The Bitchy Crocker Project is Born

One of my favorite cookbooks growing up was my mom's copy of the 1972 version of "Betty Crocker's Cookbook." A few weeks ago I was lamenting to her that I didn't have a copy and when we see each other over Thanksgiving, I was going to get to work scanning my favorites. Our conversation that night led me to eBay where I found a really good copy of the cookbook, bid and subsequently won the auction.

Once it arrived, I started going through the recipes amused and a bit aghast. As an adult, I don't think I've ever purchased a container of Crisco, but I remembered it being in our home growing up. Mom and I started chatting and before we knew it, we had come up with an idea to cook our way through the book. Now, we know this wasn't a terribly original idea, but how fun would it be to spin it a bit and become the "Anti-Julie & Julia Blog?"

It then occurred to me that my mom often referred to Betty as Bitchy Crocker, and so our blog was born.

Here are the rules so far:

1) There is no time limit. We figure trying to get all of these done in a year is crazy talk.

2) The recipes must be cooked according to the directions. We can only veer off the path (so to speak) once we have tasted the end result. And thus far, we have concluded that the 70's didn't like flavor.

A couple of weeks into this and we're starting to realize that Crisco, food dye and jello molds are going to probably consume our lives at some point. And what the heck is a corn stick pan?

Our husbands have already assumed (correctly) that they will be taking baked goods to work with them.

Over a thousand miles separate us, but I anticipate this project making us even closer (as long as SHE cooks the BBQ Lima Bean recipe!). We hope you'll follow along, learn something about the culinary delights of the 70's and most of all, have fun!