Hey there, everyone! I pulled this interesting combo from our archives after I recently stumbled on it. This originally ran in March of 2012 and even though it wasn’t very good, it made for some great pictures! I also got to enjoy this post because it was right after we came back from Las Vegas, which was a great trip. Even though our Vegas days are behind us until the baby is older, it is nice to remember!
Whew. Tom and I are exhausted. We just got back from a 5-night trip to Las Vegas and wow, it was ever crazy. Yep, crazy. Non-stop debauchery. 24 hours a day. Yep. Yeppity-yeppity-yep.
Okay, so…most of that was a lie.
I have to say we aren’t a very exciting couple. Moderate gambling. Moderate drinking. Moderate spending. Probably the most scandalous thing we did was not share entrees at restaurants. Which, if you’ve been to Vegas, you know that they feed you enough for five people, two dogs and a very hungry ferret. So, after 6 days of ordering 3 meals a day of junk and wasting 2/3rds of it, I was actually looking forward to coming home and cooking for us.
Even if “cooking” consisted of mixing three liquids together.
It’s Grape Milk Shake, people. Much crazier than anything in Vegas!
This recipe is from Betty Feezor’s Best TV-tested Recipes. Betty Feezor, who was a fantastic woman and an even better cook, had a television show in North Carolina from 1953-1977. It was great and I love the cookbook I have. Seriously. If you ever have a chance to pick up one of her cookbooks, do it. She was incredibly talented and inventive in her cooking. Some of her recipes, especially in the baking section, use techniques and ingredient combos I have never seen anywhere else.
Which, knowing Betty Feezor, makes the fact that you are combining grape juice and evaporated milk in this recipe not as strange as it should be.
And, even though the term “milkshake” may immediately bring to mind ice cream, in this case it refers to the technique more than the ingredients.
Even though I didn’t actually shake mine. It ended up being more of a “Grape Milk Stir.”
Or, to be absolutely precise, Tom’s Grape Milk Stir.
“That’s really some color, isn’t it?”
“Yep.”
“What’s in this?”
“Guess.”
“I hate it when you say that.”
“This is grape juice and milk, isn’t it?”
“Evaporated milk.”
“I hate it when you say that.”
The Verdict: Not great.
From The Tasting Notes:
Not good, but I am not a big fan of fruit juice mixed with milk. Tom thought it was okay. He drank his glass, and part of another, and then he was done. Probably would have been much better if it would have been made with ice cream. I am disappointed with this one, but I am not giving up on Betty Feezor!
Oh my lord, Betty Feezor! I hadn’t thought of her in more than 30 years! My family moved to the Charlotte area of North Carolina in 1972, and she was a fixture of local television, so much so that we kids used to make fun of her in much the same way that comics would parody Julia Child. She also sewed, did crafts, and offered general household advice in addition to her cooking segments. Other than Fred Kirby, a creepy, elderly, singing cowboy who had a kids show, she was probably Charlotte’s premier local celebrity. I think I’ll lift a glass of grape milkshake today and toast the memory of Betty Feezor and my lost childhood.
I once read a loooong article about Betty Feezor, she was like an early Martha Stewart with her TV segments….That Grape Milk Shake (with evaporated milk yet!!!!) looked like a major fail just from the ingredients. Maybe in the 50’s if the milkman didn’t show up, you could pawn this horror off on Junior to make sure he got his so-important milk allotment for the day.
How’s about orange juice?
In my neck of the woods Ontario, Canada we have creamcicles in the freezer section of convenience stores. Ice cream on a stick with orange popsicle around it. Fudgescicles too with a chocolate hard shell.
I make Betty’s Sausage Stuffing every year at T-day, well at least a slightly modified version of it. I think she rode the tide of women entering the work place in the 50’s, 60’s, & 70’s and her recipes reflected the change by using what was then, time saving techniques for the working mom while trying to keep her housewife mid-day viewers happy. She has some good recipes but she does have a few “Grape Milk Shakes” in the bunch.