When I got married 54 years ago, I didn't know how to cook a thing. My mother never wanted anyone in HER kitchen making a mess, so I had never even made cookies. I was well prepared to clean house, do laundry, sew, collect dishes, etc. etc. -- but cooking -- no! I think that my future mother-in-law was worried about her son's survival, because she gave me this Betty Crocker's cookbook at my bridal shower.
So, the first week of marriage in September 1958, I set out to teach myself how to cook from this book. It told me with detailed instructions how to boil an egg, make gravy, and even a 3-picture layout on "Know Your Raisins". Since I was always good at doing mathematical word problems, I was off and running. By Thanksgiving, I was ready to make a pie. The first one was a pumpkin from the recipe on the pumpkin can - not so great, but passable. The next pie I made was an apple using the following recipe from the cookbook. A Hit! See that blue star - I put that on the recipe page back in 1958 to indicate that this was a recipe to repeat.
I now prefer this variation of the basic apple pie shown just below the original in the book.
The butter/brown sugar/flour crumb topping adds just the right amount of caramel gooeyness!
From the the wear and tear on the cookbook, it looks like I've finally taught myself how to cook.
Happy Thanksgiving to all of you!
