Speaking of Food..
 

It seems like I eat the same old same old, anymore. I remember some dishes that only my Gramma or my Mommie would make and boy do I miss them.

What was your favorite dish that is too hard for you to make now and the only person who could make it for you, is deceased?

I'll go first.....

Mine was called Chicken Bot Boy. My Grandma's specialty, passed down to my Mother and then to me.....but too hard for me to make, now.

My Mom always made it for me on my Birthday. That's probably why I have trouble keeping my weight down today..:D

You have to have a good roasting/boiling chicken. You simmer the chicken all day in water, salt, pepper, sage, and celary flakes., till the meat falls from the bones....then you take it all out and debone it. You make home made dumpling-like noodles and put them in the broth and cook untill done....then put the cut up chicken back in the broth. The broth will have thickened while the noodles cooked.

Serve over or next to a big mound of buttered mashed potatoes.....and pig out..:D
A baked gooey baked apple goes well with this.

Yummmmmmmmm.. Drooooooool.. Slobbbbbber.:p

Next.........

My Grandma (Mimi) could make the world's best pound cake. It was delicious. She made it from scratch and always had one in her kitchen.

Mimi also made the best macaroni and cheese I've ever had. Of course, it was from scratch. She used sharp cheddar and Swiss cheeses and I remember hers always had lots of fresh black pepper in it. I think she also used a combination of whole milk, buttermilk and flour. Whatever she did it was so good.

She also made biscuits from scratch with every meal I remember eating at her house. She'd knead lard and flour together by hand. The little biscuits were small...about the size of a 50 cent piece. They were SO good.....we'd eat them with real butter and her homemade pear preserves. Leftover biscuits were eaten the next morning with breakfast (think sausage gravy and eggs :)). Before you say anything about "healthy eating" she lived to be 98 and ate like this her whole life!

My Mom could make Banana Pudding like no one else. I could never get the pudding to taste like hers.....she made it on top of the stove. I've never been able to duplicate it.

My Mom's pot roast was also something I could never master. She cooked her's in a dutch oven. Even cooking mine in the crock pot I can never get it as tender and juicy as hers.

I guess some things aren't meant to be copied. Just remembered with a smile. :)

Next.......

I'd give almost anything for a slice of Mom's apple pie. I can hear the thunk of the big wooden rolling pin as flour puffed into the air. I can see her buttering the bottom crust and sprinkling it with sugar.

I can smell the fresh apples as she peeled, cored, and sliced them into the crust, and the tangy fragrance of the cinnamon. I can see her knifing the design in the crust, folding it in half and placing it over the apples, after she moistened the edge of the bottom crust with water so the two crusts would meld together.

I can hear the scrape of Aunt Carrie's old sugar spoon in the china bowl as Mom scooped out a little more sugar to sprinkle on the buttered top crust. I can see her bending over to reach in the oven with a fork to see if the apples were soft enough.

I can see the big smile on my Dad's face when he came home from work and saw the apple pie. He was thinking sharp cheddar cheese.

I made an apple pie a year or two ago...it wasn't the same.

HA HA my grandma's toast. Yeah thats right good ole white bread toast! When I was in kindergarten I would go to my grandparents after school, the school was literally behind the apartments they lived in, so she would walk me there and back. And every day after school she would make me some toast and some tea. Somehow, she would put so much butter (yes real butter) on the toast that when you bit into it it would run down your chin. BUT, she could do this and never make the bread soggy! I do not know how she did it. My bread turns to mush when I try it.

I also remember I had to drink my tea out of my cup that was shaped like an orange with the green straw. Nobody else was allowed to use that cup!

I wonder whatever happened to the ice tray with the pull handle, the metal one? Ice chips was another favorite snack time ritual. I loved that ice tray. It's funny the things we remember.

Sally - dh's grandmother (busha?) used to make that. She was seriously into cooking, because *that's what you did*. His sister tries, but it's not the same. Still, she's a better cook than I am.

My grandma, I remember the goodies. I have recipes, but not for her rice pudding. I refuse to eat it now, because it is not hers.



And I'll never make lasagne like Mom does.

My mouth is watering reading this thread.

I miss my mother's stuffed cabbage. I have made them, but they don't
taste the same. Also so many of her Polish foods. Tried making some.

She also made these sweet biscuits. She would make them with a dent
in the middle and fill them with grape jelly and bake.

We didn't have much money, but her cooking and baking kept us feeling
like we were wealthy with all the different ethnic foods. There was so much
love put into them.


Jappy

I miss my maternal grandmother's blackberry cobbler. Made with wild fresh blackberries, butter and gobs of sugar!

I miss my grandma B's chicken and dressing. My grandpa could not stand turkey, so she always made dressing with chicken for Thanksgiving.

My childhood country church always had a Brunswick stew supper at the beginning of Fall. I have never been able to create anything close to the flavor. All the old folks that tended to the stew have passed away, so no one knows what secret ingredients they threw in.

My mother-in-laws spaghetti sauce. It was to die for! She made gallons of the stuff to sell at the church bazaar. As she has aged, her cooking isn't what it use to be. We had her cook some and measured everything she put in. None of us girls have been able to duplicate her sauce. I came close once... father-in-law was the taste taster and said he thought it needed more salt. Added more and it didn't help. We never figured out what the magic was to her sauce.

Jappy, My Mom made cabbage rolls too, but she used ground pork and a dash of mild sausage, in her's. I think the Polish kind, is made with ground beef.

It became a tradition to make our cabbage rolls for the New Year, with sour kraut and tomato sauce, of course.

I am soooooooo hungry..:D

Now I'm starving. We need some recipes!

My Mom made an Applesauce cake every year at Christmas time. It was so good. We only had it at Christmas so it was a real treat. It was full of walnuts and raisins and little bits of apple. She made it in a bundt cake pan. I've got the recipe....maybe I'll try it this year.