Got any downhome, old-time Folk recipes that have been handed down in your family for a long time? What are your favorites?

We used to go camping and my Dad would fry up some potatoes with onions with lots of pepper on the campfire while Mom fried up the bacon and made toast. The smell of the coffee perking away and the onions, potatoes and bacon was heavenly!

I would love to hear some of your folk stories on family cooking. Come on and share with us!

Hi Phyllis,

My grandparents had a large grape arbor that would be covered in concord grape every September. Grandma never let anything go to waste and most of the grapes became the best grape jelly in the world. But a lucky few were turned into Grandma's Grape Conserve.

She used the entire grape for that, not just the juice, plus the rind of an orange and a handful of walnuts. It is pure heaven!

When I was a little girl in Vermont, my grandmother taught us how to make maple sugar.

You take real Vermont maple syrup and gently boil it down til slightly thickened. Pour it in a bowl and hand stir til it becomes whitish and crystallized. Just let it set, and eat! Or if you want to get fancy, you can press it into pretty molds. Yummie!

Shay

My gosh, Ladies! If we put all these foods together we will have one fantastic breakfast!

Thanks for sharing your stories!

My Mom and Dad raised seven of us kids and sometimes Mom had to stretch the food budget. Dad would buy half a beef every few months, have the butcher in the freezer locker storage cut it up according to Dad's instructions and wrap it for freezing. To keep us from running out of all the good cuts of beef up front, once in awhile Mom would cook up some "hamburger gravy" and serve that with biscuits or mashed potatoes for dinner. You just crumble and brown the hamburger, drain it, season it and add it to country gravy. This made a really good dinner served with fresh vegetables from Dad's garden. This was down-home cooking!

Hi Phyllis,
I just read your recipe for scalloped potatoes with bologna and onions, yum!
My Mother would make scalloped potatoes with ham and onions whenever we had a big ham dinner. She would use the left-over ham the same way your Mom would use bologna. I still make the same recipe whenever I make a ham. I actually like the scalloped potato meal better than the original ham meal.

Hi Helen,
It is always good to hear from you. I like ham in scallped potatoes, too. It gives it a really good flavor!

Thanks for the reminder!

There's nothing in the world as good as chicken and dumplings it's good anytime of the year but especially good on cold winter days.
I love scalloped potatos too. of all my Mom's recipes i think it was her specialty. It's the dish I remember most from my childhood.

My Mother makes the best chicken and homemade noodles. We love them and get together at least once a year for a huge pot of noodles. I have not made dumplings in years - that sounds good!

Fresh garden vegetables! My Dad grew just about every kind of vegetable possible. Has anyone ever had the following vegetables and do you have a good recipe for any or all?

Kolrabi
Kale
Turnips
Rutabagas
Spinach
Parsnips
Acorn Squash
Hubbard Squash
Cabbage

Of course he grew a lot of others, like corn, beans, peas, carrots, etc. Mom always had good ways to fix the vegetables. Kale was my favorite! It is similar to spinach with a little stronger taste. She just boiled it down then put a dollop of butter on top in the serving bowl. Very good!