27 Jul, 2010
Is there anything more familiar and wholesome than a peanut butter cookie? Not to this American girl. I was thinking a lot this morning about my nan. I miss her a lot. We just visited the family in San Antonio over July 4th, but it’s always hard to leave again. This morning, thinking about Nanny, I was reminded of why I started this blog. So much of what she taught me is poured out on these few webpages. Sadly, she’s at the point now where she hardly cooks for herself anymore, and so she’s forgotten some of the favorite recipes we cooked together. Even stuff I’m not a fan of, like her potato salad. I can make it by heart, [...]
09 Jan, 2009
My Nan's potato soup has always been on my list of comfort foods. It's never the same twice, but it always tastes amazing. It's one of the few things that I like the taste of pepper in. When we decided to have friends over for New Year's Day, I wanted to keep the food simple. The excesses of the previous few weeks were catching up to all of us, and the last thing we wanted was another heavy calorie-laden meal. Call me crazy, but I was also pretty nervous to be making a meal for a cook book author. She's like a second mother to me these days, but this was my first time really cooking for her. If you [...]
18 Dec, 2008
Notice the years of cooking stains, the worn edges of the pages, binding that is slowly coming loose. This war-torn tome is my grandmother's favorite cookbook. No, it's not Betty Crocker, nor is it Better Homes and Gardens, though she has both of those in her collection. This particular cookbook is “Recollections and Recipes From Army Wives: The Museum Cookbook”, compiled by the Army wives in Fort Leavenworth, Kansas. From the forward: “Our recipes are present day favorites and include everything from quick and easy to gourmet cooking. We think they symbolize the Army wife cooking today.” I came home with four cookbooks in total. I just picked random ones out of her collection, and didn't have much time to [...]
08 Sep, 2008
This is another one of those gems from my Nanny. I can't quite explain why I never thought to combine pasta and chili, but YUM! About 10 years ago I swung by her house for dinner, and this is what I was met with. She didn't put sausage in it, but that's because she used a different kind of chili that had much more meat to it. I'm a little bit obsessed with this meal now, it was so incredibly good. I had made it for James once before, on a random night in England when we were both home late and starving. I don't know why I forgot how good it is, or why it's taken me this long [...]
15 Jun, 2008
I don't really know when this recipe came into my grandmother's rotation, but I can say that the entire family got down on their knees and gave thanks that it did. This simple coffee cake is great for breakfast, snack, or after dinner dessert. You just can't go wrong with a combination of brown sugar, butter, cinnamon, and dough. I've seen it referenced over the year by lots of different names: Monkey Bread, Pluck It Cake, Pull Apart Bread… Some people make it with the big 'Grands' biscuits, others say you have to use buttermilk biscuits rather than homestyle.. Personally, I go for the cheap, store bought 10 count refrigerator biscuits, and it's always amazing. When it comes to Pluck [...]
