We ate a lot of microwaved frozen vegetables and a lot of microwaved chicken breasts in some sauce. It was all relatively healthy and all relatively bland and overcooked. Even so, we sat down and ate as a family almost every night and that was wonderful. We also ate a ton of salad, and my mom would cut up avocado, red onion, and tomatoes into spring mix almost every night. Still love that. But the meals that stick out in my mind more than any other are:
Venison backstrap medallions overcooked until they tasted like iron and copper ingots
“Chef salad” which was a big salad with a bunch of turkey and ham sandwhich meat and occasionally some cheese cut up into it.
To be fair, my mom is actually a fair cook, but does not at all like to cook. So there were many time-oriented short cuts. She would make a spicy pasta with prosciutto and fresh garlic that was wonderful, and a clam pasta with a white wine and lemon sauce that was also exceptional.
I also grew up on leftovers. I got so effing tired of them that, as a junior in high school, I refused to eat dinner one night. Mom looked me in the eye and said, you want something else, cook it. I said fine. She handed me a 30 minute meals cook book. We proceeded to cook together once or twice a week until I learned how to cook reasonably well. A wonderful life lesson that has helped me on many occasions, though I still overcook chicken breasts 8 times out of 10.
I went to an English public school. The food went from appalling to adequate.
Some of you may have heard of the British wine merchant Bill Baker, a fellow inmate. He was nearly expelled when he sent a photograph of a day’s meals, which they published under “This is what you get for £xxxx.”
There is no single childhood meal that I think about more. My mother passed some years ago and took the recipe with her. A shame because it’s like no other dish I’ve come across.
It’s essentially an amalgam of mashed potato, corned beef and fried vegetables and then baked in the oven. Fry up some onions and large chunks of mushroom and a little fresh tomato too. There was a sauce involved (either condensed mushroom soup or more likely a plain or light cheese roux). The vegetables sit at the bottom in the sauce. Add some thin slices of corned beef over the top. Cover all with a thick layer of mashed potato and grated cheddar cheese to finish then bake for 20 minutes or so.
I should add that I’ve been a vegetarian for 30-odd years but I reckon I could readily eat this if put in front of me. Whilst there are plenty of quorn or other substitutes for chicken and beef I’ve never come across a fake-meat corned beef brand. If I ever find one this will be the first thing I try!
Grew up on casseroles based on the holy trinity of hamburger, pasta and cheese: Yuck-yuck, Special Crud and Grandma’s were three staples. Spaghetti and Beef Stroganoff made frequent appearances. Always served with a salad and/or vegetables (fresh or frozen). Steak, Salmon, Trout, Chicken and Lamb less often. Summer Thursday nites my mom would take us to local parks to grill hot dogs and hamburgers while my dad was at his Lions Club meeting.
I remember jello, tang, triscuits, cheerios, PBJs, apple sauce, assorted fruit juices, ice cream, Campbell’s soups, Coca-Cola… staples around the house. Hot dogs and hamburgers too.
Mom was big on meat, starch, veg dinners. Dad didn’t like chicken. Her cooking, adventurousness and health consciousness evolved dramatically over 2 decades from overcooked frozen veggies to fresh…with much more thoughtful food purchasing (farmers markets, butchers, fish mongers, cheese shops, international foods, etc.) and preparations. She mastered turkey tetrazzini and a beef roll-up dish with chicken/turkey stuffing topped with a reduction sauce that I love. She also turned out a very acceptable Paella. The qualities of those dishes, and especially her stuffing, will forever elude me. Her baking skills were appreciable. She’s my primary inspiration for everything gastronomic.
I keep a lot of traditionals in the mix that I ate and learned to cook as a kid.
Classic (to me) Beef Stew
Betty Crocker Pork Fried Rice
My mom’s lasagna
American “Italian” Spaghetti- made with ground beef and mccormick spaghetti with mushrooms seasoning packet.
Meatloaf
I still keep the bacon grease. Though I filter it eith a coffee filter. Use it for bruss sprouts, roast potatoes, fried eggs… i keep in coffee mug in fridge tho