Every Food Fits is entering its fourth year of bringing you scrumptious, nutritious (and not-so-very nutritious, from time to time) recipes and meal ideas. This year we break with convention. Instead of paying homage to chocolate, as we have previously on such occasions, we bring you a nostalgic treat: The “Toastie.”
Stacey’s grandma – known as Big Mama Tillie – was a whiz at making Toasties in her Langley Park, Md., kitchen with her 1950s Toas-TiteÔ. When Mama moved from Prince Georges County over a decade ago, Stacey inherited the Toastie maker. It moved with Stacey from Maryland to Capitol Hill to Springfield, Va., and finally to Arlington, having never been used. But a recent blog post about the rebirth of the Toas-TiteÔ inspired her to pull hers out of a cabinet and make a childhood favorite.
Big Mama’s Classic Peanut Butter & Marshmallow Toastie
First, you must purchase your very own Toas-TiteÔ! (But we won’t tell if you cheat a little and make it on your panini press.) Butter a piece of sandwich bread, turn it over, add a tablespoon or two of peanut butter, a bunch of marshmallows, top with another piece of bread and butter the outside. The buttered sides of the bread must be on the toastie maker. Carefully pull down the top piece, close the toastie maker and slice off the overhanging pieces of bread with a sharp knife. Place over medium heat. Once you hear the butter sizzling, get ready to check and see if it’s toasted. You need to check every so often to get it golden and toasty, but not burned. It would be easiest to use on a gas burner. Definitely better than our flat electric cooktop! When butter leaked out of the sides, it splashed on the cooktop and burned. (But it wasn’t anything Bar Keepers Friend couldn’t clean up.)
There’s just no comparison to childhood favorites that bring with them a whirlwind of memories. These are often are most cherished comfort foods. Thinking back to childhood favorites is a helpful way to revive a food slump and increase variety in our current eating by updating those oldies but goodies. Experimenting with old tastes helps us consider how our preferences have changed, and sometimes the flavor we’re looking for is nostalgia.
What are your childhood favorites? Do any of you have a Toas-TiteÔ in your cupboards?
Happy anniversary! As usual, these look amazing. 🙂
Great to see your yummy recipe. What you’re calling a Toas-TiteO, is a Toas-Tite™ grill, which disappeared from the marketplace in the 1950s. However, the Toas-Tite™ is back in production and available again to a new generation, (www.toastite.biz), as noted in The New York Times.
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/02/15/dining/the-return-of-the-toas-tite-for-pressed-grilled-sandwiches.html..
It’s amazing how many delicious variations can be created in a Toas-Tite™, with just two slices of bread and your imagination!