Yesterday I posted asking if anyone had the vintage Better Homes and Gardens Kid’s cookbook, because I was looking for my favorite childhood recipe. Big thanks to u/huge43 who sent me these photos. And now I’d like to share it with the rest of you.
The recipe basically uses meat sauce on top to fill the pie crust. You could easily add vegetables if you want, or alter it to be entirely vegetarian.
I also added some photos I’ve found through google, to give you a better idea of what the finished product looks like.
by AnnaBanana3468
28 Comments
I’ll try to make this recipe soon and post the results. It always turned out delicious.
*Image Transcription: Book Pages*
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##Better Homes and Gardens
#STEP-BY-STEP Kids’ COOK BOOK
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#SPAGHETTI CRUST PIE
##EQUIPMENT
range top
oven
measuring cups
3-quart saucepan
fork
colander
large mixing bowl
rubber scraper
small bowl
9 inch pie plate
paper towel
spoon
cutting board
sharp knife
wooden spoon
long-handled spoon
can or container for grease
can opener
hot pads
##INGREDIENTS
6 cups water
6 ounces spaghetti
2 tablespoons butter or margarine
2 eggs
⅓ cup grated Parmesan cheese
Shortening
½ pound ground beef
1 medium onion
1 8-ounce can pizza sauce
1 1½-ounce slice mozzarella or cheddar cheese
##1 ADULT HELP
Measure water. Put water into a 3-quart saucepan. Put pan onto burner. Turn burner to high heat. When water starts to boil, add spaghetti a little at a time. (If you add it all at once, the water will stop boiling.) After you’ve added all the spaghetti, cook for 10 to 12 minutes or just till tender. To see if it is done, use a fork to remove a piece of spaghetti from pan. Rinse under cold water, then taste to see if it’s tender. If it’s still chewy, cook for 2 to 3 minutes more and test again. Turn off burner.
##2 ADULT HELP
To drain the spaghetti, put a colander into the sink. Carefully pour spaghetti out of the saucepan into colander. (Be very careful because steam will rise out of the sink and can be very hot.)
##3
Let spaghetti stand for a few minutes to drain well. Put into a large mixing bowl. Measure butter or margarine. Use a rubber scraper to stir butter into hot spaghetti till butter melts.
##4
Crack one of the eggs on the side of a small bow. Working over the bowl, gently separate the eggshell halves and pour the egg into the bowl. Repeat with second egg. Use the fork to beat eggs lightly till yolks and whites of the eggs are mixed well. Measure Parmesan cheese. Use a fork to stir cheese into eggs. Pour egg-cheese mixture over spaghetti in bowl. Use the rubber scraper to stir till mixed well.
##5
Grease a 9 inch pie plate by putting a little bit of shortening on a folded paper towel. Then spread the shortening evenly over bottom and sides of pie plate. Pour the spaghetti mixture into the greased pie plate. Press spaghetti with the back of a spoon to form it into a crust, building up the sides.
##6 ADULT HELP
Turn oven to 350. Use your hands to break up the ground beef as you put it into the same 3-quart pan you cooked the spaghetti in. To chop the onion, on a cutting board use a sharp knife to peel onion; cut in half. Cut halves into several slices; cut across slices to make small pieces. Add chopped onion to ground beef. Put pan onto burner. Turn burner to medium-high heat. Cook and stir with a wooden spoon till no pink color is left in meat.
##7 ADULT HELP
Turn off burner. Take pan off burner. Use a long-handled spoon to push the ground beef to one side of the pan. Tip the pan a little bit so the grease runs to the other side. Use the spoon to very carefully put the grease into a can or container an adult gives you.
##8
Use a can opener to open the can of pizza sauce. Use the rubber scraper to empty the sauce into the ground beef mixture. Stir till mixed well. Spoon meat mixture into the spaghetti crust. Use the back of the spoon to spread mixture evenly over bottom of crust.
##9 ADULT HELP
Put the pie into hot oven. Bake for 20 minutes: (A) While the pie is baking, on the cutting board use the sharp knife to cut the cheese slice twice to make 3 rectangles. (B) Cut each rectangle from corner to corner to make 2 triangles. You will have 6 triangles of cheese.
##10 ADULT HELP
Use hot pads to remove pie from oven. Arrange cheese triangles on top of pie. Use hot pads to put pie back into oven. Bake about 5 minutes more or till cheese is just melted. Turn off oven. Use hot pads to remove pie from oven. Let pie stand for 5 minutes before serving. Makes 6 servings.
*CLEAN UP*
##TRY IT THIS WAY
**Deluxe Spaghetti-Crust Pie:** Follow the recipe for the *Spaghetti-Crust Pie*, *but* spread 1 cup *cream-style cottage cheese* over the spaghetti crust. Then spread the ground beef mixture over the cottage cheese.
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For every kid who’s ever wanted to make a favorite food—**Step-by-Step Kids’ Cook Book** answers all the questions. The how-to photos show how to put together every kid-tested specialty, and the recipes themselves *tell* exactly what to do, how to do it, and when to do it. Your family’s young chefs begin with easy recipes-which don’t even require measuring ingredients— and by the end of the book, they’ll be making dinner for the whole family!
ISBN 0-696-01325-8
I remember that!
I have that book!!!
awww this was in my middle school
home ec recipe book!
We made this with the cottage cheese. I still get a craving for it now and again!
I am “vegetarian-izing” this and totally making it! Looks so fun and delicious! Thanks for sharing 😊
I love this, I grew up eating it and never stopped making it. In fact it’s in the plans for the next few days.
OMG, I loved making this as a kid.
I too had this cookbook – and used to make this for my family
thank you for posting it
That looks fun! I always enjoy kids cookbooks because they have fun recipes. I still use the cookbook recipes I got at a book fair in elementary school.
I gotta try this sometime, that looks delicious.
Looks awesome! I think I’ll make this week – thank you!
Core memory unlocked. This was always my fave
Dang! I remember making this but the book doesn’t look familiar. Definitely worth a resurrection!
This looks sooo good! Thanks for the recipe and dinner idea.
OMG someone had a nice childhood…looks so wholesome.
I’m making this soon!! (Although… I don’t have an additional adult to call upon for help on those more difficult steps– I suppose I’ll just live dangerously and cook it unsupervised!)
Is this good? I’ve never heard of it.
Wow it looks delicious. I’m definitely trying it.
Wouldn’t the pasta get really dry and crispy? Sounds unpleasant to bite through
This looks good, I’ll have to try it
That was my signature recipe when I was a preteen/early teen. I felt so grown up making it from that very cookbook! I’m sure there were others I tried, but that was my favorite. I had forgotten about it. Thanks for the blast from the past!
This is my FAVORITE childhood meal too! No one else’s mom made spaghetti pie and my dad asked me to get him the recipe one day after they’d been divorced for a few years 😂 thank you so much for posting this!!!
I have low key been looking for that cookbook at used book stores for the last 20 years…. Because I’ve been looking for this recipe.
Challenge to all of you who made this: What is the geometry behind this:
> use the sharp knife to cut the cheese slice twice to make 3 rectangles. Cut each rectangle from corner to corner to make 2 triangles. You will have 6 triangles of cheese.
What’s a sub for shortening?
Love the little Cheese Bae on the cover