I recently realized that my recipe collection is made up mostly of recipes that I’ve received from other cooks and that those individuals probably have no clue how much they’ve influenced my culinary stylings over the years. They are probably totally unaware of the fact that I receive praise and rave reviews off of their recipe successes. So I thought it was about time to give credit where credit is due. If you come to my house for a meal and you enjoy it, most likely you have someone else to thank. My husband certainly does. Here’s the list of cooks and the recipe(s) I’ve “stolen” from them (all of these recipes are made regularly at my house):
- Beth Cooper – chicken & rice
- Stacy Hatten – Nacho Casserole
- Aunt Marti – Chicken Piccata (which I tampered with to create my Chicken Marsala), corn recipe
- Mindi Ross – pasta salad
- Amy B. – chili, ranch cornbread chicken
- Janice – chicken pot pie
- Emily Cooper – pork chops, Italian marinated chicken, deep dish brownies
- Kristi Mendenhall – black bean corn salsa
- Natalie Pater (you’ll always be Pater to me!) – devil’s food cake w/ homemade Penuche frosting (that’s a cooked caramel frosting for those not in the ‘know’)
- Grammy P. – deviled eggs & acini de pepi salad
- Becky Branum – Crispix Sticky Snacks, ranch veggie dip, spaghetti w/ Italian sausage
- my mom – everything: Hot Chicken Salad (fancy chicken & rice), garlic herb potatoes, sour cream chocolate cake, butterscotch blondies, Funfetti cookies, Texas sheetcake, monkey bread, porcupine meatballs, meatloaf, beef stew, pot roast, potato soup, savory beef skillet, seafood pasta, scalloped pineapple, corn bake, beef vegetable soup, sauteed okra, sauteed zucchini, strawberry trifle, black bottom cupcakes & more.
It should come as no surprise to anyone that my mom has influenced me in cooking more than anyone. There are still recipes that I think of from time to time that I wish I’d asked her for before she passed away. And I still remember those first few months of marriage when I would call her almost every day for help in the kitchen. But thank you to all of you who have encouraged me in the pursuit of cooking! You don’t even know how much I take in from all of you.
Readers, who has influenced your cooking most?
Reading that about your mom makes me teary. I still call my mom for her opinion on what I should do with cooking certain things or if I'm out of something and need to substitute or if I've goofed something up and are trying to rescue it. And from my experience with Derek's mom, I know how those feelings of missing her just sneek in in the middle of real life, when you realize that she's not just a phone call away.
ReplyDeleteI'd have to say my mom and my two grandmas and my great grandma probably have had the most influence over my cooking. My one grandma was too far away in Iowa to really cook with me but she was an excellent cook and my apple crisp is her recipe. The other three people lived with ten miles of me and all taught me how to cook. They all encouraged me to be in the kitchen beside them from a young age. Almost all of the "I don't need a recipe" recipes in my life are from them.