Tuesday, June 17, 2008

Laura Ingalls Wilder Cookbook


One slice of the Laura Ingalls Wilder Raisin Tea Ring

I can remember my first real love affair with books. There were two series I discovered, about the same time. I was probably 10 or 11. The first was the Black Stallion series and the second was the Little House on the Prairie series. I remember summer days, sitting in my window seat in my upstairs bedroom, reading these books with passion.

Two summers ago, I re-read the Little House series with equal delight. I was impressed by how many references I found to tea!


Last week, I browsed through the children's cookbook section of my local library and stumbled upon a small cookbook called The Laura Ingalls Wilder Country Cookbook. Oh, imagine my delight! In this book are recipes collected by Laura Ingalls Wilder.

I tried one of those recipes today, aptly named the Raisin Tea Ring. It was yummy! I enjoyed sharing it with a friend, during a leisurely afternoon of sitting on the front porch and chatting over this bread and a cup (or 2 or 3) of tea.

The ring turned out to be huge! The recipe calls for it to cool on a rack, but there was no way I was getting it onto a rack or plate or anything without breaking it, so here's the photo on the baking stone. Next time, I will make two smaller rings.

This cookbook was a very fun one for me to read. It's one that I think I will check out repeatedly from the library. (I'm trying to cut down on the number of books I purchase.) If you're a Little House fan, I think you'll delight in this book, too.

6 comments:

crescent said...

The tea ring looks yummy. Thanks for sharing.

I too love the Laura Ingalls Wilder books AND libraries. I go to a library several times a week. It's fantastic to load up on books and DVDs, etc.... take them home to enjoy... and then return them for others to have a crack at, while choosing new reading material and starting the cycle all over again.

And it keeps my home from getting cluttered with more and more belongings. I have a special shelf for my library books. When I run out of room on that shelf, it is time to winnow them out and bring some back!

BTW, when I was a kid, I had the chance to visit Laura Ingalls Wilder's home in Springfield, MO. That was a very cool experience.

Continuing to enjoy your blog. Thanks.

Barbara

Steph said...

Thanks for the library shelf idea, Crescent! I love it! Oh, how cool to have visited the Laura Ingalls Wilder home!

mep said...

I loved the Laura Ingalls Wilder books as well (though not nearly as much as I loved the Anne of Green Gables series). My favorite was Farmer Boy, which I think I checked out of our school library every other week. I loved the descriptions of biscuits and other farm foods. Yum.

Crescent, I too like the library book shelf idea.

parTea lady said...

It really is fun to enjoy books whose authors include recipes to try. I guess that is why I love the Laura Childs "Tea Shop Mysteries" and the Diane Mott Davidson books with Goldy the caterer.

Anne of Green Gables was also a childhood favorite. I loved the story of how Anne tried to dye her hair black and ended up with green hair. Funny thing is that two of my three fair haired children have dyed their hair dark.

Anonymous said...

I read Little House regularly...and Anne of ...
The cookbook is awesome ..I have gotten it at my library as well.

Totallyscrappy said...

How could you not love Laura Ingalls? And that tea ring looks yummy.