#35 Betty Crocker's Cook Book for Boys and Girls

#35 Betty Crocker's Cook Book for Boys and Girls

Today is Family Day here, they came up with this holiday so there would be a three day weekend in February since we don't have President's Day. It's the perfect day to stay in and do some cooking with the kids and this is a great cookbook for that. I actually got this from my parents way back in the 1960s. It has dishes like "Italian Spaghetti" and "American Pizza". The recipe for American pizza starts with 2 cups of Bisquick and it's topped with a "nippy" bright orange cheese that cooks like cheddar, yum.

These were such exotic dishes they had to tell us where they originated. Who knew spaghetti was Italian? Tuna casserole was fine dinning, who went out to restaurants? We sure didn't. Fast food was Smaks Drive In where you could get 5 hamburgers for a dollar. There was no McDonalds in sight. Chef Boyardee was the only famous cook we knew. It was a simpler time for sure, at least for us kids.

Baked potatoes were baked, I microwave them now. You could make "Canned Peas De Luxe" on page 162 by boiling canned peas till the liquid cooks down and adding a tablespoon of butter. Do you remember ice cream cone cupcakes, they're on page 18? Those were great, the cone would get all chewy and soft. Some of my favorite blog sites feature fancy designer cupcakes but I haven't seen any one doing these for years. For party ideas this book suggests cutting eye holes out of a paper bag, decorating it and placing it over your head. It sure didn't take much to entertain us in those days did it?

I did have one very favorite recipe from this book that Mom made for me, it's the Eggs in a Frame found on page 66. My this brings back happy memories. Mom had a lot of different shaped cookie cutters that she would use to cut out the frame. At Easter there would be chicks and hearts for Valentines. She never made it sunny side up like in the picture, we would have gagged. Ours were flipped and cooked till hard and delicious. I still make these from time to time.

There is one thing you notice in this book, lots of the food is smiling at you. There's cereal topped with happy faces made with pears, peaches or bananas with raisin eyes and cherry noses. You could have a Raggedy Ann Salad and Three Men in a Boat potatoes. Moms went to a lot of work to impress the kids with these mini works of art. Food was happy and fun! We never heard of eating disorders or people starving themselves to be thin. Eggs and bacon were a healthy breakfast. We weren't afraid of salt or red meat. Of course we paid the price, we're all fat now and have high blood pressure and high cholesterol. So this Family Day, I hope everyone finds a happy balance between fun and healthy, go put a face on your food! Cookbook #35 Betty Crocker's Cook Book for Boys and Girls.