My Mom Made the Weirdest Things!

My mother totally made the weirdest things. Seriously. Like canned beets? What’s up with canned beets? Keep your nasty beets to yourself!

Seriously though, my mother was the queen of pre-made food, most of which came out of cans or boxes. Things like La Choy Chop Suey and Hormel Tamales. And I ate it, every last heavily processed canned bit of it. Except for the beets, there was no way she was getting me to eat the beets.

The thing is though, she didn’t really use it. Every now and again she would make something from scratch, but not terribly often. She was very sick most of the time and cooking just wasn’t her thing.

So how did I get into cooking?

I was trying for a Girl Scout patch, I don’t even know what it was called, but it required a home cooked meal. My mother was the troop leader, and she was loathe to pay me a compliment. Every tiny flaw and mistake I made was called out, because she didn’t want anyone thinking she was favoring me I suppose.

So I made her a meal. I don’t even recall what it was now, but I do recall making apple pie from scratch, including making the crust myself. From a recipe in her one and only cookbook. And she praised me for it. PRAISED me. I was hooked from then on. Because of one cookbook, and one really rocking afternoon with my mom.

I’ll post some of the better ones from the book as soon as I get around to it, promise.