Cookbook Memories

As a kid, I was the dinner cook in my house.  I made a lot of dinners, usually some potato, venison or fish, and vegetable. Nothing spectacular but the usual fare.  I always thought I was a decent cook.  Then I got married to my husband, Troy and tasted his mom's cooking.  Oh my.  I wasn't in the same class as her.  That was for darn sure!!  She baked from scratch, made meals from magazines and cookbooks that looked like the pictures and I was completely in awe, and very intimidated.

I was able to cook with some prepared ingredients, could make cookies, and knew the basics but it was really my mother-in-law who really sparked my love of real cooking.  Her food brought the family together and it was an event every time.  You could feel the love for her family through her cooking and I wanted that for my young family.

My husband's first request proved to be a "test" of sorts, although it was an innocent enough sounding request from him, was no-bakes.  Okay, so some of you out there may be laughing at me.  No-bakes was a test?  Really?  And I call myself a foodie.  Well, for me, at that point, he may as well have been asking me to scale Mt. Everest.  Because a) I had no idea what a no-bake was b) I had no idea how to make them even after he explained what it was.

So, off to his mom I went.  And she laughed at me too - nicely, but still a laugh.  She then handed me a cookbook that I could have that had a recipe in it for no-bakes. So, I made them.   Well, I followed the recipe anyway.  They did not set.  They were a mushy mess that tasted like them but weren't no-bakes.  So I boiled the sugar mixture longer the next time.  Then the cookies set but they crumbled apart and were grainy tasting, and so the back and forth dance of me and the no bakes went for years.  Now, if I'm distracted while cooking we will sometimes get a bit of the graininess in them and it always brings back the flood of memories of those first bits of trial and error in the kitchen.  And the love of a family who fostered my love of cooking.  I am thankful that this cookbook has become battered and beat up looking but it's one of the places I love to look for ideas that make me feel connected to something bigger than myself.  It's an era of cooking before the internet - I can imagine the thrill of first getting a new cookbook like this and getting all the ideas like I do when I visit the blogs I love.

So, last night I told Troy I'd make him cookies if he'd go running with me.  I knew what he'd ask for before we even got done.  So, no bakes were made last night and it inspired this blog post.  I wanted to share how blessed I have been in my life with all my friends, online and otherwise.

 

My No-Bake Cookie Recipe (adapted from above cookbook after much trial and error!)

1 c peanut butter, I use creamy

1 1/2 T cocoa

1/4 milk

1 1/2 c quick cooking oats (dry)

1 c sugar

1/4 c butter

1/2 t salt

1/2 t vanilla

Put sugar, butter, milk, cocoa and salt in larger sauce pan and bring to a boil.  Do not overcook - once at a rolling boil, remove from heat and add peanut butter, oats and vanilla and mix well.  Drop my teaspoon onto waxed paper and allow to cool and set.  

Makes about 2 dozen.