Wednesday, October 28, 2009

A memory...

I watched Good Morning America today and they had a “Recipe Club” where women got together and talked about a recipe that meant something to them, whether it was an apple cake made on a first date where they picked apples together to a fond memory of mom making bread pudding. I began to think about my culinary skills and where my love for all things food began!

My mother was a stay at home mom, raising four girls on a mechanics salary. I remember a big deal was going to the grocery store with mom on a Friday night (and then coming home to watch Dallas) and maybe, if you were on your best behavior, getting to pick a treat, my favorites were Oreos and Doritos! I can’t say my mom loved to cook, but she did. I can’t say my mom was a Julia Child either, I can’t imagine Julia ever using “straight bologna” as the main ingredient in a meal, what is straight bologna anyway?? Yet, when I got married I had that recipe tucked away! We always had our straight bologna stew with sliced fried potatoes, just thinking about it makes me smile because I can see us sitting at the dinner table enjoying our meal together!! My mom made sure we had a homemade meal each night, and we always sat together as a family, we didn’t need super nanny telling us to eat our meals as a family, it was unheard of to eat in front of the TV, even now when I visit my parents I find it hard to eat in the living room, I don’t even like to take a drink in there, it’s like holy ground!

My mom didn’t stop at just the main meal, she liked to make us a sweet treat every once in a while. I look at photos growing up and at birthday celebrations there was always a lopsided square cake with our names in piping gel across the top, my mom was no Sylvia Winestock when it came to baking, but when I look at those photos we were all smiling, it just didn’t matter!! Mom liked to bake, Texas Sheet cake, which I still have not perfected, I’ve been known to make a mean Texas hockey puck cake!! And when we were going camping we always had tandycakes! Ohh I’m making myself hungry just writing this!

So why am I writing this, well because I desire to leave a legacy for my kids, I’d like them to know who inspired me to cook and what recipes reminded me of my childhood and I wonder what would my kids pick as their favorite? Their choices probably won’t include ‘Spam’ or straight bologna, but I hope they will include lot’s of smiles and recollections of happy family times sitting at the dinner table together…

Thank you mom, for inspiring me

Incase your feeling like trying out that recipe for
Straight Bologna Stew here it is. I'm pretty sure you couldn't google this thing!lol

1 lb. hunk of straight bologna (cut into cubes)
sm. onion chopped
celery chopped
1 can stewed tomatos
*brown bologna, onion, celery in pan with a little oil.
add can of stewed tomatos and heat to a boil.
thicken with flour/water.
Serve over thin sliced fried potatos.