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So I've got a huge shoebox full of my mother's recipes

I got it from my aunt this week, she's been hanging onto it for years since my mother passed.

I'm kinda dismayed at how half-ass a cook my mom was. Almost all of these recipes are just combining different store-bought products. All her supposedly "homemade" dishes are full of name brands. So many name brands you'd think somebody had been paying her.

Her marinara sauce, that I remember the whole family raving about when I was a child, is literally canned tomatoes, tomato paste, olive oil, and a McCormick seasoning packet. she does say to add fresh basil at the end, so I guess there's that. Why on earth did she feel the need to write this "recipe" down?

Chocolate Silk Pie: Whip a can of Eagle sweetened condensed milk until frothy and light, then fold it into a large tub of Cool-Whip. In a double boiler melt three Hershey bars, fold the melted chocolate into the Cool Whip until streaky. Spread into two Keebler graham crusts and run wooden spoon handle through in a spiral pattern. Refrigerate four hours.

Not a single damn ingredient in that isn't a name-brand. Sheesh, Mom! I know she was a product of the 1950s, but still.

Anyhow, it's nice to have something of hers. She was notoriously camera shy and looks like a deer in the headlights in the few photos I have. And it's nice to have a souvenir of the plastic fantastic times I grew up in.

I'm gonna make her lemon pepper chicken tonight. The secret ingredients are Hellman's mayo, and you guessed it: a McCormick seasoning packet.
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Harmonium1923 · 51-55, M
I was literally going through some of my mother’s recipes today, on her computer (she passed away last year). She was an excellent cook despite working full time and then some. But more important are the memories, of homemade birthday cake and frosting. Of Mac and cheese baking in a big green casserole dish. Of all the tastes and smells.