My Mama’s Kitchen

Recently I’ve been listening to a podcast called ‘Your Mama’s Kitchen’ hosted by journalist Michele Norris. She asks her guests about their mama’s kitchen. They not only talk about their earliest memories of what delightful (and some not so delightful) meals that their mamas made, but how those memories of being around the dinner table or just simply being in the kitchen while she cooked help shape their lives. It’s amazing how a simple question, a certain smell or nostalgic taste can transport us back to memories of home, how we grew up and how it helped make us what we have become today. This made me think about my own mama’s kitchen.

One of my earliest memories is baking with my mama with my Easy Bake Oven.

It was in the kitchen in the first house I lived in. I think I was probably around 3 or 4. The one thing that I remember most about that kitchen was the window with yellow curtains that looked out to the back yard. I don’t remember if my mom and dad bought me that Easy Bake Oven as a gift, or they just got it for me because they knew I’d enjoy it. I don’t know if any of you ever had had one, but those cakes were made from a mix that you made into a batter then spread it into these small round tin cake pans. The pans slid it into the oven on one side. When they were done you’d push them out the other end. I can still remember how those tiny little round chocolate cakes smelled and the excitement of watching them bake through that little window. If you were to ask me today how did those cakes taste, I couldn’t tell you. I’m assuming they were pretty decent or I think the memory of having made my first cake and it tasting horrible would have made a lasting impression. You would think that as excited as I was baking those cakes, that would have awoken an inner baker in me, but no, that desire left as quick as a dog eyeing a squirrel.

My mama however, she liked to bake.

She made her own pie crusts for her pies and she made a very tasty cobbler. I say tasty meaning the cobbler part. When it was a peach cobbler, I didn’t like peaches (still don’t to this day) so I would just eat all of that golden, crisp crumble and leave the rest behind. Then there was her chocolate pudding cake. Whenever it snowed, she would make this delicious chocolate cake that had a pudding that soaked into the cake as it baked leaving a gooey pudding like sauce in the middle. It was one of our favorite cakes. Sadly, over the years she lost the recipe. We recently had been talking about that cake. Who knows, perhaps googling it she can now find that recipe or one similar to it. Now I’m really wanting a piece of that chocolatey decadence.

Not only did mama like to bake, but she was ( and still is)also a really good cook. As she told me recently, she never loved to cook, but if she was going to make dinner, she was going to make it taste good. She would often take ideas from different recipes and put them together until it tasted the way she liked it. On some nights we’d have fried chicken, Swedish meatballs (sorry IKEA, your Swedish meatballs do not even compare to my mamas), beef stroganoff (one of my favs) and her go to dish that everyone loved when she would take a meal to a friend, her chicken casserole. Mind you, this was the 70’s and early 80’s in the South, so there was a lot of frying and biscuits and often rice and gravy accompanied some of the meals. She always made her biscuits from scratch and make me a tiny one from the small pieces of dough that was left. Should I mention that while watching her make those biscuits, I would take a scrap of dough and eat it? Yes, I was one of those kids. We would occasionally have soft tacos. The corn tortillas came in a can. Yes, a can. Back then I never thought that was different or odd because that’s all I knew.

They were the OLD EL Paso brand. She would fry them in a little bit of oil and make a seasoned ground beef filling. The cheese she would use was American sliced cheese grated with a box grater. When I got older she would let me take care of the cheese. I remember how proud I was that I was the one who grated the cheese. To this day I can still remember the flavor and the texture of those tacos. Those were absolutely delicious. To me, those corn tortillas had more flavor than most corn tortillas I’ve had today.

My mama wasn’t the only one cooking in the kitchen. My dad also liked to come up with some of his own recipes, like his own BBQ sauce for cooking out on the grill. It would consist of a little of this and a little of that mixed together. It would come out pretty darn tasty. He’d make simple but really good chili cheese sandwiches from the leftover chili when we would have hot dogs the night before.

Or his cheese potatoes that he would whip up when he had something cooking on the grill.

When we would have Thanksgiving and Christmas at our house they would go all out. Mom would fix usually the main things and dad would do some sides and an intriguing little before dinner nibbles.

As I got older, my desire to cook grew. I had spent all those years at my mama and dad’s side in the kitchen. I took that knowledge along with watching cooking shows and started cooking for them. My love for cooking still continues to this day. Looking back at all of those memories in my mama’s kitchen, I can see how food brings family and friends together. It’s true that love does indeed show in someone’s cooking. My mama might not have loved to cook, but some of my best childhood memories are not only of her and my dad’s food, but how as a family we’d laugh, share stories and ideas and talk about life and dreams while in the kitchen and at the dinner table. Those are memories that I will always cherish. It also gave me the desire to show family and friends my love for them through my food. You can spend money learning how to become the best chef or baker and can be great at it, but for me, I found the best teacher of learning how to cook for those I love and about life in general, started in my mama’s kitchen.

What are some of your memories of growing up in your mama’s or a loved one’s kitchen?

Recipes Inspired From My Mom and Dad

Grilled Chili Cheese Sandwiches

Buttermilk Biscuits

Dad’s Cheese Potatoes

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