Food Memories...
Did you go to your grandma’s house for Sunday dinner?
I’m sure a few of you still do. But I’m afraid that those days are mostly gone.
I do have wonderful “Food Memories” of my Grandma’s chicken and dumplings and my other Grandma’s chocolate chip cookies.
A taste or smell, can take you right back to those sweet times.
But trying to get the “Modern” family together on the weekends is almost impossible.
Daily Grind...
My dad was a chef/catering manager, at a family style restaurant for 44 years.
My mom, aunt’s, brother, grandma, friends and myself also worked at the same restaurant.
It was called “The Top Hat”
Dinner at Moms?
After working at a restaurant all day, my parents were burned out with food and cooking, lol!
But in one of the final years of my mom’s life…she was around 80 years old, she decided to have the family over for dinner….on a regular basis.
Family Night Dinner...
She did this for a while, until her health declined.
After she passed away, I decided to pick up where she left off and try to get the family back together for dinner, once a week.
I wanted to do this for many reasons. My daughters had small children and were both working a full time job.
Helping them out with a weekly meal, would relieve a little pressure, and save them money too.
I remember working and raising a family …and just living for the weekends.
Right then I decided to have “Family Night Dinner” on a week night.
No pressure to stay and visit…just a nice meal, relax a little and head for home.
I figured by Thursday evening, they would be exhausted from the week.
If I had dinner that night, they would only have one day left to work…and then “the Weekend” would be here, lol!
Never too many cooks in the kitchen...
Do you remember when your kids where little and under foot, when you were cooking dinner?
Something strange happens when your grandkids come along, lol!
They are never in the way…there is always time to let them “Help you”…you never tell them to “go play until dinner is done”
Even when your new appliances are delivered in the middle of family night dinner, lol!
Even when they are babies and hold the butter knife upside down to cut up the potatoes, lol!
What to have for dinner?
Well now that you are all thinking of what a great idea this is…and how you would like to do this with your family..
Let’s get the real story, lol.
What to have for dinner, when you have 2 vegetarian’s, your husband is on Keto, one person “watching her weight”, two kids that only like chicken nuggets, and that leaves me and my grandson Aiden…who occasionally, says “Ok, I try it Mamie”
Smorgasbord...
This is what my dad used to call the “Buffet” when we worked at “Top Hat”
Smorgasbord: A buffet offering a wide range of hot and cold foods, meats and desserts.
So forget the Roast Beef, mashed potatoes and gravy that grandma would have for Sunday dinner, lol!
Good thing I grew up in a restaurant…because I have one every Thursday night!
Sometimes you only have a half bag of french fries and a half bag of hash browns…
Sometimes, you have good ole grilled cheese sandwiches with canned tomato soup!
Sometimes you have a cobb salad…and the kids have chicken nuggets, or a bagel with extra cream cheese.
Kitchen Help...
Often one or a few of the grandkids want to help…and I let them!
All three of them would “help” me.
Most of the time, it was Lucy in the kitchen.
As time went on, Aiden and Molly were more interested…and Lucy loved “being the teacher”
These days, Molly and Aiden are my big helpers.
Special....
On small holidays or special school days…I like to put in a little extra effort to make it fun for the family.
On St. Patricks Day this year, we had a game and fun decorations…and lots of “green” food.
Sometimes on Valentines Day, I’ll make chocolate covered strawberries and set a pretty table.
On Halloween one year, we started out family night dinner with a bowl of spooky cereal, lol.
The "Ole Standby"...
If I can’t think of anything for dinner…we can always have the beloved “Breakfast, for dinner”
This night I made homemade waffles, hash brown patties, bacon and sausage and Lucy’s scrambled eggs.
That kid has some GREAT scrambled eggs…she’s been making them for her mom, since she was eight years old, lol.
Our farm fresh eggs and her technique are a great combination!
Breakfast is definitely a family favorite…the all time favorite is Pillsbury canned cinnamon rolls, lol!
One thing we always do, is make extra frosting.
That’s Molly’s job now…she really has the hang of it too.
Kind of random…but we tried these frozen rolls.
So GOOD!
Family and Friends...
Occasionally, Drew or Lucy will have a friend over for family night dinner.
It’s so fun to watch them cook together.
This night we were having homemade pancakes and the girls were following my recipe.
Mamie’s Pancakes
Ingredients:
4- cups of flour, 1 -cup of sugar, 2 tablespoons and 2 teaspoons baking powder, 1/2 teaspoon baking soda, 1-teaspoon salt,1/2 cup melted butter, 4-teaspoons vanilla, 2-large eggs, three and a half to 3 and 3/4 cups of whole milk
Combine flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda and salt in large bowl.
Whisk together wet ingredients (milk, slightly cooled butter, vanilla and eggs. in a separate bowl.
Make a well in the center of dry ingredients and add the milk mixture.
Slowly fold together untill smooth, try not to over mix (a few lumps ok)
Scant 1/4 cup batter per pancake. Cook until bubbles break or lightly browned.
300 to 300 degree griddle
Shake it up...
One of the family favorites is lemon shake ups.
We use a ball glass jar, 1/4 cup of sugar, one and 1/2 lemons, ice and water.
Plastic lids for ball glass jars, make it easy to shake up and then drink right from the jar.
Pleasing all...
So making dinner once a week, restaurant style…can be challenging.
And with soccer and football practice, track and student council, tumbling and parent teacher conferences, we still all try to have dinner together when possible.
And it always looks a little like this:
Lasagna night.
Emily is not crazy about red sauce…could she have white sauce in her lasagna and no meat just vegetables.
Lucy is a vegetarian. But doesn’t want any vegetables in hers, cheese and sauce and noodles only.
Ken’s on Keto, no vegetables or noodles…only meat, cheese and light on the sauce
Abbies not crazy about ricotta cheese…could she have cottage cheese instead.
Molly doesn’t like lasagna, could she please have spaghetti with white sauce.
Drew doesn’t like lasagna or red sauce or white sauce…he’ll just have butter on this noodles.
….and I might as well make one for our never married, no kids, Vietnam Veteren neighbor, he likes everything, lol!
Until next time….
Fondly, Sandy
Such sweet memories you are making during your family dinners. And the grandkids are learning so much! So very thoughtful to share with a neighbor! Lucky guy!
Thanks for your encouragement Penny♥️
Always friends!
Sandy
Recently read two articles about chicken feed …
One was about fermenting seed
Thd other was about sprouting seed
Both indicated healthier food for chickens! Sorry I didn’t get the URL’s.
Nice hearing from you!
Fondly, Sandy
Found one of the articles …
https://fb.watch/k7EJVatLpf/?mibextid=5zvaxg