Foraging for ourselves

Thankfully I had an older brother to show me a few things but I remember we had to forage for ourselves during the summer especially.  We learned (and were apparently trusted) to use the stove, mixer, etc to what we needed to do.

Random memories of what I/we managed to make (yes, this was before microwaves...or at least we didn't have one):

> Tomato soup (I like mine with butter)
> Bean soup (add ketchup)
> Fried egg sandwiches (also with ketchup)
> Grilled cheese (see tomato soup) with Nestle's Quik
> Fried bologna (a little butter in a pan and drop it in)
> Toll House cookies (if we made it past the dough)
> Homemade frosting using powdered sugar and 1/2 and 1/2.  Put on graham crackers and if desperate on saltines.  Sometimes adding some food coloring (check the date?)


Not related to foraging, I remember Mom would put packs of gum in the small Sugar bowl and there was a plastic coffee can lid covering it.  Wrigley's Spearmint, Juicy Fruit and Double Mint.  And yes...Dentyne!

Family Food on Weekends

Weekend suppers as I recall were hamburgers on Saturday and pizza on Sunday.

My dad was involved on Saturday nights.  So his day was starting early on the pancakes/waffles/French toast...doing chores around the house and then Saturday evening fry cook.  We bought ground chuck as I recall and had a patty maker (some type of press).  Cheeseburgers were an option.  My family liked to warm up buns in bun warmer. This was before microwaves so it sat on a burner.  You'd put a little water in the bottom and steam the buns.  To be fancy, you could butter the bun and put it on the griddle and toast it.  I remember having chocolate milk with the burgers (actual chocolate milk but maybe with syrup or Quik at times).  And then watching The Jackie Gleason Show and then a local movie show called The Big Show.

Sunday was pizza and often pizza "boats" from Dahl's grocery.  And then it was Pepsi poured from a warm bottle over ice.  And wavy chips and chive AE dip.

Sunday lunch would be waiting for my mom to come home from church where she worked.  I remember having chipped beef on toast and pot pies were common as well.  What amazes is thinking back that we had to wait for the pot pies...45 minutes in the oven!