, 

4 oz flour, 

2 eggs,

 little nutmeg, 

2 oz currants, 

2 tablespoonfuls treacle, 

1 teaspoonful Borwick's baking powder, 

2 oz brown sugar, 

 oz shredded suet, 

Rind and juice 1 lemon.

Mix all well together and steam two hours in a basin covered with a buttered paper. Turn out on a hot dish. Spike if liked with blanched, peeled and browned almonds. Serve with custard sauce.
Yum I feel better already!

Nursery Cake

2 cupfuls flour

1 cupful sugar

1 egg

3/4 cupful water

3 teaspoonfuls Borwick's Baking Powder

2 tablespoonfuls butter

Grated rind 1/2 lemon

Beat butter till creamy. Gradually stir in sugar, then egg, and beat well. Stir in water, lemon rind, then flour sifted with baking powder together thrice. Beat thoroughly and bake in a moderate oven. If wanted fruity, add a cupful of picked sultanas, washed and dried currants, or chopped raisins, or half sultanas and half chopped mixed peel. 

Welsh Cream Tea Cakes

1 lb flour

1/2 teaspoonful salt

1/4 lb currants

Grated nutmeg

1 1/2 teaspoonfuls Borwich's Baking Powder

1/4 lb butter

2 oz sugar

cream to mix

Sift flour, baking powder, and salt into a basin. Rub in butter, then mix in washed and dried currants, sugar, and a grated nutmeg to taste. Mix to a stiff batter with fresh cream, and foll out on a floured pastry boards. Cut into squares. Bake on a greased tin in a quick oven. Sometimes I make mixture a little thinner, and cook it in buttered muffin tins. Again, I fork out pieces of dough, and arrange them on tin, like rock cakes, without rolling mixture.

Swiss Trifle

6 sponge cakes
2 egg whites
1 oz ground almonds
3 gills Borwick's Vanilla Custard
1/2 tin pears
1/2 teaspoonful vanilla

Cut fruit into dice. Put two-thirds of it into a glass dish. Cover with sliced sponge cakes, ground almonds, and syrup from the fruit. When custard is ready, stir in the whites of eggs frothed, and vanilla. When cool pour over the sponge cakes, and decorate with sweetened whipped cream, ratafias, miniature glace oranges, and silver strands.

250 Recipes by Elizabeth Craig 

If none of the above tempt you how about Peter Pan Pudding (made with apples), Red Riding-Hood pud (made with red berries), Wendy's pudding (made with golden syrup and chopped nuts), Jack Horner slab cake, or Mother Hubbard buns!  

If you fancy something savoury you could try potato dumplings with bacon fry or Toad in the Bunker ~

6 oz flour, 1 egg, 1 breakfastcupful milk, ½ teaspoonful crushed herbs, ½ teaspoonful Borwick’s baking powder, pinch salt, 1 teaspoonful chopped parsley, 10 oz pork sausages.

~ Arrange skinned and halved sausages in the bottom of a greased pie-dish. Sift flour, salt, and baking powder into a basin. Beat up egg and mix with milk. Stir into flour mixture gradually and beat till smooth, then stir in parsley and herbs and pour gently over the sausage. Bake in a good oven from forty-five minutes to one hour. 

Please don’t ask me what a ‘good oven’ is as I have no idea!  

Happy Baking.

This lovely little book is no longer available, thank you for your interest.

Bobby Bear, Flossie and Fluffie, Gumpa and other Newly Catalogued Items

This is a small selection of recently catalogued items and a sneak peak at some awaiting cataloguing. If you are looking for a particular title, please let me know, and I will do my best to find it. As new stock is listed it will be available to view at March House Books. For more details about any of the featured items, please click on the links or use the 'email me' link in the right-hand column.  

Poor Pussy a collection of verses by Jessie Pope with beautiful illustrations by A. E. Kennedy. Sold, thank you for your interest.

When Flossie and Fluffie, one day, were invited, to stay at the farm, they were very delighted. They carefully packed - without wrinkle or crease - their "nighties" and shirts, and a toothbrush apiece. The first day was sunny, and off they both set to a bulrushy river, each armed with a net. They both caught a fish which they popped in a pail, and ate them for dinner - fins, backbone and tail! 

I've just started listing a large collection of Bobby Bear Annuals. It will take some time to list them all, but the following are available now and more will be added as I get time.

Bobby Bear's Annual 1923 - Sold

Bobby Bear's Annual 1924 - Sold

Bobby Bear's Annual 1925 - Sold

Bobby Bear's Annual 1931 - Sold

Bobby Bear's Annual 1935 - Sold

Bobby Bear's Annual 1937 - Sold

Bobby Bear's Annual 1950 - Sold

Bobby Bear's Annual 1952 - Sold

Bobby Bear's Annual 1954 - Sold

Bobby Bear's Annual 1959 - Sold

Bobby Bear's Annual 1961 - Sold

Above - from the top; Ladybird books - The Weather by F. E. Newing, Musical Instruments by Ann Rees, William the Conqueror by L du Garde Peach, Julius Caesar also by L du Garde Peach and Flight Six The Holy Land. Early Readers -  Tip and Mitten the McKee Readers No. 2 published in 1955, Janet and John Book Four also published in 1955, A series of ‘Gay Colour Books’ written by Alice Williamson and published in the 60s - The Little Black Cat, The Little Green Hat, The Little Orange Top and The Big Red Ball, Lenny The Lion’s third annual 1961. All sold, thanks for looking.

 The Weather, Musical Instruments, William The Conqueror, Julius Caesar, Flight six the Holy Land, Tip and Mitten, Janet and John Book Four, The Little Black Cat, The Little Green Hat, The Little Orange Top and The Big red Ball are all sold, thank you for your interest.

This lovely painting book is by Ivy Wallace. I’ve featured her Pookie Books before here and here. This title is from the Animal Shelf Series.  Gumpa's Paint Book is now sold, thank you for your interest.

The following books will be listed at March House Books over the next few days. If you would like more details before they are listed please email or leave a comment.

Meanwhile after all the wind and rain - Mother Nature still manages to do this -

 Snowdrops and primroses flowering alongside 

Christmas Roses.

Another image from Gumpa's Paint Book

I hope you've enjoyed this quick preview. Thanks for calling in.

Update July 2016: March House books closed on my retirement in 2015, but I do still blog here at March of Time Books and always appreciate your visit. 

Uncle Oojah - Elephant King of Oojahland

Just looking at these fantastic books brings a smile to my face. Uncle Oojah dressed as a gypsy complete with earrings and headscarf is too wonderful for words!

If you've not come across Uncle Oojah before it might be helpful to know something about him. Flip-Flap (later known as Uncle Oojah or The Great Oojah) is a magical elephant who lives in a strange animal country called Oojahland. Don, or the Little Oojah, is Flip-Flap's greatest friend and travelling companion. Snooker, the Kitten-cat, lives with the Great Oojah and looks after his memory!

Uncle Oojah began life as a comic strip character in the Daily Sketch Newspaper in 1919. By the early 1920s, the newspaper was issuing a four-page supplement called 'The Oojah Paper' which later became 'The Oojah Sketch'. By 1922, Oojah was staring in his own annuals. The stories were written by Flo Lancaster and illustrated by Thomas Maybank and later by H. M. Talintyre.  

Two of the beautiful illustrations in The story of Flip-Flap's Little Mansion

             The Oojah annual 1922            The Oojah Annual 1923           Oojah Annual 1924 (sold)

            The Oojah Annual 1925        The Oojah Annual c1936 (sold)         The Oojah Annual 1937

           The Oojah Annual 1938           The Oojah Annual 1939 (sold)     The Oojah Annual 1940 (sold)

      Uncle Oojah's Big Annual 1930(sold) Big Annual 1934(sold) Uncle Oojah's Big Annual 1929(sold)

          Oojah House 1922 (sold)              The Oojah Annual 1950           Fancy Dress Party 1940 

These little known annuals are an absolute joy and are bound to become more sought after. Martin Hammer writing in The Hamer Comic Guide states,  "Thomas Maybank’s wonderful illustrations of Flo Lancaster’s Great Oojah are surely undervalued today. I say buy them when you see them!"  I for one could not agree more!

Water, water, everywhere;

Thank you to everyone for asking about the flooding in Somerset. We are doing fine, but it’s not so good for many of our neighbours. 

We’ve been cheering this family on as they attempt to waterproof their property,

but with more and more rain and high winds it looks as though they are fighting a losing battle.

We only have to look at pictures like this to realise how very lucky we are. Driving might be more difficult than usual, trains may not be running, and yes it's still raining, but we are warm and dry. I only wish the same could be said for everyone.

I hope you are all warm and dry in your respective corners of the world, thank you so much for calling in. xx

Update July 2016: All the books featured are now sold. March House books closed on my retirement in 2015, but I am still happily blogging here at March of Time Books. Your visits are always appreciated.

Valentine - You Float my Boat!

Unusual 'rocking' valentine card.
Valentine don't rock the boat you upset my heart! 

Three teeny tiny cards  (Now sold)

It's not because of paper lace or posies hearts and things

 I hope you like this Valentine but for the love it brings.

Heart shaped paper lace

Hearts a flutter (Now sold)

Valentine greetings for my teacher (now sold)

There are a lot of teachers, and I've seen quite a few,

 but there's no other in the world that’s half as fine as you.

 Cupid written and illustrated by Babette Cole. 

 When Cupid and his parents the God of Thunder and the Goddess of Beauty come to Earth, he is supposed to act like other kids. But Cupid steals a bow and arrow from the boy next door and quickly learns that when his arrows meet their mark, hilarious results will follow.