CAROLYN'S GUACAMOLE

Guacamole! Classic recipe and not too difficult. I wasn't sure when faced with mayo vs. sour cream which to pick, but I'm more used to sour cream being a bedfellow to guacamole in such things as seven layer dip so I went that route. And I just blended it with a fork. Pretty cool grindable garlic salt that they sell at Trader Joe's, by the way. TJs had to discontinue their delicious 5-layer fiesta dip due to food contamination concerns, which was very sad for me as I had been known to eat an entire container of it. It's a contentious issue, but I'm of the belief that a dip needs no more than 5-layers.

This guacamole features in a sandwich later in the book, in a recipe also submitted by Carolyn, a family friend and all-around cool person. More to follow about her, as she submitted several recipes to the book.

I used slightly unripe avocados for the recipe, but after tasting it my daughter took over and added onion and garlic salt until it tasted more regular. Aha, I tricked her into participating!

The results: really good! 5 out of 5, if I had used riper avocados I reckon.

Kids rating: son's not a fan of the avocado, so he didn't try it. But my daughter thought it was very tasty.

Wife rating: she thought it was very good though it did seem too light in color. This probably was due to the avocados.

Do I remember this from childhood? Did I eat guacamole as a child? Sadly, a question that I don't know the answer to.

Ok I could've worked a little better on the presentation . . .

MARINATED MUSHROOMS AND CHICK-PEAS

Do you usually call them chick peas or garbanzo beans? To be fair, garbanzo is more fun to say, and reminds of the mysterious substance in Twin Peaks, Garmonbozia. Sadly there's no recipe for Garmonbozia in the cookbook.

This was a pleasant salad-y recipe, I just pretty much made it, stuck it in the fridge and ate most of it for dinner. I knew my kids wouldn't try it, and when I asked my daughter to at least smell it, she recoiled as if the odor overpowered her.

An early impetus for this blog was my daughter reporting that when taking a "table manners" class with her girl scout troop that in response to the teacher saying "Always show appreciation for the food that you are given," she replied, "What if your dad just gives you popcorn chicken all the time." To my shame though, it was true. Once I found something that the kids even remotely liked with the barest of nutrition in it, I'd make it regularly.

But this was yummy, an a simple marinade that would work for whatever vegetables you wanted. I do remember there always being a cylindrical container of vinegar and oil with bits floating in it in the fridge when I was a kid, maybe it was this marinade.

The results: 4 out of 5. Very simple. Tasty but maybe the mushrooms were supposed to be sliced thinner?

Kids rating: Not going near it. I did let my daughter apply the garnish, and so they both had some fun with the parsley. But let's face it. Parsley is fun.

Wife rating: pending. She's not a big fan of mushrooms though.

Do I remember this from childhood? Well I already mentioned the marinade, but I don't remember eating this dish. We had a lot of dinner parties so this may have been one item at the table that I didn't eat. But I should've.

HERB SPREAD OR DIP

Interesting title for the recipe -- it's almost an existential question. And if I was to dip a piece of melba toast in it, would that be a spread . . . or a dip? I guess the knife makes the difference.

This was relatively easy to make, though it required a trip to the store to stock up on herb and spices that I hope I am able to use. I also don't remember the last time I personally used the blender.

As soon as I got to the "taste" part I felt immediately emotional, like Proust tasting his madeleine cookies. I think it was either to do with the memory of my mom or a feeling that it was nice to have worked a little to make some real food. It was probably both, or, as my friend suggested I was having an allergic reaction.

This did make me realize that since I believe I have a tree nut allergy, which has possibly progressed to include peanuts and sunflower seeds, that I am going to need to be careful with a vegetarian cookbook until I go to see an allergist.

The taste was great -- like very fresh veggie cream cheese, though I may not have refrigerated it long enough. I didn't make the "Grandma's Onion and Poppy Seed Soda Crackers" yet, instead using Carr's Poppy and Sesame crackers and carrots. And check out this presentation!

The results: 4 out of 5. Really good, delicious. A little bit of an onion sting perhaps. But I could eat a ton of it

Kids rating: they liked it with the carrots and were good sports. Not enough to consume mass quantities but they had some. My daughter preferred it with the carrots. And to be honest they may have only tentatively dipped. My son is good with the food analysis, having one proclaimed that "ketchup is the whipped cream of the meat world." For this he said that the dip was "like beef stew without the beef." Make of that what you will.

Wife rating: pending

Do I remember this from childhood? I must've eaten it. I wonder now how many times my mom had made something special from scratch and I just assumed it was something store bought. And my emotional reaction may have been a deep sense memory reignited.

MOM'S HOT OLIVE CHEESE PUFFS

So from the title I can assume that this was a recipe from my grandmother. Part of the fun for me in looking through these cookbooks is that many of the recipes have a title that refers to a family friend or relative.

These were pretty easy to make, and I just used a fork to stir. However, I think there was supposed to be some mention of adding water to the dough, which I did, because otherwise it was just sort of a flaky pile of pastry.

I made some without olives and some with, just so I could get the kids to try them.

The results: 3 out of 5. Pretty good, but not necessarily interesting enough to make again, especially with elaeophobes (those that fear olives) in the house. Also the taste really depends on the cheese you use -- I used Tillamook sharp cheddar.

Kids rating: they each ate one, and didn't hate it. To be honest without olives the puffs are pretty same-y.

Wife rating: she doesn't like olives either, but seemed to think it at least qualified as a successfully made item.

Do I remember this from childhood? Hmm, vaguely. I'm not sure I was a big olive eater back then, so she may have made these without for me too.

I remember once giving a critique of something my mom made by saying "Well, it tasted like you made the recipe well, but it just wasn't something I wanted to eat." I thought it seemed like a fair thing to say . . .

I'm a Bad Cook

I'm a bad cook -- it's true. I often feel like it's not worth putting the time into something that is going to be eaten in 10-15 minutes. Having kids made it worse -- you could make the perfect huevos rancheros only to have it dismissed by a picky, or spice-sensitive child.

In contrast, my mom was a great cook, and I basically took it for granted. She wrote four cookbooks (Meatless Meals/Menus, Naturally Nutritious, Budget Saving Meals, and New Mother's Cookbook), and often tested the recipes on us.

My mom died in 2002. Just recently I wondered if it wouldn't be a nice tribute to her to make an effort to try to make the recipes from her books. I could work on my cooking ability while eating delicious food. And maybe I'd start a blog as a writing project. Seems like a good idea.

I thought I'd start with Meatless Meals which was reprinted as Meatless Menus. I've been a vegetarian on and off, though I'm not really right now. And I thought instead of picking and choosing, I would just slowly work through the whole cookbook from the beginning to the end, one recipe at a time. Starting with Appetizers. I guess we'll eat appetizers for awhile.

Things I thought I might do with each recipe -- give it a rating (which you should take as a rating of how I made the recipe, since I expect I'm not always doing everything right), take a picture of the finished product, give it a rating from my kids and wife, and give a memory from me (and maybe my brother) on whether or not we remember eating this as a child.

So, thanks for stopping by, I'll try to update this at least once a week. And let me know if you've tried any of the recipes at home too!