This is my Grandma Church's typed up recipe of her raised cornmeal rolls. I went ahead and made cinnamon rolls with the rest of the dough.
Watch your rolls. I found 15 minutes was too long, and made the bottoms too brown. Depending on your oven, cook them for 10-15 minutes.
It was fun to try a different variety of rolls made with cornmeal. I found them very tasty with a slightly different texture than the typical roll. There is no frosting on these cinnamon rolls, but they were tasty without.
My mom gave me this recipe when I first went to college. I was just learning how to cook, and this was an easy recipe that I could throw in the crockpot and cook while I was at school.
Ingredients:
1 1/2 lbs. Stew Meat
4 carrots chopped or sliced (or you can put baby carrots in without peeling or chopping)
1 can Cream of Mushroom Soup
1 package Dry Onion Soup
6 Potatoes peeled and cubed
1/2 cup celery chopped
3/4 can water
Place all ingredients into crockpot. Cook on low 6-8 hours or on high 4-5 hours.
My dad remembers his mom making this simple, yet filling recipe for their family of 4 boys and 4 girls. The recipe was never written down, and so this recipe was based off my my dad's recollection.
I love this picture of my Grandma Church in the kitchen.
I wish I remembered her! She passed away in 1979 when I was only one.
Grandma's Mulligan Hash
Ingredients:
3 Large Potatoes
3 Medium Carrots
1 lb Ground beef
1 small onion
Salt and Pepper
Other seasons of choice
1/4-1/2 cup Milk
2 TBS Butter
Chop and boil the potatoes and carrots in two separate pots. When softened, drain and combine in one pot. Mash them together and add milk and butter to make them somewhat creamy--like the consistency of mashed potatoes. Meanwhile, brown ground beef with onion. Add seasonings to your liking. When finished, mix the ground beef with the mashed carrots and potatoes.
That's it! It tastes best with ketchup. My dad recalls eating it with relish too.
This is probably chunkier than my grandma made it--but I like chunks. When my 5 year old son saw this, he thought it looked gross. But when I told him his Grandpa Church used to eat this growing up, then he was excited to try it. It was a hit, and he loved eating it with ketchup!
Even my baby girl loved it and she enjoyed eating it all by herself!
This recipe came from my Great Grandmother: Leah Bennett Christensen. I recall only meeting her once when I was 11 years old. She was 99 and in her last days. I wish I could have known her better. She was a remarkable woman. I felt a little bit of a connection with her as I made her Aloha Banana Bread Recipe.
Grandma Christensen’s Aloha Banana Bread
2 C. of flour
1 tsp. soda
½ tsp. salt
1 C. sugar
½ C. margarine or butter
2 eggs
½ C. milk or o.j.
1 tsp. vanilla
½ tsp. almond extract
1 C. mashed banana’s
1 tsp. orange zest
1 C. coconut-shredded (opt.)
½ C. nuts
Mix dry ingredients together. Add margarine, eggs, milk, flavorings and mashed bananas together. Mix well. Add orange zest, coconut, and nuts. Pour into well greased loaf pan. Bake at 350 for 1 hour, or until done.
Yields 1 loaf
Note: This can yield 2 loaves. As seen in my picture, I made two loaves that were just a little thinner. These only took 40-45 minutes to cook.
When I asked my siblings which of our mom's food they loved growing up, my sister Stephanie said, "Mom's refried beans". So, I asked my mom how she makes her refried beans so delicious. She used to make them from scratch by soaking the pinto beans then cooking them all day till they were soft, but now she simply buys refried beans at the store and adds a few simple ingredients.
So, if you want to make her beans the quick way here is the recipe:
Ingredients:
3 cans of refried beans
1/2 small onion
2 TBS butter
1/2 cup cheese
Salt and pepper to taste
Directions:
-Finely chop and sauté the onion in the butter
-Meanwhile, open refried bean cans and empty into a pot. Heat on medium-low.
-When onions are translucent, transfer them to the refried beans.
-Mix in 1/2 cup cheese.
-Mash with a potato masher to mix and thicken the beans, cheese and onions.
-Add salt and pepper to taste.
-Let the beans simmer till they are slightly bubbling.
-Transfer to a casserole dish and sprinkle some cheese on top.
You can add more or less onion and cheese depending on your desired taste.
I tried cooking the onion in olive oil rather than butter, and I slightly tasted the oil in the beans and didn't like it as much. Sautéing the onion in butter definitely tastes better!
This is great as a side to any Mexican dish or you can eat this as a yummy dip! Enjoy!
My Grandma Mildred Church used to make this mustard pickle recipe that was probably passed down from her mother. My parents made this and shared it with me. It is good to eat as a relish on hotdogs or with meats like roast.
Mustard Pickle
Prepare vegetables the night before,
sprinkle salt over them. In morning drain, put cucumbers on stove and cover
with weak vinegar (2 C. water to 1 C. vinegar) and heat. Drain and mix with
onions (pearl or cut regular onions) and cauliflower (be sure not to scorch
when on stove).
Dressing:
1 ½ jars prepared mustard (9 oz.)
Libby or French
1 TB Turmeric
2 TB dry mustard
4 cups sugar
Mix with weakened vinegar (1 cup to 2
cups water)
Pour over pickles, let boil, then
thicken slightly with 1 TB cornstarch mixed in a little water – then bottle.
Makes about 11 pints.
Pickled Beets
This is my Grandma Church's pickled beets recipe that was probably passed down from her mother. My parents made this from beets they grew last year. They are delicious!
2
cups vinegar
3/4
cup brown sugar
1
tsp. salt
2
cups water
1/2
cup white sugar
Cook beets until
soft, peel. Heat syrup, add beets and cook 4 minutes. Bottle and
seal (twice recipe enough for 6 quarts).
Growing up I remember my mom making barbeque brisket almost every Sunday. The aroma that filled the house made my mouth water and my stomach grumble. I couldn't wait to eat it.
It's been years since my mom made that brisket, so I decided to do my best to re-create it and invited the whole family over for dinner. Everyone gave me a thumbs up, so I guess I got the recipe right!
Barbeque Brisket
Ingredients:
Liquid Smoke
Garlic Salt
Celery Salt
Onion Salt (or powder)
Worcestershire sauce
Crushed pepper
Beef Brisket
1-2 Bottles BBQ sauce
Sprinkle first 6 ingredients on both sides of brisket. Marinate over night or 5 hours. Bake at 375º covered for 1/2 hour. Reduce heat to 275º and bake for 2 hours. Apply BBQ sauce, turn meat over and bake covered for 2 more hours. Remove and cut into slices, drain and sprinkle with BBQ sauce (bake 1/2 hour more if needed).
My Grandma Bushman used to make this for her family. This is an old pioneer treat with very simple ingredients. Grandma didn't use a recipe, so no one knows how exactly she made it. But, I found a few Lumpy Milk recipes online that my mom and I cooked up to see which one matched closest to her mom's. This is the one we liked best:
1 qt. (4 C.) milk 1 tsp salt 1 pat butter Heat milk, with salt and butter in a heavy pan. When the butter melts, add: 1 egg, lightly beaten 1 cup flour
Mix the flour into the egg and work with fork or fingers until crumbly. Grab a handful and dribble it into the hot milk through your fingers, rubbing out any big lumps. Add all of the egg/flour mixture and any flour from the bottom of the bowl. Stirring constantly, bring the mixture to a boil and boil for 3 minutes. Serve on a dinner plate, dotted with butter, sprinkled with brown sugar and cinnamon--you can also add cream if you wish. Pour more milk around the edge of the plate.
Here is the end result! We halved the amount of milk & salt and it still turned out great!
Grandma LaVetta Bushman learned how to make Sonoran Flat Enchiladas from her mother Pearl Cluff Bingham. They lived in the Mexican Mormon Colonies in the early 1900s, and we think they learned this recipe there. The Bingham family recipe has evolved slightly from the original Sonoran Enchilada, yet it is still delicious and has turned into a family favorite.
Everyone in the family has slight varitions to this recipe, but it is basically the same. I filmed my mother making her version. Here is a demonstration video.
Sonoran Flat Enchiladas Ingredients
Serves 8-10 people
Sauce:
2 lb. Ground Beef
1 Medium Onion
2 Qt. Tomato Juice
1 29 oz can Rosarita Enchilada sauce
2-3 Tbs Cornstarch--mix with water up to 1/2 cup
Toppings: (these are all optional according to your preference)
3-5 Tomatoes
1 head Iceberg Lettuce
2 C. Shredded cheese
2 Cans of Olives
Sour Cream
Salsa
Guacamole
Cilantro
Instructions:
First, brown 2 lb. of ground beef
While it’s browning, chop 1 medium onion
After draining and rinsing the ground beef, put it back into the pot and add the onion. Cook until the onion is translucent
Pour in about ¾ of
the 2 qt. bottle of tomato juice
Add the 29 oz can of Rosarita Enchilada sauce. Pour a little water in the can to get the rest out.
Next, thicken the sauce by mixing about 2-3 TB of
cornstarch with water in a separate container—it’ll come to about ½ cup after
it’s blended.
Wait until the sauce is boiling before pouring in the
cornstarch mixture.Slowly stir it
in and watch till the desired thickness.Let it continue to simmer and it will thicken further.
While it’s simmering dice up about 3-5 medium tomatoes
Check in the thickness of your sauce.In this case we wanted it a bit thicker
so we put in another mixture of cornstarch and water.If it gets too thick, you can add in more tomato juice to
thin it down.
Chop up a head of iceberg lettuce
You can have an array of toppings—olives, sourcream,
lettuce, tomatoes, shredded cheese, cilantro, and salsa or guacamole.
We like tortilla chips on the side to dip in the delicious
enchildada sauce or in salsa.
There are several ways to soften the corn tortillas--my grandma dipped them in hot oil or boiling water and then poured the sauce on top. But, we prefer to dip
the corn tortilla directly in the simmering sauce with aspatula—don’t keep it in too long or it
will break apart.
You can stack as many layers as you want.The first layer, put what toppings you
want---then stack another layer on top add more toppings etc.On your last layer, place all the toppings you’d like.
Enjoy!
p.s. The original Mexican recipe was served with a fried egg on top.
Eric Bushman's Sonoran Enchiladas
My mom's youngest brother made this video in 1988 demonstrating how to make enchiladas. It is similar to the above, but he briefly fries the tortilla before dipping it into the enchilada sauce. He makes it more like my Grandma did. It's worth watching. I love my Uncle Eric!
Grandma LaVetta Bushman was an excellent cook. She rarely used a cookbook and would always throw in 'a little bit of this, a little bit of that'. She did write down one of her roll recipes, however, it is a little hard to interpret. Tip: One of the secrets to this recipe that she didn't write down is to make sure the eggs are at room temperature.
Here is a picture of Grandma Bushman with my mom, Barbara (about 11 years old)
Below is the final result of my first attempt making Grandma's rolls. I followed her recipe exactly. The only thing she didn't include was temperature and time. I cooked them at 350 degrees for 12-15 minutes depending on the size of the roll. They turned out great and I had my mom's stamp of approval. She said they smelled and tasted just like her mom's. That made me happy!
Grandma Bushman used to make a simple, yet delicious bean soup almost every Saturday for her family. My mom said that Grandma would also make scones to go with it. She used the same dough recipe as her roll recipe (see in prior post)--she would roll it out, cut out small triangles/rectangles and fry them. My mom continued the tradition of making this soup over General Conference Weekend.
Since there is no recipe that exists, I asked my mom to instruct me how to make it. Here is the first written recipe and step by step instructions:
Recipe:
4 cups dried pinto beans
1 15 oz can of tomato sauce
1 15 oz can of diced tomatoes
1 medium onion
1 ham hock or about 2 cups of ham--spiral is best (if ham not available, then use at least 1 lb. cooked ground beef)
Soak 4 cups of pinto beans overnight.
(Make sure to sort the beans, discarding broken and bad beans first.)
The next day, drain the beans, and fill it with fresh water a couple inches above the beans.
Bring to a boil. Add water as it gets low.
Tip: Do not add any salt! The salt will make the bean skin tough.
As the beans begin to soften, add 1 15 oz. can of tomato sauce.
After emptying it in the soup, fill it with water and put that in the soup too.
Another tip: Make sure to periodically stir the soup throughout the day to prevent burning and to keep an eye on the level of water.
Wait till the beans are almost totally soft before putting in other ingredients:
Add 1 medium diced onion
Add a ham hock or diced ham (for best results, use spiral cut ham)
I used about 2 cups worth.
If you don't have ham, you can add at least 1 lb. of cooked ground beef.
Add a can of diced tomatoes.
If water is getting low, fill the can with water and empty in soup.
After about 6 hours enjoy this simple, delicious soup!
If you cook this with a ham hock, remove the bone and scrape off meat when you are ready to eat.
My mom took a taste and said, "Perfect!"
Thanks Mom for teaching me how to make this special, traditional family soup!
It's wonderful to bring back special memories of someone dear
by eating the food they used to make.
I miss my Grandma but now I can keep her memory alive by making her delicious food!
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