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Special Tossed Salad with Old-Country Dressing
This recipe comes from my great-aunt, Janet Beck Clark (1936-2012). I remember Aunt Janet as a fun, kind, charismatic woman who loved spending time with family and friends, and was always hosting and organizing events, both large and small. She organized our extended family reunion for many years until she passed away, and she was good at spotting specific talents and strengths in certain people and delegating responsibilities accordingly. I remember she would always ask my Dad to be in charge of the games, which is his forte for sure, and then she would enthusiastically participate in all the games and activities, either as a player or a cheerleader. Not…
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Swedish Oatmeal
Sweet, creamy Swedish Oatmeal. This is the stuff of my childhood dreams. I grew up eating this dish and hearing my mother tell stories about our Swedish ancestors who used to eat it too. I would imagine them as children in the Swedish countryside more than a hundred years earlier waking up in the morning and having this for breakfast with fresh-picked blueberries and milk from the cow in the barn out back. Of course, I have no idea how close my childhood imaginings came to approximating the truth of this idyllic image, but like many old family stories, this had become the stuff of lore. At least I was…
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Dilly Bread
This recipe belonged to my great-grandmother Florence Robinson Beck (1905-1998), which she passed along to my grandmother Linda Beck Bullough. My grandmother said that she made it often for her own growing family during the 1970’s and 80’s. I’ve been wanting to try it for a while, and I happened to have some cottage cheese in the fridge today. Since we were having soup for dinner, I decided to give it a shot. Wow! I’m glad I did! It’s light and pillowy, more like a roll than a bread, and the flavor is fabulous. The cottage cheese melts and disappears into the bread, so other than the soft, creamy texture…
