A dinner you miss from when you were a kid

Growing up we always had beef rouladens at family gatherings in the cooler months,  mashed potatoes and gravy ,red cabbage that I would feed to my dog and he would stink up the house for days and usually some kind of German dessert, thats good eats right there. 

 
When it was winter and my dad would make a huge a** stockpot of Turkey Chili. He had a unique recipe that made it sweet, spicy, and he got lots of love for it. Never entered it into any contests though. That and whenever he did shortribs on the grill with Cookies BBQ sauce. 

S***, now I'm getting all teary remembering all of this. F*** I miss my dad. 

 
In no particular order...

We used to do hot chipped beef dip at the holidays with fritos.  Essentially lead because it was so heavy but always really good. Had to make sure you didn't eat too much because it would ruin the regular meal.

German pancakes (folks might know them as dutch baby pancakes), about every 6 months my grandmother would make them for the 7 grandkids and man they were the absolute best.  She would bust out this maple syrup from Vermont and would heat it in a separate container.  It honestly might be my favorite meal from when I was kid.  There is a local restaurant that does a dutch baby pancake but I can't bring myself to go there because I feel like I'd be sullying the memory.

Close #2 was Kraft mac & cheese with hot dogs cut up in them.  I was raised by a single mom and we weren't quite broke when I was kid, but it was definitely a lot of peanut butter sandwiches and hamburger helper for meals if you catch my drift.  Kraft mac and cheese always seemed like such a delicacy and it was definitely a special treat.  Despite times being tough, I look back at those days with a lot of fondness.  

 
Xmas32 said:
In no particular order...

We used to do hot chipped beef dip at the holidays with fritos.  Essentially lead because it was so heavy but always really good. Had to make sure you didn't eat too much because it would ruin the regular meal.

German pancakes (folks might know them as dutch baby pancakes), about every 6 months my grandmother would make them for the 7 grandkids and man they were the absolute best.  She would bust out this maple syrup from Vermont and would heat it in a separate container.  It honestly might be my favorite meal from when I was kid.  There is a local restaurant that does a dutch baby pancake but I can't bring myself to go there because I feel like I'd be sullying the memory.

Close #2 was Kraft mac & cheese with hot dogs cut up in them.  I was raised by a single mom and we weren't quite broke when I was kid, but it was definitely a lot of peanut butter sandwiches and hamburger helper for meals if you catch my drift.  Kraft mac and cheese always seemed like such a delicacy and it was definitely a special treat.  Despite times being tough, I look back at those days with a lot of fondness.  
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One thing about growing up without much, when you did get something special is was just that, you appreciated it and remember it.  

 
man eating mastodon said:
Growing up we always had beef rouladens at family gatherings in the cooler months,  mashed potatoes and gravy ,red cabbage that I would feed to my dog and he would stink up the house for days and usually some kind of German dessert, thats good eats right there. 
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My wife's grandma made her rouladen growing up, and my mother-in-law will make it for Christmas.  It's really good, but sometimes she makes it too dry.  My wife wishes she could make it well.  She is a good cook, but she has never been able to make it well.

Did your rouladen have a pickle spear in the middle?  I prefer it that way, but my mother-in-law only makes a few of them with a pickle.

 
teachercd said:
I got another one, pork chops.  In the frying pan, in oil, breaded.

And my grandmothers pierogies, potato and cheese or bacon.  Dip it in some sour cream, my god.
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Good one. I haven’t had a breaded fried pork chop like my mom or grandma used to make in a long time. We seem to always grill them or occasionally bake.

All these posts are causing me to remember things. Pierogies, salmon patties, potato pancakes, mashed potato pancakes. For some reason we just don’t do those things anymore.

My wife makes an old school chicken and dumplings that’s pretty good. But when my mom/grandma made it the dumplings were huge and fluffy and it was in more of a chicken gravy. My wife’s are really dense small noodles in a chicken broth. Both are very good but I do miss having my mom’s version too.

BTW, I love creamed chipped beef (SOS). Haven’t had it in a long time. Think I’ll stop by the grocery store in the morning and pick up a frozen one for lunch tomorrow.

 
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JJ Husker said:
Good one. I haven’t had a breaded fried pork chop like my mom or grandma used to make in a long time. We seem to always grill them or occasionally bake.

All these posts are causing me to remember things. Pierogies, salmon patties, potato pancakes, mashed potato pancakes. For some reason we just don’t do those things anymore.

My wife makes an old school chicken and dumplings that’s pretty good. But when my mom/grandma made it the dumplings were huge and fluffy and it was in more of a chicken gravy. My wife’s are really dense small noodles in a chicken broth. Both are very good but I do miss having my mom’s version too.

BTW, I love creamed chipped beef (SOS). Haven’t had it in a long time. Think I’ll stop by the grocery store in the morning and pick up a frozen one for lunch tomorrow.
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Potato pancakes!  yes!!!

Loved those things.

 
My Mom and Dad both worked full time jobs, But every weekday we had a home cooked meal on the table.  Except Friday, Friday would be McDonalds or Little Caesars or two of those rotisserie chickens from the store.  It was amazing when I look back on it.

Before school, every morning, my mom made sure we had food as well. 

 
ColoradoHusk said:
My wife's grandma made her rouladen growing up, and my mother-in-law will make it for Christmas.  It's really good, but sometimes she makes it too dry.  My wife wishes she could make it well.  She is a good cook, but she has never been able to make it well.

Did your rouladen have a pickle spear in the middle?  I prefer it that way, but my mother-in-law only makes a few of them with a pickle.
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Always with a pickle spear and some with a spicy pickled carrot spear as well,  a slice of bell pepper added when she would use the carrot and pickle to keep the bitterness down.  We did a bunch last fall with deer roast and it was very good 

 
ColoradoHusk said:
My wife's grandma made her rouladen growing up, and my mother-in-law will make it for Christmas.  It's really good, but sometimes she makes it too dry.  My wife wishes she could make it well.  She is a good cook, but she has never been able to make it well.

Did your rouladen have a pickle spear in the middle?  I prefer it that way, but my mother-in-law only makes a few of them with a pickle.
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My mother is 100% German and I never knew about this dish till a few years ago.  It looked good and I tried making it.  I don't think I did the best job of it.  Now, this is making me want to try it again.

 
Also, something that I really really miss is my mom's sour cream raisin pie.  She was famous for her pies, especially this one and lemon meringue.  

But, the sour cream raisin was so special.  It was a double crusted pie and the only way to make it was to get fresh cream from a farm (non pasteurized) that was just skimmed off the top of the milk tank and sour it yourself.  I've never seen or had a pie like it since.  She had to stop making it a very long time ago because the local dairy she got the cream from closed down and she can't get it anywhere else.

She grew up milking 15 head of cows every morning before school and at night...by hand.  This was a recipe from her mom who immigrated from Germany.

 
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