Cooking Like Betty

I grew up before there was a ready-made version of a whole lot of things. Even the very simple things. But as the food industry grew and grew, they trained us to think that we can't make many of the things that we now purchase in a box, a bag, or a bottle. Canned milk was our convenience food!

I am a fan of Hidden Valley Coleslaw Dressing. But sometimes I can't find it at the grocery store. Some stores sell it; others don't. I usually keep some on hand. When I looked for my bottle of coleslaw dressing and didn't find any this time, I knew I would have to make my own. The rest of my supper was already in the works and I was not going back to the store. In years gone by, I made it myself without a recipe, with varying results. So in hopes of a better dressing, I pulled out one of my most favorite cookbooks.

Long before there was a food network—my goodness, it was long, long before cable TV—there were cooking shows on local channels. Betty Feezor was on TV for years with a popular cooking and homemaking show. I credit part of my cooking skills to watching her show as I was growing up. (Then the airwaves must have shifted and we no longer could get local television from Charlotte.)

Looking through this cookbook is like a trip back to another time. It's funny how recipes go out of style. I trust Betty's recipes to be good, but there are some that just belong to another era. Molded jello salads. Rum Baba. Several recipes with cut-up hot dogs. Time marches on, even in the kitchen.

I found a cabbage slaw recipe in her book. But as usual, I didn't have quite the right ingredients to make it like Betty. Here is my re-do. Some substitutions. And an addition of chopped pickles, which we like. Daddy-O gave it a thumbs up. We had it on pulled pork sandwiches. You can find the slow cooker pork recipe here.

CREAMY COLESLAW

1 (16-oz) bag of coleslaw mix
1 cup mayonnaise
2 tablespoons sugar
2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar
1 teaspoon celery salt
1/2 teaspoon instant minced onion
a little freshly ground black pepper
1/3 cup salad cubes or chopped sweet pickles

Put slaw mix into a large bowl. (I like to pick out any huge pieces from bought cole slaw mix. Or, use a chopper to cut up those pieces.)

Mix remaining ingredients in a small bowl and stir until sugar is dissolved. Pour dressing over slaw mix and toss to combine. (Or, do what I did and dump it all together and stir.)  Refrigerate until ready to serve. It's better if made a few hours ahead of time.

I'm not promising to give up the convenience of a bottled dressing—one that is very good. But this is a good recipe to keep handy for days that I want it homemade.

Just for fun, I googled "Betty Feezor" and found some YouTube clips of The Betty Feezor Show. If you have a spare minute, you might enjoy looking. Oh, how times have changed!