I think it’s both sweet and funny that Betty’s last name is Little, kind of like God showing a bit of his own sense of humor hidden in her name. While it’s true that she stands no taller than a couple of inches over five feet, the amount of spunk and orneriness that He was able to put in that little frame of hers never ceases to amaze me- and I’m better off for it. If your ribs aren’t aching from laughter after your time with Betty, then I have some serious doubts about your sense of humor! She’s what we call a ‘pistol’ around here, and she pulls out these stories like they’ve just been waiting for her to draw them out.

If I start driving like I’m headed towards my grandparents’ place, I’ll eventually come upon Betty’s little white house tucked off to the side of the road. I’ll smile when I pass by, just knowing that she’s there, and other times I’ll pull into the drive for a visit. I pull up to the house slowly, because Patches, her little deaf and blind dog, is still moseying around the yard. I don’t have to knock on the front door, because I know I’m welcome to walk straight to the back screen door that creeks in unison with the wood floorboards under my feet. Betty is always there in one of her sweet day dresses as she welcomes me into the house that sits on the land she grew up on. My favorite time to visit is in the fall and winter when she has her wood stove warming up the house, and her rocking chair pulled up right next to it. It’s the first picture that comes to mind when I think of visiting Betty.

We spend our time together chatting about some of our favorite things: our families and our favorite recipes. She’s always been generous with sharing the cookbooks that she’s collected over the years, and I’m always excited to dig through them. I’ll flip through the pages while we laugh about the latest stunts my three little boys have pulled, and she’ll counter back with memories of when her own kids were that age. There may be decades in between our kids, but it turns out that motherhood doesn’t really change just because the years do. She recalls stories of when her kids were little as if it were just yesterday, and I realize that one day down the road…probably sooner than I realize- it will be me pulling out those memories to the young moms who come up behind me. I hope they love to hear and learn from my own stories about “when my boys were little,” the way I love to listen to Betty’s.

Families and food have a pretty direct correlation- if you’re surrounded with hungry little bellies, you’ll learn to appreciate recipes that you want to make over and over again, and Betty’s Sunshine Cake has been that for her family over the years. Both her mom, Jessie, and her grandma, Esther, loved this old-fashioned recipe, and Betty said, “My mother made many of those sunshine cakes.” It’s a perfect recipe for the Spring and Summer, not only because of the name, but because this older recipe requires a good amount of eggs, and this is when they’d naturally be in abundance. It’s a light cake that’s similar to an angel food cake, and it pairs well with all sorts of fresh fruits and whipped cream. Betty said her mother loved to put freshly sliced bananas with whipped cream on it, and I’ve always loved to use blackberries, strawberries, and blueberries (with whipped cream, of course.) It’s a simple and light cake that allows you to be as basic or as creative as you want to be with it. Just remember to share it with someone else; that’s what makes a recipe worth making.

Thanks for sharing all the good recipes, Betty.