What did your grandmother cook? (Need ideas)

[AK_Mom4]

I only met my maternal grandmother a few times, but she was a farm girl.  She cooked meat and potatoes and lots of it.  Meat balls on a bed of mashed potatoes with gravy poured over the top was her specialty.  She also canned fruit that was wonderful.

 

I grew up with my paternal grandmother and she was the expert in How To Make Something From Nothing.  Her biscuits were flat, hard and sweet and one of her best dishes was biscuits and white gravy - flour and water with just a smidge of leftover bacon grease.  Alos lovely dessert pancakes with homemade strawberry jam.

[busymama7]

Drive by.

 

Sourdough pancakes. Yum!!!

[Mom in High Heels]

Gosh, I don't remember what my grandma cooked!  She was born in 1899.  I remember her homemade bread, every day.  And chocolate cookies with chocolate frosting.  But, I don't remember her cooking whole meals.  Oh -- rice pudding and Swedish sausage.

 

My paternal grandfather was born in 1899 too!  He was 50 when my dad was born, and 74 when I was born.  He had the BEST stories that I could not believe were true when I was little.  You know, about living back before electricity and telephones were common.  :)

[Lolly]

What I remember eating at Grandma's: bread pudding, rice pudding, macaroni and cheese, collard greens, squash-just boiled with butter, green beans (country style cooked really soft with a slab of bacon), okra, tomatoes, potatoes, watermelon,pear preserves, cinnamon applesauce, a hundred million varieties of beans/peas, pancakes, deviled eggs, beans, peas, beans, peas, cobblers, oatmeal, biscuits with molasses, cornbread, slices of government cheese!!! yum!!!, beans, and peas.Oh, and some black-eyed peas (served with a big dollop of mayonnaise)! 

 

And, I once found a pig head in the freezer. Not sure what she did with that; but as a kid it was kinda scary, but interesting. My mama's favorite meal growing up was buttermilk with cornbread. I think it made for a nice change of pace from the beans and peas for her.

[Rosie_0801]

My great grandmother was known as a wonderful cook but I don't remember anything but her scones. She can't have been perpetually baking scones but there were always some coming out of the oven when you pulled in the driveway. :) My grandmother does a very nice roast beef or lamb with the best roast potatoes imaginable, which I can't replicate because I can't bring myself to cook anything an inch deep in fat. :( She's also known for apple sponges and made a better Christmas pudding than any of your grandmas! :p

[bettyandbob]

Chicken fried anything

 

Mushy vegetables

 

Jello molds and that cool whip-jello-cottage cheese-pineapple thing

 

My grandmother made food to feed a crowd, but she didn't make meals I'd want to recreate.

[emzhengjiu]

Growing up I stayed  with my Dad's mother and she cooked for 12 children growing up.  

 

Every morning was hot homemade biscuits -- somedays ham w/ red eye gravy and eggs and apple sauce or fried apples

 

Lunch- fresh corn with hot biscuit with butter and sliced tomatoes

 

Dinner-- a meat-- ham, meatloaf,  green beans with potatoes,  corn

                         -- collard greens, creamed potatoes 

 

She always had a sweet of some sort--chocolate pie, coconut custard, 10 layer chocolate cake, jello salad

 

I sure miss her biscuits! ;)

 

This brings back memories!  My grandmother was one of 10 children and had 7 of her own.  She was a fabulous cook, but almost everything was fried.  Her pies were incredible.   Every morning, she made biscuits with some type of gravy.  Breakfast was a heavy meal and always included some kind of meat.  She's been gone for several year, but when I think of her I remember how she always had delicious food to share even when there was little money.  

[Onceuponatime]

 .  She did a dish with browned ground beef, green peppers, chopped canned peeled tomatoes, garlic, onion over elbow macaroni.

 

Yep. We called this American Chop Suey. It was a staple at family get togethers. Sometimes there were sliced mushrooms added.

 

What else I remember:

 

Grandma 1-

Roasted chicken

corn on the cob

homemade New England Baked Beans

homemade apple pie

 

Grandma 2-

Canadian Pork Pie

pea soup

Northern style corn bread ("Pea soup and johnny cake make a French man's belly ache"- my dad used to say, out of hearing of my grandmother)

[J-rap]

My paternal grandfather was born in 1899 too!  He was 50 when my dad was born, and 74 when I was born.  He had the BEST stories that I could not believe were true when I was little.  You know, about living back before electricity and telephones were common.   :)

 

My grandmother had such great stories too!  She came over on a boat from Norway when she was a little girl, just she and her mother.  I always loved hearing about her life.   :)

 

[Crimson Wife]

an odd meal we call tuna and creamettes (boiled elbow pasta, can of tuna, mayo, salt).

Wow, this thread is bringing back all sorts of repressed memories of my paternal grandma's cooking. She made a gag-inducing version of "tuna noodle casserole" that sounds similar. I miss her dearly but I'm glad that I never have to choke down another meal from her kitchen.

[Mbelle]

My Grandmother made her famous banana pudding served warm, coconut cake, chocolate cake (southern version: yellow cake with chocolate icing), all kinds of peas(black eyed, purple hull, crowder, field etc), lima beans, butter beans, alll kinds of green beans, turnip greens and other kinds of greens, sweet potatoes, candied "yams", sweet potato casserole, squash casserole, biscuits, corn bread ( a simple week night meal would be corn bread crumbled in milk or buttermilk with slice of cheese on the side), ham, salmon patties, catfish, roasts with gravy, boiled potatoes, mashed potatoes. Pork chops and gravy, country fried steak with mashed potatoes and gravy.  Jello "salads".  (orange jello with carrots grated into it for example).  

[Laura Corin]

I only remember syllabub.

 

L

[saraha]

Spam.  No seriously, she would fry it for a breakfast meat, chop it up and fry it with cabbage or sauerkraut, make sandwiches out of it, dice it and fry with potatoes.  She served a lot spam.

 

"Johnny Marzetti"  which was just hamburger, canned tomatoes, onion, salt and pepper served over elbow macaroni.  Sometimes with shredded cheese sprinkled on top.

[In The Great White North]

 

Posted Yesterday, 10:23 PM

Sahamamama, on 27 Apr 2014 - 6:37 PM, said:

Creamed Chip Beef on Toast (which always looked to me like something the dog barfed up)

 

This brings back memories! My dad {born in the mid 30's} used to ask for this. He learned to eat it serving in the Korean War - it was called Sh*t on a shingle in the mess hall. Probably was served to WWII soldiers too, as he talked about most of their food supplied being leftover stuff from WWII.

 

 

I never heard of this til I joined the Army.  West Point was still serving it in the mid 80's - hope it wasn't leftover from WWII!  They had a ham variety too.

 

 

 

 

SparklyUnicorn, on 27 Apr 2014 - 7:27 PM, said:

How about this stuff? One of my grandmothers drank this (vile) stuff.

 

Postum!! That's terrific! My son had some a few years ago at his great sunt's house and fell in love with it, but we couldn't find it anywhere. I think they stopped making it. 

 

http://www.vermontcountrystore.com/store/jump/productDetail/Food_&_Candy/Pantry_&_Gourmet_Food/Tea_&_Beverages/Postum/64003

[Sahamamama]

Here's a recipe for homemade Postum:

 

http://www.cooks.com/recipe/p461o1z8/homemade-postum.html

[littlebug42]

My maternal grandmother was the best cook.  Her breakfasts are one of the favorite memories of my childhood.  Eggs over easy, homemade biscuits, pork chops, gravy and fried potatoes. 

 

Family dinners were always fried chicken, mashed potatoes, chicken and dumplings, green beans, sliced tomatoes in season, cornbread and spaghetti cooked in tomato juice.  Oh, and a chocolate pie to die for. 

 

My paternal grandmother was not a great cook.  My mom does use a recipe of hers for fried corn (creamed corn) that is awesome.  Of course, made with corn fresh from the cob is what she used. 

[AngelaNYC]

I was just going over this with my mom a few weeks ago.  We lived with my grandparents for about 7 years and I LOVED the dinners we had.  My grandmother was a 3rd generation American and 100% Irish.  All meals were inexpensive (back then, anyway) and the leftovers the next day were just as good.  Here are a few dinners we loved. 

 

Smoked Pork Butt with Potatoes and Cabbage (and carrots and rye bread)

 

Tuna Casserole (similar to THIS recipe, but we tripled it)

 

Beef (ox tail) & Barley soup.  I loved the dark brown broth she made.  Served with buttered rye bread.

 

Homemade chicken soup.  Then put in separately-cooked diced carrots and rice right before serving.  Served with buttered Italian bread.

 

Ravioli in tomato sauce

 

London broil with corn on the cob and grandpa's amazing salad - this was usually during the summer on the grill.

(The salad was chopped onion and tomato soaked in a dressing of equal parts mayo and white vinegar.  Then topped with a whole head of chopped iceberg lettuce and tossed together with some salt and pepper).

 

Baked pork chops (pan-seared first) covered in sauerkraut with string beans, mashed potatoes, gravy, and applesauce.

 

Chicken cutlets (double breaded with Italian bread crumbs and egg, then fried), french fries, and broccoli

 

Macaroni & Meat (Medium shells mixed together with browned ground beef and tomato sauce) with buttered Italian bread and salad

 

Roast beef (eye round), mashed potatoes, corn, string beans, biscuits (usually a Sunday dinner)

 

Tacos (Ortega kit) with lettuce, tomato, and shredded cheese.

 

Shepherd's Pie (ground beef, gravy, and cans of peas & carrots, topped with mashed potatoes)