Living Like Laura

In case you haven't figured it out yet, Lauren is rather obsessed with pioneers and Laura Ingalls right now. She started reading the Little House in the Big Woods this May or June, and this summer read all but Farmer Boy, These Happy Golden Years, The First Four Years, and The Long Way Home. As of tonight she has a chapter left of the last book, and then she is done. In between all of these books she has also read other books on pioneer times, both fiction and non-fiction. Yes, it is quite the obsession for her!

But, Bill and I have sort of indulged her, treating this as a learning opportunity. And she has run with it. So, when she starting requesting Cornbread and beans each Tuesday for her meal I suddenly had an idea. Way back in the recesses of my mind I remembered seeing a Laura Ingalls cookbook, and knew that she had to have this book for her birthday.


Now we have a slightly more adventurous variation to our pioneer diet. The other night, as we sat around the table discussing and planning our meals for the week (which, btw, has become a rather nice fringe benefit of this project) Lauren was looking through her book for ideas. She came up with Fried Corn Mush.

For this dish you are supposed to make Hasty Pudding the night before. (Basically boiled corn meal) You then mold the hasty pudding and let it set-up overnight. Once set-up, you slice the mush, dredge in flour and pan fry in drippings ... or oil in our case. I served it with beans and fried ham. It was rather tasty, and quite a frugal meal too. She may be on to something here .....