Not sure my mother ever topped hot dogs. Hot dogs with Sabrett’s red onions on top, and some baked beans fresh from the can were about as lofty as culinary pursuits got in my house growing up before ambition exceeded ability.

Portuguese Bacalhau a Gomes de sa

My absolute favourite, and she knows it, so luckily she makes it every time I go home for a visit.

Mama Mary’s Goulash

• Brown 1 lb. of 90/10 ground beef with just black pepper and 1 medium onion, chopped. Do not drain!
• Add 1 large can of chopped tomatoes with juice to the meat mixture, and bring up to a simmer.
• Prepare 1 lb. of wide egg noodles according to package directions, but undercook slightly.
• Drain noodles, return to pot and add meat mixture.
• Heat over medium, stirring occasionally, until noodles are done. (You can add salt to taste here, but tomatoes are usually salty enough.)

Serve in bowls.

A very basic meal that fed our family of eight while my dad was out of work for over a year.

Easy to add to and make fancier.

Pierogi for every holiday

Simple dish but it’s amazing,

Chicken adobo

Get about two chicken breasts, bone-in preferred

Pop into a bag with some like 6 cloves of garlic 1 cups of soy sauce, and 3 tbsp of fresh black pepper

Marinade for like 3 hours

Then throw all of that into a pot and cook for about 45 minutes closed lid on the stove, mixing occasionally

Prepare white rice for base

Take off the lid and let it cook for about 15-20 more minutes on medium-low, until sauce is noticeably thicker. Place on a simmer until rice finishes, then go ahead and plate. Make sure to add some sauce to your bowl as per your preference

Enjoy!

Veal schnitzel - mom’s are my favorites

call me basic but literally just out of the box spaghetti with only butter and salt.
I don’t understand how my grandma does it but it just tastes better somehow

Mom’s lasagna is the best. It’s the benchmark against which I compare any other lasagna.

She used to make a really great pizza too, but geez, it’s probably been decades since she made one

We’re not Italian, I guess I’m just nostalgic for the food of my youth

Basically this. We had it after church most sundays because of how easy it was to make. I miss her.

https://ninainthekitchen.com/2014/01/20/aggkaka-baked-pancake/

My parents do chicken or rabbit “Gaston-gérard” : some meat cooked in a skillet, pouring white wine in it and adding mustard, cream and cheese. There is paprika in the original recipe but we skip this part. Same as some people said, I can cook something close, but not the same way my parent do.

Can’t remember what meat it went with but the carrots, mash, and gravy my granny used to make. The gravy would leave like a powdery effect on my teeth.

My grandma prepared some amazing chicken in tomato sauce and white polenta. It wasn’t anything fancy, but I could never prepare it as well as she did.

No comments on my mum’s cooking.

Scottish Shortbread Cookies.

Small story - my grandmother on my mother’s side made these cookies that were absolutely my dad’s favorite. Unfortunately, he & my mom separated pretty early, but they stayed local so they could co-parent. So every Christmas, we could tell if dad had treated mom well that year because either there’d be a ton of his favorite cookies, or none at all.