words & recipe by Holly Scudero My
mother
nearly
cooked
every
siblings
us
night
and
I
dinner
when
were
my
little,
shredded
happened. It did, but making
feeling fancy. Bake in the oven
and
until
eating
“real”
food
was
cheese
if
everything
you’re
is
hot
and
remember
more of a weekend activity than
bubbly, and perhaps until the
those days too clearly. I have
one for busy school and work
top of the potatoes are a bit
fuzzy memories of waiting for
nights.
golden and crispy.
but
I
don’t
spaghetti soup,
really
to
of
boil,
of
bean
gloriously
lumpy
mashed potatoes, and of pies made from the apricots in our backyard. So much of the fabric of my childhood is wrapped up around sharing meals, and yet many
of
those
memories
are
vague at best.
Still,
one
strongly my
mom
meal
was ever
I
the
remember
first
made
time
what
she
called “Shepherd’s Pie.” It’s not something I ever remember eating as a small child, but once my mother introduced us to
it,
regular
the
recipe
part
of
became
the
a
monthly
When I was a bit older, my
meal rotation. The dish wasn’t
mom
full-time.
completely “from scratch,” but
surprisingly,
it involved more cooking than
began
Perhaps we
working not
followed
the
lead
of
so
many others in my generation and
began
convenience
eating foods.
far
more
Homemade
mashed potatoes were replaced with dehydrated potato flakes, cans of soup were bought in bulk from the local warehouse store, and desserts were more commonly picked up in the grocery store bakery than prepared at home.
38
It’s not that cooking no longer
many of our other meals did when I was in high school. The
basic
recipe,
as
And that’s it. Simple, filling, and fun. I
moved
into
my
own
place
after I finished two years of community
college.
At
that
time, I knew next to nothing about
cooking,
much
less
about healthy cooking. I was newly vegetarian, and my thenboyfriend
and
I
of
with
jarred
pasta
frozen
ate
veggies,
a
lot
sauce,
and
canned
fruit. Cheese was a staple. I considered it a healthy swap
taught
when we started buying “whole
by my (omnivore) mother: Take
grain”
one package of ground meat and
mix in place of the original
brown it. Mix in frozen peas
variety. We ate low-sugar table
and carrots, and one prepared
syrup with our frozen waffles
package
and
of
brown
gravy.
Top
biscuit
and
occasionally
pancake
indulged
with mashed potatoes (instant
in giant tubs of cookies to
is
portion out for lunches.
okay),
and
maybe
some
Chickpea magazine #29 together
