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My mom prepared either beef, pork or chicken cooked in a gravy, with white rice on the side, also there were usually greens, or mac and cheese, biscuits or cornbread to go with it. Hearty, hearty meals growing up!
My mom was an amazing baker, who made incredible wedding cakes for people, dozens of different types of cookies. The flip side is that she was an absolutely horrible cook for the most part.
I guess the most common staples that we had included: salisbury steak (packaged); meatloaf; thin steaks, completely unseasoned and overcooked; hamburgers; and spaghetti.
Now, despite for the most part being completely unaware of the concept of seasoning food, there are a few things that were made which were very good: the meatloaf was actually very good. There was/is an amazing home made macaroni and chese with diced ham that is still one of the best versions of mac and chese I have ever had.
The funny thing though is that despite the lack of culinary skill in the home both of my sisters and myself grew into foodies who are very accomplished cooks. And despite the completely bland, blah and poorly executed food of our childhood, I actually took my parent's recipe for chilli and for spaghetti and kept the skeleton, but greatly modified them into amazing dishes that people absolutely love.
Did your mom have set meal nights (rg. tuesday is pasta, wednesday is fish, etc.)? I'm sure we all had our favorite meal, but what was the most common meal you'd get?
My mom did a lot of variety, but also a lot of pasta. Not the same pasta over and over, but I'd say we had pasta probably at least 3 times a week. Everything from ravioli to stuffed shells were pretty common.
So what was your mom's go-to dish?
if it were up to my dad he would be content having beans and fresh cornbread every night for dinner. Pinto beans, great northern beans, navy beans, and as we became older she added cranberry beans to the littany of bean dinners. My mother was an adventurous woman and my father was a content man...they made the perfect couple!
My mother also made pasta with neck bones gravy, GREAT chilli, fried liver and onions with mashed potatoes and gravy and a nice fresh salad, sauerkraut and spareribs, and pigs in a blanket just off the top of my head. Every Sunday was chicken, mashed potatoes/gravy and salad.
All of my mother's cooking and baking was made from scratch and every summer we grew an extensive amount of garden vegetables (two empty lots next door to our home) which we ate with summer meals and also whatever she canned during the winter.
Since we're a Filipino family, it's all about Philippine cuisine when the ingredients are available at the nearby Filipino store and if not, anything American or Chinese take out it will be!
Since we're a Filipino family, it's all about Philippine cuisine when the ingredients are available at the nearby Filipino store and if not, anything American or Chinese take out it will be!
We didn't have repetative meals. The most often was once a month.
Mom cooked standard meat, starch, and veggie meals on weekdays.
Dad cooked gourmet on weekends.
Every meal had a fresh salad in addition to a vegetable and a starch.
All made from scratch. I never had anything like a taco until I was on my own in my 20s.
Meals I remember of Mom's were:
--baked fish
--pork chops and hominy (not my favorite)
--meatloaf
--spaghetti (my favorite, I wish she made this more than once every couple of months. Her's was stellar.)
--potatoe soup (I wish she made more than couple times a year)
--baked chicken
--mac & cheese (I wish she made this more than a couple times a year)
--salmon patties
When I think of the foods that were in heavy rotation in my house it makes me aware how things have changed. For instance, swordfish was a regular dinner for us. Given that there were twelve of us in the house it couldn't have been anywhere near as expensive, even as a relative matter, as it is now.
Here are some my favorite "growing up" meals. Fried chicken, rice and gravy, biscuits and green beans. Meatloaf and other vegetables (I still do this pretty often. I love meatloaf and use the same recipe). Cube steak and gravy, mashed potatoes, carrots and green beans or peas, biscuits. We always had a dessert but it would vary.
We were a small family and often had sirloin steaks, baked potatoes, salad and garlic bread plus dessert on Sunday. My mother would cook the meals I mentioned above on Wednesdays because she was off work all day. I can just taste those steaks. My dad would go to a country grocery store and they hand cut them for him. Dad had managed grocery stores before he went into business for himself and was great at picking out meat.
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What meal did your mom prepare most frequently...
