Recipes from my Grandma Ruth

My Grandma Ruth passed away Saturday at the age of 98. I have some stories over on Aud the Broad if you are interested. Considering she is the reason this website was created, in a round about way, I figured I’d share a few of her recipes.

Ma’am tried to make Mashed Potato Pancakes once and they came out flat and bland. She called Grandma, who said she probably didn’t add enough baking powder. Ma’am hadn’t added any baking powder. And thus began the quest to “write down the family recipes”. They are a great way to use up leftover mashed potatoes and can be served with jam for breakfast or as a side dish for dinner.

Whenever anyone was sick, Grandma would rush over a batch of Potato and Leek Soup. The family even started referring to it as “Ruth’s sick soup”.

One Thanksgiving she was on prescribed bed rest while she was pregnant with her third child. Ma’am was charged with making dinner. She ran back and forth between her mom’s bed and the kitchen to make dinner, including her Southern Style Cornbread Stuffing and pear salad (canned pear halves with a dollop of mayonnaise in the whole topped with a maraschino cherry).

A few recipes that luckily have been lost:

• Plaster of Paris fried chicken  – she kept her craft supplies in the kitchen and mistook plaster of paris for flour. She caught the mistake as soon as the chicken hit the fryer and turned rock hard. Knowing her, she probably washed off the chicken, redredged it with flour and still served it for dinner. Waste not want not.
• Moose Roast – Grandpa brought home a moose one year when they were in Alaska. Unfortunately, he dressed it in the house (there was moose hair EVERYWHERE! Ma’am retells disgustedly). Grandma was raised in Texas, she knew beef. And she cooked that moose like she had always cooked beef. One of the ones that did not come out well, per Ma’am, was when she tried to make a roast which came out excruciatingly tough. But I bet they ate it anyway.

In conclusion, if you want some good recipes try the first three and avoid the second two. Unless you have jaws of steel.

And, in case I need to remind you, WRITE DOWN THE FAMILY RECIPES!!

Until next time, happy eating.
~Audrey