Another entry in my #1985 #BagLunch #cookbook journey. We're skipping ahead a couple of recipes because I just had to share the pure 80-ness of this photo with you. I can imagine what the model shoot was like.
"Okay John, cover up a bit more of the 7-Up logo with your hand. Tim, look at his burrito like you're seeing a tit for the first time. Can we make the sandwich a bit more flaccid? Perfect!"
Anywho, this time lunch is Bean Burritos. The innards are composed of tinned refried (pinto) beans with garlic, green onions, and tinned chilies topped with shredded cheese and chopped tomato. The recipe says half a small tomato per burrito, which I found to be excessive for both flavour and moisture.
Overall the taste is...meh. The recipe makes 2 burritos so I had one fresh and one after it had been in the fridge for 24 hours. Fresh was okay, mostly just bland and too much tomato per bite, plus you don't heat the beans enough to melt the cheese and I would prefer melty cheese (I have no qualms with using tinned refried beans. Just they don't have a lot of flavour on their own). Eaten cold the next day was below okay. The tomato juice soaked into everything, making it somewhat soggy, and eating it cold increased the blandness. Needs some cumin, paprika, and chili powder, maybe some cayenne pepper. I would add some sour cream too. And ditch some of the tomatoes.
I paired each with an apple and half a tin of Indian-style chicken soup, as the book recommends for a "lunchtime fiesta". I was hoping for their Mexican-style chicken soup since that would presumably pair well, but the shop was out.
I also enjoy their insistence on a *white* paper plate for reheating and the term "micro-cook", because in 1985 microwaves were new and mysterious.
My wife was born in L.A. and raised by a Mexican-born grandmother, and because I apparently love annoying her I got her to sample the fresh-made option. Her feedback was "straight up poverty meal" and "it will do".
#burrito #beanburrito #lunch

I found this #cookbook from #1985 in the #littlefreelibrary near my apartment, and have become fascinated by its take on a bag lunch. As such, I have set myself the project of trying as many of the recipes as I am fairly certain will not kill me.

First up, first one in the book: Fruited Cheese Pockets.
The filling is a mix of cottage cheese, shredded Monterey Jack, fruit cocktail, and sliced almonds. It also suggests a small amount of milk, but it seemed appropriately moist without. There is a strange amount of weight put in the fact you are supposed to line your pita with a single leaf of lettuce, although it does not specify what kind. I used a small amount of baby greens that should equate one leaf of iceberg.
The recipe calls for "cream-style" cottage cheese, a phrase I have never seen anywhere else. From what I can sleuth out online, this either means I am supposed to add cream to the cottage cheese, or it's regular cottage cheese because in the 80s you could buy "dry" cottage cheese that was just the curds. I have gone with the latter interpretation.

I followed the instructions to eat half the mixture in one half of a pita (with my single leaf of lettuce). It was better than expected. I am not a huge fan of fruit cocktail and was kind of worried that would overwhelm everything else, but it just had a slight amount of sweetness and the almonds and lettuce give a pleasant texture.
I think I did the recipe a significant favour by eating it right away rather than making the cheese-fruit mix ahead of time, although there is still half in my fridge so hopefully I remember to report back in a couple days with how it holds up.
There's something incredibly of-the-time about it. I can so easily picture it being eaten by women with very fluffy hair while they power through Virginia slims in the office break room.

#baglunch #sandwich #cottagecheese #fruitcocktail #vintagebook #betterhomesandgardens