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There are so many places you can turn for cooking inspiration: Instagram. Recipe blogs. The books you liked to read in third grade (yes, really). You might be surprised to learn that your childhood dream of being immersed in the worlds of Little House on the Prairie, Winnie the Pooh, or the American Girl doll books can easily become a reality. Thanks to cookbooks inspired by these staples of kids' literature, I was recently able to spend some time preparing my meals with an air of whimsy.
I scarfed down muffins Winnie the Pooh would have enjoyed. I cooked like a prairie girl. I whipped up Molly McIntire-approved frozen fruit cups, mixed a drink only a Boxcar Child could love, and discovered the insane, Nancy Drew version of grapefruit. I also learned a few things that could help any aspiring chef — even those who wouldn't naturally think to ask Tigger for cooking advice.
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The Little House Cookbook
Watching the classic '70s prairie drama (a totally underutilized genre) Little House on the Prairie, I don't remember ever getting hungry. A lot of their lives revolved around food, on a very practical level — they needed to plant the wheat and harvest it, then kill and cook some unfortunate bird just to enjoy a turkey sandwich. So just receiving The Little House Cookbook in the mail seemed like a cheat.
The book, first published in the late '70s, features passages from the actual novels to prove that, yes, Half-pint might have enjoyed a beet pickle or blueberry pudding. Some quick observations: Nearly every savory dish included "drippings" (something, as a squeamish vegetarian, I tried to flip past as quickly as possible). The prairie folk seemed very committed to making foods that were never meant to be spherical into balls. And I would 100% not have made it as a contemporary of Laura Ingalls Wilder — even before you consider the lack of hand sanitizer.
After momentarily being distracted by Googling photos of "Birds' Nest Pudding," I zeroed in on the desserts, ultimately settling on apple turnovers. I would have gone with apple pies, but I do have a strong memory of an episode of Little House when Ma makes an apple pie, scratches herself on something, gets blood poisoning, and almost dies. So, not an appetizing story.
I used many non-prairie approved tools including puff pastry and electric light to help me avoid such a fate while dicing and seasoning my apples. The filling was super simple — just apples and cinnamon sugar with a little vanilla. An overall success.
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Molly's Cook Book
One of the things I actually remember from the series of books starring Molly McIntire was the sugar rationing surrounding World War II. For Halloween, she got mostly apples and popcorn balls. My 9-year-old self really empathized with this nearly sugar-free existence. That said, there's a reason why not even hipsters have tried to bring back the American cuisine of the early '40s. One of the fancier recipes involved only white bread and jelly. Mashed potato volcanoes were mentioned.
I chose frozen fruit cups, which called for one part orange juice, one part ginger ale, and cut up bananas and strawberries. I threw in some frozen cherries for good measure. Left in the freezer overnight, it turned into an easily spooned out slush consistency. Normally the taste of ginger ale just makes me think of stomach bugs, but the orange juice ended up pairing with it nicely.
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The Winnie-the-Pooh Cookbook
Though obviously the editors realized their mistake with this modern update, the original cookbook, first published in the '60s, was titled "The Pooh Cookbook," I'm sure to the delight of fourth graders everywhere. The culinary vision of the Hundred-Acre Woods has, big surprise, a lot of honey. I went with blueberry muffins, which I've made before, though never with honey. The result was a denser, but not sweeter muffin.
While cooking, I thought a lot about that still from Winnie the Pooh that makes the rounds where Rabbit made a decorative wall hanging out of Pooh's butt. This was distracting. The muffins — which took just 30 minutes to make — were pretty delicious, but did not taste distinctly woodsy. Just different from any blueberry muffins I've made in the past.
Photo: Courtesy of Penguin Young Readers Group.Clik here to view.
The Boxcar Children Cookbook
Henry, Jessie, Violet, and Benny Alden had eclectic palates. On the one hand, they spent an entire novel literally living in a boxcar, where cooking options were limited. On the other hand, they were then adopted by their wealthy grandfather, which opened up their culinary horizons considerably.
Each recipe included in the cookbook featured an explanation of where in the narrative it was pulled from. I chose Caboose Orange Soda, which has the kind of origin story that would only seem logical to someone under the age of 10. One of the Boxcar Kids had some leftover cola and some leftover orange juice, and in a moment of inspiration decided to combine them and make a new kind of punch. Calling something punch does not make it punch, however. It turns out when you mix orange juice with Coke you get a sickly gray concoction that's so sweet only a few sips can be tolerated.
Photo: Courtesy of Albert Whitman & Company.Clik here to view.
Nancy Drew Cookbook
I was never a big Nancy Drew fan (I preferred the sleuthing style of Harriet the Spy), but the recipes in her cookbook seem to be more thematic than actually ripped from the series itself. Some are inspired by characters, and others are dubbed "mysterious" in some way.
I went with George's "Keep in Shape" Grapefruit (George, according to Wikipedia, is actually one of Nancy's BFFs, Georgia). Georgia has some strange breakfast habits. Instead of sprinkling sugar over a raw grapefruit, this recipe called for covering each half in butter, sugar, and cinnamon, and then cooking it in the oven for four minutes. Overall, not the worst way to eat an otherwise sour fruit, but probably not the healthiest way to "keep in shape," either.
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