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The Basics: Recipes you Know By Heart: 30 Recipes I know by Heart

 



What recipes do you know by heart?  You know, the recipes you pull out of your soul when you cook on auto pilot; the recipes that a special loved one made for you once upon a time and now you make them for the people you love?

Recipes You Know by Heart
By Gina 2025- www.AtHomeMyWay.blogspotcom

What recipes do you know by heart, 
made from memory each time you start?  
Where recipe books sit packed away 
and stains adorn them where they stay.  

Where biscuit bowls sit and wait 
for sifts of flour and sleepers late. 
Where sizzling butter becomes pancakes fluffy 
and tummies become happy stuffy

Where muffins don't need a mix 
and frosting needs no special tricks.
Where warm chocolate pudding doesn't need a box
and ice cream churns in icy salt rocks

So many "Spaghetti Sundays" through the years 
for celebrations, hugs or tears 
Simmered slow by moms and grannies
And bread to swipe all the crooks and crannies

They are the meals that families remember
and inlaws soon admit surrender 
the comfort food that grandmas made 
before minds and bodies began to fade.  

It's rice and beans when money is tight 
and soup or chili on a cold winter night.  
Mama makes her own mac and cheese
That tops the blue box, yes indeed

These are the meals that remind you of home 
and take you there even when you're alone  
Bridging present to the past, they are a secret sign  
That shared meals connect hearts, yours and mine


Recipes I know by Heart

Breads/Breakfast
4.    Plain Muffins (add-ins of your choice)
5.    Granola 
6.    Cornbread 
7.    Garlic Bread (will share soon)

Meals:
    
11.    Spaghetti Sauce - HERE & HERE 
12.    Oven / Crockpot BBQ Chicken (just chicken w/ bbq sauce)
15.   Hobo Packets

Sides:

16.    Pot of (Dried) Beans
17.    Rice - Plain, Spanish
19.    Homemade Mac & Cheese 
20.    Pepper Gravy (butter/flour/milk/salt & pepper) (recipe coming soon)

Desserts:

21.    Homemade Frosting (Chocolate / Vanilla)
25.    Fruit Dip
26.    Whipped Cream

Snacks / Miscellaneous:

28.    Cinnamon Toast
29.    Grilled Cheese
30.    Bologna (Ham), Chicken, or Egg Salad    
    

As a young mom, I was once invited to a friend's farm for an imprompu birthday celebration.  After I got there and our kids were playing, she led me to the kitchen where she was taking the birthday cake out of the oven.  She quickly mixed up some chocolate frosting without a recipe.  She added a little butter, some cocoa, powdered sugar and then created the right texture by adding less or more milk and a drizzle of vanilla.  I was stunned!  I had never really paid attention to my mom doing this although I know she must have.  Its funny the little things that make us who we are today.  THIS was the thing I wanted for my own family.  I wanted to be the kind of cook who could mix up frosting for cakes or graham crackers without a mix, the kind of cook who could feed her family without measuring spoons and extra dishes. A birthday party without stress, even. THIS was incredible!  Now - nearly 35+ years later, I have a few of these "recipes" up my sleeve.  I was surprised at the number of things I make without a recipe.  I guess after 40+ years of cooking, I SHOULD be able to cook without a recipe.  I always say that if you want to do something well, do it alot.  The rest will fall into place.

Do you have recipes you know by heart?  Please share if you have the time -and if you don't mind my silly rhyme 😍:

Enjoy!



Gina



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