Grandma's Great Goodies

Now that the holiday season is over, and people start to resort back to a relatively normal way of eating, I was thinking about all the incredible food that my Grandma was famous for. My Grandma came over on the boat from England in 1905. She was 5 years of age. As she grew up, she obviously set out to become one of the best cooks around. She could and did, cook and create and bake anything you could think of.

Back in Waseca, when the Village was getting the water and sewer lines put in, there were several hungry construction workers who came to my Grandmas for a daily hot meal. And a meal it was. A sheet of plywood over two saw horses was put up in the living room of the house that they lived in , and she cooked all kinds of great creations. I was also lucky enough to partakes of these great meals every day. While other kids were stuck eating stale tuna sandwiches at school, I was feasting on every delicacy known to man.

One of my favorites for the main course was the Shepherds Pie. This was no ordinary Shepherds pie. This was pie that was loaded with all kinds of things that I have tried to duplicate several times but have never ever come close. There was no recipe for this, it just came out of her head. My mouth is watering right now as I am typing this description.

Desserts were really her specialty however. And they were numerous, incredible baked apple dumplings, lemon cheese tarts, cakes, bread puddings, raisin puddings, custard pies and cinnamon buns. There was a real favorite though that I liked. It was called "an old maid". Here was what it entailed. Pie crust that lined a muffin tin, raspberry jam as filling, which was topped by a moist white cake mix of some sort. She made dozens of those tarts and put them in the freezer out in the porch.

It did not take too long for me to realize that with a little planning, I could snab a couple of those frozen old maids once in awhile and help satisfy my incredibly pathetic sweet tooth that has been my nemesis since my early years. Who was able to stop at a couple? Not me. I ate those suckers like they were candies. I even became addicted to them in the frozen state.

I have not had one of those for over 40 years. They made such an impression on me that I can still visualize tasting one. They were insanely good, a fat man's poison, a skinny man's dream.

My sister gave me the recipe to the Lemon cheese. I have made some and it was great. All the great ingredients such as sugar and butter makes it a cholesterol nightmare but what a high you get from it.

They say that memories can make you as a person. The food sure has. The longing for all of the above has started again. Now, where were those carrot sticks again?