Recipes from our Grandparents

[Homemaker]

When I was young, and my mother would be sick, I would boil potatoes, butter them then drain the water off for her to drink. I thought I was making potato soup - and bless her heart, she never told me any different. I thought I made her better.

That is so sweet. I love it.

 

[Homemaker]

my family isn't big on exact measurements or writing things down. We also do a lot of "a little of this or that", and substitutions depending on what we have at the time. But anyway this is how it is "usually" done. here goes...

My Grandma Donna's Salmon Patties:
One 14.75 ounce can of Salmon(remove skin and bones carefully)
One handful of breadcrumbs (or crackers)
One Tablespoon flour
One small carrot (grated and chopped up really small)
One handful of celery (sliced thin)
One egg
One minced garlic clove
One Tablespoon of sweet paprika
One Tablespoon of pickle relish or sweet pickled jalapenos
One Tablespoon of diced onion
One tablespoon of worcestershire sauce
One teaspoon each Salt and Pepper
Oil for cooking
Stir all together and form into patties heat the pan up well (med high). Add oil and allow to heat. Add patties and brown on both sides.
This recipe has also been known to include: Various peppers, dill, cayenne, lemon zest, cilantro, crushed red pepper, mustard .... use your imagination. Go wild.

 

[Bethanial]

Oh goodie - somebody else's Grandma who taught 'em by feel! I'm going to give my slight modification, b/c Grandma always saved all bread scraps (ends of the loaf, stuff going stale, etc) and used little to none of the Pepperidge Farm stuffing mix

Grandma's Cornbread Stuffing

(can easily be doubled, and then put it in a bigger dish, or put it 2 dishes and freeze one)

1 pan (approx 8" skillet size) of your favorite cornbread recipe - or make up 2 boxes of Jiffy cornbread muffin mix
1 smallish bag Pepperidge Farm Cornbread Stuffing Mix
1 stick butter
1/2 onion, chopped or minced
1-2 celery sticks, finely chopped
1 egg
Lots of chicken or turkey stock

In a skillet, melt the butter, and saute the onion and celery. If a big mixing bowl, crumble the cornbread and add in the dry stuffing mix. Scramble up the egg and pour it and the onion/celery/butter over the bread. Add in stock (I just dump, guess you could start with 3 cups and add in 1/2-1 cup more at a time). Thoroughly mix the bread and the liquid until you've got a slurry about the consistency of brownie batter, maybe a smidge thicker. Pour into greased baking dish (8x11 works good) and bake at 350* for about an hour. Test at 45 minutes for doneness. Top should be firm and dry, and nicely browned.

This is also good as a meal, if you chop up cooked chicken or turkey meat in it.

 

[AnnaRaven]

Oh goodie - somebody else's Grandma who taught 'em by feel! I'm going to give my slight modification, b/c Grandma always saved all bread scraps (ends of the loaf, stuff going stale, etc) and used little to none of the Pepperidge Farm stuffing mix

I wonder how many people know that Pepperidge Farm stuffing mix has high fructose corn syrup in it?


Unbromated Unbleached Enriched Wheat Flour [Flour, Malted Barley Flour, Niacin, Reduced Iron, Thiamin Mononitrate (Vitamin B1), Riboflavin (Vitamin B2), Folic Acid], Yellow Cornmeal, High Fructose Corn Syrup, Contains 2% Or Less Of: Salt, Partially Hydrogenated Soybean Oil, Salt, Yeast, Spices, Onion Powder, Calcium Propionate To (Retard Spoilage).

Personally, I'd rather know about how many cups of leftover bread scraps to use cuz I don't trust the HFCS.

 

[kcsunshine]

Did she ever put bananas in that? My grandma made something similar but it had bananas.

I don't think I ever saw a banana in her house. It was just wafers and pudding and as ikky as it sounds, it was delicious.

 

[kcsunshine]

My Mamaw and aunts would peel and slice apples to dry. They placed the slices in a single layer on a piece of sheet metal covered with a cloth and put them in the sun - on the woodshed roof, or across saw horses. Papaw made a screened frame to place over the fruit to keep out the bugs. She used the fruit slices to make this heavenly Stack Cake

Old Fashioned Spice Stack Cake
1/2 C. shortening
1 C. brown sugar, packed
1 egg
1/2 C. Molasses
1/2 C. buttermilk
6 C. flour (plain)
1/4 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. soda
1 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. vanilla
1/4 tsp. Nutmeg
1 Tbsp. Pumpkin pie spice

Cream shortening and sugar thoroughly. Beat in egg and vanilla and add molasses, mixing well. Sift flour, measure and sift with all dry ingredients. Add alternately with buttermilk. Divide dough into balls and pat into 9-inch pans. (She used iron skillets). Bake two at a time and put together with the following:

1 lb. dried apples
1 C. brown sugar
1/2 C. white sugar
2 tsp. cinnamon
1/2 tsp. cloves
1/2 tsp allspice

Cook apples until tender and mash thoroughly adding sugar and spices. Place between cake layers when they are removed from pans and still warm.

These were always on the table at Thanksgiving and Christmas. They mellowed better when she wrapped them in a cloth and put them into a container with a lid (she used her pressure cooker).

 

[StupidBird]

These recipes sound great. Grandmas recipe for her Sunday fried chicken started with first build a good fire in the stove, then go out to the hen house...

Date sometimes in the 70s. Place rural Indiana.
Best chicken ever.

 

[kcsunshine]

Yum yum. My grandmother raised her own chickens and turkeys, too. One year we had turkey for everybody's birthdays. When Thanksgiving came around we wanted ham.

 

[savingdogs]

The specialty my grandma made was dessert! She made all kinds of thing in her Bundt pan. I don't have the recipe, but she made an orange cake in a Bundt pan...anyone have a grandma recipe for that? I'd like to try it again.

 

[Bethanial]

Oh goodie - somebody else's Grandma who taught 'em by feel! I'm going to give my slight modification, b/c Grandma always saved all bread scraps (ends of the loaf, stuff going stale, etc) and used little to none of the Pepperidge Farm stuffing mix

I wonder how many people know that Pepperidge Farm stuffing mix has high fructose corn syrup in it?


Unbromated Unbleached Enriched Wheat Flour [Flour, Malted Barley Flour, Niacin, Reduced Iron, Thiamin Mononitrate (Vitamin B1), Riboflavin (Vitamin B2), Folic Acid], Yellow Cornmeal, High Fructose Corn Syrup, Contains 2% Or Less Of: Salt, Partially Hydrogenated Soybean Oil, Salt, Yeast, Spices, Onion Powder, Calcium Propionate To (Retard Spoilage).

Personally, I'd rather know about how many cups of leftover bread scraps to use cuz I don't trust the HFCS.

Awwww, nuts! Thanks for sharing! Again, it's one of those things she did by feel. Soooo, look at how many cups is in the smallish bag of PF stuffing mix, and go for that much dried out stale bread....