It's A Daisy Cookbook Sends Me Down A New Cookbook Path

I wish I could have met Boo Leet. Her cookbook is the first one I bought that wasn't written and published by a major publishing house. It flung the door wide open to the kind of cookbook I still love: those independent ones that stand alone. I'm pretty sure she did all the writing and editing herself, and then found a place to print it for her.

It took me awhile to get past wanting to give the book a good copyedit in order to get each recipe in a more standard format. But that's part of its charm. I can look past the title of Potato-Leak Soup because there's so much to enjoy in this little gem.

I found it sometime in the 1970s in a cooking shop which were so new and becoming so popular. It's bright green spiral and yellow plastic cover with the featured daisy called me immediately. The tagline on the front made it impossible to put down: "cooking with T.L.C.* for family & friends", and below that, the * explained: "tender loving care". And at only $5, it fit my budget, which was pretty nonexistent to begin with, which is why I could afford it.

Boo Leet's voice carries me through the pages. From her comments and the fact that it was published in Northbrook, Illinois, I immediately pictured her to be a North Shore Wife Who Entertained. Yet her recipes were simple enough, and inexpensive, that I could do them, too.

And I did. Here's where I first made a cheese ball with something other than yellow cheese (bleu cheese, and bourbon, too!). How very elegant! I also learned that adding sherry to chicken for -- what else -- Sherry Chicken --made everyone think they were eating restaurant food and sealed your reputation as someone who could actually cook.

I made her Cold Spiced Fruit for a brunch my husband and I hosted for our families, and it made many more appearances at Christmas morning breakfasts at my parents' house. Sour Cream Cucumber Salad showed me that not all jello recipes had to be sweet (lime Jello, sour cream and cucumbers). Five-In-One-Fruit Salad brought back memories of my childhood encounter with Heavenly Hash, and is probably closer to the recipe I had back then.

I found all sorts of salad dressing recipes, ever-so-much tasty, and cheaper, than store bought. There was Boo's Chili. Porcupines. How could I had never had that before?

Chicken with Peaches. Again, who knew that fruit and chicken could go together? Growing up, chicken had been done either inside on the top broiler, or outside, grilled by my dad.

Did I mention the drinks? Another revelation, that drinks could be a viable category in a cookbook. Alexanders (crushed ice in a blender, ice cream, cream de cacao and brandy ... a combination my husband and I have continued to refine over the years). Frozen Daiquiri. This became a staple among my circle of women friends at the time. We rarely got together for a girls night when someone didn't fill the blender with frozen limeade, rum and ice.

But the recipe by which I still judge all others is her Grasshopper Pie. I love mint and chocolate. Her recipe may seem a bit fussy, and I am essentially a lazy cook. But I've tried other variations to get around the bowl of ice step in this and double boiler and use marshmallow cream or whipped topping instead. The resulting pie is just never as good. I eventually even bought a Farberware double boiler, just for this recipe.

Here is Boo Leet's Grasshopper Pie, found on page 95.

12 cream filled chocolate cooked, crushed (about 1-1/2 cups)
2 T. butter
24 large marshmallows
2/3 c. milk
1/4 c. creme de menthe
2 T. creme de cacao
1 c. heavy cream, whipped

Mix cookies and butter and press into bottom and sides of a 9-inch pie pan. Place marshmallows and milk in top of double boiler. Heat until melted. Cool. Stir in creme de menthe and creme de cacao.
Chill over ice water until partially thickened. Fold in whipped cream.
Turn mixture into pie shell and chill several hours or overnight.
Before serving, cover with a thin layer of whipped cream and sprinkle shaved milk chocolate over top.

Now I'm with Boo on the whole pie, until the end. To me, part of the joy of Grasshopper Pie is its wonderful, delicate mint color. So I leave the top unadorned with whipped cream but shake more cookie crumbs over the top. I always use Oreo, because it's so dark and makes a nice contrast with the pale green. And no milk chocolate for me. If I weren't such a lazy cook, I might try this with shaved dark or bittersweet chocolate on top, instead of the cookie crumbs.