FOOD: Remember going to a picnic as a kid and having some foods that you didn’t know the name of, but were something you wouldn’t mind having again?

That’s the problem with “bring a dish to pass” picnics — there’s so much to try, and when you find something good you have to track down who made it.

We found vintage recipes from the 1970s on the website for Taste of Home. The first one was something we remember for its relatively inexpensive ingredients — Cowboy Stew. We’re sure there are lots of variations on the recipe out there. This is what TasteOfHome.com had to offer.

Ingredients: 2 pounds ground beef, 4 cans (16 ounces each) baked beans; 8 hot dogs, sliced; 1/2 cup barbecue sauce; 1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese

Directions: In a Dutch oven, cook beef over medium heat until no longer pink; drain. Stir in the remaining ingredients. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat; cover and simmer for 4-6 minutes or until flavors are blended.

Some notes on the recipe said grilling the hotdogs before adding to the stew made it even more flavorful.

Other recipes add potatoes, bacon and corn and replace the hotdogs with smoked sausage. Another we found, which said it was a crockpot recipe for a family of 12, had 4 pounds of ground beef, one onion, four pounds of red potatoes, four cans of cream of mushroom soup, four teaspoons of salt, two teaspoons of Mrs. Dash, two teaspoons of pepper and four cups of shredded cheese.  Brown the ground beef, cut up the onion and potatoes and add everything but the cheese to the crockpot. Add that 30 minutes before serving. Cook on high for 4 hours or low for 7 to 8 hours.