In My Mother's Kitchen: Conclusion
This is the 36th and final scheduled post in this series that was ostensibly about the food I ate growing up, but really ended up being more about growing up in rural North Dakota in the 1980s and 1990s, and particularly about growing up Jewish in that era.
As I've alluded to a few times, when I bought my house, my mother and my sister put together a cookbook of many of the recipes my mother made as a housewarming gift. Some of these I've written about here, but others I haven't. The cookbook is a binder with scrapbooking pages, so I've added a great many recipes to it over the years. For this final post, I've put together a list of every single one of these recipes that was in the original cookbook. I can do this easily because they were all printed out on fancy decorated paper, making it very easy to identify which ones came from my mother. I can't tell you what order they were in originally because I've rearranged binder pages repeatedly over the last couple of years, but I've never tossed one of my mother's recipes (even the ones I know I'm never going to make) so I know they're all here.
I've listed them all here in the order they are currently in my cookbook, which changes as I clip and rearrange. When available, I've linked them to the electronic versions I've posted. If I posted it separately from its "In My Mother's Kitchen" summary, I link to that as commentary.
Soups
French Onion Soup - recipe, commentary
Grain Soup
Pea Soup
Main Course
Meatloaf
Noodle Kugel - I rarely make this kugel in favor of one further down list.
Macaroni & Cheese
Barley Mushroom Casserole
Spicy Shrimp and Spaghetti Algio Olio (Garlic & Oil)
Tomato & Onion Salad
Pizza Dough & Tomato Sauce - recipe, commentary
Fajitas - I used to make these a lot, but now we make a ton of different kinds of tacos instead.
Honey Cinnamon Chicken - A baked breaded chicken variant. I love it with dark meat in particular, but M doesn't much care for dark meat.
Sides
Baked Oven Potatoes - Assorted different ways to bake potatoes.
Hot Wheels
Noah's Pudding
Bulgar Pilaf - I don't recall having this as a kid at all.
Roasted Winter Vegetables - My mother started making this after I moved out.
Desserts
Crustless Pumpkin Pie - I've made this a lot and was somewhat surprised to learn I'd never posted the recipe.
Easy Almond Squares - I don't ever remember my mother making this.
Apple / Rhubarb Crisp
Blueberry Cobbler - Nowadays my mother tends to make blueberry tea cakes more so than cobbler.
Honey Cake - This was big for Rosh Hashanah, if I recall correctly.
Breads
Blueberry Muffins - recipe, commentary
Casserole Batter Rye Bread
Date Nut Bread - I'm not sure I've ever made this, which is a shame because it's delicious.
Banana Bread - I make this frequently.
Puffy Oven Pancake - M really likes these.
Pesach
Date and Peach Matzo Kugel
Passover Rolls - I've made these. They spend a lot of time in the oven.
Haroset - My mother's haroset is the best haroset I've ever had by a gigantic margin. Most people run it through the food processor too much and get a paste. Mom chops it up by hand and it's got a more interesting texture.
Apricot Matzo Farfel - Farfel is one of the few legitimate reasons to have matzo when it's not Pesach.
Practically Popovers - I don't remember these either.
Butter Almond Toffee Bars - I don't remember these.
Passover Matzo Layer Cake - My sister's birthday often overlapped Pesach, so my mother needed a Passover-safe birthday cake option.
Retired
Hot and Sweet Barbeque Sauce - I've never made this, nor do I remember my mother making it.
Jerk Marinade - I've never made this, nor do I remember my mother making it.
Easy Cheesy Corn Bake - I've never made this, nor do I remember my mother making it.
Granola - My mother made my father granola every few weeks so he'd have something to snack on at work. I never really ate it.
Yellow Rice with Sausage - I liked this a lot as a kid, but I've never made it.
Cube Steaks with Hasty Tasty Sauce
Ham in Orange-Mustard Sauce
Chinatown Almond Chicken
Flank Steak
Aunt Maggie's Italian Dinner
Beef and Vegetable Saute - Made it once or twice, retired it when I gave up red meat.
Beef and Broccoli - vaguely Chinese, but never made as much as the Chinatown Almond Chicken and retired when I gave up red meat.
Bread Pudding - I don't ever remember my mother making this. I'm not generally a fan of bread puddings.
I should note that I also have several of my mother's recipes that I asked for after the cookbook was created. I've listed those here:
Venison Stew
Mom's Chili - recipe, commentary
Three Cheese Baked Ziti
Noodle Kugel (alternate variation, I actually prefer this one to the one above)
Kasha & Bowties
Chocolate Chip Cookies - and how this wasn't in there originally I can't imagine
Cream Puffs
Corn Bread
Rye Salt Rolls - really more of my maternal grandmother's recipe, I actually got this from my aunt when I asked for it. EDIT 11/27/23: recipe added.
Basic Waffles
Bagels
Aunt Eleanor's Mondel Bread - my mother never made this, but I got it from here when I needed it. I also realized it wasn't in my cookbook while writing this post, so I printed it out and added it!
Hamantaschen - Just made it for the first time earlier this year.
If nothing else, this rundown of the recipes gives me a handy list of ideas for future write ups!
And with that, it's time to bring this series to a close. I appreciate all the comments I've gotten about it, the most entertaining of which was probably my friend Amanda from North Dakota blogging about her experience making the Casserole Batter Rye Bread.
As I've alluded to a few times, when I bought my house, my mother and my sister put together a cookbook of many of the recipes my mother made as a housewarming gift. Some of these I've written about here, but others I haven't. The cookbook is a binder with scrapbooking pages, so I've added a great many recipes to it over the years. For this final post, I've put together a list of every single one of these recipes that was in the original cookbook. I can do this easily because they were all printed out on fancy decorated paper, making it very easy to identify which ones came from my mother. I can't tell you what order they were in originally because I've rearranged binder pages repeatedly over the last couple of years, but I've never tossed one of my mother's recipes (even the ones I know I'm never going to make) so I know they're all here.
I've listed them all here in the order they are currently in my cookbook, which changes as I clip and rearrange. When available, I've linked them to the electronic versions I've posted. If I posted it separately from its "In My Mother's Kitchen" summary, I link to that as commentary.
Soups
French Onion Soup - recipe, commentary
Grain Soup
Pea Soup
Main Course
Meatloaf
Noodle Kugel - I rarely make this kugel in favor of one further down list.
Macaroni & Cheese
Barley Mushroom Casserole
Spicy Shrimp and Spaghetti Algio Olio (Garlic & Oil)
Tomato & Onion Salad
Pizza Dough & Tomato Sauce - recipe, commentary
Fajitas - I used to make these a lot, but now we make a ton of different kinds of tacos instead.
Honey Cinnamon Chicken - A baked breaded chicken variant. I love it with dark meat in particular, but M doesn't much care for dark meat.
Sides
Baked Oven Potatoes - Assorted different ways to bake potatoes.
Hot Wheels
Noah's Pudding
Bulgar Pilaf - I don't recall having this as a kid at all.
Roasted Winter Vegetables - My mother started making this after I moved out.
Desserts
Crustless Pumpkin Pie - I've made this a lot and was somewhat surprised to learn I'd never posted the recipe.
Easy Almond Squares - I don't ever remember my mother making this.
Apple / Rhubarb Crisp
Blueberry Cobbler - Nowadays my mother tends to make blueberry tea cakes more so than cobbler.
Honey Cake - This was big for Rosh Hashanah, if I recall correctly.
Breads
Blueberry Muffins - recipe, commentary
Casserole Batter Rye Bread
Date Nut Bread - I'm not sure I've ever made this, which is a shame because it's delicious.
Banana Bread - I make this frequently.
Puffy Oven Pancake - M really likes these.
Pesach
Date and Peach Matzo Kugel
Passover Rolls - I've made these. They spend a lot of time in the oven.
Haroset - My mother's haroset is the best haroset I've ever had by a gigantic margin. Most people run it through the food processor too much and get a paste. Mom chops it up by hand and it's got a more interesting texture.
Apricot Matzo Farfel - Farfel is one of the few legitimate reasons to have matzo when it's not Pesach.
Practically Popovers - I don't remember these either.
Butter Almond Toffee Bars - I don't remember these.
Passover Matzo Layer Cake - My sister's birthday often overlapped Pesach, so my mother needed a Passover-safe birthday cake option.
Retired
Hot and Sweet Barbeque Sauce - I've never made this, nor do I remember my mother making it.
Jerk Marinade - I've never made this, nor do I remember my mother making it.
Easy Cheesy Corn Bake - I've never made this, nor do I remember my mother making it.
Granola - My mother made my father granola every few weeks so he'd have something to snack on at work. I never really ate it.
Yellow Rice with Sausage - I liked this a lot as a kid, but I've never made it.
Cube Steaks with Hasty Tasty Sauce
Ham in Orange-Mustard Sauce
Chinatown Almond Chicken
Flank Steak
Aunt Maggie's Italian Dinner
Beef and Vegetable Saute - Made it once or twice, retired it when I gave up red meat.
Beef and Broccoli - vaguely Chinese, but never made as much as the Chinatown Almond Chicken and retired when I gave up red meat.
Bread Pudding - I don't ever remember my mother making this. I'm not generally a fan of bread puddings.
I should note that I also have several of my mother's recipes that I asked for after the cookbook was created. I've listed those here:
Venison Stew
Mom's Chili - recipe, commentary
Three Cheese Baked Ziti
Noodle Kugel (alternate variation, I actually prefer this one to the one above)
Kasha & Bowties
Chocolate Chip Cookies - and how this wasn't in there originally I can't imagine
Cream Puffs
Corn Bread
Rye Salt Rolls - really more of my maternal grandmother's recipe, I actually got this from my aunt when I asked for it. EDIT 11/27/23: recipe added.
Basic Waffles
Bagels
Aunt Eleanor's Mondel Bread - my mother never made this, but I got it from here when I needed it. I also realized it wasn't in my cookbook while writing this post, so I printed it out and added it!
Hamantaschen - Just made it for the first time earlier this year.
If nothing else, this rundown of the recipes gives me a handy list of ideas for future write ups!
And with that, it's time to bring this series to a close. I appreciate all the comments I've gotten about it, the most entertaining of which was probably my friend Amanda from North Dakota blogging about her experience making the Casserole Batter Rye Bread.