Remember that one special recipe that seemed like your grandmother (or mother or grandfather) was the only one who knew how to make? Meatloaf, pan fried chicken, apple pie and Irish stew are just some examples where grandma outshines professional cooks at 4 or 5 star restaurants. Which one was your favorite? Or just name a food that anyone in your circle of friends and family could make better than any restaurant or delicatessen. 

Biscuits and bacon gravy!

As a matter of fact, I think I'm going to make that this weekend, even though mine pales in comparison to my grandma's version.

I'll think of more later.

Cookies. My grandmother was famous for her cookies. As a kid, I remember she would send us tins full of all sorts of different cookies. As she got older, she only made one kind once a month-and the kind depended on who got to pick. If someone had a birthday that month-that was the person who got to pick what kind of cookie she made. I can't say that I had a favorite. I loved her peanut butter cookies as well as her sugar cookies. I have made both using her recipe but it is just not the same.

One of the last times I saw her-we were sitting at her place eating cookies & drinking hot chocolate. What a wonderful way to remember my grandmother.



Cat

Ahhhhh, the dried out piece of shoe leather my mother used to call steak.  Oh, the memories (of gagging and suffering thru dinner)!  ;D

Although my mother would basically cremate any piece of meat she was one hell of a baker.  Her cookies at Christmas were wonderful and she made the best cheesecakes ...rivaled any you would get at a nice resturant.  I've tried, but I can just never get it right.

I have no recollection of either of my grandmothers' cooking since I was very young when they passed away, but from listening to my dad talk about my Polish grandmother's cooking I'm kind of happy I didn't get to eat her food.  ;D

My grandmother could cook absolutely every thing.  She was a great cook.  Beef stew, pork chops, stuffing oooooooooohhhhhh her stuffing!

I never really got to eat a lot of my grandmother's cooked meals =(  But my mother makes the best Spanish-styled rice, I can never make mine as good as hers lol.

Popcorn balls.  My grandma made them every Christmas and they were yummy.

Pork shoulder roast.

Take a 5-pound pork shoulder, a head of garlic, a bunch of simple veggies (one onion, two ribs celery, two carrots), a little salt/pepper/spices.  Stab pork shoulder with knife, insert cloves of garlic into stab wounds.  Smear salt/spice rub on pork Friday night.  Stash in fridge. 

Chop veggies Saturday morning.  Strew veggies in pan.  Add a cup of beer and a cup of beef broth.  Slash 1-inch crosshatching in fat on top of roast.  Cover pan with tin foil.  Roast, fat side up, for 4 hours at 300F.  (Optional, throw in a few sausages at the 3-hour mark!)  Remove foil for an hour, continue to roast.  Eat until stuffed.

Fridge the leftovers, discard the excess fat atop the resulting jelly-like goo pork aspic.  The goo is delish - it reliquifies when reheated - toss in a smidge of water and corn starch to thicken.  Epic sauce.

The whole meal shouldn't cost you more than a couple bucks a pound for the hunk-o-pig, and a buck or two for the veggies.  In winter, energy costs for cooking are zero - all the 'waste' heat from your oven cuts your heating bill.

BTW, Foo Bar, how does your Granny feel about you giving away her secret recipe? I hope you paid her kindly. :D

Pork shoulder roast.

Take a 5-pound pork shoulder, a head of garlic, a bunch of simple veggies (one onion, two ribs celery, two carrots), a little salt/pepper/spices.  Stab pork shoulder with knife, insert cloves of garlic into stab wounds.  Smear salt/spice rub on pork Friday night.  Stash in fridge. 

Chop veggies Saturday morning.  Strew veggies in pan.  Add a cup of beer and a cup of beef broth.  Slash 1-inch crosshatching in fat on top of roast.  Cover pan with tin foil.  Roast, fat side up, for 4 hours at 300F.  (Optional, throw in a few sausages at the 3-hour mark!)  Remove foil for an hour, continue to roast.  Eat until stuffed.

Fridge the leftovers, discard the excess fat atop the resulting jelly-like goo pork aspic.  The goo is delish - it reliquifies when reheated - toss in a smidge of water and corn starch to thicken.  Epic sauce.

The whole meal shouldn't cost you more than a couple bucks a pound for the hunk-o-pig, and a buck or two for the veggies.  In winter, energy costs for cooking are zero - all the 'waste' heat from your oven cuts your heating bill.

Remember that one special recipe that seemed like your grandmother (or mother or grandfather) was the only one who knew how to make? Meatloaf, pan fried chicken, apple pie and Irish stew are just some examples where grandma outshines professional cooks at 4 or 5 star restaurants. Which one was your favorite? Or just name a food that anyone in your circle of friends and family could make better than any restaurant or delicatessen.


JUST FOLLOW the directions on the Nestles chocolate bits bag, and you'll have the best chocolate chip cookies in the world, Grandma used to make'm, Everyone used to make'm!!

Hot Toddy

1 oz brandy, whiskey or rum
    1 Tbsp honey
    1/4 lemon
    1 cup hot water
    1 tea bag

Preparation:

    Coat the bottom of a mug or an Irish coffee glass with honey.
    Add the liquor and the juice of the lemon quarter.
    On the side, heat water in a tea kettle and add the tea bag to make hot tea.
    Pour the steaming tea into the glass and stir.

http://viroquafood.coop/Portals/62289/images/hot-toddy.jpg
8)

Lemon Meringue pie

Always put a teaspoon of vinegar in you pie crust.  It does something to make the pastry flakier.

Spaghetti sauce, yum!! :)

Vegetable beef stew. Still can't make it like she did, I am beginning to think that she must have put something unusual in it to make it so good.

Maybe it wasn't really beef after all?  ;D

ANGEL FOOD CAKE
This was the birthday cake on my mom's side of the family.

I get a sugar high just looking at the stuff!

http://www.bettycrocker.com/tips/glossary-page/equipment/a-c/a/~/media/Images/SectionImages/Tips/Glossary/equipment/a-c_275x200/angel_food_cake_pan-tube_pan.ashx

http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_q9ZhvTw3eHw/TJGSgbOwPRI/AAAAAAAAGrc/-jkqLhrXbjI/s1600/Angel+Food+Cake.jpg

I don't have my nana's angel food cake recipe.  I could call my sister and get it, but she'd say, "Why do you want that?  You can't make it in the microwave!"
:D

I never remembering to want to eat at my grandmothers house :-\\  She was a lowly farm wife, who married cause she had to and felt being a lowly farm wife was beneath her stature... Having 7 children and then the great depression hit....  I think she actually tried to make everyone hate her food, so they wouldn't ask her to cook again. 

Yep she made "tomato soup" with ketchup and milk, and always had that god awful ham and cheese loaf, olive loaf, and some other in the fridge  8-P  and neopolitan ice cream (I could kill Neopolitan for mixing chocolate, vanilla, and strawberry together)  8-P 8-P 8-P

My Aunt Mary (this is on my Dad's side now), we made homemade apple cider; head cheese; fried chicken to die for; frog legs; and fried fish...  YUMMY never have ate a head cheese since Aunt Mary passed.  Won't buy it from the store, as it just looks completely wrong.