This post is in response to Lise Howe's "Memory of my mother through the foods she cooked" post. Lise shared her memories of her mom and cooking, and asked that we share memories and a recipe that our mom made. So here it goes.
When I was growing up, my mom cooked and baked all the time. On Sundays, the house was full of the smell of spaghetti sauce and lasagna or some other delicious meal. She would try new foods, cutting recipes out of magazines or newspapers. I remember her pleasure when my dad or my sisters or I said the meal was great. And baking? She was so good that she made wedding cakes for her friend's weddings. The cakes were perfect.
When I was a teenager, my mom tried to teach me how to cook. But I was an unappreciative teen who wanted nothing to do with the kitchen. I figured I'd learn when I had to. When I married my first husband, my dad took him aside and told him I didn't know how to cook much besides boiling water. Haha. Funny but not totally true. I could make eggs and toast.
Anyway, as a wedding gift my mom gave me a book of recipes. Recipes that came from her, my grandmother, my sister, and my friends. I still have that book and occasionally flip through it for ideas.
So what happened when I left my childhood house? I found I didn't want to eat junk. I wanted to eat good food. So I learned to cook. I subscribed to some company that sent me recipe cards in the mail. I'd get new recipes to try on a regular basis. I learned what I liked and what I didn't. I diced, sliced, sauteed, baked, took cooking classes and tried all sorts of new things. I now love to cook. I try new things all the time. A few years ago, I bought a couple of great cookbooks with vegetarian meals and found they are really good! We aren't vegetarians but I do make about three such meals a week. And I've found some great ways to make all sorts of meat dishes.
Anyway, back to Lise Howe 's request for our mom's recipes. When my mother passed away, I went through all the recipes she had in her kitchen and kept a few. I recently found her excellent recipe for sour cream cornbread which comes out deliciously moist. Yum. She has recipes for appetizers such as home-style boursin, soups like tuna-cheddar chowder and entrees like lasagne and quiche lorraine. She also shared desserts such as sour cream coffee cake and cheese pie. It's hard to decide what to share here, but I'm going to choose her sour cream corn bread. Almost everyone likes bread. Plus, what could be easier?
Sour-Cream Cornbread
3/4 cup yellow corn meal
1 cup all-purpose flour
1/4 cup sugar
2 tsp double-acting baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
3/4 tsp salt
1 cup sour cream
1/4 cup milk
1 egg, beaten
2 Tb shortening, melted
Mix all ingredients, just enough to blend. Pour into square baking pan and bake in 425 oven about 20 minutes.
If you make this, let me know if you liked it better than your normal corn bread!
And I have an added offer: If anyone would like any of the other recipes I mentioned above, just send me an email at kat@thehousekat.com. Also... I've never made her portuguese sweet bread but I have that recipe also and remember it as being a delicious bread. (It's a lot more involved than the corn bread.) And I have her recipes for oatmeal raisin bread, mexican tamale pie, spareribs korean style, pot roast polynesian style, beef in sour cream, danish meat balls, spanish rice and meatballs, braised pork chops, pork stew with apples and potatoes, apple raisin brown betty, strawberry rhubarb pie, southern pecan pie, lizzies (a dessert) and chocolate snowballs.
Enjoy, and thanks Lise for your post. I'm looking forward to finding new things to make.
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