Family Heirloom
Welcome to Family Heirloom, where we feature your stories and recipes handed down from generation to generation. Take a scroll down to browse the titles.
This is the stuffing my grandmother Natalia made every year for Thanksgiving. My mother makes it still today, and this year was my first year actually making it all by myself.
Some of my fondest memories (Circa 1955) were of eating home cooked meals in my grandmother's kitchen. Mittie Lee Shaver Merritt lived in the country in a large house with a formal dining room, which was NEVER used except for company.
This is the recipe that my Great Grandmother brought from Cornwall, England. It is moist and flavorful (not at all like most fruitcakes).
Last month I had the pleasure to visit with some nice people in Palm Beach Gardens, Florida. Our host, Bob Stiles is a snow bird from Liverpool, New York.
Nonna's Biscotti
Here's a nostaglic moment about my mother's cookies: My mother would bake biscotti during the week, so when we came home, after a grueling (or maybe not so grueling) day of school, we could smell the cookies baking in the oven from down the block. Needless to say, we would run the rest of the way home.
My story for this old recipe is as simple as the recipe itself. Here it goes: The fall months in Brolo, Messina, Italy were times of gathering locally grown fruits, vegetables, olives and nuts.
My mother grew tomatoes in her vegetable garden in Ohio, where the summers were hot and it didn't get very cool overnight, either. This recipe makes me think of her and is one of the reasons I am such a tomato lover to this day.
My mom had a hard time getting us kids to eat our veggies. This recipe was a way to get us to eat veggies, even without sugar.
I am from New England and live on the coast. My grandmothers were both Portugese and so I was influenced with their wonderful Portugese cooking.
Spaghetti Strudel
When Rachael was asked what to do with leftover spaghetti, my mom (Margaret) remembered this recipe, which we used to have at family picnics. My mom and dad have been happily married for 66 years.
