Any way you slice it, chances are you grew up eating your peanut butter on squishy white bread. Back then, the choice was simple: Did you eat your bread with or without the crusts?

Wonder Bread is no longer the only loaf in town, but it's certainly the one that inspires the most nostalgia at back-to-school time.

When the folks at Wonder asked consumers to write in their favorite memories and recipes on the product's 85th anniversary, they compiled them in The Wonder Bread Cookbook (Ten Speed Press, $12.95), complete with color photos. Strudel made with Wonder Bread? Who knew?

We asked readers to share their own memories and favorite Wonder recipes, and found out that:

• Lauren Hyde and her brother inadvertently invented the chocolate panini - grilled Wonder-and-melted-chocolate sandwiches.

• Kathy Rossi's applesauce-pie recipe from her husband's family won a blue ribbon at the Deerfield, N.H., County Fair in 1977.

• Evie Coscia's mother's Wonder Bread and Butter salad turns into Jean Farrington's Crab and Shrimp Dip/Spread with the addition of rice.

Many of the Wonder Bread recipes are timeless. Susie Lee shared her cinnamon and cream cheese Wonder special; Keri Brehm of Castle Rock shared the "one-eyed Jack," otherwise known as "Egg in the Hole" or "Toad in the Hole." It's probably among the first camping/Mother's Day/scouting recipes that many of us learned to make.

More responses are featured here; grab a PB&J and dig in.

I used the bread for all of our meals - no matter what I cooked for my husband and four children. (I am one year older than Wonder Bread.)

- Virginia Chenault, Littleton

I remember as a child watching my mother and aunt make a family favorite, which is a comfort food to this day.

Broil one side of a slice of Wonder Bread. Spread ground beef on untoasted side of bread and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Broil until meat is cooked. Top with ketchup.

Another memory is when my father ran a neighborhood grocery store and the Wonder Bread delivery man would come. He gave us miniature loaves of Wonder, which made great peanut butter and jelly sandwiches.

- Mary Pitz

As a child of the '60s, my hands-down favorite bread is still Wonder Bread. I was raised in Minnesota on peanut butter-and- banana sandwiches, which simply wouldn't be the same on any other kind of bread. Take egg salad for instance. On wheat? On rye? Never!

- Rosie Garner, Northglenn

Fifty years ago, my husband went on a field trip in California and I went on a field trip in the Washington, D.C., suburbs. We were both in elementary school and went to Wonder Bread factories. He got a sweetie and I received a miniature loaf of Wonder Bread. It's funny that we both remember it so well.

- John and Jody Anderson

I lived in Minneapolis as a child, and way back about 1937 my mother would give me a quarter and send me to the little corner store to buy our lunch - a can of Campbell's Chicken Noodle soup, 10 cents; Hostess chocolate cupcakes, 5 cents; and a loaf of Wonder Bread, 10 cents.

The loaf of bread that was my favorite - and I wish they still sold it - was a loaf of half soft wheat and half soft white bread. My mother would make me a peanut butter sandwich with one slice of each kind and, after cutting the sandwich in half, flip one half over so it looked like I had two different sandwiches.

- Jeannine Opsal, Palisade

I grew up in Iowa, and Wonder Bread was a mainstay of nearly every meal.

In the '50s, my grandmother lived with us and my favorite "recipe" using Wonder Bread was when she would roast a goose and save the goose grease. She would spread the grease on each side of a slice of Wonder Bread and then fry it in a pan until the sides were just crispy brown. Then it was sprinkled with salt. Oh, I can just taste it now.

- Linda Sather, Littleton

I grew up on the "squishy" stuff. Here is a sample of the "Daily Bread" . . . sorry!

Breakfast: at least two slices of Wonder toast with ample amounts of high-fat butter or oleo; Ovaltine "shake" with raw egg

Lunch: PB&J, of course, smashed potato chips inside; Tang; chocolate Space Food Stick

Dinner: full loaf of Wonder in the bread basket, center of the table, to sop up the excess gravy or sauce or to make an impromptu meatball hoagie on spaghetti night.

- Darin Garrett, Highlands Ranch

What do you do when you're a teenage boy - my brother - whose stomach is ravaged by hunger and Mom is AWOL? You take a slice of Wonder Bread and form it into a ball (crusts and all), season it with salt and munch it down along with a glass of milk. The perfect snack food. I wanted to be sure I got the recipe correct, so when I asked my brother if he ever combined more than one slice for his Wonder Bread ball, he said, "No, I didn't want to be a hog."

- Loretta Simms

As teens, after Boulder High's big football or basketball game, we would pile into our cars and end up at King's Food Host on 28th Street. Our group of girls would order Cheese Frenchees (deep-fried cheese sandwiches made with Wonder Bread). King's went out of business some time after I went off to college, and I was heartbroken.

My husband has heard these stories for many years. For our wedding anniversary about three years ago, he planned a surprise trip. We went to see the world's largest ball of string in Kansas and then ended up in Columbia, Neb., where he said we were going bowling. As I sat in the Westridge Bowling Lanes snack bar with the tornado sirens going off outside, the waitress delivered a Cheese Frenchee. My dearest had gone online to find the only two restaurants in the U.S. that still serve this heavenly concoction.

- Vickers Myers

I grew up in Aurora and was an elementary-school student in the '60s. On Saturdays, my parents would sleep in, and my brother and I would wake up early and watch cartoons. Of course, soon we were hungry, and what could be better than getting a slice of Wonder Bread and removing the crust? Then the crucial part of the recipe: Make a ball of the bread, squish it in your fist, and when it is warm and doughy, eat it.

I also remember attending summer camp at Lowry Air Force base. Every week we went on a field trip in the metro area. No summer was complete without a tour of the Wonder Bread factory visible from Interstate 25. The best part of the tour was when it was over: They passed out a piece of warm Wonder Bread to each of us. And then it was time to prepare it (refer to first paragraph).

- Karen Lozow

Make Wonder Rolls: Remove crusts; flatten slices with a rolling pin. Starting at a corner, roll tightly into a diamond shape. Dip generously in butter or margarine. Generously sprinkle with Parmesan cheese. Bake at 350 degrees about 15 minutes or until golden brown.

- C. Todeschi

Years ago I was on a flight from Paris to Denver and was seated next to a French boy, about 8. He was a Parisian living with his mother and on his way to Wisconsin to spend the summer with his American grandparents. After a vacation in France, I was still savoring the wonderful French cuisine, especially the lovely bread with its crust and crunch. We were talking about his summer and I asked what he liked best about America. He replied, "I love the Wonder Bread because it is so soft and squishy."

- Barbara Rohrer, Centennial

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