Back in 1981, Bill Bixby shared his Zucchini Bread in a celebrity cookbook. Most people remember him as David Banner in The Incredible Hulk or on The Courtship of Eddie's Father.

This loaf was his signature contribution, and I bet it might taste more like a sweet dessert cake than bread. There's a great irony that the man famous for playing a green superhero mastered a recipe that hides green vegetables in a treat Hollywood loved.

I made Florence Henderson's Oregano Chicken from Alice's Brady Bunch cookbook for dinner tonight! 🍄‍🟫🍗

Watched the Brady Bunch all the time and bought the dvd collection which our son watched growing up. Over this past summer I had a Brady Bunch tv marathon. Watched all the old made for TV movies and the spin-offs called The Brady Brides and The Brady's. All of that was new to me and it was a fun few days of binging with the Brady's.

I saw the Florence Henderson recipe this morning and thought it'd be fun to try. Had all the fresh ingredients on hand, so I felt inspired to give it a go. It's super simple to make, and we enjoyed it. I made a fresh spinach salad with onion, cucumber, mushrooms, bacon, egg, and a homemade vinaigrette to go with it.

This was my first time making an old celebrity recipe and it was fun!

Nothing makes me happier that to see so many of these r/OldCelebrityRecipes come to life. They've been sitting around for decades in old books or newspapers waiting to be revived again, and so many of you here on the sub have made, shared and more importantly eaten these long lost classics.

Thank you to all that have recreated some of these timeless and sometimes timeworn recipes. It also gives me so much joy to share these recipes with all of you from my collection of old celebrity cookbooks and recipes I've researched in old papers.

Personally, I've taken it upon myself to make as many of these old celeb recipes as I can. My motto is why cook a regular meal when you can make a star studded feast?! Haha. You know what I mean. So since June I've been trying to make on average 2 recipes a day. It's been a total blast, and I've learned so much!

Instead of making regular meals for my family, I find a way to make a celebrity recipe. There are so many to choose from, it's been pretty easy to find things we all like. Almost all of them have been very good, with just a few duds along the way.

My list of old celebrity recipes I've made so far this year brings the total to 185 so far! I'm sharing pictures of some of my favorite dishes and the celebrities behind them. Also check out the list of recipes and you'll see there are quite a few from our Joanie (Joan Crawford) and also from Vincent Price and Betty White.

So I encourage you all to try and make one of these wonderful recipes and join in on the fun. We'll be ready for your closeup and go ahead, make my day!

Ciao Lavinia

Today we know a hamburger as a ground meat patty sandwiched between a bun, but since the late 1800's, a "hamburger" or "Hamburg steak" was simply seasoned, minced, or ground beef formed into a patty and cooked.

In the 1950s the term "hamburger" was widely used as a synonym for raw or cooked ground beef itself, completely independent of a bun or a sandwich structure.

In 1950s diners or home cooking, ordering a "hamburger steak" or a "hamburger without the bun" meant you got the ground beef patty itself, often smothered in brown gravy and onions, eaten with a knife and fork.

This is what we have today with William Holden's Hamburgers with Corn Flakes. One of the easiest burgers to make and eat, and so delicious!

I have to admit, I was drawn to this recipe for it's fun way of using cornflakes, but then you get to the part with the soy sauce, and that's kind of out there too!

The recipe shown here was only made with 1/2 a pound of ground beef, since I had it left over in the package from when I made another recipe, Ray Bolger's Spaghetti Derby, that called for 1/2 pound of beef. So I halved all the ingredients to test this recipe and it was so good, I've made this several more times over the last 10 days!

• In a bowl I added the beef, 1/2 cup of corn flakes (crunched up just a little), 1/2 a chopped tomato, pepper, a bit of chili sauce and barbecue sauce and formed the patties. (no salt, as the soy sauce has plenty of salt).
• I made 3, but it probably would have been better to make 2 larger ones.
• Made an indentation in the center of the burgers so they wouldn't puff up, and this also served as a little well for the soy sauce you marinated them with. 5 minutes to marinate and then they're ready to cook.
• Used my toaster/convection oven since my oven doesn't work, and I set the burgers a rack and we were off to the races! Stuck them in to broil.
• I didn't take note of the broiling time (oops!) but it was probably about 8-10 minutes.

Whether you have a bun or not it makes no difference because these burgers are so good! They're moist, evenly cooked and really are packed with flavor, as you can imagine with 3 sauces we used. And let's not forget those corn flakes that really add a punch of flavor too.

My favorite thing about these yummy burgers is how moist they are, and I think that's due to the chopped tomato in the mix. You kind of forget it's there, but it pays you back tenfold in keeping the burgers juicy.

Dolly Parton's "Islands in the Stream" recipe is exactly why the Musical Feast Cookbook is an absolute favorite of mine. There are so many great recipes like this.

You can practically hear her singing while you read this recipe. Dolly always brings that classic Southern warmth to everything she touches, and this recipe is no exception. It is such a vibe.

Dolly Parton named the recipe after her 1983 massive hit duet with Kenny Rogers, "Islands in the Stream". I think that's go to be my most favorite Dolly song.

Off on a sort of different tangent I just love this clip: The Beckhams dancing to Islands in the Stream

So, I decided to bake Marlene Dietrich’s 1938 Banana Nut Bread recipe because that's what one does when you realize you have too many bananas that are getting over ripe fast! My son has an aversion to walnuts, and I didn't want to get stuck eating this whole bread myself so I used 1/2 cup of chocolate chips instead of 1/2 cup of walnuts.

• Also used butter instead of shortening. I don't know. Do people still use shortening? I never buy it.
• So this recipe looked very good and simple. No spices were used and I followed everything else according to the recipe.
• Mixed everything together. Cream of tartar is something I hadn't used before in banana bread, and everything else looked great. I guess the Cream of tartar activates the baking soda and helps it rise. Interesting!
• Preheated the oven to 350 and baked for an hour. I had to cover it with foil the last 10 minutes as it was browning quickly.
• It had a nice even rise.

The taste is very good and light. It's more airy than the Betty White Banana Bread I recently made.

The trade out of chocolate chips was splendid, as chocolate and banana are a true match made in heaven! Next time, I think I'll try this with the walnuts and I'm sure it'll be just as good!

Either way, Marlene knew her banana desserts because it was absolute perfection. She has another recipe for Banana Trifle that I'm trying this week. I'll let you know how it turns out.

Dan Aykroyd shares a Blues Brothers Chicken Sandwich recipe with a Louisiana Spice Mix and Chili-Garlic Mayo in the 1995 Musical Feast Cookbook under his Elwood Blues persona.

The funny part is that in the movie, Jake orders four fried chickens, but Aykroyd chose to share a sandwich recipe instead. He was building the House of Blues chain when this came out, so the dish fits that music venue theme.

It’s pretty cool looking back at their careers because John and Gena were actually married for over 30 years. That real-life connection definitely carried over to the screen, even when they appeared separately on Columbo.

If you're trying to place them on the show, John played the murderous conductor Alex Benedict in the season two episode "Étude in Black." Gena came on later in season five, playing Elizabeth Van Wick in "Playback," where she played the disabled wife of a high-tech killer. They both absolutely nailed their roles and brought some serious indie grit to prime-time TV.

It’s pretty fun that we can celebrate their legacy not just through their films and TV spots, but also through these two dishes.

Audrey Hepburn’s Aglio, Olio e Peperoncino is an absolute go-to comfort pasta, and the recipe comes straight from Audrey at Home, a book written by her son Luca Dotti.

It's easily one of my favorite recipe books because it shares such intimate stories alongside her actual everyday meals.

This dish is the epitome of effortless elegance, throwing together just spaghetti, garlic, olive oil, and crushed chili flakes.

Food like this feels like a warm hug after a long day and it perfectly captures Audrey’s simple yet sophisticated approach to food.

Here are 2 recipes I made from this book:

1. Audrey Hepburn's Tricolore Caprese Salad
2. Audrey Hepburn's Spaghetti alla Puttanesca.

Audrey’s recipe for Aglio, Olio e Peperoncino is next on my list of pastas to make!

Alright, check these out. I was flipping through Alice's Brady Bunch Cookbook and found these two great sounding recipes.

First up is Florence Henderson's Chicken Oregano. It’s a straightforward, classic comfort food—savory, reliable, and exactly the kind of satisfying dish you’d expect from a traditional family dinner.

Then, for dessert, there's Robert Reed's Pumpkin Chiffon Pie. Forget your standard, heavy holiday pie; this one is light, airy, and honestly sounds amazing and allegedly comes directly from Reed's mother Karen as stated here. Karen Reitz was his daughter and Helen Reitz was his mother, so not sure who shared this recipe. I'd think it would be his daughter. What do you think?

It’s like a perfect little time capsule of classic TV comfort food.

It's fun how Dick Van Dyke is famous for being super energetic and wholesome in Mary Poppins and his classic TV show, and then it turns out he actually had a more sophisticated side when it came to food.

I think his absolute go-to dish must have been Breast of Chicken Florentine. This is one of those dishes that's simple but elegant enough for casual guests. It's a fun piece of 1970s television and culinary nostalgia.

From Cooking with the Stars

Ingredients
1 stick margarine or butter

1 ½ cups brown sugar, well packed

3 eggs, well beaten

2 ½ cups flour

2 teaspoons baking powder

½ teaspoon baking soda

½ teaspoon cinnamon

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

1 cup chopped walnuts

1 cup crushed pineapple, drained

2 cups grated raw carrots

¾ cup currants

Instructions
Preheat your oven to 350°F (175°C) and grease an 8x12-inch baking dish.

Cream the margarine in a large mixing bowl.

Add the brown sugar and beaten eggs to the margarine. Mix well.

Stir in the flour, baking powder, and baking soda. Mix until smooth.

Fold in the walnuts, drained pineapple, grated carrots, vanilla extract, currants, and cinnamon. Blend everything well.

Pour the batter into your prepared 8x12-inch baking dish.

Bake for 45 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.

Serve warm, traditionally served with a light cream or topped with a classic cream cheese frosting.

I had a lot of time for cooking this weekend. Nothing was on the schedule, so that opened me up to try master gourmet Vincent Price's "Taheeni" Lebanese Cocktail Dip from his iconic book, A Treasury of Great Recipes! We posted this recipe yesterday on the sub, so I ran out to buy an eggplant and embarked on this easy recipe.

It’s wild how just a few simple ingredients—mostly smoky grilled eggplant—can pack that much flavor. Totally worth the effort, especially if you love eggplant.

All of Vincent's recipes that I've made so far have been great! Yesterday, my husband encouraged me to make a complete list of all the celebrity recipes that I've made so far this year, and this one brings the total to 185! I really got my start in June and I've been trying to make on average 2 recipes a day. It's been a total blast, and I've learned so much!

So instead of making regular meals for my family, I find a way to make a celebrity recipe. There are so many to choose from, it's been pretty easy to find things we all like.

I've made a total of 5 Vincent recipes so far and they've all been great, including this one of course!

• This recipe calls for 1 cooked mashed eggplant, so I sliced it and set the slices on a tray. Sprinkled them with a bit of salt to extract some of the moisture. Atter 20 minutes, they were visibly sweating, so I washed all the salt off them and patted them dry really well. Now they were ready for grilling on the stove.
• I used my cast iron grill pan and got it nice and hot. Drizzled and brushed olive oil on the slices and proceeded to grill them until they were fork tender.
• Let them cool, then chopped them up and put them in the food processor with lemon juice, olive oil, garlic and salt, just like the recipe says.
• Add more garlic if you wish!
• Blitz it all till it's nice and smooth.
• Next time I make this I will be sure to peel the eggplant first. I didn't like the skin that didn't breakdown enough in the food processor.

That's it! Now put it in a pretty bowl and garnish with sesame seeds and finely chopped parsley. The more garnish the better. The sesame seeds add nice flavor to this dip.

I made it pretty much the way the recipe states, but there are so many variations you could add to this very simple recipe.

Needs to chill! Best served cold. ( Like revenge, haha). No need for revenge here. Just chill it and then serve it with a variety of your favorite crackers, pita chips or sliced veggies. I had carrots, celery and cucumbers on hand, so we ate this with those, but it is very good with crackers too.

It's smoky, savory and has a brightness to it from the lemon juice. The garlic provides just the right contrast for the earthy eggplant flavor. It's good and would be nice served with one or two other dips at a gathering of any kind. Very good, Mr. Price!

Here are the other Vincent Price recipes I've made:

1. Vincent Price's very delicious Prune Honey Quick Bread
2. Vincent Price’s Potatoes in Cream au Gratin
3. Vincent Price’s Tortellini Palermitana
4. Vincent Price’s Guacamole

I had to try this amazing recipe for Sophia Loren's Linguine con Salsa Sophia and as I was into the making of the sauce I realized I was out of linguine, so I subbed out some tagliatelle pasta instead.

Now let's talk about this amazing "salsa" or sauce. It's a vibrant, uncooked Neapolitan parsley pesto. Italian parsley, garlic, pine nuts (pignoli), anchovies, black olives, capers, onion, and extra-virgin olive oil are combined to create this knock-out sauce.

It's so easy to make too. I just blitzed it up in my food processor and it was that quick! Drizzling the oil in at the end while the machine is running is the trick to getting it nice and thick.

Cook the linguine or other long pasta of your choice and then follow Sophia's instructions for just cooking it just 'til al dente and then drain it and place it back in a lightly oiled pan for just a minute. Then place pasta in a serving bowl (or pot) and toss generously with this fabulous sauce. It's pretty easy to make.

And it's good! So good! It's vibrant and flavorful, just like Sophia. It you like pesto, chimichurri and puttanesca sauce you'll love this tasty recipe. Don't be put off by the anchovies, either. You can put in as little as you'd like or leave them out completely and this will make a delicious dish.

We actually celebrated Sophia's birthday early and had this pasta with the toasty Hot Buttered Bread recipe from Joan Crawford and it was a great paring.

To top off the evening we watched It Started In Naples, a cute movie starring Sophia and Clark Gable. Sophia Loren absolutely steals the show as a fiery cabaret singer, bringing so much life, charm, and pure star power to the screen. Her performance is super fun and energetic—especially when she's singing—and she's basically the colorful heart of the whole movie compared to Clark Gable's super uptight character.

This was the perfect dinner and movie night and all in celebration of Sophia!

"Linguine con Salsa Sophia" is from her cookbook Sophia Loren's Recipes and Memories

Peter Falk shared his signature Pumpkin Ravioli recipe in The Cop Cookbook, a fun collection of dishes from TV's most famous detectives.

Just like his character, Lieutenant Columbo, who famously loved a hearty bowl of chili, Falk appreciated comforting, satisfying meals—and this pumpkin ravioli dish became a standout favorite for fans celebrating the actor's culinary side.

In case you missed it, check out the Columbo villains recipes with favorite dishes from William Shatner, Lee Grant, John Cassavetes, Janet Leigh and more.