The Reading Corner...Can A Mud Pie Be Enchanting?

 A mini masterpiece for children!

"Mud Pies and Other Recipes" by Marjorie Winslow

I came across a favorite childhood memory.....I can hear Mother reading in a funny british accent now....and together, we created an afternoon tea party! "Mud Pies" features imaginative ways  to prepare "nature recipes" for the littlest cooks. Ingredients such as flowers, dirt, sand, leaves are used in every wonderful dish. Menus include "Stuffed Seashells" and "Wood Chip Dip," "Mud Puddle Soup," "Dandelion Souffle," "Roast Rocks" and "Pine Needle Upside-Down Cake," this will encourange young children to turn off the television so they can go outside and cook a gourmet meal for their dolls.

Doll cookery is not an exacting art. The time it takes to cook a casserole depends on how long your dolls are able to sit at table without falling over. And if a recipe calls for a cupful of something, you can use a measuring cup or a teacup or a buttercup. It doesn't much matter. What does matter is that you select the best ingredients available, set a fine table, and serve with style.

Berry Boats

Pick a middle sized-rhododendron leaf and turn the underneath sideup. This forms a little green boat. Now, pick up the tiny berries, in all colors, that grow on the bushes and sometimes on the trees. Fill the boat about half full of the berries and serve.

This fruit cup also makes a nice fruit salad on a hot day.

 

Boiled Buttons

This is a hot soup that is simple yet delicious.

Place a handful of buttons in a saucepan half full of 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.

STUFFED SEA SHELLS

Scoop up a shovelful of sand that has just been licked by a wave.

Pack this into the tiniest sea shells you can find .

Sprinkle these with a pinch of dry sparkling sand and serve.

HOT DOGWOOD

Pick a flower from a dogwood tree. Remove the petals and place them on a flat pan or rock. In each petal wrap a long green pine cone and secure with a toothpick.

Broil in the sun.

 FRIED WATER

Melt one ice cube in a skillet by placing it in the sun.

When melted, add 1 cup water and sauté slowly -- until water is transparent.

Serve small portions, because this dish is rich as well as mouth-watering.

DOLLYPOPS

Pick a dandelion from the lawn carefully, so as not to disturb the fluff.

Hand it to your doll and tell her to lick.

Fairy Doll Marie in the Cottage Room at The Maine House

For parents who want to make their children's childhood as full of fantasy and dreams as possible, this book is a lovely imagination booster.