FAMILY MEMORIES AND RECIPES

Favorites from the Miles, Rodriguez, Quintero, and Dutile collections.

I began this blog to share recipes with my children because when I married, I didn't know how to cook and I didn't have any family recipes. Most of what I learned to make I learned in Relief Society classes of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.

I don't have each recipe in a separate entry as many others do because I usually am not searching for a specific recipe. I usually go here as I mull over, "what should I bake or make today?" I may be thinking about making a dessert, a treat, a snack, or a meal for my family. I may be trying to decide what to make for a Spanish lesson. So my recipes are listed in categories and then in alphabetical order. I love browsing through recipes. Of course the search feature is still available if you are seeking a specific recipe, but for me, the browsing and seeing the recipes brings to mind times when our family gathered and shared that dish or dessert.

Memorable family gatherings, holiday celebrations, baptisms, weddings, and funerals always include food.

Some foods are expected during specific celebration, like birthday cakes. Cheesecakes and lemon cakes were some favorites. I always preferred chocolate! So of course I have an entry devoted exclusively to chocolate!

My family looks forward to specific side dishes with our Thanksgiving Turkey, like Mamacita's Green Jello from the United Methodist Church cookbook.

We know that we will have agua de jamaica and chocolate Mexicano when we celebrate Posadas. It wouldn't seem right if we didn't have pozole so many nights in a row as we invited people to come over and share in our tradition. The flavors sing Christmas to my family.

As a genealogist, I find documents with dates and places. Sometimes we find journal entries or letters that might include events, or information about a relative's character. Rarely do we find recipes in our journals. Yet I think it would be wonderful to taste foods that our family, our ancestors, once enjoyed.

No one ever had my grandmother's cookie recipe and after she died it was lost. I tried to duplicate it over the years without success. One day my Visiting Teacher came over with a plate of cookies. They were shaped like candy canes and had candy peppermints sprinkled over them - excepting those two differences they tasted just like my grandmothers! 

I removed the peppermint from the recipe and changed the shape of the cookie. As a test, at the next family gathering with my cousins, I offered each a taste and everyone agreed that they tasted just like hers! I was so excited to get the recipe and have included it in my cookie collection, "Fruta de Horno."

One of my children decided at 6 years old to bake and sell cookies in our neighborhood.  She'd bake several batches of a variety of cookies and walk around the block with her brother's little red wagon. She named her business Kitty Corner Cookie Company and it was a grand success.

As my children have grown up and moved away, they have learned to make other recipes with friends and I've added them to our collection. Because, although they are far away, we still get together and make more memories and do more baking and cooking.

I hope to add more delicious Southern dishes as the years go by.

Of course I am listing the cookie and dessert recipes first because that is usually what I eat first when we go out for dinner or lunch! At times I have to ask for a dessert menu because it's a separate one, but that's okay, I'll go to the trouble of requesting one.  I always ask the waitress to include a fork for everyone at the table, because although they may act embarrassed at first, they all end up helping me finish it!  

Sometimes the memory is sweet during the cooking and baking; I know it was for me. I hope my children will look through these recipes, try some of them, and, as the years go by, teach their own children to cook.