47 school recipes

Walk to school cookies: buttery slice-and-bake shortbread with chopped pecans, dusted with powdered sugar. Make-ahead icebox cookies sturdy enough to survive a backpack and lunchbox.

Healthy microwave cookies with soy flour, wheat germ, powdered milk, raisins, dates, cottage cheese, and honey: protein-packed snacks ready in 5 minutes.

Three-ingredient seedless blackberry preserves with equal parts berries and sugar plus a splash of lemon juice. Old-school maceration method gives deep berry flavor without added pectin.

Rich devil's food cake made with sour milk and brown sugar, layered with chocolate fudge frosting studded with raisins. Moist, deep chocolate flavor from an old-school recipe.

Old-school peanut cookies packed with chopped peanuts, brown sugar, and vanilla. Crisp-edged, chewy-centered cookies that taste like a peanut butter cookie's nuttier cousin.

Toll House bundt cake: a brown sugar pound cake studded with semi-sweet chocolate chips, baked over a buttery nut topping that becomes the cake's crown when inverted. Old-school showstopper.

Chewy chocolate chip oatmeal cookies combine the best of both classics. Quick oats and butter-flavored shortening make 40 soft, hearty cookies perfect for lunchboxes or after-school snacks.

Peanut butter apple muffins are high-fiber whole wheat muffins with chunky peanut butter, applesauce, oats, and wheat germ. Hearty breakfast or after-school snack with protein and fiber in every bite.

Syd's banana bread is a tender old-school loaf made with shortening, sour milk, mashed bananas, and a half cup of chopped walnuts or pecans. The kind of recipe passed down on a stained index card.

Swiss steak with tenderized round steak dredged in garlic flour, browned, and simmered 2 hours in tomato sauce with Worcestershire and lemon juice. Old-school comfort food with rich gravy.

Old-school dark fruitcake soaked overnight in brandy and orange liqueur with figs, apricots, currants, walnuts, and pecans. Makes four loaves; ages beautifully.

Aplets are a great bar cookie for summertime or school lunch boxes.

Classic yellow mustard pickles with cucumbers, gherkins, pearl onions, cauliflower, and red peppers in a turmeric-mustard brine. Old-school preserving-kettle recipe that stocks a pantry.

Home-canned rabbit stew: deboned rabbit meat with potatoes, carrots, celery, onions and peas, preserved in jars for a hearty pantry stew anytime. Old-school homesteader cooking.

Traditional New Mexico pinto beans slow-cooked with a meaty ham bone. Just 4 ingredients and old-school technique for creamy, unbroken beans in rich pot liquor.

Jo Mazzotti casserole, a hearty baked noodle dish of ground pork, onions, and mushrooms in a rich tomato sauce with cubes of sharp cheddar melted through. An old-school Midwestern crowd-pleaser.