this is my OK life

Check out this Route 66 Cookbook I picked up at the library today! I'm so proud of it even if it's just on loan to me.

Route 66 history is so big in Oklahoma - especially in Tulsa. Did you know Oklahoma was home to 432 miles of this historic highway? It's second to New Mexico who had the most miles - 487. While Route 66 may have changed over the years, one thing that never took a backseat is the food!

The best thing about the food is that the cuisine would change right along with the scenery. Many restaurants and diners along the highway focused on meals like omelets, biscuits and gravy, burgers, fried chicken, barbecue, ice cream and pie. But the taste of each dish changed from state to state because the cooks would rely on what was available to them. You wouldn't necessarily find anything "fancy" along the route, but what you could find is preserved in this cookbook. In this book are the treasured recipes of men and women who helped preserve a key length of Americana.

Nearby, in the heart of the Red Fork area of Tulsa, Ollie's Restaurant has become a friendly neighborhood retreat with a mom-and-pop atmosphere. Ollie's is about 330 yards south of the first oil well in Tulsa County. It is built from native stone in the true old roadhouse tradition. Decor can be summed up in one word: trains. The old cafe style is enhanced by the railroad motif. Ten running trains, from G-scale to Z-scale, run the length of the dining room and through scale model cities and towns. It was a favorite for Route 66 travelers and is still a hit today with my little girls.

Warm cinnamon rolls at Ollie's come big and gooey with light layers that pull apart. Linda Gray, the owner's wife, says that this recipe makes enough for half a day at Ollie's. Leftovers become bread pudding, and Ollie's favorite tradition.