Ten on Tuesday | Mother's Cooking.

This week, Carole's asked us to share favorite foods* our moms used to make. Lucky me, my mom has always been - and still is - a very good cook. Family dinners and Sunday brunch (after church) were fixtures in my childhood home. We didn't have an eat-in kitchen until I was in high school (and even then, I think we used the kitchen table more for projects and homework than for meals). We ate in the dining room. family style.

porch view. 6pm today.

unless we ate outside. and we never had popcorn for dinner! (or maybe she did have popcorn dinners when she was my age ... and her husband was out of town ;-)

In any event, here are ten of my favorite foods from then, and now.

1. macaroni and cheese, custard-style.

2. swedish meatballs. such a favorite I asked for this at my 16th birthday party.

3. cornish game hens, with cornbread stuffing and an orange glaze. I remember this as our standard Christmas Eve dinner in my high school years.

4. enchiladas.

5. zucchini fritters. Mother had a vegetable garden when we lived in New Jersey (my high school and college years). Of course she grew zucchini and of course there was too much. I remember an entire meal of zucchini fritters...just us...one summer when I was home from college. (that might be the closest we came to a popcorn meal :-)

6. chicken and dumplings.

7. eggnog french toast. this recipe is really easy and it uses dairy eggnog. what a holiday treat it was!

8. taco salad. do y'all remember this one? fritos and catalina dressing ... I haven't had it in years, but it always seemed like a special occasion when she made it.

9. marinated grilled chicken. I do not have this recipe. I'm not even sure it is a recipe. but she'd marinate all the chicken parts in a mixture of (I think) white wine, lemon juice, oil, and LOTS of herbs. and then grill it over a slow heat. I remember having this fairly often during the summer, and I probably didn't appreciate it as much as I should have.

10. baked fish. a fairly recent addition to her repertoire and one she always makes when I visit now. It's especially good with catfish or salmon and I try not to think about the mayonnaise in the topping.

p.s. we rode in the caboose today.

I promise Charlie did smile...just not for the camera!

*Mother always baked dozens of different kinds of Christmas cookies. many of those are still holiday favorites around here, but that's a post for another day!

Thank you Carole for the delicious walk down memory lane! If you're not already part of the Ten on Tuesday fun, click here to join.