LinkThis was kind of funny, just thought I'd row a couple oddities over here:
ChoralScholar (1000+ posts) Tue Feb-23-10 04:45 PM
Response to Reply #92
102. My latest bowl went like this:
Open up two cans of Great Northern Beans, empty into pot, and add 1 can of water. Get four slices of bacon and cut it up into 1-inch pieces, and put into the beans. Boil the hell out of it, both to cook the bacon, and boil off the water.
I then take two slices of plain white bread, tear it up into a bowl, and ladle the beans and broth over it. Add the tbsp of mayo, mix, enjoy.
Amerigo Vespucci (1000+ posts) Mon Feb-22-10 05:48 PM
Response to Original message
7. The pork chop thing?
Once a week, every week.
A "one skillet" meal, basically. Pork chops (which came out dry as shoe leather) potato wedges (which never cooked all the way through and tasted terrible) canned string beans (you could really taste that metallic can taste) and canned tomatoes (which, when combined with all of the other things in the skillet, came out bitter and acidic).
MiddleFingerMom (1000+ posts) Mon Feb-22-10 07:33 PM
Response to Reply #31
35.
I LOVES me some lima beans. Plain with butter, or with salsa and cheese, or with
a little Thousand Island dressing, or Ranch w/Bacon, or even a good creamy cole slaw
dressing.
Lyric (1000+ posts) Mon Feb-22-10 06:27 PM
Response to Original message
14. Two things: creamed kidney beans and pea salad.
My mother grew up on this stuff, and insists on making it, even though nobody eats it but her. I have no idea what goes into creamed kidney beans, but the end result is like creamed corn--but with kidney beans. The pea salad is a nightmare: raw, thick chunks of white onion, globs of mayonnaise, and cold canned peas all mixed together in a bowl. For me, that's a Fear Factor level of gross. If given a choice between that and the hissing cockroaches, I'd pick the pea salad, but I'd have to think long and hard about it first. Ugh.
Lyric (1000+ posts) Mon Feb-22-10 06:50 PM
Response to Reply #22
24. My dad put salt, pepper, and tabasco on cantaloupes.
mitchum (1000+ posts) Tue Feb-23-10 01:08 PM
Response to Reply #24
82. My dad would put gravy on cantaloupe (I guess he still does)
MiddleFingerMom (1000+ posts) Tue Feb-23-10 04:34 PM
Response to Reply #39
101. In the Sixties, one of the "Better Homes"-type mags suggested...
.
... lining small flowerpots with foil and filling them with
ice cream (pack it around a drinking straw). Top the ice
cream with finely crushed Oreos (without the cream) for dirt
and (years later) put a Gummy Worm or two on them. Put a real
or plastic flower into the hold where the straw is.
After which a picture that...well go see if you careOhio Joe (1000+ posts) Mon Feb-22-10 08:29 PM
Response to Original message
42. Simmer chicken...
In equal amounts of coke and ketchup, remove the bones and serve over rice.
Rhythm (1000+ posts) Mon Feb-22-10 11:12 PM
Response to Original message
51. My mother always makes 1 of these odd salads when she makes spaghetti
Either a pear salad, involving a bed of lettuce and canned pear halves.
Each pear gets a dollop of Miracle Whip blooped into the center, and then sprinkled with shredded cheddar cheese.
After which another stomach-turning pictureThe Velveteen Ocelot (1000+ posts) Mon Feb-22-10 11:26 PM
Response to Original message
53. Candle Salad.
My mother used to make this when we were little kids -- as you can see, it consists of a pineapple slice, a banana, a maraschino cherry and a blob of mayonnaise. It was supposed to look like a candle.
AFTER WHICH A PHOTO THAT YOU'VE JUST GOT TO GO SEEyewberry (1000+ posts) Mon Feb-22-10 11:36 PM
Response to Original message
54. My grampa used to make oatmeal with meatballs.
Thankfully, that dish died with him.
zanana1 (176 posts) Tue Feb-23-10 06:49 AM
Response to Original message
67. A sandwich made of butter and ketchup.
dr.strangelove (1000+ posts) Tue Feb-23-10 09:50 AM
Response to Original message
70. Torn napkins
I know its not a food tradition, but it is an eating tradition. The story goes, that my mom's family was not poor, but not well off either. Before each meal my grandmother would rip a napkin in half and let two people share it. When my dad first came to my mom's house to have dinner with her family, he was amazed by this and shared it with his family. His dad deemed it a good idea and mandated that they do it too.
No offense, but your grandfather was easily amazed and a tyrant to boot.
huskerlaw (1000+ posts) Tue Feb-23-10 02:20 PM
Response to Original message
87. Dorothy Lynch salad dressing on Totino's pizza
If you know what Dorothy Lynch dressing is, I'm guessing you grew up in Nebraska (or very nearby)!
I could never get on board with this, but my stepdad and stepsisters swore by it. GROSS.
One for Frank, but he's probably busy with taxes.
Binka (1000+ posts) Tue Feb-23-10 06:20 PM
Response to Reply #88
107. Better Than Ketchup Is SALSA
Cottage Cheese
Salsa
Special K
Sprouts
And if you are really crazy ad some Beets!
Now you're just looking in the garbage can and making stuff up.
The following is a tad lengthy, but telling. It provides a glimpse into where the primitives might have gotten their OCD and anal-retentive kitchen habits:
NanceGreggs (1000+ posts) Wed Feb-24-10 02:37 AM
Response to Original message
125. My mother was an exceptionally good cook, BUT ...
... but she had a "thing" about certain foods being REQUIRED to be served in a certain way.
One of her "quick meals" was sort of a home-made Hamburger Helper: browned ground beef and onions mixed with shell macaroni, and a can of Campbell's tomato soup.
The thing was she would only make this meal with medium-sized shells. If she had all the other ingredients, but didn't have shell pasta in the house, she would declare that she couldn't make it - we'd have to eat something else.
I once suggested she use elbow macaroni instead, as we had plenty on-hand. "Oh, no, that doesn't GO," she said.
Breaded pork chops HAD to be served with elbow macaroni and stewed tomatoes. Beef goulash HAD to be served with egg noodles - rice or potatoes didn't "go" with it.
Her homemade chicken soup (to die for!) HAD to be cooked with egg-drop and medium-sized egg noodles - NEVER thin noodles or thick, MEDIUM-SIZE ONLY!
I once had homemade chicken soup at the neighbour's house. When I explained to my mother that it had been made with small bow-tie pasta instead of noodles, AND sans egg drop, she didn't get over it for a week.
Every Thanksgiving, she put out a bowl of cranberry sauce. No one in our family ever ate it. It was put on the table, then tossed in the garbage at the end of the meal.
When I asked why she insisted on serving something that nobody ever ate, her answer was: "Because it GOES."
Bon Appetit, everybody!
