My Mama’s Sweet Potato Pie

Ah…potatoes. We like (some even love) them right? From the salty taste of the hard crisped chip in our mouths (umm), to the baked spud bursting with sour cream, chives, and that ooey, gooey “buddha” (butter), to the sunday morning staple that was in our home for breakfast consisting of bacon and eggs with hash-browned potatoes cooked in bacon grease remnants, with sauteed onions and green bell pepper (can’t you just smell the aroma?).  Well, for my class presentation, I chose a potato that was always in our household for holidays and special occasions that was turned into the decadent, ever so sweet tasting, and always a winner, my mama’s sweet potato pie.

Why did I choose the “sweet potato” pie?  Well, I’m glad you asked! This pie has been a staple with African American’s since way before I was even born, and especially in our house. Mama used to make these, as I remember, not only for us, but for our neighbors as well.  You see, her pies were “special.” That’s all we, (my sisters and I) would hear. Now, my pies really don’t hold a candle to my mother’s because, honestly, I think she did not put down EVERYTHING on her recipe card that she put into those pies!  For real. My pies are only a close second in comparison to what I remember tasting. 

So, Who’s on First

It is said that the sweet potato was first brought to this country by the Brits. Well, not so fast. Depending on where you look or who you ask, it is said that the yam was the first to appear. So who is right?  What I discovered is that the Brits brought the pumpkin pie recipe over during slavery, but that slaves started using a sweeter potato (did you get that what I just did right here) for the pies the because spices used to sweeten anything was not readily available to the slaves. They used what they had and was only allowed to use these special spices needed in cooking the pies for the main house, the master’s quarters. 

So What’s the Diff?

Sweet Potato                                                  Yam

Belong to morning glory family                       Belong to lily family

Sweeter and more moist                                 Less sweet and more starch

Dark skin, orange flesh                                  Golden skin, pale flesh                                                                                                      (white/yellow) 

Long shelf life                                                 Even better shelf life than SP

Lower in Calories                                            Higher in calories

Shaped like a potato                                       Shaped long and cylindrical

More beta-carotene                                        Better source of potassium

90 calories (½ cup)                                         116 calories (½ cup)

0 fat                                                                  0 fat

20 g carbs                                                         27 g carbs

Lower glycemic index                                        Higher glycemic index

In the United States, yams are hard to find, are imported, and rarely found in local grocery stores. You can find them in international or even ethnic markets. There are over 600 varieties. Sweet potatoes, on the other hand, being more used and more popular in cooking, are more plentiful around the world. 

Don’t Get Them Toes Cut Off!

So as you can see, sweet potatoes are sweeter and moister than yams but lower on the glycemic index which means that their carbs are released more slowly into the bloodstream.  As stated in my class presentation, a sweet potato pie is a “sometime” food mainly because of the added sugar, butter and milk the cook has to put in the recipe. With that being said, can we talk? Diabetes, yes big D, is rampant not only in African American community, but everywhere in the United States.  Unfortunately, we have become a country of diabetics (pre, type 1 and type 2). According to just about anywhere you read or any form of media you watch or listen to, it’s no surprise that this is unfortunately true, even among our teens and younger children! According to the ADA (American Diabetes Association) in 2018, 34.2 million Americans, or 10.5% of the population, had diabetes. Nearly 1.6 million Americans (about 187,000) have type 1 diabetes, and that includes children and adolescents and 14.3 million seniors (age 65 and older, diagnosed and undiagnosed). Approximately 1.5 million new cases of diabetes is reported for Americans each year.  

 Why This Potato and not That Potato

We as Blacks in this foreign place called America have, as everyone knows, struggled to be accepted.  We were forced here against our will, and, after that, we were stripped of everything — culture, family, our native language of Africa, and some did not even make it long enough to be stripped–They lost their lives during the uber ride over here.  When I would hear my mama and her friends laugh and talk around the holidays while preparing all that food, even as a little kid, I knew that time was a special time. They were laughing, telling jokes, whispering stuff (eye roll here) in each other’s ears so the kids (us) could not hear what they whispered. They were  generally happy I think. But I did not remember them being THIS happy every regular day. What I DO remember were the worries they had but tried to hide from us, the tears, the anguish, the everyday struggles and sometimes the fear. Yes, even as a kid I could just feel the fear. Now, I didn’t know exactly why they were fearful but I could sense it and we’d hear bits and pieces of their “hushed” conversations.  So I guess I decided to make this pie as a tribute to my mother, who has long left this earth, as a way to publicly say “Thank You”. Thanks for being my mother and raising me to try to be the best that I can be, even if you did  not have any experience to draw from to show me an example, you always seemed to do your best. Thanks for never giving up, even though sometimes I know you wanted to–but you didn’t. THANKS. My love for her and hers for me will never cease because when I bake this pie, it’s like I can still hear the commotion in the kitchen, the smell of all the food cooking, the laughing, the jokes (theirs), the good times back then.  No worries, just a great time in my life. Mostly.

Torta Helada (Presentation)

Here is a very fun fact, Peruvians LOVE jello! So much so, you can go into any little dessert shop in Lima, Peru and find several types of jello desserts available for purchase. In my household, jello is the answer to anything and everything. Stomach ache? Eat some jello. Sick? Jello. Broken hearted? Hello, it’s jello time! I’ve never met a problem jello couldn’t help resolve. This is the perfect treat to have on a hot summer day, as it is refreshing and light but also to satisfy a sweet craving without much guilt. If you opt for sugar-free jello to make this cake, you can save yourself a few calories and the flavor remains almost exactly the same! 

These types of cakes are very popular. So much so that my mother was even able to start her own small business making jellos cakes for birthday parties and special events. Not only are we attached to this jiggly dessert through business, but also in personal matters as well. This very simple but very delicious dessert helped create bonds in my family and memories that will never be forgotten. This dessert allowed me to truly open up and accept a new way of life through a difficult time in my adolescence. I know,I know, that seems like alot to ask from one simple cake, right? The reality is, learning how to make this sweet treat gave me a sense of belonging and kinship with my sudden new familial arrangement. When I think back to the first time I had this treat in my new home, I was scared but also, with one bite, still felt like I WAS home. One familiar bite gave me back everything I knew. This isn’t just a dessert to me, it’s a beautiful memory.

Torta Helada de Fresa

Torta helada roughly translates to “cold cake” which is essentially jello encapsulating fresh fruit and moist cake on the inside. This dessert really is very little to no hassle. You save time by using instant jello mix and instant cake mix (or you can make the cake yourself, but who really has the time). Once those are done it really is only a matter or putting it all together nicely. The layer on top (which can be seen in the pictures below) is jello in its regular, most well known form. It is solid jello with strawberries inside that jello layer. The second layer, and the layer surrounding the entire cake is also jello but with a different consistency. The light pink layer is whipped jello. What we did to achieve this consistency is combine frozen evaporated milk with regular jello when it is still in its liquid form and using a hand held mixer, whipped it till it got to this thick-like consistency. Once you have reached a level of consistency you are happy with, it is important to act fast and assemble the cake because whipped jello becomes unmanageable quite quickly after being done. After that you are pretty much done! It is honestly very simple but the outcome is amazing! Next time you are craving something sweet and refreshing, I hope you consider giving this torta helada a try!

My Family Ceviche

What does a young wife cook for her husband when she has no idea how to cook? That was the major reason why I did not want to ever get married. I was never one of those girls that dreamed about getting married one day. In fact, I often joked about how I would never have kids, have a dozen boyfriends, live on my own by the time I was 21, and about how and if  I ever got married, I was going to have a maid and a housekeeper to run my house because I would be rich one day. That was far from my reality by the time I was 22 years old. Here I was, 22 years old, newly married, and no idea of how I was going to make things work. I knew there would be no way I could fake it. I had run away from the kitchen my whole life, and now there would be no turning back and I was petrified to tell my new husband that he would either starve or have to learn to cook for himself. Lucky for me things worked in my favor since the day after my wedding.

Our first honeymoon location was in Mazatlán, Culiacan, Mexico. We had room service and cocktails on the beach and it was wonderful. Our next stop would be the real test. My husband decided we would go to Sinaloa, Culiacan, Mexico because his father lived there and he had not made the trip to the United States for the wedding.  When we arrived to his father’s house, we rang the doorbell and he yelled from somewhere in the back of the house. “I’m back here!”. We went towards the back yard and he was sitting on a chair with a table full of ingredients I recognized. Red onions, cilantro, cucumbers, tomatoes, fresh jalapeños, avocados, tostadas, shrimp and octopus. We were making ceviche, the one dish I knew very well.

I grew up with a single mother and every time she went in to the kitchen to cook, she would ask me to go help and I refused because I felt like I had no business in there. My mother was not fond of cooking either so she would typically make dishes that were quick and easy and her idea of a fancy meal was cheese enchiladas topped with cotija cheese and pickled onions, with a side of whole pinto beans and sopa de arroz (Mexican rice). Although we are Mexican, she rarely kept tortillas in the house, so the tortillas were a real treat.

But sometimes there was work to be done in the kitchen because we were going to have guests. This meant, ceviche de pescado (fish). This was her go-to meal for serving up something extra special, but it required help from everyone. My sisters and I chopped the vegetables while she cut up any type of white fish that was on sale and we all got to feast with our family guests. Now, I was a guest at my in laws’ home.

I felt a huge sense of relief because I knew my role immediately when I saw the spread of ingredients that my father in law had for us.  In that afternoon, I learned that ceviche was my husband’s favorite meal and that I was already an expert at making it. Through the years, making ceviche became a family tradition in my home. Whenever there is a special occasion or at my children’s request, we sit at the table, grab a knife and chop away at the ingredients to make a delicious ceviche, as a family.

The recipe consists of 4 lbs. or medium shrimp which will need to be peeled and deveined, and finally washed thoroughly.

You will need 2 small cans of baby clams and save the juice of one of the cans:

Next you will need to dice the shrimp and place in a bowl along with the baby clams and the juice from one of cans and put to the side while you prepare your vegetables

You will need the following vegetables:

5 small diced tomatoes

4 diced fresh jalapeños

1 seeded sliced cucumber

1 diced large red onion

1 chopped, small cilantro bunch

1 tablespoon salt

Dash of pepper

5 juiced lemons

8-10 juiced limes

Mix the juice of lemons and limes. Use about ¾ the juice to pour over the shrimp and baby clams. The remainder should be placed in another bowl with all the vegetables.

The next step is to leave the shrimp and baby clams, and the mixed vegetable soaking with the lemon and lime juice mixture in the refrigerator for at least 4 hours.

The final step is to mix all the ingredients into one bowl and add the salt and pepper:

Enjoy as an appetizer or main dish on a tostada or with tortilla chips.

You can turn this recipe into a fun activity with family or friends by getting everyone to help chopping and preparing while talking at the table. It is a great opportunity to sit together and chat.

The day my life hit guac bottom…

The house that I grew up in had three trees: a guava tree, a lemon tree, and my favorite, an avocado tree. This tree was enormous and full of leaves that would provide cool shade during hot summer days but most importantly, it was full of avocados. My uncle, who was a father figure to me, installed my first swing on this tree. In the evenings, I would help him water all the plants and flowers around the tree. Our family would have many barbeques and sit under the tree. Whenever we had guests coming over to visit, it was easy to find our house because of our big avocado tree. Even though I lived in the busy side of the city, being under this tree made me feel like I was in a place of peace and tranquility.

Having a tree that produced something edible and so readily available for me was exciting and I felt like the luckiest little girl in the world! I remember using a long orange fruit tree picker to bring down the avocados which were my absolute favorite thing to do so that we could give them away. We were fortunate to have more than enough. I felt like I was doing hard work and a very important job at the time. We were saving people money, trips to the store, time, and maybe even their health as avocados provide good nutrition. Our tree would produce so many avocados that we would fill countless buckets of them. We had so many that we would give them out to anyone and everyone. People that walked by would ask us if they could get some and we would say, “Yes! Please take as many as you’d like!” and whenever we had guests, we made sure they’d go home with a bag full of avocados. Once, we even had a city inspector make a deal with us that if we gave him a bucket of avocados, he’d write off our citation ticket for having something in our backyard that needed a permit (I forgot what it was exactly).

Our avocados were a good size too; about the size of a softball! As I got older, I started noticing avocados were expensive at grocery stores but since I never had to buy any, it didn’t really bother me at the time. Then about 4 years ago, the unthinkable happened: I had to start buying avocado! Our tree was growing more and more and became a danger to anyone walking on the sidewalk as it was able to fall at any moment. I begged my grandma and the rest of my family not to cut it down because I believed my tree was anything but harmful. Of course, no one would listen and cutting it down was necessary in order to prevent harm. I always thought my personal giving tree would stand forever but after 30 years, it was finally gone.

I remember my grandma tried growing out another one and I would say, “It’s not the same. I don’t want another one. Plus, by the time it grows as big as the last one, I’ll probably be dead”. I was pretty bitter about it and so my grandma just decided not to even bother with planting a new one. Since we no longer had a tree that gave us free avocados, I had to start buying them which to me was so hard to process. I had been getting avocados for free for 20 something years and now I’m paying extra for “guac” at chipotle! It felt unethical to me almost as if the air was being sold to me. Then I’d go to grocery stores and find avocados that were not even half the size of my softball avocados. I would think, “You call this an avocado?!” To make matters worse, avocados seem to always be overpriced.  It’s still something that I’m struggling to accept but I love avocados and so I make the investment and buy them.

One of the main reasons I choose to invest in avocados is not only for their delicious taste but for their health benefits as well. When I started learning more about nutrition, I didn’t know there was such a thing as a “good kind of fat”. The avocado is the only fruit that contains good fat which is good for heart health. Avocados are also naturally free of sodium, sugar, and cholesterol. They can act as a “nutrient booster” by helping increase the way our bodies absorb vitamins such as A and D. Even babies can enjoy this nutritious food. Due to its creamy consistency, it makes the first fresh food for babies to try.

 

What I really like about avocado is that there are so many ways to incorporate them into everyday meals. Below, I have listed some meals that allow me to get creative with avocado:

  • Avocado toast
  • Egg omelets topped with avocado
  • Buddha bowls
  • Salads
  • and of course, guacamole!

 

These are just a few dishes that I enjoy eating as each bite takes me back to a memorable time in my childhood. My tree may be gone, but my love for avocado will always remain.

 

 

 

Sources:

https://www.californiaavocado.com/nutrition/nutrients

Alfajores

When I was 8 years old, my father began working for a baked goods company in Argentina.  The baked goods company made every single treat my young little heart could ever dream of.  In my young mind, my father was the equivalent of Willy Wonka.

He was hired by the company as a mold maker.  The molds he made were used to make all of the baked goods.  Per company rules, employees were allowed to indulge in any of the company’s products as long as they did so on the company’s premises.  Employees were not allowed to take any of the goods home without purchasing them first.  If employees were caught taking anything home, they would risk being dismissed from their job.  My dad was so lucky to work there, I thought.  When I was old enough, I was going to work for the same company.

My family’s financial situation was very dire when my father was hired.  My family did not have any money to spare, especially to buy any sweet treats for me.  My father knew how much I loved alfajores, so he would sneak out the sweet treats for me inside his clothes.  Every day, at around 5pm, I would wait patiently for my dad to get home from work.  I would search all over his clothes until I would find the hidden alfajores.  It was our daily ritual until he sadly left the company to come to the United States.

What is an Alfajor?

An alfajor is a very popular sweet treat found in many South American countries.  Contrary to the belief that the alfajor originated in South America, it actually originated in the Middle East sometime in the 19th century.  According to dialectologists, the name alfajor is derived from the Arabic word al-fakher, which means luxurious.

Alfajores are made with two round cookies made of wheat flour or corn starch with different sweet fillings between them. The inside filling is usually dulce de leche and the outside is usually covered in glazed sugar (my personal favorite), coated with dark or white chocolate or shredded coconut.  Argentina is the world’s largest consumer of alfajores.  Alfajores are the most common snack that is eaten by both children and adults.  Alfajores are also very popular in many other South American countries such as Uruguay, Chile and Peru.

Alfajores can be enjoyed at any time to curb hunger between meals or share with friends and loved ones. They can be paired with a variety of beverages and make a delicious dessert after any meal.  Alfajores are one of the best gifts you can give friends and loved ones when traveling to the US from Argentina.  At least, that is the best gift someone can bring me.  As soon as I bite into a delicious alfajor, it transports me back to the days that I would wait for my father to come home from work so that I could search his pockets for my sweet treats.

There are many well-known alfajor brands in South America.  My personal favorite alfajor brand is Havanna.  The brand Havanna was founded in 1948 by Benjamín Sisterna, Demetrio Elíades and Luis Sbaraglini in the city of Mar del Plata (a coastal city in Argentina).

The Havanna alfajor is not a low-calorie food.  The nutritional information of the alfajor is as follows:

Nutritional Facts

Serving Size 1 piece

Calories                               205

Calories from fat                     65

Total Fat                               7g

Saturated Fat                          3.9g

Trans Fat                                 0.1g

Cholesterol                          12 mg

Sodium                                 34 mg

Total Carbohydrates            32 g

Dietary Fiber                            0.2g

Sugars                                    17g

Protein                                  3.5 g

 

Agua Chiles

Lent, seafood and my papa’s agua Chile

Lent is described as a 40 day remembrance period that honors the time that Jesus Christ spent fasting in the desert, in which he endured temptation by Satan. In commemoration of Christ’s fasting and sacrifice, Christians across the words observe lent by fasting, praying, giving up something they enjoy and eating a special diet for the duration of 40 days of lent. One of the traditions of lent is eating seafood. My family observes lent by fasting and praying on Fridays. Usually, my family fast during the early part of the day and offer their fast in prayer as a sacrifice before they serve and eat dinner. The menu on Fridays during lent usually consists of a seafood dish such as agua chiles, seafood cocktail, fried tilapia, and seafood soup. On the last day of lent my family would usually celebrate by going out for dinner at a seafood restaurant.
My husband’s family’s lent tradition is usually observed by not eating beef, chicken or pork on Fridays for the duration of lent. His family concludes by having a traditionally big seafood dinner that includes eating fish soup, but this soup is not just any fish soup. It is made from dried fish with id battered with flour, egg, spices and boiled in a broth. Other dishes served during the end of lent are paella and shrimp ceviche.
One of my childhood memories involves eating seafood with my father and uncles. Before my dad’s family became evangelical, they would often drink and to get rid of their hangover my father and uncles would cook different seafood dishes. One of my favorite dishes my father and uncle would prepare is agua chile. I decided to share this dish with the class for my presentation because it’s easy to prepare and does not need to be heated to serve.
The way my family usually prepares agua chiles for about 20 people is by using 5 pounds of washed, peeled and deveined shrimp, 2 cilantro, dicing 8 cucumbers into small pieces, 5-8 serrano peppers, slicing 4 red onions and squeezing 8 pounds of limes which will produce about one litter of lime juice. First, slice the shrimp in halves and place the shrimp in a large bowl. Then blend about 2 cups of lime juice with 5-8 serrano peppers, one cilantro, and one eight red onion. The consistency of the sauce should be watery. Add the sauce to the shrimp, add salt and pepper to taste. Cover the bowl and place in the refrigerator to chill for about 30 minutes. Then remove from the refrigerator add the chopped onions, and cucumbers. Now it is ready to serve, serve the agua chiles with tortilla chips or saltine crackers. Enjoy!
Facts about shrimp:

· Over five billion pounds of shrimp are produced every single year and one billion pounds of shrimp are consumed in the United States each year.

· There are over 2,000 species of shrimps.
· They usually live from 1 to 7 years.
·
Why do Shrimp, Salmon, and lobster turn pink or red? Well, Shrimp, Salmon, and lobster are some ocean creatures that when cooked change in color. All contain a protein called carotenoids (which are pigments), that breakdown when cooked and change pigment (huffpost.com).

Americans Consume One Billion Pounds Of Shrimp Annually


www.huffpost.com › shrimp-turns-pink_n_588f7d06e4b0522c7d3bf2a7

Mom’s Albondigas Recipe

 

As my presentation I chose Albondigas which is the Spanish version of the meatballs and has been one of my favorite childhood dishes my mom made.  This dish originated from Spain in the 16th century and introduced to Mexico when the Spain conquered Mexico.  As time passed the origin of this dish has changed.  This dish along with all the soups my mom made was and still are a Mexican soul food.  This is a Mexican dish and depending on what city in Mexico you reside in the recipe becomes uniquely different.  This soup to me is more like a comfort food especially during the cold or rainy weather.  As I was growing up, I was very fortunate to come home to fresh home cooked meals because my mom was a stay at home mom.  I always looked forward to whatever my mom made especially this delicious soup on a cold rainy day and it was the best.  We often ate this with a tortilla with some mayonnaise smothered in it and little squirt of lemon, it was the perfect combination.  I have also tasted my mother in laws albondigas and it just didn’t compare to my mothers’ recipe as it has been by far the best as it is quite unique.  The distinctiveness of my moms’ dish is the mint, it adds a little kick to the meat balls. The chayote which is an edible plant in this soup to me doesn’t have any taste to it but the texture of this squash is actually good.  It is low in calories but has lots of fiber, antioxidants and is good for any diet.

ingredients:

1 tomato cut in slices                                                                            1 half white onion sliced                                                                         1 can of tomato sauce
1 sliced potato
1 sliced chayote
baby carrots
sliced celery
1 pd of ground beef
bundle of mint diced
tomatillos diced
onion diced
1 egg

Also, the veggies in the albondigas have vitamins and the ground beef is good protein.  This soup is so flavorful that I always wanted seconds.  I learned to make this recipe now that I have kids and I am happy to say that I mastered my mom’s recipe because I am not a fan of cooking.  My sister also has told me that I happen to make this dish better then her and that it taste just like my mothers.  My connection to this food now is that albondigas represents our culture and family connections.  Whenever I make the family recipe my siblings get excited and ask if they can come over for dinner. This dish happens to brings my family together and that makes me happy that I am able to do this by mastering my mom’s Albondigas.  This project has helped me appreciate my mom’s recipe(s) and by taking pictures of this specific recipe it inspired me to make a recipe book.  My mom is getting older and I find that the recipes are getting lost as no one is really making them anymore. When my mom cooked she always made enough that her house was all of our stopping point after work.  However, as I was making this recipe and taking the pictures of my dish it truly inspired me to make a family cookbook and share with my family so that her dishes will always remain.

Platanos Fritos

In my presentation, I decided to talk about a dish that my parents introduced to me as a child.

The reason why this dish is so important to me has to do with a lot of things. When I was young, I would hear my father and mother talk about the war that ruined their lives. I didn’t know much about the country that was called “El Salvador”. I grew up with African Americans and Mexicans around me. I was not proud to be latina nor thought great things about a country I never visited. However, even with all of this, I felt like something was missing in my heart. Not only would I neglect the country my parents fled, I also wanted to flee the city I was born in. After a trauma that led me into depression, I wanted to escape.

Sadly, the pride I felt for being Salvadorian did not happen until I moved away to University in Humboldt county. After truly understanding what it meant to be homesick, I came back home to Los Angeles and my perspective on things changed.

Back then, I remember I would say I was from another ethnicity because I wasn’t proud of who I was. I honored other cultures but did not do so with mine. All of that changed when my father decided to take me to El Salvador and visit my family when I came back to Los Angeles. That emptiness I felt was soon filled with a sense of familiarity I have never felt before when I stepped foot in a country that had its blood running through my veins.

Now when I eat a plate of Platanos Fritos, I think about the country my parents came from, the country where my extended family lives, the country I would have been born in if the war did not happen, the country that is struggling to get back on its feet. It makes me proud to be Salvadorian but also someone from Los Angeles. It makes me proud because I have been given an opportunity to succeed under terrible circumstances. I am able to meet cultures from all over the world and I am able to have an education.

When I think about my country, I see the faces of hardworking people, of people who are determined to survive, and of people that seem familiar to me. I am now proud to say I am Salvadorian and want people to know more about this really small central American country.

I am proud to say I am Salvadorian but also from Los Angeles. That I am neither from here completely or there but I am a unique combination of both. When I have children, I will make them this dish and show them to love everything about their unique mixture of culture as well. I am excited to show them that part of their culture and the culture of my husbands. I believe that food is very powerful and can bring people together. I also believe that it is important to never forget the recipes that tell a story about a certain group of people.

 

Banana-Nut-Chocolate Chip-Muffins

 

I have a special fondness for banana nut bread.  Not only is it a delicious comfort food, but I have several memories associated with the bread that spans a period of time in my life from my high school days to the present day with my family.

I first baked (and tasted) banana nut bread in my high school Home Economics class.  I remember cooking and baking different dishes in class, but out of all of them, my favorite was baking banana nut bread loaves.  I can still remember tasting the distinct flavor of the sweet bananas and the crunchiness of the walnuts and surprised by how easy is was to make the recipe, using a few basic ingredients that are common in any household kitchen and of course the buttermilk.  I believe that the buttermilk is the secret ingredient to this recipe, as it is what makes the muffins so moist.  I kept the recipe long after graduating from high school and would bake the bread frequently until for some unknown reason I stopped.

It was not until we moved to our current home many, many years later (I was now married with children) that I found the recipe again and began baking the bread again. However, this time, for practicality reasons, I would bake them in a muffin tin and made muffins instead of loaves. I also opted to use cupcake liners, although not necessary.  Additionally, I began to roast the walnuts in the oven for five minutes and chopped them once cooled.  I read somewhere that by doing so it would enhance the nuttiness flavor of the nuts and bring out a buttery flavor of them.  This I found to be true and highly recommend this extra step.

One day my youngest son, then six years old, now twenty-three, asked me to add chocolate chips to the muffins.  I obliged and ever since then, I always make two batches of muffins- one batch of the original banana nut and the other batch of banana nut chocolate chip.  The new version of the banana nut recipe was a hit.

I often bake these muffins and take them to work for meetings or just as a “pick me up” at work for my staff to enjoy with coffee.  To this date, I still have family members who give me their over ripened bananas and ask me to make muffins for them.

Through the years, I’ve always enjoyed baking, and making these banana nut chocolate chips muffins are probably the item I bake the most. I especially love to bake in the fall and winter and during cold nights as the oven warms up the house.  Additionally, nothing beats the smell of bread baking in the oven.  The smell is so welcoming and to me evokes the memories I have associated with family.

My children are all grown and still ask me, “Mom, why do your muffins taste so good?” and I always reply, “Because I make them with love.”  The banana nut bread recipe has evolved from the original one I made long ago in high school to the one I call my own.  I will be posting the recipe for the cookbook. So, if you have any overripe bananas in your house and are thinking about what to do with them… get some buttermilk and bake some muffins.

 

Mom’s Meatball Meatloaf

This Photo by Unknown Author is licensed under CC BY-SA-NC

For my presentation I choose my Mom’s meatloaf because it’s a favorite of mine and my siblings.  It holds a deep and emotional connection for us because we grew up in a single parent home eating my mom delicious meatballs that evolved into her delicious meatloaf.  My mom had been out of the workforce for years, however after my parents divorced, she had to re-enter the workforce to take care of four young kids. She found that domestic worked as she only had a second-grade education,  she found that cleaning homes allowed her to be home before we arrived home from school to prepare a hot home cooked meal for us.

Photo by C. Gonzalez

Our favorite food was and still is her pasta with meatballs.  However, homemade meatballs are a time-consuming process that combines mixing all the ingredients, rolling them into evenly size meatballs, frying the meat balls.  Then you make the spaghetti sauce to finish the cooking process of the meatballs.  Now that my mom was now working, she needed to streamline her life.  She knew there would be no way for us not to have our meatballs with our pasta and for those days that we would arrive before her she needed something quick and easy for us to fix.  One day our neighbor brought over half of her meatloaf to share with us because it was too much for her and her husband to eat.   The meatloaf gave my mom a crazy idea; that’s when she came up with this idea of “meatball meatloaf”.  She was so excited about this meatloaf because it would be two meals in one.  Not only was it very tasty, but also very economical.  It allowed her to stretch the budget by making two meals from one dish.  My mom would make two loaves; one for sandwiches, and with the other, she would slice up into big cubes like meatballs, and cook them in her awesome sauce.  We all knew when she was baking her meatloaf because we could smell it while we all played outside.  Her meatloaf was so good that all the neighborhood kids would hang out at our house when she cooked it.  The smell of meatball still takes me back to the great days of when we would all run it and fight for a seat about the table to eat her meatball meatloaf. Thanks for the best food EVER!  Tutti al tavolo!

The nutritional benefits of meatballs:

Beef is a good source of iron and protein. You can enjoy its benefits without overdoing it, if you eat a modest portion. Meatballs are not bad for us because they contain essential amino acids which are good for our body.

Interesting facts:

  • It is believed that the Chinese were the first to create the meatball.
  • Meatballs found in almost every county all over the world. Meatballs are found throughout Europe, Middle East, South Asia, Canada, Mexico, United States, Central and South Americas just to name a few.
  • Spaghetti and meatballs are an American invention. Only American Italians eat spaghetti and meatballs.  If you ever get the opportunity to visit Italy, NEVER ask for spaghetti and meat balls.  A typical Italian meal consists of a first course (il primo) some type of pasta, rice or similar, a second-course (il secondo) of some type of meat or fish served together with a side dish (il contorno) some type of vegetable or salad, and typically ends with fruit and/or cheese, something sweet, and espresso.

 

References:

Arnarson, A. (2019, April 4). Beef 101: Nutrition Facts and Health Effects. Retrieved from https://www.healthline.com/nutrition/foods/beef

Meatball facts for kids. (2019, November 21). Retrieved from  https://kids.kiddle.co/Meatball#History

Toscana, Cucina ToscanaCucina. “Guide to the Traditional Italian Meal Structure.” Cucina Toscana, 22 Sept. 2015, toscanaslc.com/blog/guide-to-the-traditional-italian-meal-structure/.