Grandma - Cooking

Paring knife in hand.

Slicing up strawberries.

First, the leaves; then, into halves or quarters, depending on the size of the strawberry.

It's one of the "triggers" that always reminds me of Grandma even though I don't do the final step of sprinkling sugar to mix with the strawberry "juices."  Sugared, cut-up strawberries were the strawberries of my childhood.  

Grandma was quite the cook. She worked in a school cafeteria (back when they had the freedom to actually do more cooking), nursing home cafeteria, and the hospital cafeteria . She started as a general cook and moved her way up to Head Baker (or whatever it was called). One of her "famous" recipes was Cherry Delight -- involving Dream Whip, graham cracker crumbles, and cherry pie filling. She cooked for her family and as a career, so I was always a bit surprised that my mom never cooked much after growing up as Dorothy's daughter.

Grandma was thrifty when it came to shopping for ingredients.  I remember going with her from Kroger to Aldi's to Harvest Market to purchase the sale items at each place.

Every time we were at Grandma's house, all the food in the kitchen was fair game. I'd snack on pickles, string cheese, and colby cheese (cut from the cylinder block) from the refrigerator and Little Debbies from the bottom cabinet below the microwave and glassware. I preferred the Fudge Rounds and Fancy Cakes; Jon was more of a Swiss Cake Rolls kind of guy. 

As far as a main dish, my two favorites that Grandma would make just for me were "fritters" in the deep fryer and grilled cheese on the stove. That's another Grandma trigger -- whenever I butter the bread and make a grilled cheese sandwich on the stove for my boys. 

My all-time favorite, though less frequent, was homemade chicken and noodles.  When I moved to Kentucky, I realized that my favorite meal was not a staple everywhere else. College friends would be confused: "Do you mean chicken noodle soup? Or chicken and dumplings?"  In my elementary school, the only time I'd eat a school lunch was every other Tuesday for chicken and noodles. (I had to keep track of the week because the other Tuesday was salisbury steak. Yuck.). Dear ladies at my church (Opal and Pat) would bring them to pitch-in meals, but I always loved when my grandma made them (and let me help!). She'd use her rolling pin to roll out the dough on the kitchen table. It was a big flour-y mess. I even ate some raw.  It's been a long time since I've had good old-fashioned homemade chicken and noodles.

Another thing everything loved (and I enjoyed more as I got older) was...

Grandma Dot's Sausage Balls

1 lb. sausage

2 1/4 c. Bisquik

1/2 pkg dry onion mix

1/2 lb grated cheese

1. Mix together with hands and shape into balls.
2. Bake 30 minutes at 350 or until browned (can be turned in pan during browning)

I remember helping her with the Sunday night staple of jello (always red and cut in squares in a big pan). During the times I was sick and would stay home from school with her, she'd let me drink some warm jello before it had set in the refrigerator. I also remember watching her make the old-fashioned popcorn on the stove, usually on a night when I slept over at her house. You'd heat the oil until it sizzled, then pour in the popcorn and put on the lid. I remember how she'd shake the pan back and forth, and eventually, the lid would start to lift up from all the popped popcorn. She'd dump it all into a big bowl and, while the pan was still hot, she'd melt some butter to drizzle on top. She'd also shake a fair amount of salt.

Helping her make food, watching her make food, and eating food aren't the only things I remember about spending time with Grandma. We would often play games together, like checkers or Uno or this Jungle-Book-themed card game (like Go Fish?). She had some toys and a tea set, and she would play with me to my heart's content.

Even though much of Grandma's time was spent preparing food for other people and for our family, I don't have a ton of pictures of her actually cooking. Again, as I reflect on the lack of photos of the "ordinary," I decided to take some "ordinary" pictures. And every time I butter bread for grilled cheese or pour hot jello into a pan or slice up strawberries, I think of my beloved grandma. I may never be the cook she was, but hopefully my sons and grandchildren will remember how I fed them well.

Getting ready to slice up the strawberries

I decided, in Grandma's memory, to add the sugar to the strawberries this time.
The boys loved them, of course!