Anonymous
Post 11/08/2020 23:21     Subject: Weird foods your mom made
Anonymous wrote:My mom made this odd jello for every holiday.
Lemon jello with tiny marshmallows and canned “fruit cocktail” (it has pears, peaches, cherries...) mixed in... topped with whipped cream and cheddar cheese.


So gross! My mil had a version of this for every family gathering.
Anonymous
Post 11/08/2020 23:15     Subject: Weird foods your mom made
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:Lemon Jello mold with shredded carrots and pineapple, topped with mayo. I still make it for Christmas.


Oh, my midwestern grandmother made this, without the mayo! I love it and still make it sometimes for Thanksgiving.

Which reminds me, my mother would also make Watergate Salad for parties: pistachio pudding, canned crushed pineapple, Cool Whip, and pecans or walnuts (sometimes she would leave out the nuts). I think it's supposed to have mini marshmallows, too, but she never used those.

There’s a watergate cake like this!
My MIL makes it... it’s actually really good.


Midwest checking in here too... what about Ambrosia Salad and Waldorf Salad? Ambrosia is just a ton of sugar but Waldorf tries to be sweet and savory with the fruit and nuts topped with mayonnaise
Anonymous
Post 11/08/2020 21:13     Subject: Weird foods your mom made
Mom eats savory oatmeal. She’s Asian and i guess she treats it like congee? So she’ll typically add soy or maggi sauce until it’s really salty

Dad always put the thanksgiving cranberry sauce on vanilla ice cream. I still love this!

Anonymous
Post 11/08/2020 20:46     Subject: Weird foods your mom made
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:Lemon Jello mold with shredded carrots and pineapple, topped with mayo. I still make it for Christmas.


Oh, my midwestern grandmother made this, without the mayo! I love it and still make it sometimes for Thanksgiving.

Which reminds me, my mother would also make Watergate Salad for parties: pistachio pudding, canned crushed pineapple, Cool Whip, and pecans or walnuts (sometimes she would leave out the nuts). I think it's supposed to have mini marshmallows, too, but she never used those.

There’s a watergate cake like this!
My MIL makes it... it’s actually really good.
Anonymous
Post 11/08/2020 20:37     Subject: Weird foods your mom made
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:I will never stop shaking my head at my mother's idea of spanish rice.

Make white minute rice.
Pour jarred spaghetti sauce in.
Mix.


haha. it least it wasn't ketchup. My grandmother (who was otherwise a good cook) for many years used ketchup as a tomato sauce for pasta. I think this was a thing in the 50's but I'm not sure. This was in long island, NY so there were italians and italian food around. I'm not sure if it was a money saving thing or something else. I recall she had canned tomato sauce or crushed tomatoes around so I really don't think it was about money.


That's how I had spaghetti back in the 70s! Ketchup as the sauce . It was how the bronx irish imitated Italian food back then. I think jarred sauce was just starting to become a thing around then.


I thought ketchup in pasta was an immigrant thing. I knew many Indian American immigrant parents who did it.

My husband (not an immigrant, but from poor family) is an incredible cook... but them he will serve egg noodles with ketchup...
Anonymous
Post 11/08/2020 20:35     Subject: Weird foods your mom made
My mom made this odd jello for every holiday.
Lemon jello with tiny marshmallows and canned “fruit cocktail” (it has pears, peaches, cherries...) mixed in... topped with whipped cream and cheddar cheese.
Anonymous
Post 11/08/2020 20:31     Subject: Weird foods your mom made
Anonymous wrote:My dad made "shells 'n' tuna". Which was pasta, a jar of sauce, and a tuna salad. He said it was protein (tuna), veg (sauce), and carb (pasta).

Sometimes I think it would be fun to make a higher end version and see what that's like.

My mom did this too!
Anonymous
Post 11/08/2020 20:17     Subject: Weird foods your mom made
My mom made something she called finnan haddie, but now that I google it, seems closer to cullen skink. It was smoked haddock poached in onions and milk. Kind of like this: https://www.nytimes.com/1978/06/11/archives/food-accidental-discoveries-finnan-haddie-a-la-creme.html

It was the only thing my mom has ever cooked that I found inedible. In general, she is an excellent cook!
Anonymous
Post 11/08/2020 17:46     Subject: Weird foods your mom made
Ok sis.
Anonymous
Post 11/08/2020 17:38     Subject: Weird foods your mom made
Anonymous wrote:Chow main noodles with tuna fish and peas. Maybe not weird but gross. At least once a week. 5 minute dinner!


We used to eat Chow Mein noodles that came in two separate cans, wrapped together. I'm not sure what was in each can but it was really good!
Anonymous
Post 11/08/2020 17:19     Subject: Weird foods your mom made
Oops chow mein
Anonymous
Post 11/08/2020 17:18     Subject: Weird foods your mom made
Chow main noodles with tuna fish and peas. Maybe not weird but gross. At least once a week. 5 minute dinner!
Anonymous
Post 11/08/2020 16:31     Subject: Weird foods your mom made
Anonymous wrote:Not food exactly, but menu planning and everything from a box/can. It was like how quickly can I get something on the table with minimal effort. It was very clear now cooking just didn’t interest her. Although, given all the pasta and ketchup threads, the one thing she did make from scratch was spaghetti sauce......and she was a 2nd gen Irish Catholic.


Are you my sister? Because this is how my non cooked. Boxes and cans, microwave, but would spend all day making pasta sauce (which ironically I liked less than the jarred stuff)
Anonymous
Post 11/07/2020 21:18     Subject: Weird foods your mom made
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:I will never stop shaking my head at my mother's idea of spanish rice.

Make white minute rice.
Pour jarred spaghetti sauce in.
Mix.


haha. it least it wasn't ketchup. My grandmother (who was otherwise a good cook) for many years used ketchup as a tomato sauce for pasta. I think this was a thing in the 50's but I'm not sure. This was in long island, NY so there were italians and italian food around. I'm not sure if it was a money saving thing or something else. I recall she had canned tomato sauce or crushed tomatoes around so I really don't think it was about money.


That's how I had spaghetti back in the 70s! Ketchup as the sauce . It was how the bronx irish imitated Italian food back then. I think jarred sauce was just starting to become a thing around then.


I thought ketchup in pasta was an immigrant thing. I knew many Indian American immigrant parents who did it.
Anonymous
Post 11/07/2020 18:24     Subject: Weird foods your mom made
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:Why, can't dads cook weird food?


My dad cooked really weird foods, but my mom only made one “weird” dish that she learned from her mom and I later learned was an old fashioned British/Irish food. We are mixed AA.

It was basically buttered bread sprinkled with sugar, cut into 4 long strips, and doused in warm milk. We ate this as a bedtime snack. I never thought it was anything other than a family quirk until I was an adult.


My Irish granny used to make me this too.


Me again - she called this dish “goody.”


Ditto, we called them sugar sandwiches.
Canned pears or peaches with a mound of mayo and then sprinkled cheese as a garnish(?).
Hominy (which I don't mind now).
Tuna salad with pecans in it.