What foods did you grow up with?

a reply to: malevolent

No, no the taters were perfectly fried. My arteries caused a change of menu.

Trick to a good skillet is keeping it seasoned proper.

a reply to: MaMaa

My mother family is Italian, and my father's was small a just plain Canadian / English, so I spent most of my growing up with Italian food.
But, we had our fair share of cheap eats, meatloaf, frozen french fries etc.
My mom would cook up a lasagna or some fried fish and more fried food on the weekends or some soup.
We also consumed copious amounts of pasta, garlic and olive oil.

a reply to: MaMaa

Chikashea, Oklahoma was my rearin'.

Every now and again I'll make it a point to go out and buy all the stuff I used to eat when I was a kid at my grandparents house. Just to have one day of pure nostalgic bliss and is kind of my own way of letting them know I miss em.

Breakfast: Cornflakes (with lots of sugar), toast with jelly, 2 eggs over medium and bacon with a tall glass of "FiveAlive" (which they dont fkin make anymore, damnit all)

Lunch : 1 fried bologna sandwich with mustard and ketchup, 1 spam sandwich with Heinz 57, a can of vancamps chili and a Little Debbie oatmeal cream pie.

Dinner : Somthing always amazing and different that my grandmother would make, that could never be matched... even using the same ingredients. Then me and my grandad would top off the night with a bowl of Mayfield vanilla icecream with Hershey's chocolate syrup (from the can, IT HAS TO BE FROM A CAN!!! - NOT A PLASTIC BOTTLE, damnit woman, go back to the store and get it in a can!!!) ...then wind down the night with a Braves game.

that's heaven to me.

originally posted by: MaMaa
a reply to: malevolent

I swear by my cast iron!! We joke that I will have to pass down my cast iron pans and dutch ovens to the boys after I die! LOL They are the only thing I will fry in because things get a better browning on them!

originally posted by: JohnthePhilistine
New Mexico here. We ate red and green chile with everything. Fresh tortillas, beans, beans and then some beans.

orale, Tamales, beans and rice, flan y chichirones. refried beans, black beans, red beans, cool beans, Christmas!!
menudo, galletas, papas, bean burritos and Bud lite.

And we're gringos...

a reply to: MaMaa

Mama used to praise the 'scald' she would achieve on her frying of chicken when using lard or Crisco in her chicken fryin cast iron skillet.

originally posted by: TNMockingbird
a reply to: MaMaa
I bet that was an awesome mix though!! So much good food from both areas!

I have heard of shoo fly pie, but never had it or made it. The German side of hubby's family have a few pork/sauerkraut/apple type recipes they ate a lot. I got really good at cooking it, which really wasn't hard. I've even made my own sauerkraut!

It's funny you say they were on to dinner preparing after breakfast! I grew up in a family who did the same. LOL I still find myself doing that, but I justify it by telling myself I live in a house full of males, all they do is eat. LOL I have four boys, five if you include hubby, which I do! I remember lunch was the snack type meal, no one ever sat down to a full lunch. The main meals were breakfast and supper. It was so odd after meeting my husband that they put so much effort into lunch. I still don't eat much for lunch.

I didn't think anyone else ate tomato and onion sandwiches!! We often would just have onion sandwiches on white bread with a little mayo or mustard, salt and pepper! I ate a lot of fresh tomatoes with salt or straight out of the garden washed off by the garden hose. We still do that in the summer time here, but Colorado has such a short growing season.

I've never actually had a persimmon, but we lived in Washington state for a while and always had tons of apples and various berries! The wild strawberries were the best!

Now a days, I have my own chickens and a large garden so not a whole lot has changed. I wanted my kids to be able to experience some of this stuff too! We have a butcher in town, but I was never that impressed with them. Recently though we got an old style butcher downtown and all the meat is local!! I go down there often! They even have a little deli where you can order sandwiches and a can of soda. LOL

I really do need to get all of our family recipes together. I'd like to make a book with all the recipes and have it printed! Pass it on down to my sons, or their wives if they are interested.

originally posted by: NewzNose
a reply to: malevolent

No, no the taters were perfectly fried. My arteries caused a change of menu.

Trick to a good skillet is keeping it seasoned proper.

damn, sorry im healthy as a horse and haven't been to a doctor in 13 years, well there goes my karma its going to up catch to me quick.....

a reply to: NewzNose

now theres something i miss fried chicken

a reply to: strongfp

I love italian food, but just have never quite gotten the hang of cooking it.

a reply to: MaMaa

I think that is a wonderful idea, passing down the recipes!

Word of warning about the persimmon...MAKE SURE it is ripe...I mean totally, completely, no doubt in your mind ripe...

Otherwise, well, you've been warned...

a reply to: NewzNose

I swear by Crisco, mostly because that is how my Great Granny taught me. Nothing but Crisco is what she would say! They were in northern Texas!! I see you were from OK, makes sense that our foods are so similar! LOL

a reply to: TNMockingbird

Good to know!!

a reply to: rexsblues

fried "balombly" sammich!

I have the Hersheys chocolate syrup in the can and make chocolate milk on occassion.

originally posted by: NewzNose
a reply to: MaMaa

Chikashea, Oklahoma was my rearin'.

my family was from elk city OK. they were irish cherokee

a reply to: MaMaa

River raft perched on the red clayed banks of the cool lazy river, just managed to dodge an ornery water moccasin while swimmin for a spell....

Blistering hot days of OK summer, ice cold yellow meated watermelon drippin off my chin...

* sighs * those were the days, my friends...

a reply to: malevolent

So were we! Cousin, is that you?

originally posted by: rexsblues

I swear I saw Five Alive in the store not all that long ago! I LOVE LOVE LOVE fried bologna or fried spam sandwiches! Hell, I still eat it. My 14 year old son loves fried spam! Fried spam or bologna, lettuce, tomato, mustard on cheapy white bread!

I didn't even know they made chocolate syrup in a can! I'll have to look for it now. LOL As for a Braves game, I'm just now learning about baseball. My family was a football family, but my youngest son is a baseball fanatic! I found out that my grandpa (moms dad) was big into baseball as was my uncle who was going to go into the minors, but then decided to go work with my grandpa instead. We joke that my youngest is my grandpa reincarnated, with his love of baseball. Baseball try outs are soon and we already have coaches wanting to draft my youngest. They say he has a good arm, whatever the hell that means. I know he pitches a lot. Like I said, still learning about the game. LOL

Kentucky born and raised here. For us it was lots of beans and taters and cornbread. The beans were always flavored with ham or ham hocks. Even though we raised our own beef and chicken, we were never a big meat-eating family except for weekends. On Sunday we had fried chicken, pot roast, baked ham on special occasions, roast chicken mostly in winter, fish when Daddy went fishing, game when he went hunting. Lots of soups and stews in winter, lots of salads in summer and most any vegetable that would grow was grown in our garden. Each year we canned lots of tomatoes, green beans, peas of all kinds, pinto beans, white beans, red beans, beets, all sorts of greens, corn, broccoli and asparagus. We grew onions, carrots, sweet and Irish potatoes, cabbage, turnips and pumpkins to store in the cellar. We had fruit trees, apple, plum, pear and peach and picked wild blackberries and elderberries for jams and pies. We had strawberries from a neighbor's patch.
One of our favorite deserts that didn't come from the garden was nanner puddin'!
My Dad wasn't a big fan of casseroles so we seldom had those but occasionally Mama would make a tuna & noodle mix that he was okay with. She also made something called Suppertime Pie that I still make today. Here is my recipe:

Suppertime Pie

about half a pound of country sausage (adjust for size of pan)
3/4 c. of cracker crumbs
1/2 tsp. salt
1/4 c. minced onion
1/2 c. minced green pepper
1 can condensed tomato soup
2 c. cooked rice
1/4 tsp. garlic salt
1 c. grated cheese
1/4 soup can water
pepper to taste
Optional: diced tomatoes, drained
green peas, drained

Mix raw sausage, cracker crumbs, green pepper, onion, salt 1/2 can of soup and pat into a pie pan like a crust.
Combine rice, most of cheese, garlic salt, pepper, other half of soup and water. (If using diced tomatoes and peas, add them too.) Spoon mixture into crust and sprinkle remaining cheese on top. Bake at 300 for 1 hour.
My family likes the version with peas and tomatoes in the rice. We add a salad and call it supper.

Another favorite from my childhood was Mama's Porcupine Meatballs.

1 lb. ground beef
1/4 c. minced onion
1/4 tsp. pepper
1/2 c. uncooked rice
1 tsp. salt
1 c. water
2 tbsp. oil for frying
2 8oz. cans tomato sauce (plain or flavor of your choice, I like basil-flavored)

Mix beef, rice, onion, pepper and salt together and form into balls. Fry in hot oil, turning until browned on all sides. Add tomato sauce and water, cover and simmer for 45 minutes.

We ate seasonally, something that I understand is now a very "in" thing to do. As soon as the first greens were peeking through the ground we began eating them, wild dock, pokeweed, spinach, dandelions---anything green but the very best was that first picking of asparagus!