Ham Hocks and Lima Beans--or foods from your past

Cinnamon rolls and gingerbread cookies.

For my kids, it's their grandmother's fried chicken and cornbread. They also love certain cookies.

For me it's chicken and noodles - my Grandma made them so thick, it wasn't a soup, but more of a stew that she served over mashed potatoes. Carb overload, I know, but it was SO good!

My mom would make ham hocks and beans, but I never ate them. I'd probably like them today, but didn't then.

My Mom used to make tuna burgers. tuna fish, eggs and seasoning...pan fried. Yummy dipped in ketchup.

Fall River, Mass Chow Mein (my dad is from Fall River and got the recipe, even orders the special noodles from Fall River.)

And this soup his mom made and then my mom. It was a tomato base with elbow macaronni pasta and meat. Soooo good!

My sweet Momma made the best deviled eggs, potato salad, and fried chicken. She also made this Boston cream pie that was so delicious, and a Texas Sheet Cake that I'd give my right arm for about now. Her recipe for a cherry-pie-filling-topped-no-bake-cheesecake probably came from the back of a box of cream cheese but I've never been able to duplicate it. She also made the best ever macaroni and cheese, but I'm sure it was just noodles and Velveeta. The way you remember things as kids aren't always the way they end up being in real life, but it's fun to reminisce. 

My Daddy always made dessert about once a week. He would fill up a glass with ice cold milk, drop in a few canned peaches, and tear up a piece of white bread to smoosh into the top of the glass. He grew up in  dirt-floor house in the Depression, so I'm sure a treat like that was a luxury to him.

They've both been gone for over 15 years, and I still miss them every day. Thanks for the trip down memory lane!

My Nannie made to most excellent pillowy soft buttermilk biscuits cooked in an iron skillet that must have weighed 32 pounds.

Those biscuits were made every single day and if you were really special, you got the middle biscuit.

She made white gravy with bits of sausage and she would take a fork and mash up butter into a small dollop of ribbon cane syrup and put it on your biscuit for you...there's not much I wouldn't give to sit at her table one more time and share a biscuit with butter and syrup w my Nannie. She passed when I was seven.

She believed that ice cream was "good for you baby because it has milk in it". And she kept cold Cokacola in the glass bottle in her fridge. One a day. You could only have one a day. And it was called "Cokacola". All one word.

This thread just warms my heart! Reading all of these stories about such wonderful memories really solidifies for me how simply we can create bonds with people we love through sharing a meal together, and not even a fancy or expensive one! Just ham and beans and a cold Coke from the fridge, and we create an opportunity to have a lovely memory!

My dad was a master baker, so the smell of baking cake always gets me. He had a very special recipe that he developed. No one in our family baked cakes for years after he passed. The first time my mom did, I walked into the house and burst into sobs, the smell made me think of him instantly. I can smell it without crying now, but it is bittersweet.

It's nice that so many of you have good memories of your Grandmothers. I didn't really have a "grandmotherly" type Grandma. On my Mother's side of the family, I was so far down the string of grandkids I was barely noticed...although my Grandpa seemed fond of me. It didn't help that we didn't live in the same town although my parents visited them regularly. On the other side, she lived in another state and only visited once a year or every couple of years...no big emotional tie there either. I hope my own grandchildren remember me as kind and loving...even if they don't remember my cooking! LOL!

When I was pregnant (both times) conch fritters were my number one craving. To this day, if conch fritters are on the menu, I order them. That and gator tail. 

Lima Beans and ham hocks--you can substitute a large piece of ham. Begin with the dry beans, pick out any rocks or debris that does not belong.
Wash them (put in colander and run water over them). The amount of beans varies by how many people you plan to serve.
Put beans in a large pot, put in the ham (or ham hock). Add salt to your taste. Cover with hot water, put a lid on the pot, and cook. Use high heat until the water boils, then reduce the heat and simmer. Simmer until the beans are tender.

I like to eat them with cornbread.

Some cooks soak the beans prior to cooking, but I find the beans cook just as well without the soaking.
This is the same way I cook pinto beans.

My maternal grandma used to make meat-on-a-stick... Pieces of beef, smushed together around a skewer, and lightly breaded... They have a smell like nothing else when they're cooking...

She also makes the best borscht and cabbage rolls... She makes them by taste, and even writing down how much of each ingredient she uses doesn't work... She knows how to adjust each spice just so...

Roast beef and veg, or a chicken stew with scratch dumplings reminds me of my mom in a good way... Dry, under seasoned chicken legs with bone in and skin on reminds me of her in a not so good way