Cook like a Kid

Inspired by a tweet from Mental Floss (an American magazine presenting facts and trivia in a clever, fun way, and a popular blog and website) about my favorite cookbook, “Betty Crocker’s Cook Book for Boys and Girls” — 9 Delightful Recipes From the 1950s You Should Make with Your Kids Today – I pulled my cookbook from the kitchen shelf and gathered up the ingredients to make “American Pizza.”

In our house (not my Granny’s!) homemade biscuits were made from Bisquick, but I didn’t have the only ingredient for the crust, so I ran to the store. Growing up in Iowa, my family made lots of homemade pizza; there were no local pizza restaurants that I can recall. (When we moved to Evansville in 1970, my father realized his dream of opening pizza restaurants with his friends.)

I remember making the “American Pizza” for my parents. Along with picking a stem of rhubarb and smushing it in sugar in a cup (sort of like muddling), eating this pizza is one of my strongest childhood food memories.

The Mental Floss post also highlights a breakfast I make for my husband still today (my boys like their eggs scrambled) — eggs in a frame. As a child, I loved making, and eating, this breakfast treat. The toast hole always is eaten first, and I add a dash of hot sauce.

I believe I’ve made most of the nine favorites Mental Floss suggests. The 1957 edition of the cookbook (the copy I have, though I wasn’t born until 1964), featured a panel of 12 boys and girls to test the recipes. I remember reading the children’s comments printed in the book and wishing I could test the recipes.

Linda said, “Our mother marked what we made excellent, good, fair, or poor.”

Chris said, “If we didn’t like it, Betty Crocker didn’t put it in this book.”