As I start this blog, I am thinking, what recipes do people want to see, what to share? hmmmm.
As a standard I follow the recipes handed down from my Grandmother Hallie Mae Davis Ellis. She came from Pennsylvania Dutch, strong bullheaded German stock who ate hearty and plain. Grandma raised me, along with her grown children, who apparently were wont to leave home. The Girls worked outside the home and helped Grandma cook when they got off . The Men worked. Period.
My favorite lunch on a school day was fried potatoes and corn. Now days they'd say that was too much carbohydrates for a child and I should have been fat; but at the time I walked a mile to school in the morning, back home at noon for lunch, then back to school until 3:15, and a mile home again. We also played outside at recess and after school in the neighborhood. We got EXCERCISE
We also didn't eat much meat . We'd have things like potato soup with ring balogna and crackers. Sometimes Grandma would make Oyster Soup, and they tried to tell me it tasted just like potato soup; they weren't foolin me I saw those things floating in there and they sere Not potatoes, (Gag me). We ate Meatloaf fairly often but no big servings even though there were about eight of us, she never used more than a couple pounds of ground beef , that's what filler was for,(usually oatmeal).
Chicken of course was on Sunday. and Ham and Beans on Monday when the washing was done.
Sunday's chicken might reappear later in the week in the form of Chicken and Noodles, along with mashed potatoes and cole slaw.
Grandma's Cole Slaw:
One medium head cabbage, grated. (use food processor now)
one to two carrots medium size grated
Sauce:
1 1/2 cup mayonaise
1/4 cup cider vinegar
4 tbsp sugar
fold sugar and vinegar until smooth
add to vegetables along with a little ground pepper Vinegar and sugar can be adjusted to your taste. This is Sweet and Sour. Typically German.
Refrigerate until ready to serve at least an hour.
Some Sundays we were in the big time. We Had Beef Roast! mashed potatoes green beans and apple salad, his has always been my favorite in the Fall and has been my tradition.
Apple Salad
4 or 5 Johnathan or other red tart firm apple
cut apple into one inch or so bits, you can peel or not your preference
about a cup and a half of red grapes, (thank goodness for seedless) cut in halves
a half cup pecan halves
Sauce
one cup mayonaise
1/4 cup sugar
4 or so tbsps cream or milk less or more don't want it too soupy.
fold sugar and cream into mayonaise until well blended
mix with fruit and pecans
refrigerate for a least an hour until ready to serve.
There are certain things that never change. Never have and never should. Hallie's way of cookin is one ot them. She never had anything really fancy; there were too many kids to clothe and feed. She had 7. But her cookin seems pretty fancy now in this time of microwave meals and nobody having time to spend in the kitchen. My daughter-in-law said the other day, jokingly, that she should not be allowed to cook. Then she went out and replaced their old semi-working cooktop, I can't figure out why. :)
I think that a lot of people today would like to cook more if it wasnt such a pain in the butt. Old recipes take longer to prepare, but Mom was home all day and she had the time. It was also a heck of a lot cheaper to cook the long way. Time marches on and those all day recipes can be adapted to the crock-pots and pressure cookers (we used those back then).
well enough for this post see ya'll later with more of Hallie Mae and Sue's cookin.
