Custard Pie/ 1968 Osterizer CB

I remember our Osterizer 8-speed push-button blender. It was a symbol of summer. Dad would get some ice cream, and soon, he and mom would make us three kids some great milkshakes in that blender using Hershey's chocolate syrup (the real stuff, the kind in a brown can) and vanilla ice cream. It was the 60's and few people, if any, had air conditioners in our little town. Our "air conditioning" consisted of screen doors and box fans; it was hot in the middle of summer, but the benefit was that we knew our neighbors ...and the people who walked past our house, because most of our summer was spent on the porch or in the yard. As kids "deprived" of air conditioning, we spent the days running through the sprinkler, collecting frog eggs in the shady wet marsh behind our house and riding bikes with neighbor kids. We didn't know that we missed air conditioning....we had Osterizer milkshakes!!

These days, because everyone is so busy, I am the "library courier" for our family. The last time that I went to pick up my husband's thrillers and my teenage entrepreneur's books about business success, I found a treasure on the free shelf. There it was in mint condition, in pink and turquoise blue with a picture of two now-vintage blenders on the cover...a cookbook from 1968. Spin Cookery Blender Cookbook, published by the John Oster Manufacturing Company in Milwaukee, Wisconsin 532217. This is the same model blender that was used to make our milkshakes in the late 60's. It has 8 speeds that are accessed by push-buttons on the front; I believe ours was avocado green...Mom was a fan of that color and it was very trendy at the time (so was copper and "harvest gold").
At the library, a woman ahead of me had just, " made off like a bandit" with two bags of new paperbacks by very popular authors (I think I saw dollar signs in her eyes as she she shuffled away from the free shelf and out the door with more-than-enough books!). Normally, I might have been disappointed that she was so greedy in spirit, but nothing could dampen my excitement that she evidently didn't cook or collect cookbooks.
As you can imagine, this little cookbook is full of recipes that would need a blender for the preparation. Great recipes for French Pancakes with Orange Butter Sauce and Cheese Blintzes are just an example of the breakfast goodies. There are also lots of sauces, omelette's, cakes and pie fillings. Curious to note that there are no smoothie recipes, I guess that's a part of our cooking and health evolution. Just like smoothies make for a quick snack or breakfast, this book serves up recipes that are quick to make because of the blender. I think you'll enjoy it. Great for summer treats! Our sample recipe is for a pie that is an American tradition and would be delicious for a Memorial Day get-together.

***Book I'm Reading: The Kennedy Detail***

Page 53 Custard Pie

4 eggs
2/3 C sugar
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp nutmeg
1 tsp vanilla
2 C milk, scalded
One 8 " pie shell, unbaked

Heat oven to 350 degrees. Put the eggs, sugar, salt nutmeg and vanilla into OSTERIZER container, cover and process at WHIP until sugar is dissolved and eggs lemon colored. Remove feeder cap and add milk, continue to process until well-blended. Pour into an unbaked pie shell. Bake for about 30 minutes, until a silver knife inserted into the custard comes out clean.
NOTE: My mom made this kind of pie and put a layer of blackberries in the bottom. It's a wonderful addition!