Strange childhood food memories

[Double 0]

I did a search to see if this topic had been discussed, but couldn't find it. My mom would take can of white tuna and some softened sweet butter and put in the blender (no food processors then) and mix it untill it was a paste, then serve it on ritz.

[jtraceynj]

Pea soup with hot dogs. Yum! Thanks mom!!! (Makes my wife turn green though.)

[torakris]

Peanut Butter sandwiches with strange things added:

American cheese slice

bananas

lettuce (my cousins all time favorite!)

I have to admit that I hated peanut butter so anything with it was gross.

She also never actully made me eat the sandwiches, it was usually for her or one of my many siblings.

Nothing was as bad as my dad's sandwiches (that he only made for himself), goose liver topped with miracle whip and bread and butter pickles (my father's home made ones usually) or sweet pickles, all on pumpernickel bread.

[CathyL]

My dad and I ate raw onion sandwiches - on Wonder bread, with Miracle Whip. Ah, the innocence of childhood.

Double 0, there's a version of your mom's tuna spread in Marcella Hazan's (2nd?) cookbook.

[Holly Moore]

My dad and I ate raw onion sandwiches - on Wonder bread, with Miracle Whip.  Ah, the innocence of childhood.

Try eating those raw onion sandwiches with Maine Lobster. It's a wonderful accompaniment.

[tommy]

My dad and I ate raw onion sandwiches - on Wonder bread, with Miracle Whip.  Ah, the innocence of childhood. 

.

jeez, cathy, that's one of the hors d'oeuvres that i currently make!! add a little parsley and cut 'em in small circles, and there you have it. a *huge* hit at parties, if you can believe it.

[Human Bean]

The kinds of food I received when young were something along the lines mentioned here.

[Suzanne F]

Pea soup with hot dogs. Yum! Thanks mom!!! (Makes my wife turn green though.)

Well, tell your wife she is missing one of the great pleasures of the world! My mom also always put in slices of Hebrew National hot dogs, and sometimes fine egg noodles, too. A great dish!

Peanut Butter sandwiches with strange things added:

...

bananas...

What's strange about THAT???? (So much better than jelly!)

Mine really is pretty strange by comparison, though: I can remember sitting in my high chair, eating chicken feet, necks, and stomachs after they were used to make soup. Actually, not the feet that often, because my mother mostly kept those for herself

[awbrig]

My Mom occasionally did Porcupine Balls - basically balls of ground beef mixed with rice in a tomato sauce...I vividly remeber these for some reason...and havent heard of anyone else having them...has anyone? and/or have a recipe. thanks

[Varmint]

Man, porcupine meatballs were a staple. The secret sauce was nothing more than Campbell's Tomato Soup. Ugh. She always served these with boiled potatoes.

My mom would always eat saltine crackers crumbled in a glass of milk when she had an upset stomach. Ick.

[mixmaster b]

I ate a lot of hippie health food. The worst was a pumpkin seaweed soup. Yech.

Also raw peanut butter. Super yech.

I started cooking pretty young!

[awbrig]

Yes, the tomato sauce really kinda sucked, very watery. Forget the recipe, I guess it was pretty bad.

However, it would be fun to relive that though, for a night - so if anyone has their mom's porcupine meatball secret recipe cough it up, please...

[Sandra Levine]

My dad and I ate raw onion sandwiches - on Wonder bread, with Miracle Whip.  Ah, the innocence of childhood.  

.

jeez, cathy, that's one of the hors d'oeuvres that i currently make!! add a little parsley and cut 'em in small circles, and there you have it. a *huge* hit at parties, if you can believe it.

That was the hors d'oeuvre that made James Beard's career. He called it, "Irma's Onion Sandwiches." I forget who Irma was...maybe his business partner.

[awbrig]

Mixmaster, isnt all peanut butter raw? Never heard of the difference between raw or cooked peanut butter...

[Sandra Levine]

Raw peanut butter is made from unroasted peanuts.

[Double 0]

I was talking to my sister earlier about this and she reminded me that my mom would make ronzoni spagetti with watered down ketchup (only Heinz) and individually wrapped american cheese food product on top. She would then bake it untill the cheese melted and the spagetti would get crisp. I loved this as a kid but it might gag me today. My sister loved peanut butter and salami sanwiches on white toast.

[VinJean]

I had a neighbor lady who used to babysit my brother and I, along with several other neighborhood kids. She used to offer us ice cream cones...with no ice cream!

What a strange sight, a group of kids standing around, munching on dry cones!

[mixmaster b]

I am under the impression that most peanut butter is made from roasted peanuts. It has a nice peanutty flavor, but the raw stuff tasted kind of starchy and stale. I have not had it in ages; perhaps it is no longer available. That would be lovely!

Edit: Just saw Sandra's post--This thread moves fast!

[Randi]

My mom used to drink buttermilk and tomato juice mixed together.

Also, she would heat a can of asparagus but before she would serve it to us, she would drain the hot liquid, pour it into a juice glass, and drink it like a hot beverage with her dinner!

She also salted her watermelon, but I think that's pretty common...

Me? I didn't eat anything weird...unless you call coveting all the crispy skin on roasted poultry....weird.

I call it heaven!

Randi

[nightscotsman]

When we had leftover cooked broccoli, my Mom would serve it the next night reheated with a bit of milk. The broccoli would be kinda gray with warm milk curds sticking to the florettes. I don't know why I didn't find this strange at the time, but now... eeww.

[Kim WB]

Here's a food habit, more than a specific food memory.:

I grew up in a household that never had pizza as a meal, just as a snack. It would be late at night, or perhaps close to 8pm, when my dad would suggest we call the Somerset Inn for a snack. AS the oldest, I would put a coat over my pajamas, and go with him. They always told us the pizza would take 20 minutes, but we always left right away..to wait at the bar. My did would order rolling rocks in the nip bottle, and I would get a coke with a cherry, and we would sit in the corner of the bar near the kitchen, waiting for our name to be called. The smells, that musky bar smell, working man's bar smell, mixed with the baking pizzas...very distinctive,a nd 35 years later I can still recall it. I would place the pizza on my lap on the ride home, and got to sit in the front seat! Then we'd settle down to the Partridge Family and the pizza...

[awbrig]

cool story Kim, I can picture that...

[nervousnelli]

A raw egg and about three quarters of a cup of white sugar in a coffee cup whipped up with a fork until it turned very light yellow and very smooth.

Eaten with a teaspoon, it was truly delicious!

[Jinmyo]

My dad and I ate raw onion sandwiches - on Wonder bread, with Miracle Whip.  Ah, the innocence of childhood.  

.

jeez, cathy, that's one of the hors d'oeuvres that i currently make!! add a little parsley and cut 'em in small circles, and there you have it. a *huge* hit at parties, if you can believe it.

tommy, this can be great. (Especially with good sourdough bread and mayo, blanched onions, fresh herbs.) One of the few sandwiches I like to slice into tiny, crustless squares. Circles sound fun but more waste.

edit:

I just saw Sandra's reply.

And Holly's right about lobster.

[gknl]

My dad and I ate raw onion sandwiches - on Wonder bread, with Miracle Whip.  Ah, the innocence of childhood.  

.

jeez, cathy, that's one of the hors d'oeuvres that i currently make!! add a little parsley and cut 'em in small circles, and there you have it. a *huge* hit at parties, if you can believe it.

That was the hors d'oeuvre that made James Beard's career. He called it, "Irma's Onion Sandwiches." I forget who Irma was...maybe his business partner.

According to The James Beard Celebration Cookbook, it's Irma Rhodes. She and her brother Bill collaborated with him in opening Hors d'Oeuvre, a catering business. Irma told Craig Clairborne, who provided the recipe for the book, that Bill visited a Paris bordello in the 1920s where he was served "irresistable morsels of food made with thin rounds of bread cut from a brioche loaf." It was their idea to sprinkle parsley around the edges though.