What did your mom or dad make long ago?

[Shunka]

LOL, I think all Moms or Grandmothers gave the warning about getting worms!! I know I got it from my grandmother when us kids would try to snag the same things all of you did.
My grandmother would make all kinds of fudge, cookies, fruitcakes and (a fav of mine) Christmas pudding with hard sauce every Christmas.
Grandpa would cook up the fresh trout he had caught for breakfast when we were staying at a friend’s cabin every summer. His salmon cakes were the best I have ever tasted!! I think those are the only things that I ever saw him cook.
My Mom’s date-nut tarts!!!!! Mine come close but just doesn’t have that specialness to them.

 

[Harborwitch]

I used to go to my Grandmothers every summer. It was so special, she had a "lady's group" that would get together at least once a week and work on a craft project and have lunch. I remember getting to go to all those lunches. Funny, I still remember a lot of the foods that the ladies fixed. They were all so good, and so "adult"! My grandfather was from Denmark so he wanted open face sandwiches, there were all kinds of wonderful sandwiches. There were abelskiver for special breakfasts, oh to die for . . . I only like them when they are her recipe. I remember eating lunch under the apricot tree in her backyard - ice tea in those brightly colored aluminum glasses.

When I'd go home it was back to being a kid again. Dad would make spaghetti at least one Saturday a month. Oh, and he'd fry the most wonderful potatoes for Sunday breakfast, big crisp cubes that were soft and creamy inside. Yumm

 

[arlienb]

i am asian and what i remember most about my mom's cooking is homemade chinese xiao bun with minced pork filling AND goat stew. she has now passed away, and one of my regrets is that i was never able to get the recipes for them...i now live in the UK, and i'm thinking...if ever i find goat here, i am definitely going to attempt it from memory.

as for banning peanut butter sandwiches in schools...fortunately that still hasn't reached the UK...my 6 year old will only eat peanut butter sandwiches. what's with kids and their lack of variety??? she can eat peanut butter sandwiches everyday till the rest of her life, and she's ok with that.

 

[Toots]

This is a great thread. I've always appreciated the connection and the feeling that some of the foods from my childhood give me. I grew up on a farm so there were certain seasonal foods that we always ate (i.e. rhubarb pie at grandma's house, putting up green beans and tomatoes in the late summer, picking strawberries and blackberries and then making jam - but only after you've ate so many berries you almost feel sick, making fudge, and peanut brittle at Christmas).

When I was young, a real treat was when we would load up in the car and drive into town (50 miles away) and we'd go to Frisches (hamburger joint). It made us feel so grown up!

We would BEG our mom to buy us Swanson TV dinners - and they were AWFUL but we loved them. Too funny.

 

[Bo0pY]

OH wow, Swansons tv dinners, that brings back memories. I remember one Sunday evening, my dad got us our first Swanson tv dinner and let us sit in the livingroom floor and watch "Walt Disney Show" which came on every Sunday night at 7:00. We were way more excited about the tv dinner than the Walt Disney Show. And you are right........the tv dinner was AWFUL, but we loved it ! LOL

 

[txoldshirley]

My mom never served TV dinners, but she loved to cook pot pies. I always loved the crust on them but hated the filling

 

[SierraCook]

My mom made tacos for dinner every Thursday night. We loved them and they are still a favorite of mine today.

On Sunday mornings Mom made buttermilk pancakes and sausage or bacon. We raised our own pork and the meat was just mouthwatering good.

For almost every holiday my mom would make sugar cookies shaped to reflect the holiday i.e. hearts for Valentine's Day, shamrocks for St. Patrick's Day, etc. The are so light and fluffy and she always made the frosting from scratch.

One of my favorite dinners was fried chicken with mashed potatoes and white gravy. Mom made the gravy from the chicken drippings and it and the mashed potatoes where my favorite part of the meal. I ate a small piece of chicken, but the gravy and mashed where what I waited for.

For Christmas and Thankgiving, my grandma always made cinnamon rolls. The where so scrumptious and yummy. They just oozed butter and brown sugar. It just makes my mouthwater to think about them. She also made fried chicken like my mom. My mom probably learned to fry chicken from Grandma.

I also think that my mom makes the best potato salad. Any other potato salad pales in comparison to her's, even mine. It is not anything special about it, but maybe just because it is made by mom that it tastes so good.

 

[Michael in FtW]

.... Peanut butter for sandwiches for school-- NOW ITS BANNED from school man this was my staple ....

Sounds strange to me considering the nutritional value of peanut butter!

It's not in your profile ... WHERE do you live Jen? It might be a cultural thing ....

 

[elaine l]

Sounds strange to me considering the nutritional value of peanut butter!

It's not in your profile ... WHERE do you live Jen? It might be a cultural thing ....

I live in MA and peanut butter is banned from some area school systems. Our school system offers peanut free tables at lunch. Not a food item but balloons are restricted as well.

 

[txoldshirley]

Sounds strange to me considering the nutritional value of peanut butter!

It's not in your profile ... WHERE do you live Jen? It might be a cultural thing ....

It's banned here (south TX) as well, because of allergies.

 

[arlienb]

yes, apparently some children have such terrible allergies that even just inhaling the smell of peanuts or touching a hand that has touched peanuts prompts an anaphylactic reaction, so i assume the banning is because of this. it's a sad outcome because it limits the food choices of non-allergic children...i'm just glad it hasn't gone to this extent in the UK...yet.

 

[texasgirl]

It's not banned in all US schools, yet. I don't know if it's state or what, that are making the decisions about it.

 

[middie]

It hasn't been banned here yet. Not to my knowledge anyway.
I wonder what they plan to do for the kids with dairy allergies
like my son ?

 

[Claire]

My mom had to try to make ends meet, and what she did (we're talking sixties here) was take care of other military wives' kids so she could be home with her own.

She provided, every day, breakfast and lunch for not only us girls (3-4 depending on what year you're talking about), but another 2-5 kids. Mostly pre-school age.

Breakfast was always cereal of some sort. In the winter it was often Gerber's baby oatmeal, which was in a dried carton made up with powdered milk, boiling water, and sugar (and karo for the babies she may have been caring for). In the summer it was raisin bran or rice crispies (never the sugar cereals that were coming in fashion then). My next youngest sis and I hated milk (still do) so this was awful to us.

Lunch was PB&J or a bologna-type sandwich (olive loaf, etc). We'd get the treat of a few potato chips, and plenty of carrot and celery sticks, some fruit, and an unfrosted cupcake.

WHen I say lunch was that, I mean it was for the most part. Quite often we had leftover chili, stews, and home made soups, not to mention those old time favorites of Liptions Noodle Soup (still a favorite of mine) or Cambell's anying on cold days.

 

[SizzlininIN]

Well things dad made seemed to always end up with beer as an ingredient. He'd start on something early and by mid-day he'd had a few too many and it'd ultimately end up in whatever he'd be making. Ultimately though, I was a very happy child when he'd try to create something because that meant it would be a Mickey D's (McDonalds) night .

Mom was a wonderful cook. She was from the South and really knew how to cook. She'd give Rachel Ray a run for her money because she'd be away from the house and rush home and within 30 minutes you'd have a huge spread laying out on the table.

My favorite foods she made me: Chop Suey, Dressing......any kind whether it be Sage, Oyser or an herb dressing, Wilted Lettuce, Fried Chicken, Goulash, Homemade Chicken & Noodles over Mashed Potatoes, etc.........I could go on and on and on.

I should make an amendment to my statement above about dad.......one thing he never played around with was his smoking of meat. He had his own homemade smoke house in his garage that he made out of an old refrigertor. You can imagine the looks he got when people would walk in and see this refrigerator sticking in the middle of the wall in his garage kitchen. He was an amazing smoker. I will truely miss his smoked turkey for as long as I live. Especially, at holiday time.

Rest in Peace Mom & Dad