I am so thankful that Mud Pies and Other Recipes, a cookbook for dolls, was recommended to me a couple of weeks ago. It is most definitely the perfect compliment to our mud pie kitchen. My used copy arrived over the weekend and I am quite thrilled with it (this book is currently out of print, being re-released in October, but you can still buy used copies.)
Had I this book when I was about eight years old I do believe I would have been obsessed with it.
As things are, my being over thirty, I am just really interested in it for my children’s sake.
Today was super hot, but I my girls really wanted to try some recipes from my their new cookbook. So I dressed them in bathing suit bottoms and Jonny threw a quilt over the pergola to create some shade for us.
We combined “baking” in our mud pie kitchen with playing in the water. Definitely a pretty good summertime combination.
Lots of ingredients were gathered to create appetizer platters. It’s entirely possible that I gathered most of these ingredients while my girls sprayed each other with the hose.
The little muffin tin contains “assorted hors d’oeuvres.”
We also made “silky spaghetti.” Here is the recipe from the book:
“Collect enough corn silk to fill a big bowl. Add two cups of fresh air and leave in the sun until just tender. If a sauce is desired, the following may be poured over each serving: to 1 melted ice cube, add 1 teaspoon of minced grass and a dash of white sand.”
Larkspur added plenty of “fresh air.”
Next Beatrix prepared my personal favorite: “boiled buttons.”
“This is a hot soup that is simple but simply delicious. Place a handful of buttons in a saucepan half filled with water. Add a pinch of white sand and dust, 2 fruit tree leaves and a blade of grass for each button. Simmer on a hot rock for a few minutes to bring out the flavor. Ladle into bowls.”
Beatrix made the boiled buttons almost all by herself. The boys helped by gathering the fruit tree leaves and grass for her.
She didn’t add everything in the proper order, but the buttons turned out just fine.
A bit of time spent soaking in the sun did indeed bring out their flavor.
Slaving over the hot stove influenced Beatrix to take a dip in the dirty dish water.
The dolls really appreciated their meal, especially the spaghetti.
I can’t wait to try making “marigold madness,” “fried water,” “excelsior and mud balls,” and all the other recipes. The kitchen is going to be busy this week!
**and while I guess this is a sort of book review, no one asked me to or is paying me to. I just really love it!
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[…] like those found in my favourite childhood cookbook: Mud Pies and Other Recipes: A Cookbook for Dolls by Marjorie Winslow. I first found the cookbook where I find most of my books, at my local […]
Fodder Girl says
I just LOVED seeing this today. There was a raggedy old copy at the library where I grew up. That was by far the book I checked out the most! Lots of hours making the perfect Mud Pie.
I saw your pictures and was taken aback to my childhood and reliving the innocence, and worry free existance. You have the perfect porch for fun and I just love your cooking line. (Pots, pans, utinsils. Sigh***) It is all so perfect. 🙂
When dreaming about motherhood, I looked forward to playing dress-up and making mud pies with my little girl. I got a beautiful daughter, she has autism, and she wasn’t interested in these things. She is almost 17 now, I wonder if she would get a kick out of making mud pies now?? She doesn’t really like getting her hands dirty, but maybe she would try it? ? ?
I think I’ll go ask my daughter if she wants to go outside and make a mud pie…… 🙂
…..I just did, and she said, “Why!?” then said, “Mud pies! Gross!”. LOL Oh well, at least she likes to shop! 🙂
I founda copy a few years ago and put it with my other cookbooks….In hopes of making mud pies with my grandchild someday….
Thank you so much for the innocence break. I have often dreamed of writing my own “Mud Pie Cookbook”. With your children and beautiful pics. You could make a lovely one.
God Bless You and your family.
Leanna Raymond
Homer, Alaska