Friday, August 18, 2006

Pheasant McNuggets Contest Entry 13

Good evening. Tonight we have another fun entry for you all. We realize that the updates are what is important, however it sure has been fun reading all these memories that folks have shared. I hope more of you join in soon.
My best memory of my mother, the Home Economist, in the kitchen was when she made us be a "test family" for recipes trying to be included in the River Roads Cookbooks for the Junior League. Yes, cookbook is plural. Now, to give a little background for y'all to understand, three families had to taste test the recipe and grade it on a sliding scale (great to terrible) before it could be considered for the cookbook. Of course, only great reviews by all would get in the book. So for months, we were eating bizarre stuff, especially to a kid, some good and some not. My mom, who was also a chemist at Exxon, got this one recipe for stewed chicken and dumplings where the tsp & tbsp (teaspoon & tablespoon) measurements were reversed on the seasonings. Thinking that it was incorrect, she called the woman that sent in the recipe to ask. Getting confirmation that it was indeed correct, my mom made it as written, since that was one of the rules. OMG! It looked and smelled good so everybody dug into it. Suddenly, dead silence around a usually rowdy dinner table. My mother, being the southern lady that she was, discreetly used her napkin to dispose of the bite, then quietly told us to do the same. Thank God for paper napkins! The plates were taken back to the kitchen without a word being said. The dog wouldn't eat it either. We made quick peanut butter sandwiches instead. The next night, she made it again but changed the measurements. Imagine our horror! Nobody touched their plates till they saw her eating it! I don't think that one made it in the book, but I never looked for it. To this day, I have never made chicken & dumplings. On the other hand, Mom's family recipe for Snickerdoodles made the cut so we were happy.

The second time wasn't as bad. We had more party type foods to taste. My favorite memory is about the green party salad. This recipe uses lime & lemon Jell-O, cheddar cheese, pineapple bits, cottage cheese, and a few other things. Mom made it for a family party we were hosting. Why not have a few more tasters, right? The adults wouldn't touch it, but all the kids gave it a shot just cause of the colors. WOW! It looked horrible, but it was good. Finally got some of the adults to taste it and they enjoyed it once their eyes were closed. We gave this recipe a "thumbs up for flavor, thumbs down on presentation". I think it made it in the book, but I make it every MardiGras just for the colors.

Molly M


Thanks for sharing, Molly. Some of those sounded more interesting than others. I must mention I always skip on anything that has the word dumplings in it and this includes those other foods that have different names but mean dumplings (humbows, dim sum etc...).

Now off to the updates. Enjoy.
Elisa

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