From the Kitchen Of: The Women of My Family - Mother's Day Recipes Part 2

Carley: Fit Fashionista
May 10, 2020
10 min read

Since posting Part 1 of this Mother's Day series, I've gotten a lot of great messages from people saying how sweet this is and how fun it is to read through memories. Thank you all for that feedback! Today, I am posting Part 2 where I share stories and recipes from my Grandma Millie and my Mom Suzanne. I'm excited to share these with you, because as I have been collecting the recipes, I've been able to take a trip down memory lane to reminisce about my own childhood experiences with this food. I hope you enjoy these stories as much as I do!

Grandma Millie

My grandma Millie is an amazing woman. At the age of 85, she still runs 2 miles everyday. If I think about any of my favorite memories from growing up, she is always a major part of them. Millie is still going strong, managing her home and keeping my Grandpa Jim out of trouble (joking of course), and still baking most of these wonderful recipes I am going to share with you. Here is a photo of grandma on her wedding day on October 2nd, 1960. Grandma and grandpa have been married for 60 years this year, and they still enjoy going out and dancing at the Sons of Norway in Fargo.

It was almost impossible to narrow down the list of recipes, so bare with me as I share them. I promise each one is so good!

Crops (Swedish Potato Dumplings):

Now Millie isn't Swedish; she's Norwegian, but this is one of my favorite foods to eat when visiting the farm. This recipe was actually handed down from Ruby (Hallquist) Dick, my Grandpa's mother, but Millie has made this many times when we've been over. This recipe card was also handwritten by Ruby.

Like I mentioned yesterday in Part 1, one thing that I find interesting about vintage recipes is how vague they can be. This recipe says to add enough flour to the grated potatoes to make a stiff dough and to add a little salt. I imagine women back then would be making these recipes from memory, and only writing them down to share with others. The best way to serve these is to pour fresh cream over them, and I always like to add salt and pepper too. Here is Millie making crops on Christmas day:

The Finished Dumplings, Now to Add Fresh Cream

Dill Pickles:

I LOVE pickles, and one thing grandma always has set out in a little dish during meals are her homemade dill pickles. She grows her own cucumbers to use for pickle making too. They are the best pickles I've ever eaten, and I want to attempt to make my own from her recipe once my cucumber plants start producing little cukes.

My Aunt Janna added a note in the darker colored ink on the back of the recipe card saying to add the alum into the jar first, then to pour in the liquid over the cucumbers. The hardest thing about making this recipe is waiting 3 months before being able to enjoy the pickles! I remember going down into the basement of my grandparents house and seeing all of her canned goods, each one meticulously labeled with when they were prepared. They have always grown lots of fruits and veggies, and they made sure to preserve anything that couldn't be eaten up right away. I think that is a great lesson for us all today.

Grandma Millie's Wedding Punch:

I love weddings, and I think it is so cool to have the recipe for the punch that was served at Millie and Jim's wedding. Here is another photo from their wedding because it is so cute!

This punch recipe also sounds so refreshing! I've never seen a punch recipe use tea in it before like this one does.

This recipe serves 50 people. I think I will have to try to reduce it before I try to make is so I'm not stuck drinking punch for the next few months. Although, that probably wouldn't be a bad thing!

Frosted Ginger Creams:

Grandma has had quite a few recipes in the local paper and church cookbooks, and this next recipe is one of my mom's favorites!

I also love this one, it reminds me of Thanksgiving dinner or Christmas time. This recipe doesn't tell you how to make the powdered sugar frosting, but an easy frosting can be made with 1 cup powdered sugar, 1/2 tsp. vanilla, and a few tablespoons of milk.

Dream Bars:

This is another of my mom's favorites. She says she remembers Grandma making these many times.

I also remember this one, and I am a huge chocolate and coconut fan, so I need to make this one again because I remember it being so dreamy!

Rhubarb Bars:

I attribute my love for all things rhubarb to my grandma's baking. These bars are one of my absolute favorite desserts ever. I have finally established my own patch of rhubarb, so stay tuned for this summer when I make these for myself!

First, you mix the flour, powdered sugar, and butter together and spread in a pan and bake to make a crust. Then, you mix the eggs, sugar, 1/4 c. flour and rhubarb and pour it over the crust. It is an easy and quick dessert that is always a hit!

Rhubarb Custard Tarte:

I told you I love rhubarb, so I have another of my grandma's rhubarb dessert recipes. My mom's note to me when she sent me this recipe was "this is the most delicious dessert!". You can see from this well used recipe card that this is a well loved dessert!

When I make this, I also add a little vanilla, and it looks like grandma added a note that you can either use cream or evaporated milk. I also don't own a ceramic pie pan, so I usually buy a frozen pie crust to make this too.

Chicken Lasagna:

Growing up, this was a recipe that my mom would make often, so I always associated it with her. It turns out, though, that is it actually one of Millie's recipes, just rewritten in my mom's handwriting.

The noodles it is referring to are lasagna noodles, and the ranch sauce makes this SO good. Maybe it's a Midwestern thing, but I love this dish! Actually, I think I will be making this for supper tonight!

Spaghetti and Meatballs:

Another great supper recipe from my grandma (and the last of Millie's recipes I'll share today), my mom says growing up, she always thought this was such a special meal for some reason! This recipe card is also rewritten by my mom.

Mom says that you fry the meatballs first, then add them to the sauce for the last 10 minutes or so of simmering.

My Mom, Suzanne

I of course couldn't leave my mom out of this post, so I will finish off this article by sharing some of my mom's amazing recipes. Mom is the best cook ever, with one of her degrees being in Home Economics. On top of that, she is an amazing costume designer and dance teacher, and is the strongest woman I know. I know that I am able to cook like I can thanks to her guidance and teaching, and I remember many times cooking and baking things with her growing up. Here is a photo of me and my mom on her birthday last year! Thanks to my dad for being the camera man!

I had the hardest time narrowing down a list of her recipes, so I'll be sharing quite a few of my favorites with you all!

Monster Cookies:

Mom said that she remembers making huge batches of these cookies and bring them back to college with her. She would eat them as snacks and breakfast for a long time. Mom danced a lot in college, so I imagine these were the best for quick energy to keep going throughout the day.

We would also make huge batches of these when I was growing up, so I also remember eating large quantities of these cookies. I mean, this recipe says it make 10 dozen, so can you blame me for polishing off a couple dozen by myself?

If you don't need 10 dozen cookies in your life, you can always halve the recipe to make less, or freeze the dough and make smaller amounts at a time!

Monkey Bread:

One of the best things about being allowed to have my friends sleep over when I was young was mom would always make us monkey bread for breakfast! I also remember trying to be patient while waiting for this to finish baking, because I knew just how delicious it was going to be. The recipe calls this "Breakfast Biscuit Pull Aparts", but we've always referred to it as monkey bread.

The biscuits are just Pillsbury Grands Biscuits that come in the can that you pop open (which is still a terrifying experience to this day in my opinion! Joking of course). This is also baked in a bundt cake pan. I am learning just now that mom added a scoop of vanilla ice cream to the caramel, and now everything is making sense as to why these are so good.

Bar-B-Ques:

Now, these are more of a sloppy joe type of meal, but we've always referred to them as bar-b-ques. This was one of my favorite lunches as a kid, best served with pickle slices and ruffle potato chips. Mom also taught me to make these early on, and I actually entered them into a 4-H cooking contest, and won a purple ribbon. The judges don't lie, folks! These are so good.

Once this is ready to eat, you add a scoop of the meat to a hamburger bun! A slice of cheese and some pickles really finish this dish (in my opinion). It's a quick, easy, and filling meal!

Creamed Turkey on Toast:

So this is another recipe that I wasn't sure whether to put with my Grandma Millie or my mom. After thinking about it, I'm going to include this here because this is another meal my mom would make often when I was growing up, and it's another one of my favorites. My mom said that she remembers grandma making this for them when she was young, but mom has recreated this recipe from how she remembers to dish to be since there was no original recipe card.

Note: The turkey is pre-cooked, so this is a great recipe for leftover Thanksgiving turkey! You serve this on freshly toasted slices of bread. This is such a simple dish, but man oh man is it good!!

Fudge:

I have a major sweet tooth, which I think I get from my mom and grandma who also love sweet treats. Chocolate is my go-to, and around the holidays when all of the sweets are set out on the counters, I always go for the fudge first! Specifically, my mom's fudge. It is easy to make, and the best fudge I have ever eaten.

Once everything is mixed together, you just pour it into a dish and refrigerate until it cools and solidifies. See? So easy, and I promise if you make this yourself, you'll agree it is so good!

Italian Vegetable Soup:

After college, my mom traveled to New York City to nanny for a wealthy Italian family in the 1980s. I love hearing her stories from during this time, because she really did have a big city adventure! While there, she accumulated quite a few amazing recipes that to this day, I continue to cook them because each one is so good. I'll start with the Italian Vegetable Soup recipe, because this one is my favorite soup of all time.

You can used canned beans instead of fresh ones!

This is another great example of a recipe that I am forced to be patient for when all I want to do is eat it right now, but if you simmer it for 3 hours, it really makes the soup just that much more amazing.

Lentil Soup:

Mom said that the family she nannied for had an Italian cookbook where she got these recipes from. The name of the book is The Classic Italian Cookbook by Marcella Hazan, so if you like these recipes, check this cookbook out! I see that it is for sale on Amazon. This is another soup that is hearty and flavorful, a.k.a ultimate comfort food.

I agree with mom's note at the bottom, this soup is an amazing leftover. I think that letting this sit in the fridge over night allows the rich flavor to develop even more.

Tuna Sauce:

I am a big tuna fan, so this pasta sauce is right up my alley. It is tangy and has a bright tomato flavor, and can be served over any type of pasta (although I prefer to use bowtie pasta).

I don't know why, but this meal takes me back to when I was in dance class, and I'd eat this after I was done with classes for the evening. This is one of those dishes that makes me so nostalgic.

Hello Dolly Bars:

Ok, back to the sweets. This is a recipe that a lady named Evelyn Dalh wrote for my grandma's church's cookbook, but my mom has made these so many times that I associate these with her as well. I also always thought these were called Hello Dolly bars because mom made them for the cast of Hello Dolly performed by a community theater that both of my parents were a part of. It turns out that the recipe in the cookbook actually calls them Hello Dolly bars, so I guess I'm not sure why they go by that name! All I know is they are easy to make and really good.

Eagle brand milk refers to sweetened condensed milk. I like to first mix the graham cracker crumbs with the melted butter, then pat it down into the bottom of the pan to make a crust. I actually just take one sleeve of graham crackers and break them up, which ends up being a little more than a cup but covers the entire bottom of the pan better. I also put the coconut on before I put chocolate chips, and I add butterscotch chips as well. Whenever mom made these, I would eat half of the pan by myself!

Play Dough:

This last recipe I'm going to share isn't an edible one, but this makes the best play dough ever. Mom would make huge batches of this and then store it in gallon Ziplock bags that we would tear into and play with for hours. This play dough lasts a really long time if stored where it can't dry out!

Mom would actually cook this in an electric skillet that she used solely for making play dough. I think she did this to really combine the ingredients well to form a smooth dough.

Wow, going through these recipes and memories is always so fun, and as I've been reminiscing, all of these great little memories have been flooding back. I am so incredibly thankful to have had my mom and grandma with me as I've grown up, and I feel like I am a better person because I've had these women as influences throughout my life. Every good moment in my life has these two involved in some way, and everything that I've ever had to overcome, I've overcome it with guidance from them. On this Mother's Day, even though I am unable to spend the day with them in person, they will be in my thoughts today. I hope all of you mothers out there have a wonderful Mother's Day.