Favorite food dishes from childhood
 

Here are some of mine:

Noodles Romanoff (It was like mac and cheese but with linguine-type noodles, and I liked the version that came right out of a box and was discontinued, so says the Internet. It had this amazing cheesy cheesiness!)

The Chefboyardee pizza kit (OMG, it was so cool, all in one box. Mom would have my brother and I make it with her. We'd make the pizza crust which was quite thin. Then we'd get to pour a small can of tomato sauce from the box on the pizza. Then we'd get to sprinkle this parmesan like cheese packet all over the pizza and put it in the oven. Pizza magic!)

Homemade potato chips (Our longtime babysitter would make us this after school. She'd slice a potato, fry it in butter, salt it, and put ketchup on the side. It is best eaten while watching Little House on the Prairie.)

Fried clams at Friendly's followed by the Happy Ending (!) Sundae (Perfection.)

My mom's chicken and dumplings.

Yumbolicious

My grandma would make this home made baked bean dish that she had individual special baked bean dishes for with long handles. They'd be baked in the oven for hours, and the scent was too die for, as was the taste!

As an aside, I make my own potato thins (when industrious) by slicing potatoes really thin, tossing in just a little olive oil, then sprinkling with light salt and sometimes oregano. Something like 425 oven for 15 minutes. I got that from a book, though.

My mom was an OK cook but a fabulous baker. She made rhubarb pie with rhubarb from our garden. Every Christmas, she made a giant pile of cookies. I found the recipes at my brother's. She used to make cakes from scratch, but mixes always tasted homemade, somehow.

Anyway, some of her dinners were:

Stouffer's Creamed Chicken on rice. I haven't found creamed chicken in years, but could probably find the recipe or something close.

La Choy Chow Mein and sweet rolls. Sounds terrible, but I make this myself.

Meat loaf. Her recipe was, "Oh, I don't know, I never measure". I like mine, but it doesn't come close.

Her spaghetti sauce, which only I like. It was very tomato-ey and strong. I do have that recipe, and like to make a huge batch and freeze in bags. My kids won't eat anything but Prego.

My dad made first-class pancakes, and he was the undisputed cook for his service organization's pancake breakfasts. He made them for us every Sunday. Of course, mine can't come within light-years.

My grandma made colcannon (cál ceannann), I make it from her recipe but it just doesn't taste the same

My birth mother was not a good mother, but she was a fantastic cook. I loved her homemade banana pudding and would stand at the stove and stir the pudding (for what seemed like hours back then) while it cooked. Then she would layer banana slices and Nilla Wafers. It was a rare treat.

She also made the best homemade biscuits I've ever had.

My Mom didn't cook so we ate a lot of grilled cheese sandwiches when I learned to make them. I think I was 7 or so.

So that has always been my go-to comfort food with a heavy childhood memory :)

My ma made some great mashed potatoes and turkey gravy. I remember eating that a lot when I was a kid. Also, she made french bread pizzas with sauce, pepperoni, and cheese. They were really really good. When I got older, I ate a lot of Velveeta sandwiches (mayo/cheese/pickles). Lastly, Kraft mac/cheese with green chili. YUM.

Now as an adult, I don't eat any of that-- go figure.

note to nycfem
 

Yes Yes about the boxed Chefboyardee boxed pizzas. I loved those when I was little. My mom would chip up hot dogs into tiny pieces and put on the top.

I had not seen this in decades until a few months ago at one of the dollar-type stores. Couldn't wait to make it. When I opened the sauce can, I tasted it ... %?*@&%# ... they changed the flavor of the red sauce ... Bye bye, the whole thing went into the trash can. Talk about a let down ... I felt slam-dunked. :(

Egg noodles with mushrooms, a little salt, and butter.

Even though I largely avoid wheat, it's still a comfort food here. My daughter administers it as needed, and I eat when I really need comfort food.

My grandmother made:

Grapefruit halves with a maraschino cherry in the middle, twice baked potatoes stuffed with spinach and cheddar cheese, spaghetti you dream about, peanut butter cookies with M&M's in them, and chocolate pudding.

What I craved when I was sick: Iceberg lettuce with Italian dressing, and canned pears. Not sure what that was about.

My poor mom was in the role of food provider and she hated cooking. As much as my grandmother LOVED to cook, my mom didn't pick up on it. Combination of lack of interest in learning, and I think it was my grandmothers alone time in the kitchen. My mom hated cooking, my father worked a night shift noon-midnight, my brother only wanted pasta and steak, and I wanted salad and vegetables. I didn't really discover food until college.

Noodles and butter my brother use to make it for me .
My grandmother made the best roast beef and Yorkshire pudding and matzo and eggs.

I also remember a girlfriend of my brother making chicken and dumplings that I loved

Portuguese Pickled Onions-My mom made these and they went exquisitely with every meal, addictive..i miss them

my mum would make this tuna mornay... god it was so good... I haven't eaten meat or fish in over ten years but I still remember that with love...
... also spinach pie... spinach and cheese in flaky pastry mmmmmmm

my nan would make amazing corned beef with homemade relish... loved it...

on saturday nights we often made homemade pizza with these great bases from the supermarket... tomato paste... olives and cabanosi and ham and mushrooms... delish!

there is this restaurant we would always go to, mixed Asian... loved the sechuan beef...

long drive to the grandparents place, bacon and egg mcmuffin and hashbrown from mcdonalds!

butter chicken made from a packet mix

so many good things!

My gran used to make a dish with those, she would take Steak-ums and roll it around Stove Top stuffing put a tooth pick in em and put them in a baking dish then pour cream of mushroom soup over the whole thing and bake, I loved that as a kid. I tried to make it again as an adult and it was SO SALTY, I thought I was gonna die

We would also make budget ruben sandwiches with Steak-ums, thousand island dressing, sauerkraut, swiss cheese and toasted white bread. Also loved as a kid, not nearly as good as I remembered them as an adult.

Still some of my favorite comfort food today...
 

Campbell's tomato soup & grilled cheese sandwich

elbow macaroni & diced tomatoes (with a daub of butter & salt mixed in)

I loved my grandma's home made beef stew/soup made with stew meat, tomatoes home canned, carrots and potatoes. YUMMMY and I still make it for myself today. I Love that stuff.

I also loved my grandma's home made chicken and dumplings, awesome stuff and was all hand made dough....not biscuits.

I love my mom's fajita soup over rice. It's really pretty delicious.

There's a lot more I like that I can't seem to think of at the moment.

http://cdn.stripersonline.com/e/e9/3...-SteakUms.jpeg

So my last post I talked about what my ma cooked me when I was a kiddo. I came from a family who divorced when I was younger. My nana (dad's mom) cooked a lot too when I would visit my dad (every other week).

Some of her dishes I loved was--

Shepards pie (still love, but make my own version)
Mac/Cheese with scrambled meat/mushrooms and canned corn.
This casserole she made with chicken, green beans, mushrooms, dill, and a bread topping. It was amazing good.
Hamburger soup.
Corn pancakes served with sausage, real butter, real maple, and peanut butter. YUM.

My mom-- she wasn't a huge fan of cooking but she did it.

The meals I remember of her--

Spaghetti with broccoli.
Pizza night every Friday with orange soda.
Hamburger night every Wednesday with grape soda.
Chicken stew with biscuits.

I started cooking at 7 (mostly as a girl scout project), but also because although a pretty good cook, my Mom really didn't want to cook.

By 10 i was a much better cook than she was, but i still can't make her chicken and dumplings or her shepards pie as well as she did. Perhaps i didn't really try hard so she would still cook sometimes. ;)

My grandmothers on both sides provided my favorite childhood food memories!!!

At Grandma and Grandpa's house...

... Instant oatmeal with Grandpa
... Eggcake and eblaskiva at every holiday
... Carrot pudding
... and Rainbow sherbert!

At Grandma and Pappys...

... cabbage and milk
... fresh corn on the cob (us kids spent hours in the back yard husking all of it)
... bread and butter (because thats how you get the butter on your corn)
... manti turkey
... fresh plums off the tree

Really? Damn it. I was seriously going to order it off the internet after seeing nyc's post.

my grandmother's large white lima beans ... she was a short little Indian woman and I can see her at her stove right now in my memory ... she is the only one I miss from my family ... I could depend on her to tell me like it was and always the truth ... I remember when I was about three years old, I would wiggle in church (hyperactive) and if she told me she'd pinch me if I did not get still, *laughing* then I knew it was coming. I really loved that old woman! Everyone did! :)

responding to Dapper ...
 

Man, I am really so sorry but it was not the same. When I tasted it, I was like wtf??? Why they had to go messing with a great product like that ... I don't know.

oyster stew

I stayed with grandparents a lot growing up ... when I was with Charlie's (charlie is my father's name)parents, sometimes I would walk down to the bottom of the road and stay with my great grandparents. They would make what they called oyster stew. Here is their very simple recipe: Take 2 cans of oysters and pour into a pot, then add however much milk, a pat of butter, a pinch of sugar to cancel out bitter flavor of oysters, bring to a slow boil stirring frequently, serve with crackers broken up in your bowl. Sweet tea to drink.

Decades later, I nuke mine in my own bowl, only put the juice from the 2 cans in there and toss the oysters in the trash. Add about 24 ounces milk, lots of black pepper ... Sometimes chip up some onion in there when it is hot.

I call it my porridge - it always makes me think of goldi-locks and the three bears. ;)

fish & chips

Maybe you just remembered it wrong? I don't know...not sure your tastebuds are trustworthy! :D

Maybe it tastes the same, your tastebuds have just grown up!

Favorites my gramma made for me...

cream of mushroom soup with toast
grits with butter and brown sugar
plain yogurt mixed with brown sugar
her homemade sugar cookies and ginger bread
The church lady's "love feast" bread and tender roast beef
Amish made apple dumplings and cinnamon bread
Cinnamon sugar coated roasted pecans
and sharing my gramma's Arrowroot cookies with hot mint tea

Papaw, use to fix hamburger, with diced taters and onions all mixed together and cabbage. I guess I liked it cuz it was something Mom never fixed.

I had to laugh at Princess Belle's pea's statement. Mom wasn't an experienced cook when I was growing up and didn't try new recipes.

You could trust and believe that every night there was going to be either cream corn, or sweet peas on the table, rice and gravy and some kind of fried meat. It was hard in my adult life to get away from the fried meat and rice and gravy. It is still comfort food and sometimes I crave it. Let me get down in the dumps and I will fry me up some pork chops and make rice and gravy.

back to Dapper
 

I thought about that too ... that maybe it had something to do with my taste buds changing. I wish you would give it a go. I really would like to get your opinion. If you try it, please please let me know! Maybe it was just that one box that had the funk on ... I love it so much, if I get a good review from you, I will have to hazard the risk and buy another box.

Thanks!
Brock. :)

nycfemme ...
 

Now I am wondering if nycfem has tried the Chefboyardee pizza in the box lately ... How about it, we want to know and if so, did the sauce taste like the original?
Thanks in advance. :)

Who else besides me notices nycfemme thinks up the best topics? I am serious!