My Family Food Traditions

Every Family has its Passed down Recipes

When you head home for a family dinner, there usually is a certain recipe you hope to see on the table. In our family, its the recipes from Grandma that can only be found in her head, and can rarely be found written down. These are also foods you don't find in the recipe books or in your neighbors kitchen either. Sometimes these recipes border on the strange and tend to cater to the tastes of your family only.
My family has quite a few of these recipes and I want to share 3 of them with you in this hub. This meal just screams comfort food to me. My mom actually made this for me after I came home from delivering my second child, and it did the job perfectly. Soft Meat with gravy,Corn Fritters, and then Pineapple Upside Down Cake for dessert completes this meal. Throw in a side of mashed potatoes and some green beans for the ultimate dinner feast. Makes my mouth water just thinking about it!
I hope you turn these simple recipes into a new family tradition for your family. Sitting around the table as a family can be the most important qualitly time a family can share.

Soft Meat

This is close, I'll post my own pic soon.

Soft Meat with Gravy

Ingredients: 4-6 Cube steaks, flour for dredging, can of cream of mushroom soup, Worcestershire sauce
Preparation: Lightly dredge cube steaks in flour and shake off the excess. Brown in a large skillet. Once browned on both sides, pour in can of soup along with another can of water. Simmer for at least an hour over low heat. Season with Worcestershire sauce to taste and add water as needed to keep your preferred gravy consistency.
Even my picky meat eater, 2 yr old son, loves this recipe. Our family traditions serve Soft Meat with mashed potatoes, but it's equally as good with buttered egg noodles or over rice.

Corn Fritters

Corn Fritters

Ingredients: Can of Creamed Corn, One Sleeve of Saltine Crackers, One Egg
Preparation: Mix all ingredients in a large bowl. Spoon onto well greased griddle in about 1/4 cup size, slightly flattening them as you go. Cook over medium high heat for about 2-3 minutes on each side until lightly browned. Allow to cool on paper towel lined plate to remove extra grease.
We would fight over these as kids, especially the little browned pieces of corn that fall off on the griddle and get extra crunchy.

Pineapple Upside Down Cake

A Cup, A Can and A Stick

That's the montra for this easy dessert.
Ingredients: Boxed yellow cake with eggs, oil and water as stated on box, 1 cup of brown sugar, 1 can of pineapple (our family prefers crushed for maximum coverage, hehe) and 1 stick of butter/margarine
Preparation: Preheat oven to 350 degrees and place 9x13 pan with the stick of butter inside to melt while warming up. Prepare boxed cake as directed, but replace water with as much pineapple juice as you can drain from the can. Be sure to mix the cake for the full 2 minutes. Remove melted butter from oven, and mix brown sugar and pineapple with butter in the baking pan. Spread fruit mix evenly over pan, if using rings and cherries, make it pretty =). Gently pour cake batter over fruit. Bake according to box directions, but it usually takes about 5-10 minutes longer than stated. Cool for 5 minutes in pan, then invert onto serving platter.
I can still picture my Grandma's kitchen and the smells of this cake cooling.  She would bake it in her metal pan and invert it onto the metal lid that fit onto the top.  We enjoy eating this dessert while still slightly warm, yummo!