Cooking Inspirations – Grandma Part 1

As I said yesterday, Grandma would have turned 88 if she was still alive.  I lived with her from age 10 until I moved out when I was 21.  Except for the four months I was in Walt Disney World at 20.

She was our main cook at our house.  I have so many memories of her cooking but not many pictures.  It was the age of film cameras, so few photos were taken.

You’ll have to excuse me for the fact I won’t really have pictures to share.  Just my memories.

We had a basement where we lived when I was a teenager.  There were two ways to get to the basement.  One was a door across from their pantry door.  The steep steps were not used very often, if at all.  The other was in the family room.

The family room used to be a porch area made into a room.  The steps were not as steep and carpeted.  This was the way that we mostly went to the basement.

Once you got down the stairs, if you looked to the right, you would see bookshelves or shelves.  (I can’t remember which it was exactly.  It’s been over 7 years since I’ve been in the house.)  On those shelves, Grandma kept canned goods.

We didn’t eat frozen vegetables like my family does now.  Instead, she served canned vegetables and fruits.  As I did during my first years of marriage.  Hubby wished I served canned peas mushed down with butter.  (Disgusting.)

One of the worse canned vegetables she ever served us was canned spinach.  She would pair it with the liver.  I was at the table for HOURS on those nights because I couldn’t leave until I ate all my dinner.  I’ve always been stubborn, so it was a true battle of wills.  I never won, and I probably had to do the dishes after losing.

So how did she make me eat canned spinach and liver and inspire me as a cook?  I have a child who has food aversions.  There are certain textures that he won’t touch.  He won’t eat casseroles.  He has to either eat a bite or two of my dinner or make himself a sandwich.  It’s too much of a battle since he’s had these food aversions for many years.  I’ve fought the battle.  I’ve not given up but have adapted some of the ways I’ve cooked and have allowed him to make a sandwich when I know he’s not going to eat what I’ve cooked for dinner.

I put food on the menu that I know he’ll eat.  Then there are some that I know are more of his brother’s favorites.

As I stated, I don’t use canned vegetables anymore.  The reason is because of the other person who inspired my cooking.  I’ll introduce you to him at a later date.

I’ll share more stories about my grandma in later blog posts.

Who was someone that inspired you as a cook?  How did they inspire you?

Happy eating,
Traci