Grandma's Cooking

[Chris in NM]

We got this from our sister-in-law the other day. Cute, isn't it? Let's hear it for Grandma's everywhere!!!! hehehe LOL ;D

No Praying At Grandma's House

Little Johnny and his family were having dinner at his Grandmother's house. Everyone was seated around the table as the food was being served. When Little Johnny received his plate he started eating right away.
"Johnny, wait until we say our prayer." "I don't have to." The boy replied. "Of course, you do," his mother insisted. "We say a prayer before eating at our house."
"That's at our house," Johnny explained. "But this is Grandma's house, she knows how to cook!"

[Baking_Bud]

Hey Chris!,

I would imagine that my mother would have really gotten me when we got home, if I EVER would have said something like that! Luckily for her cooking, my grandmother use to make such bizarre things (hard core Southern cooking), that half the time I FEARED what might be in that dish of food looking at me!??! YES, I did see eyes in it at times, after her GRAPHIC descriptions of HOW that poor source of protein ended up in her cooking!!! That was one part I REALLY Hated about her meals, was hearing how they came to be. UGH . Took me YEARS to eat fried chicken after one very graphic lesson in how to prepare that meal! One of my cousins is still traumatized after actually seeing it!

Then I had my Swedish relatives on the other side making and loving 'smelly' dishes like Lutefisk (fish that looks like solidified vaseline on your plate and SMELLS like 10 dead fish!), goat cheese, pickled icky herring, limpa and other breads that smelled like feet, and it is surprising that I even like food! Truthfully, I believe that is why I learned how to cook so young > self preservation! So NO votes for Grandma's coming from me! By the time I met my husband's grandma she was doing fun things like leaving the sugar out and using salt instead in her famous banana pudding, so no one wanted her to bring any dishes! And my father's mom, the Southern cook's last dish any of us ate was a potato salad. I can still see everyones first 'crunches' and the perplexed looks on their faces as they tried to figure out what the heck that crunch in their mouth was from Then people started pulling out the egg shells from their bites! Think she forgot to shell the eggs first! Probably thought it would make us healthier! Or revenge comes to mind too!

Thanks for the memories today! Thinking about 'grandma's cooking' will bring me many happy thoughts of times gone by.

Keep Smiling! ;D Best way to greet life! My Best, Baking Bud

[Chris in NM]

Hi Bakin Bud!

You poor, poor thing! My Grandma was a great cook! I was born and raised in NW Ohio. No wierdo dishes or slimey ones either! My ex-mother-in-law actually tried to start teaching me to cook before I married her oldest. Unfortunately, she always cooked for an army! They were/are from the same area of Ohio. Guess I had to cook to keep from starving! Ask me sometime how my very first fried chicken turned out! LOL ;D Anyway, we lived in Germany and had to use a propane powered stove that cooked extremely hot! (army) I was all of 20 years old, too. And not ever cooked much in my life. We existed on boxed mac & cheese (remember the ones with cheese powder?) and box spaghetti. Anyway, the chicken turned out awful! We had to throw it out. The outside was burned black! The inside was bloody and ice cold! hehehe

Now, after looking at a recipe I have got to the point that I can think - hey, maybe this would work, too! Adding something or deleting something. My hubby (2nd one) is always begging me to just cook something simple, like I used to. Tonight I am. I am fixing browned butterflied pork chops with Campbell's tomato/rice soup mixed with a little water, 1 chopped bell pepper and 1 chopped onion. I found that recipe on the back of that can of soup years ago and we both like it very much!

Take care! Glad you liked Grandma's cooking!

Chris

[Baking_Bud]

Hi Chris!,

Hubby's can be wonderful for our cooking ego at times, can't they?!! Mine use to FREELY say when he didn't like something, or when he would find meats are too dry to his liking. He now knows that to do so is NOT in his best interest! Told him whenever he feels the need to be critical, he KNOWS the way to the kitchen! So he basically keeps quiet now!

I can still remember a moment back when we were first married, when he pulled his 'I don't like this' routine. I had made a dish with sour cream, and he just bluntly said, "You know this dish we had tonight. Don't ever make it again!" Said it SO smugly, like the LORD had spoken! Took me one day to get over my hurt feelings, and another to decide that I'm not cooking specifically for another person's tastebuds! So over the years he gets LOTS of sour cream recipes, and I'm still laughing everytime I add it! ;D Doesn't like something? Hey, find the kitchen and make your own, or go hungry! Taught my son's that same lesson. Anyone says something critical, I remind them that they have two hands and can cook their own! The maid doesn't care!!!

I like simple recipes, for they are the ones that you can tweek the best to suit your tastebuds. One night I decided to try a really complicated recipe that I believe called for 96 ingredients! Well, not 96, but it sure felt like it when I was done. And after ALL OF THAT EFFORT, it was horrible! I was ripping the volume of it down into different pots, trying to salvage it. Finally did, but not before about 10 other ingredients had to jump into the pots too trying to blend it down! And I had to serve it over rice to break down the flavors even more. I think we all have a 'basic taste' we like, and shouldn't stray too far from those types of ingredients. I can 'look' at a recipe, and know if it is for me.

Just a reminder on our recipes though. Make sure that you have made a nice copy of yours to hand down to your kids. One day those recipes will mean a lot to them, and to their children one day too. Important to write it down, while we still can!

Always With My Best, Baking Bud

[Chris in NM]

Hi Bakin Bud!

I agree with you about husbands! hehehe They can be so demanding sometimes, can't they? I do the same thing as you!

Yes, the simple recipes can be tweaked as we want and I usually do, too. My husband does get upset when he sees me use 2 or 3 recipes at the same time and take some things from one and then another and so on. It usually turns out just great, too! His problem is that he sits in the dining area and watches me cook. I keep telling him to go into the other room and then he won't be upset! He never listens, though.

By the way, a few years ago I made cookbooks for my Mom, aunts, cousins, kids, brother & sister! I asked them all to send me their favorites and then I put them together in a binder. My Mom and aunts got hard copies plus a disc with them all on. Everyone else got discs. Fortunately I did this for Christmas just before my Mom passed away! Everyone loved it!

Then, I did a different one of our favorites for all 6 of our kids, plus the older grandkids. That was a disc and hard copy also. I keep adding to them all the time when I find new ones that are keepers! I also did one for 2 good friends! One of them also included me when she did one for her family of her favorites!

I think at this time - and we are still counting and collecting - I have 20 3 ring binders full of recipes I have clipped or given to me by friends and family members. Plus - I also have about 500 or so recipe booklets and regular cookbooks! I buy them at flea markets and thrift shops when I find good ones. Also order the freebies from web sites of different companies. Then of course we have the web sites with all of theirs and our message board and newsletter!!!!!

Our kids will have a ton of cookbooks to go through and sort, etc. when I pass on. Oh - a good friend here in Alamogordo has been going through all of her boxes of cookbooks and cooking magazines and giving most of them to me! ;D Needless to say I am in 7th heaven!!!!!!!!!

Take care!!!!

Chris

[bravescj10]

My G'ma is an AMAZING cook, but I'm not sure I have ever seen her use a measuring cup or recipe. Regretably, I did not pay much attention to her cooking practices as I was coming up. Now, at 28, I have decided I love cooking, especially baking. (My fiancee' says this web group will be the end of his waist line, LOL). I wish I had recipes to share with the group, but so far I have relied solely on all the great people here to START my collection. If someone told you, "you are only allowed to own 3 recipe books" what 3 would you keep. (I need ideas to start my own book collection)
Thanks!

[Robyn2]

bravescj10,
I have found that I find more recipes I like here on the net than in cookbooks. (or in magazines) Sometimes it is hard to tell though who actually post recipes that they have tried and who is just posting other people's recipes. You can usually tell though.

A couple that I do like are:
A Taste of Oregon
Chocolate Cake Mix Doctor
There is one that our radio station put out years ago. It has some good recipes too.

~Robyn

[Chris in NM]

Hi and Welcome!!!

Some of my favorites and I believe are some of the best around for good old fashioned cooking are: Betty Crocker's cookbook, Pillsbury's cookbook and Better Home cookbook. These are all older ones, but have some excellent ideas! Then we have the web! They are all outstanding! You just have to weed the good ones out! I have found some of my favorite recipes on this Board and on Allrecipes.com.

Good luck!!!!

Chris

[cuteascountry_Shortcake]

Hi bravescj10,

This was an interesting review for a cookbook. I thought you might like to check it out for yourself.

splendidtable.org/recipes/countrytablerecipes.html

Enjoy,
-Shortcake

[Lexi's Omi]

I love the Cookbooks that schools/ clubs/organizations & towns put out. When I see one on our travels, I have to have it. They contain mostly tried & true family favorites. Yard sales & thrift stores are a good source as well.

[MarieAlice]

Unfortunately both my grandmothers passed on when I was very young, so I didn't have the pleasure of eating a lot of what they had cooked. I have been collecting cookbooks and recipes since I was 12 years old and have amassed a HUGE collection. My husband thinks I am nuts, he says I will never be able to use them all, but that's not the point. I just love cooking and collecting recipes, and quite often I use a little bit of this one and mix it with a little bit of that one. I love to experiment. Three cookbooks I couldn't live without? tough one, as I don't feel as if I could live without any of them, but if I had to pick just three they would be:

(1) Fanny Farmer Cookbook (I am on my third copy, having worn out two previous ones, kept them anyways, hehe)

(2) Food that Really Schmecks & Food with Schmecks Appeal, both by Edna Staebler I know that is two, but they are by the same author. Great Mennonite cooking.

(3) a huge 3 ring binder in which I have my tried and true's, family favourites, collected through the years, pages well thumbed over, splattered and loved to pieces. It is only one of many binders, but it is my favourite one of all.

When each of my kids has gone out to live on their own, I have made each of them their own little cookbook filled with recipes that have been family favourites through the years and little tidbits and stories. It is something I have really enjoyed doing for them, and I know that they each have really appreciated it.