But I don’t want to eat that
Posted on 17 November 2009 by Shannon
It wasn’t until I became a wife and mother that I understood the heartache my mom went through each night to put a hot meal on the table each night. She would usually prepare the meal the night before after we had gone to bed. Before leaving to take us to school and work, she would put the oven on a timer to have it turn on so dinner would be ready by 6 p.m. each night. One of my favorite meals she made was a dish called beef and taters. For years I searched and searched for that recipe only to find it was Shepard’s pie! She just gave it a funny name because she knew her kids wouldn’t eat something called Shepard’s pie. Smart cookie, indeed!
I’m making a few of my mom’s dishes this month in her honor. Some of her signatures were chicken and rice, enchiladas and stuffed peppers (this is everyone in my family’s favorite). Of course, there were some that we turned our noses up to. Like the time she made beef stroganoff.
My mother was intent on getting us to like beef stroganoff but for some reason, I had this aversion to warmed up sour cream and I would not eat it. It broke her heart because usually if I ate it, that meant my younger brother would eat it and visa versa. She was very upset with us and I believe set us to bed without dinner. Another dish she made that I wasn’t fond of was Runza Casserole. If you’re from the Nebraska, you’ve had a Runza. She’d brown up some beef, top that with braised cabbage and then roll out crossaints on top. The only cabbage I like is sauerkraut so I’d only get a salad that night. (I am a BIG fan of Runza’s cheeseburgers, though).
This week I made this Shepard’s Pie recipe for my family to enjoy while I was at cookbook club. I had to disclose to my husband that I used ground turkey instead of beef because I can not pull the wool over my husband’s eyes, ya know. His cholesterol is high as well as my blood pressure so we need to make some changes. Of course, this meant he wouldn’t eat the left overs. I have to remember to make half a batch next time. I’ve been eating Shepard’s pie most of the week for lunch.
So I want to know, what were your favorite dinner dishes made by your mom?
Tags | marylu project, nablopomo
I honestly can’t recall anything my mom made for dinners, although she is a good cook. Her ambrosia is great, though. My dad was the main cook in the house, and passed along many of the family recipes to me. My favorites of his were sourdough pancakes, fried zucchini, and scrambled zucchini.
I loved my mom’s tuna casserole. My dad didn’t keep the recipe she used, and I’ve never found another one that tastes the same, so now I hate tuna casserole.
What I remember most though is the cookies – especially at Christmas. I swear there was a new batch every night in December, and most of them I haven’t had since I was a teenager. My favorite was fatigmand (I have no idea how to spell it), which was some sort of Norwegian cookie deep fried and covered in powdered sugar. I finally got ahold of her candy cane cookie recipe a couple of years ago, which was another favorite. It’s those memories that cause me to bake an average of 30 dozen cookies in December.
Of course I have had a Runza! You are right, the cheeseburgers are better than the Runza’s but you gotta give beef with cheese in pastry its’ due even if it does have cabbage in it!
Sooo, a couple of my favorites of my mom’s were chicken and rice, sloppy joe’s, and barbecued chicken. The way my parents grilled chicken was a whole chicken or two grilled over charcoal, with butter as the basting. Simple but soooo good! Another favorite was Sunday night homemade pizza night, which was really a Chef Boyardee pizza mix. She served Shepard’s pie, but it wasn’t necessarily a big favorite!
You can tell we are both from the midwest!
I love reading your blog!