I love the holidays, the friends, the lights, the music. I can barely sing a note, but that hasn’t stopped me. And then there’s the food…
Betty Crocker’s step by step cookbook for kids taught me to make Long John Silver Sandwiches, Canned Peas Deluxe — just think of the gastronomic flair — and Ice Cream Cone Cupcakes. Of course, I had lots of on the job experience with my mom, my grandmothers, a very talented dad and generous aunts. I loved the illustrations in Betty Crocker’s 1957 edition. On the cover, the young fellow is tasting, while the girls whip up the batter by hand. Imagine my surprise when I noticed that boys do all the campfire cooking and girls do most of the serving and dishwashing. Thank heaven for all you feminists out there, because my husband knows how to wash dishes!
Now I’m inspired by authors, who write about food and celebrations with friends and families. Here are just a few:
French toast by the author of Dream Boy and How to Behave at a Tea Party, Madelyn Rosenberg
Recipes for griddle cakes, turkey soup, blueberry pie and more by the author of Emily and Carlo, Marty Rhodes Figley
A review of The Bakeshop Ghost by Jacqueline Ogburn in Books Together by Anamaria Anderson
What a Way to Start a New Year! A Rosh Hashanah Story and The Ziz and the Hanukkah Miracle by Jacqueline Jules
This Gingerbread Man has adventures all year round. Look for him in books by Laura Murray.
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update December 9, 2014: For those of you who are curious, the well-known illustrator, Gloria Kamen, created the drawings for Betty Crocker’s Cookbook for Boys and Girls.
Liz Macklin -- Writer & Illustrator 
I have a more recent printing of that for my girl! Love it!
Thanks, Lisa. Happy Holidays!
Thanks for all of your amazing support. I really want to know what’s in a Long John Silver sandwich.
Now that I look closely, there’s no recipe for Long John Silver sandwiches, but there’s a color photo that covers two pages — very impressive for 1957. It shows two examples. The first is a long poorboy with ham, cheese, hard boiled egg, green pepper, tomato, lettuce and mustard. That’s the Long John Silver. The second has the same ingredients spread out on something like a hot dog bun. It’s called the Little Johnny Silver Sandwich. So what makes the sandwich pirate-like? There’s a ceramic cup in the shape of the head of a pirate, complete with a green parrot by his ear and a black hat decorated with a scull and crossbones. It holds mustard. A paring knife lying on the breadboard adds another element of scullduggery… perhaps.
Thanks, Liz! Now, I think I want to sample one of your ice cream cone cupcakes!
Of course, Betty Crocker says to use her cake mix. I’ll have to figure out how to make them gluten free, so I can eat them, too. I’ll show you the book next time we see one another.