Memories of Mom and a Warm Kitchen. . .

When I contemplate memories of my childhood one of the first to come to mind is the food my Mother prepared. I have to give that good woman credit for preparing 3 good-tasting-nourishing meals a day for countless years. There was no MacDonald's, Hardees, or Subway, no Hamburger Helper, no mac and cheese in a box, no family-sized frozen dinners. It came from Mom's head and was made from scratch.

Breakfast faire in our home would consist of bacon/ham/or sausage, eggs, toast, milk. Some variations would be fried potatoes, tomatoes in the summer, egg bread (French toast), fried scrapple with syrup and butter.

My folks drank coffee and to this day when I smell it my mind takes me back to that wainscotted, built-in cupboards, linoleumed-floored kitchen with the red and white checked curtains, one-legged-cast iron-wrap-around-splash-board sink. There was a small window next to the chimney with a ledge just large enough for a little girl to sit with a sparkly watching it make colors on the walls, smell bacon cooking and coffee brewing. M-M-M, I can smell it, feel it, and I miss it.

Lunch could be anything from soup/sandwich to leftovers. I always loved it when I'd get home from school for lunch and Mom would hand me $ and I'd head to Frasco's for $.50 worth of boiled ham and a can of Ray's chili. Lousee bee, I was in heaven! There was nothing better than a boiled ham sandwich on white bread dunked in a bowl of Ray's chili.
When my children began school there was no coming home in the middle of the day, I wish they had, I would like to have seen them and spend a little time with them. I enjoyed lunch with my mom, it was our time because Dad worked third shift all my life so we had breakfast and supper as a family but lunch belonged to mom and me. It was also a time we would eat things that Daddy didn't care for.

Supper consisted of some kind of meat, potatoes or mac & cheese and vegetables. There was always bread/butter on the table, cottage cheese and in the summer,a huge platter of tomatoes.
Here is a sampling of the suppers Mom cooked:
Pork, round, or sirloin steak, pork or loin chops, mac & cheese, a vegetable.
Pig tails, sour kraut, mashed potatoes.
Meatloaf, potatoes/gravy, a vegetable.
Fried chicken, potatoes, gravy, vegetables or potato salad, baked beans or cole slaw.
Slumgullion, (hamburger, macaroni, onions, garlic, green peppers, tomatoes, tomato sauce), garlic bread, salad.
Homemade pizza. M-M-M-M!
Spaghetti and sauce filled with short ribs and garlic bread.
Roast in the oven with new potatoes, onions and carrots, gravy.
Left over roast on white bread with gravy.
And then there was:
Lemon meringue, banana cream, chocolate cream, pineapple cream cheese and pecan pies, chocolate cake with 7-minute icing, spice cake with burnt sugar icing, white cake with chocolate icing, strawberry jello with banana, lime jello with cream cheese and pineapple, black walnut ice box cookies, and rich chocolate fudge.

My dad had his specialty too, it was fried catfish, french fries (that mom peeled, and sliced with her handy dandy french fry cutter), sliced tomatoes, and rye bread. Mom added her potato salad and baked beans with Daddy's fish. This was a tip top summer Sunday supper.

Isn't it funny how the smell of certain foods can take you to a place and time otherwise forgotten? What a blessing the Lord has given us in this phenomenon.

Well, I've drug this out till I'm sure you've already left the page so I will stop.

Recipes will be forthcoming. . .