Tuesday morning workout with the trainer, trying a bump-up in weights. For the first time since I had those right arm issues (I'm thinking it was over a year ago)... I was doing bicep curls with 8 pound dumbbells.
Anybody remember "Hamburger Helper"? It was one of the earlier things my older sis and I might trade off cooking for the family, when our mom took a second shift job. One would cook, the other would feed our youngest sister, who was still at the infant/toddler stage. We rotated dish washing duties until a dishwasher was introduced, and then it was "loading / unloading" the machine as opposed to hands and arms in a sink full of suds.
In any case I'd been thinking about this concoction, and made my own version, with fresh veggies, as opposed to the powdery stuff. Pasta and ground beef, and powdery cheese made up the rest. A good comfort food that should last me the week of main meals.
More childhood comfort food, we also made a couple of boxed meals: Chef BoyArdee spaghetti, Kraft Mac & Cheese. That, plus tuna and noodles, made with canned condensed soup. Leftover chicken or beef from Sunday's dinner boiled with noodles made a dinner. Lots of pasta with varying veggies and protein. The goal was to get the baby fed, and have dinner ready when Dad got home from work at 5:30 p.m.
These dishes were designed for teenaged middle schoolers to make easily. We graduated to "real" food later. Hamburger Helper showed up sometime in those years. Nowadays it is not so prevalent. What were the first family meals you learned to cook? Do you ever cook them now, from nostalgia?
That's about it for today's offering. Hope things are well with all of you!
Life is good. Spark on!
💖👀🔥
Thanks for posting the childhood memories. I recently purchased the healthier ingredients I needed for an old-fashioned tuna casserole. The problem is, I'm the only one here who will eat it! I dislike freezing noodles but have no choice.
ReplyDeleteDH just made me laugh when he saw your quilt. He said if you go to bed and you're not tired, just read all the shirts and it should make you tired!
LOL... if he wants to feel even more tired, he can read the two quilts under the one in the photo. Not all of them are race shirts, mind you. There's the Total Eclipse one, some of the T-shirts I inherited from my mom, and a couple of IT projects I worked on, plus some blood bank donation shirts. Bottom line, they're all good memories so appropriate to fall asleep under!
DeleteWell, I'm the only one here eating my concoctions, too. Pasta is not one that I would freeze.
Put on your thinking cap...I'm making it a healthy version and want the taste of a tuna casserole, but want to freeze it. I could use the chickpea pasta as it freezes and reheats well. What might you substitute with ?
DeleteMy mind is a blank. I don't think I would freeze it, and have never tried to make a freezable version. Cauliflower instead of pasta? Maybe?
DeleteSpaghetti squash
DeleteSuch a magnificent memory quilt to commemorate all those amazing accomplishments.
ReplyDeleteMom would make Kraft Dinner (mac & cheese), but no Hamburger Helper that I recall. Spaghetti is the first meal that I remember cooking solo. Home Ec was required in high school, so there was practice at home.
We only got Hamburger Helper when it was on sale. Mom figured dump canned tomatoes and macaroni in with the hamburger and you had goulash much cheaper. But we did try it!
DeleteThat is a wonderful quilt. So many memories for you.
ReplyDeleteOh, I loved Hamburger Helper growing up. When we first had the lock down I saw and thought hmm let me try it and see if it's like I remember. Nope, yuck! I should try and make my own version and see how it goes.
What I made is not so different from my mom's definition of gouloush, just with more adult taste to the spicing.
DeleteI love my memory quilts. Now if only I could figure out a way to do the same for the finisher medals.
Love how you repurpose your T shirts in such a pretty and functional
ReplyDeleteway!
I still buy the deluxe stroganoff hamburger helper but use ground turkey and add sautéed peppers, onions, and portobello mushrooms…comfort food, indeed! Eissa7 (Karen)
Most people do update recipes to suit our own family's tastes (or dietary restrictions). Sounds what you do is similar to what I did!
DeleteThe first supper I cooked was lasagna with a recipe from TV Guide and I still make it every month or two. Never really made Hamburger helper, I think mom did once or twice but that was to try it after seeing the commercials about it.
ReplyDeleteIsn't it funny how we find favorite or early recipes in odd places. I am hankering for a "Broccoli sandwich" recently, a recipe I got out of the book You: The Owner's Manual. I generally get ONE good recipe from a given source, that's the only one I still make from that educational read.
DeleteI learned to cook lasagne from a gal of Italian heritage. She learned from her grandmother. But I don't have enough people to eat it. It does, however, freeze well!
I was never a "regular" at Hamburger Helper, but seriously, what we cooked was pretty close to it.
And I love the t-shirt quilt!!! What a great way to keep memories.
ReplyDeleteThanks. I agree. Especially as I'm hopeless with fabrics and threads. I hired all four of them out. No one in my family's current generation quilts. Last one who did was my dad's sister's step-mother-in-law (how's that for long chain relative description?)
DeleteI do remember mom telling the stories of what dresses the fabric in patchwork quilts that were handed down came from. Methinks all quilts hold memories!
Mom stayed home. The only boxed food we had was cereal, usually Corn Flakes.
ReplyDeleteI miss her cooking 🥺
-RunKeeper Dee
Our mom had different jobs, usually for short term, to fund "extras", like my older sister's private music lessons, or the purchase of that dishwasher. Other than that she manned the volunteer from home fort... Girl Scout leader, League of Women voters, church stuff... and of course, raising five children takes a bit of effort.
DeleteI'll bet you had fantastic food growing up!
Now that I remember, she used to babysit the neighbors’ babies & toddlers!
DeleteNot all the food was fantastic to the kid tastebuds, she would always say she cooked for dad (aka spicy), but after “training” the tastebuds, increasing the spice tolerance, THAT’s when the real appreciation for her cooking kicked in. She once served us (sis & I) canned beans and we could totally tell she didn’t cook them!!
Ah, yes, some foods do take adjusting. I remember discovering so-called ethnic foods in my teens, and finding the new and different spicing. When I married, a whole new set of tastes entered the picture. Would you believe my mother never put green peppers in anything? My husband expected them, and I learned to love them!
DeleteMom put a green bell pepper in her rice once, tasted bitter, she thought it would be spicy, like a jalapeño! Never again. I enjoy a red bell pepper with hummus every now and then.
Delete-RunKeeper Dee
LOL... and I only had jalapeño in a dish ONCE... made the mistake of biting the pepper slice... too hot for this lady! My dad, on the other hand, loved the hot stuff.
Delete