The First Meal I Ever Cooked (With a Little Help from Betty Crocker)

My favorite gluten-free blog is the first blog that I ever started reading.  As the Husband always reminds me, I'm not interested in any new technology until it suddenly impacts my life.  Blogs included.

I didn't care about email until I realized that I could instantly communicate with Sally, who was living in Japan, for free using my graduate school email account.

I didn't care about cell phones until my car was pulled into a ditch by icy, snowy roads in Buffalo.

I didn't care about the internet until I saw that there were teaching resources out there that others were just willing to share.

I didn't care about iPods until I learned that I could take my entire music library to the gym and teach a spin class with one.

And I didn't care about blogs until I finished Shauna Ahern's book Gluten-Free Girl, and I just wanted more.  Finishing a great book always seems to leave me feeling sad and lonely, because I have to say goodbye to the characters who have become my friends.  When I found out that Shauna's story would continue through this thing called a "blog", I just had to check it out.

Since then I've been enjoying her recipes, trying gluten-free products she recommends, and soaking up inspiration through her passionate writing.  Gluten-Free Girl and the Chef is a must read if you love food, gluten-free living, and life in general.

Today, Shauna has challenged those of us with food blogs to post about our memories of the first food we ever cooked as kids.  (And if you're wondering, this challenge came via Twitter, another communication tool at which I used to roll my eyes!)

Almost instantly I remembered a children's cookbook that I used to have, but I couldn't remember the name of it.  Within seconds of Googling, this picture flashed up onto my screen and the memories came rushing back.

Betty Crocker's Cook Book for Boys and Girls was written in 1957, and I loved that book.  As an eight-year old, I loved just looking at the pictures and reading recipes for wonderful foods like Pigs in a Blanket, Sloppy Joes, Ice Cream Cone Cakes, and Black Cat Cookies.  I believe the first food I ever made came out of this cook book.

It was the French Toast recipe with these simple directions:

With beater blend 2 eggs, beaten 1/2 cup milk, 1/4 teaspoon salt.
Cut in half 6 slices stale bread.
Heat frying pan or griddle moderately hot.  Grease with butter or bacon fat.
Pick up bread on fork, by half-slices.  Dip both sides into egg mixture and put on hot frying pan or griddle.
Brown on both sides, turning with pancake turner.
Serve hot with syrup or jelly.

The directions were simple, and I'm sure the french toast was incredible.  How could it not be?  Of course, I had no idea that I shouldn't be eating bread with gluten.  But apparently we had a lot to learn since the recipe calls for bacon fat and stale bread.  Yum.

I have no idea what happened to my old Betty Crocker cookbook, but in 2003 they reproduced the 1957 version with the same pictures and recipes.  So I can have a piece of my childhood back through Amazon for only $11.53!  Oh, technology, how I love you.

Now it's your turn.  What was the first food you cooked as a child?