We grew up very poor so most times there was no money for anything extra or 'special' but every summer my mom would make strawberry shortcake piled high with whipped cream. We only got it the once each year so it made it extra special.

My maternal grandma would make the absolute best strawberry rhubarb pie I have ever tasted it was so yummy. You would walk into her house and the aroma would be wafting through the air so thick and sweet and you would know exactly what was to come.

we had fairly sophisticated palates....lol

my dads baked haddock....

my memeres stuffed peppers...

my moms fried chicken...

my auntie Ritas chicken ala king....

my cousins lazy pierogi.....

my other aunts rice and beans

My mom’s homemade Beef Barley Soup

Every fall my mom would make a freezer full of bierocks.

Every summer we lived off of what we grew in our garden. Fried green tomatoes, fried okra, squash, zucchini....yum.

My favorites from childhood include:

Chicken & dumplings
Chicken fried steak
Meatloaf

Peach cobbler...mmmmm

My Grannies fried taters, yeast rolls and chocolate pie!

...
 

My moms cask iron skillet corn bread!.... With her pinto beans!

My mom's
 

Southern Fried Chicken

Biscuits n Gravy

Salmon Patties (and I hate seafood, but these were the bomb)

Lemon Ice Box Pie

Breaded & Fried Venison (yummmmmm)

Her Peanut Butter Fudge... I still crave it and dream about it

home made donuts made from canned biscuits lol (the bomb)

beans and cornbread (yes, cast iron skillet cornbread)



the list goes on and on... mom cooked her ass off... for anyone and everyone who passed through our doors.. she worked 60 hrs a week, and still made sure we had dinner every night and hot breakfast on sat and sun. I wish I had her determination

Thought of more...


My step dad's steak tips

His mac n cheese

His "hot dish" which I found out is a mid western "blanket term" for a pasta dish that has whatever you want in it lol I still make his variation :)

Also his sausage and rice...my sister still goes nuts for this and makes it a lot

My dad's chuck n beans (beans being yellow beans we grew ourselves)

His fresh trout cooked in aluminum foil over a campfire...holy hot damn...

My memere's French meat stuffing at Thanksgiving

Also her porkchops and rice

My mom's taco bake

and when she used to make these things (from a box) called fudge jumbles. They don't make them any more :( they were my brother's FAVORITE thing

also her Minestrone is the best.thing.ever.

Ohhh and something that sounds weird but isn't. My dad's best friend made glazed kielbasa for all our events. In a crock pot he put: about 2lbs kielbasa cut up, a can of chili and beans and a small jar of grape jelly. It's the best stuff EVER. Mmm now I wanna make some.....

My maternal grandmother was Jewish but my mom married a Pennsylvania Dutch and German Lutheran man (my dad) who added no salt to any cooking of food.

Our food at home = tasteless.

My Jewish Nannie's food: fantastic.

When cooking shows are browning duck breasts in the pan and the fat is snapping and crackling; my mouth almost waters to think of the whole ducks my Nannie would roast.

The skin was salty, browned to perfection and melted in my mouth. Same with the meat.

My cholesterol is down to 170. I think a roasted duck is in order. It will probably never taste like hers but I would like to try.

She would also make potato latkes that were delicious, served with apple sauce that she would make from scratch.

Her apple strudel was to die for. I would help her peel the apples and she would do the layers of pastry.

No bakery has ever replicated Nannie's strudel.

:vigil:

My favorite childhood dishes (my parents are from Argentina):

milanesas w/ french fries

tomato with olive oil, garlic & bread

empanadas

dulce de batata (sweet potato jelly – sounds gross, I know) with cheese

:bow:

my mom used recipes from a 1965 betty crocker kids cookbook.

my absolute favorite was called "mad hatter meatballs!"

https://img1.etsystatic.com/012/0/66...42279_5nxx.jpg

naturally, the very very first time she announced she was making this for dinner, my very wee self's mind went to "why are we eating that guy from lewis carroll's alice something story?" suffice it to say when i shared this thought with mom, she laughed and laughed.

he sure was tasty ;)

**a useless factoid. lewis carroll NEVER used the word "mad" to describe the hatter.

http://img1.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb2...dhatterhom.png

Growing up, both of my parent's mothers raised their kids during The Depression Era, so our family meals were prepared by using recipes from The Household Searchlight Recipe Book. My mom could not cook, but my dad did, so we had two copies of this cookbook: The 1938 edition, and The 1939 Revised Edition (which was much bigger the first edition in 1931 or in 1938).

https://img1.etsystatic.com/000/0/65....350371099.jpg

We used the 1939 edition the most, plus inside the cookbook is original handwriting by my mom's mother, my grandmother's sister, my dad's aunt and two other cousins -- who all added to the family cookbook. There are even news-paper clippings from articles featured in a weekly column in their local newspaper, which appeared usually in the Saturday evening edition of the local free press.

The Household Searchlight Recipe Book is indexed, with a category for nearly any entrée or dessert or canning preparation processes or pastries, breads, jams and jellies or any other type of confection dreamed up by people who learned how to make the most from what they had on hand.

My favorite meal growing up was Stuffed Bell Peppers and Potato Casserole. Fresh homemade bread and butter (churned earlier in the day) was at every meal we had growing up.

Most editions of this cookbook, recipe book, was compiled and edited by Ida Migliario, Harriet W. Allred, Zorada Z. Titus, and Irene Nunemaker -- editors and contributors, I think, to The Household Magazine, published out of Topeka, Kansas.

Both books I have at home are family heirlooms and priceless ( to me ).

But editions of this Depression Era recipe/cookbook range from $88 to nearly $500 (mint condition).

This still holds true,,,,,,,,,

Chili Rice
 

So this one goes way back.. it was originally off of the back of the minute rice box. When mom made it, she would have to make nearly two skillets of it because we enjoyed it so much we would go back for seconds.

The same holds true for us as adults, and when we made it for each other... same thing.. we would have to make a lot of it. Very simple recipe.


https://www.tasteofhome.com/recipes/chili-rice-dinner/

Beech-Nut Baby Food Prunes (still fond), and guess what...prunes with tapioca.

My Daddy's fresh caught bass' tails...........yum! Oh, his huppies, too.

OMG you had a pool? All I had in the UP of Michigan were snow banks....:|