MUD PIES AND OTHER RECIPES: A COOKBOOK FOR DOLLS
By Marjorie Winslow
Illustrated by Erik Blegvad
Walker and Company, 1961
Category: Hands-on Children’s Nonfiction
“Doll cookery is not a very exacting art,” Marjorie Winslow admits in the foreword to this irresistible tribute to that staple of an outdoor childhood: making mudpies. “If a recipe calls for a cupful of something, you can use a measuring cup or a teacup or a buttercup.” The pages that follow are filled with whimsical recipes, plenty of natural ingredients (pine cones, acorn caps, shredded marigold blossoms, and fresh rainwater, to name a few) and endless options for the backyard chef.
How do you toss a Seesaw salad? “Arrange yourself on a seesaw with the bowl in front of you and a friend at the other end. Toss as long as it’s fun, or until well blended.” Of course.
Too tired to cook up a fancy meal? Try a quick Mud Puddle Soup: “Find a mud puddle after a rainstorm and seat your dolls around it. Serve.”
My daughter’s copy of MUD PIES was a gift from a friend more than five years ago, and it looks like a well-loved and much-used cookbook should: dog-eared, annotated, splattered with berry juice, and crunchy with crumbs (of sand). When she pulls it out and starts to cook, I’m mesmerized; this is a book that was first published nearly a decade before I was born, after all, and she and I can still play at it for hours. Here’s a recipe we wrote together this past week, during a soggy couple days near the beach in Rhode Island. It gives you a flavor for the sort of creativity this gem of a book inspires:
Late Summer Beach Soup
Place 6 rain-soaked rose hips in the bottom of a small saucepan. Cover with fresh seawater. Simmer gently on a patch of grass, stirring occasionally, until the sun comes out. Before serving, add shredded beach roses and a sprinkling of sand. Ladle into bowls and serve immediately.
Bon Appetit!
Edited to add: Check out a round-up of today’s Nonfiction Monday posts over at Ana’s Nonfiction Blog.