Каша, by definition, is a grain boiled in milk or water. It is one of the main dishes of Ukrainian cuisine. In my house, it is prepared with milk, honey, oats, and a mixture of various seeds such as flax, chia, and hemp. I’m not referring to the English reception, kasha, which is cooked buckwheat, and Ukrainian comfort food as well. Although my mum makes that too, it isn’t as good as the sweet oat porridge. I have a special connection to it, simply because of how long I’ve been eating it for. It is one of the core memories I have living in my old house in my current neighborhood of Biddeford Pool. I remember when I was around 5 years old, I would routinely wake up in the middle of the night, go to my mum, and gesture a eating motion with my little hands. Every time, she would prepare me a bowl, sort of the default food at the time, with all of its clumps and slimy texture. Currently, when my mum leaves for work before I wake up, I go into the kitchen to discover she left me leftovers, still warm. I add some milk, stir it up, and leave it on heat for a little while to soften. Каша reminds me of all of the homes I’ve lived in, because it has been made in every single one. It also reminds me of my other home, Ukraine.
My favorite homemade meal that my mother makes for me is a steak sandwich. Not to be confused with a steak N’cheese, a steak sandwich is a marvelous creation made with only the finest ingredients. First purchase that you will need to make is your steak, there is a variety of steaks you can buy at a supermarket, but for this recipe you will need to buy yourself a cut of ribeye. A fatty tender cut of meat for this recipe is the perfect combination for the sandwich. From there you’re going to pan sear it and cook it too a medium rare finish, with the meat pink and juicy. From there you are going to get yourself a Brioche bun and spread a healthy amount of horse radish on the buns. After done applying you’re going to cut your steak into slices, not too thick, but also not super skinny. After that you are going to apply the steak on to the bun. Once your steak is applied to the buns you’re also going to want to caramelize some mushrooms and onions in a pan and once those are done you are going to apply that on top of the steak on the sandwich. To finish it off you’re going to want to put a few strains of arugula on your sandwich. For sides I usually will either air fry some sweet potato puffs or cook some brussel sprouts with a Parmesan garlic seasoning. This is my go too meal every time I get to go home, and probably will be as long as my mother and I are on the planet together.
For me, it’s very hard to pin down one specific meal as my favorite. Though I’ve been on earth only nineteen years, I like to think that I’ve had my fair share of culinary experiences from some reasonably extensive travel in Europe as well as a few crossings of the United States under my belt. However, the dish that really sticks with me the most is a dish my father started making around the year 2016. If I recall correctly, it was created after a trip to the grocery store where he’d gotten an assortment of culinary odds and ends and decided to make a meal of it while keeping it quite healthy. Each time he serves it, it is slightly different though it consists of a core of rice, ginger, soy sauce, mango or pineapple, peppers (sometimes spicy, sometimes not so much) tofu and basil. As I said before, each time it’s a little different than the last but those are the general core ingredients upon which he improvises. It’s not a real glamorous meal, nor is it a recipe that’s been passed down from generation to generation, but the effort, care and taste make it ultimately my favorite home cooked meal and quite possibly my most favorite meal, and someday soon I hope to sit down and learn precisely what the collection of ingredients precisely is so I may cook it for myself, and someday perhaps even hand it down to another generation, creating a culinary legend from a improvised mess of food.
There is nothing more tasty than a home cooked meal. I didn’t realize how much I took them for granted until I came to college. But now they seem even tastier since I don’t have them as often. My mom or dad goes to Wilson’s Farm, an organic market in Lexington, and buys uncooked sirloin with salty and sweet seasoning on top. My dad cooks it on the grill when whoever bought it comes home. They also pick up gold potatoes and fresh green beans. We wash the potatoes so they’re nice and clean. Then we cut them into small slices so they look like orange slices. We spread olive oil on each one and sprinkle salt and pepper on them. We put them in the oven at 400 degrees for 20 minutes or until they’re nicely golden brown and crispy. Just how I like them! We usually eat them with ketchup, after all they’re sort of like french fries! Next comes the beans. Green beans are my favorite vegetable. We wash them and put them in a pot with water and put them on the stove for about 5 minutes. We also sprinkle a little bit of salt into the water so that the beans absorb and give it a saltier flavor. Once they are done boiling, we drain the water using a strainer. My favorite way to eat them is spreading butter on them using a knife and slicing up a lemon and covering them with lemon juice. But if we don’t have any fresh lemon, we just use lemon juice from the container you can buy at the store that comes in a yellow plastic container that looks like a lemon!. Once all the food is cooked and the kitchen smells delicious, we grab our drinks, sit down at the table and dig in!
Throughout the years, there have been a lot of homemade meals that I have fallen in love with, but there is one that my dad makes that just always tops the rest. It is a meal that is made a little bit differently every time but always ends up tasting amazing. We call it mayo chicken (I know it sounds weird, but it has amazing flavor). It is a pretty easy meal to make, only needing a few ingredients for the main portion. The chicken is always made with breast, even though thighs would be practically the same, and each chicken breast is always cut horizontally into three pieces, each relatively thin. The chicken is then slathered in a creamy mixture of mayonnaise, Italian breadcrumbs (not panko), garlic salt, onion salt, and Italian seasonings (these change each time). On top of the mayonnaise mixture, there is another layer of breadcrumbs to help the chicken crisp in the oven. Then the chicken is baked until perfectly crispy. My dad always serves the meal with two side dishes, a bowl of rice, and a vegetable. The rice is always the same, rice pilaf, but the vegetable changes depending on the day. I am not really sure how my dad makes the rice, but it always comes out buttery and fluffy. My favorite is when the chicken is paired with garlic-roasted green beans, but during the warmer months, corn on the cob with butter is a great pairing as well. Sometimes we will cook some rolls or mini baguettes to have some bread with the meal and it really finishes the meal perfectly.
I have had many favorite foods over the years, recently my all time favorite would have to be my Nana’s homemade pasta dinner. My family is very Italian oriented so pasta has been a big part of my childhood. Once a month since I was little, my family gets together and makes pasta and so many sides. We make homemade pasta, me and all of my little cousins create funny shapes for us all to eat. While we were making all of the little pasta shapes, all of the adults were in the kitchen making homemade sauces. We always have three different types of sauces. My favorite sauce we have is homemade vodka sauce. I recently learned how to make vodka sauce myself and it is my favorite dish to make. Sometimes I make it for my family and they love it. Another sauce we have is homemade pesto alfredo and it is so delicious. I love putting it on farfalle with extra parmesan cheese. Lastly we have regular red sauce. I love the regular red sauce, it is so basic but so delicious. We also make homemade garlic bread and we dip it in all three sauces. We also have homemade meatballs as well as spicy and sweet sausage. To top it off we have a salad with homemade caesar dressing that my Grandfather makes from scratch. I have been slowly starting to learn to make all the homemade sauces and the meatballs so I can carry on the tradition. I love this meal so much and it will continue to be my favorite meal from now on.
Home cooked meals were an every night event for my family as I grew up. We were a family of five so going out to eat was difficult and expensive, but my mom preferred to cook for her family anyways. As I grew up, I would always stand on a stool as my mom cooked to observe and learn. I have many favorite meals, all my mom’s recipes, but the first one that popped into my mind as I read the topic question was beef stew with biscuits and apple pie with ice-cream for dessert. Every year in the fall my mom would make beef stew in the crock pot in the morning and then my family would go apple picking for the day. By the time we got back from apple picking, our dinner would be almost done, and, in the meantime, we would make apple pie with the fresh apples we picked. My mom’s beef stew was the classic beef stew with beef, potatoes, carrots, onions, and celery in a beef broth base. We always paired our beef stew with the Pillsbury flaky biscuits. It was the perfect meal to accompany a day in the chilly fall weather and the apple pie with ice-cream just topped it off. My mom would make the pie crust dough and I would make the filling by peeling and spiraling the apples with my grandmother’s old apple peeling machine that stuck to the side of the counter, and then tossing the apple chunks in a cinnamon sugar mixture. My family’s favorite ice cream brand is Ben and Jerrys so we would have a scoop of their vanilla ice cream with the hot apple pie. Eating dinner with my family every night is absolutely my favorite memory as a child and I will definitely be doing the same with my future family.
I have spent an hour of thinking and drooling about all of the deliciously desiring foods that displayed in my head trying to answer this question. Growing up I’ve always been one to be diversely interested in the food realm. Exploring through all types of different combinations of foods throughout different cultures. I can never get a hold of myself when I’m asked this question. My brain can never finalize or select one favorite meal as it’s distracted by other competing foods. But narrowing down my decisions to one of my favorites but also one of my most eaten meals I must select a cheeseburger with a side of French fries. Now some may be disappointed in my selection, while others can vision the same home loving meal I do. Beginning with the soft, warm heavenly buttered brioche bun. Continued by adding a cooked ground beef patty topped with the oozing melted cheese of your choice. This is just the traditional cheeseburger but there are countless options of toppings you can add such as, lettuce, tomatoes, onions, peppers, mushrooms, guacamole, fried egg, fried onions, pulled pork, or bacon. Also, some of the traditional sauces such as ketchup, mayo, mustard, or barbecue serve great with burgers. Now onto the side of lightly salted, deeply fried potatoes also known as French fries. Your French fries can be cut into all shapes and sizes including thin strips, chip shaped, or even waffle shaped.
Every birthday in my family we get to choose which meal we want for our birthday dinner. The one I chose for my last three birthdays was chicken parmesan with spaghetti. My mom makes the best chicken parmesan I have ever had even though she hates making it. I normally cook the spaghetti while she makes the chicken. She starts off by setting up the chicken we usually do about 5-8 chicken breasts because my family loves chicken parmesan. She then will make the breading and put that on the chicken while I am boiling the water for the spaghetti. She only puts sauce on a few of the chicken breasts because my sister doesn’t like the sauce. I love the sauce on the chicken as does the rest of my family. We don’t really make the sauce we just use regular spaghetti sauce for it. Then she will put the mozzarella cheese on all of the chicken breasts. At this point I am boiling the spaghetti which is one of my favorite types of pasta. Then she cooks it for a while, and I do the pasta on low heat, so they finish around the same time. We all used to eat this with my grandparents when they came over, so it is a special meal. My Pepe showed a trick which is very unhealthy, but we put bread with butter and put the spaghetti on top and it is delicious. This meal is my all-time favorites, and I will continue to pick it for every birthday meal.
My favorite meal can only be made by my mom. We call it chicken pepperoni. The base of the dish is pasta. The pasta we make is anything but ordinary. We make it homemade, from our pasta machine. When you taste the pasta you don’t taste processed food. You taste a soft mouth watering piece of pasta. When you take a bite you can taste my mothers love. The pasta is my favorite part. The pasta is the lower level of the dish. On top of the pasta, a cream of mushroom base soup is placed into the pan. The cream of mushroom base is nothing special; it’s canned soup. The canned mushroom soup adds flavor and spice to the chicken. The chicken is the most important part. It has to be sauteed and soaked in the mushroom sauce. If the chicken is not cooked to perfection with the perfect amount of tenderness, forget it. The chicken is out on the grill, and checked on every few minutes. When all three of these ingredients are made, they are put together. Pasta and mushroom soup coming first. The chicken gets cut up into small pieces that are inserted into the pan once the pasta and sauce is done. When it’s all complete, we put cheese on the top. The cheese is the glue that holds the meal all together. As I take a bite of the chicken pepperoni, I can taste the shredded cheese slowly melting in my mouth. The pasta tastes so fresh and the chicken is so tender. The mushroom sauce makes it just the right flavor. Chicken pepperoni tastes like home to me. It’s scrumptious peculiar taste is not for everyone. To me, it tastes like all the protein you would need in a meal. After I eat my chicken pepperoni I am left feeling full of carbs and love.
The “pastelito”, or in english “small cake” consists of fried dough stuffed with various meats, and sometimes sweets. My grandmother might as well be Gordon Ramsey in the flesh while making these. The first step of making a pastelito is to take the dough, roll it around, and beat it up a little in order to make the construction of the pastelito easier. In this instance, we will say my grandmother is making a cheese pastelito, nice and easy. She takes a block of cheese about the size of half a butter stick and places it onto the flattened dough; very much like the preparation of pizza the dough is a flat circle. Then, she folds the dough over the cheese into a shape resembling a croissant. After this step, she closes the dough by using a fork along the edges of the dough. Now she pours some cooking oil into a frying pan; a very shallow amount. Then she will place the pastelitos into the pan, using a spoon to scoop the cooking oil and pour it onto the pastelitos. The cheese melts during the frying process. Soon after, the lid of the pan goes on and my grandmother will take them out in five minutes when they’re golden brown.
My favorite homemade meal would have to be my mothers meatloaf. I’ve never been a picky eater and especially when it comes to meat. My mother’s meatloaf has to be hands down one of the nest things I have ever tasted in my whole eighteen years of my life. It tastes amazing. My mother only makes it when I ask her to because I am the only one in my family to eat it. My mother makes it with bacon, and barbeque sauce. It’s hard to describe because it is a loaf of meat, hence the name. I believe my mother’s meatloaf has onions in it as well, I’m not the biggest fan of onions so I care not to pay attention to them when they are in any meal. I also put ketchup on almost every meal I have so even with the ketchup it still tastes amazing. It takes about an hour to prepare, an hour to cook, and five minutes to eat. It’s one of those meals where I act like the food is going to grow legs and run away from me. It sounds weird but I love when meatloaf is juicy, warm, mostly steamy… I could never eat it cold. I don’t like cold food especially cold meat, I would need to throw it in the microwave. But meatloaf has got to be hands down the best thing I have ever tasted, I love how good it is, especially with barbecue sauce.
My favorite homemade meal that my mother makes for me is a steak sandwich. Not to be confused with a steak N Cheese, a steak sandwich is a marvelous creation made with only the finest ingredients. First purchase that you will need to make is your steak. There is a variety of steaks you can buy at a supermarket, but for this recipe you will need to buy yourself a cut of ribeye. A fatty tender cut of meat for this recipe is the perfect combination for the sandwich. From there you’re going to pan sear it and cook it to a medium rare finish, with the meat pink and juicy. From there you are going to get yourself a Brioche bun and spread a healthy amount of horseradish on the buns. After applying you’re going to cut your steak into slices, not too thick, but also not super skinny. After that you are going to apply the steak on to the bun. Once your steak is applied to the buns you’re also going to want to caramelize some mushrooms and onions in a pan and once those are done you are going to apply that on top of the steak on the sandwich. To finish it off you’re going to want to put a few strains of arugula on your sandwich. For sides I usually will either air fry some sweet potato puffs or cook some brussel sprouts with a Parmesan garlic seasoning. This is my go too meal every time I get to go home, and probably will be as long as my mother and I are on the planet together.
I usually get some pretty weird looks when I tell people that my favorite food is pasta. It is thought to be a very simple and convenient dinner, but I think of it as a meal of perfection. There is a huge variety in pasta dinners. Whether it’s the different shapes and sizes, or the different ways and timing to boil the pasta. My personal favorite kind of pasta is gnocchi. The thing about gnocchi that is so unique is not just the shape, but it is also made differently than the average pasta. Gnocchi is made with potato and eggs to create the perfect creamy consistency that melts in your mouth when you eat it. Anyone can make gnocchi, but only if you have the perfect recipe and boil it for the perfect amount of time. My family is very Italian, so whenever my grandparents come up to visit from Florida, they make their famous gnocchi and an amazing pink sauce to go with it. The mixture of marinara and alfredo sauce makes the gnocchi even more delicious. Eating it gives me a sense of satisfaction and fulfillment that I don’t feel with any other food – it satiates me to the point where I don’t think I’ll need to eat anything else for the rest of my life. Something about the smoothness when you bite into it, and the flavor despite its main ingredient being known as quite bland. In my opinion, a good gnocchi with a good pink sauce just can’t compare to anything else. Gnocchi is my version of a ‘sweet treat’ regardless of it falling under the savory category. I could argue that the lack of complex ingredients is what heightens this dish even more – the triumph of one sensation in your mouth over multiple sensations is something I pride gnocchi for, and something that draws me towards it even more.
My favorite meal was a yearly occurrence in which my cousins, parents, and grandparents all get together in the summer for a Lobster boil. Bringing together family from all over is a tradition I look forward to more as I age and prioritize time spent and memories made. In regard to the meal, there is no replacement for New England lobster sitting in drawn butter. Cracking hardshell claws for my grandmother and taking legs from my dad who is too impatient to get the minimal meat out. Everyone contributes to large steel bowls filled with tamally and shells, creating the perfect environment to have juice flying, ice being thrown, and wide smiles. Simple lobster meat in butter is not much of a homemade meal, certainly isn’t as delicate and precise as an italian family’s homemade pasta night, however It really isn’t about the food in this case. Highlights of the meal include cooking with my dad and grandfather because they always run the propane outside, laying places for everyone to eat with my grandmother and the necessary ice cream trip that takes place after the sun goes down. I believe that I chose this favorite meal because it takes place during memories that I wish to not forget. Everyone can talk about Christmas dinner because they get to see their family, however the memories I hold of my Grandmother’s old house. Summer nights where we all sleep on the porch, packing the whole family into one car to get to the ice cream shop just after dark, and not wanting to leave the lake after being out all day. All these memories aren’t necessarily because of our family dinner, but they go hand in hand and are some of my strongest memories with my family.
Every home-cooked meal should be made with love as the main ingredient. Wrong, every home-cooked meal should be made with barbeque sauce. Stepping through the front door to be met with the most mesmerizing aroma, I know what I can expect for dinner that night. The signature meal that is a staple in our household, is the meatloaf. I know it can sound like a strange favorite meal, but the recipe my father created has been perfected. My father prefers to use venison rather than beef since he hunts and provides it fresh for us. He also prefers it since it is more lean meat than beef. He also includes portobello mushrooms, smokey seasoning, peppers, typically jalapeños, some gouda cheese, and onions. On top, he adds the famous barbeque sauce. Now, no dish would be complete without a couple of sides. In our household, we stay quite consistent. There is always the main entreé paired with some kind of vegetable as well as a starch. However, the meatloaf is so esteemed that it is only paired with the best. Roasted vegetables sprinkled with a variety of spices including garlic salt and roasted or mashed potatoes also sprinkled with seasonings. Sometimes, the potatoes are switched out for a sliced Parisian loaf, toasted with a garlic butter spread. I cherish the memories that have been made throughout the years when I enjoyed this meal with my family, and I know there will be more to come.
16 thoughts on “JOURNAL # 1”
Каша, by definition, is a grain boiled in milk or water. It is one of the main dishes of Ukrainian cuisine. In my house, it is prepared with milk, honey, oats, and a mixture of various seeds such as flax, chia, and hemp. I’m not referring to the English reception, kasha, which is cooked buckwheat, and Ukrainian comfort food as well. Although my mum makes that too, it isn’t as good as the sweet oat porridge. I have a special connection to it, simply because of how long I’ve been eating it for. It is one of the core memories I have living in my old house in my current neighborhood of Biddeford Pool. I remember when I was around 5 years old, I would routinely wake up in the middle of the night, go to my mum, and gesture a eating motion with my little hands. Every time, she would prepare me a bowl, sort of the default food at the time, with all of its clumps and slimy texture. Currently, when my mum leaves for work before I wake up, I go into the kitchen to discover she left me leftovers, still warm. I add some milk, stir it up, and leave it on heat for a little while to soften. Каша reminds me of all of the homes I’ve lived in, because it has been made in every single one. It also reminds me of my other home, Ukraine.
My favorite homemade meal that my mother makes for me is a steak sandwich. Not to be confused with a steak N’cheese, a steak sandwich is a marvelous creation made with only the finest ingredients. First purchase that you will need to make is your steak, there is a variety of steaks you can buy at a supermarket, but for this recipe you will need to buy yourself a cut of ribeye. A fatty tender cut of meat for this recipe is the perfect combination for the sandwich. From there you’re going to pan sear it and cook it too a medium rare finish, with the meat pink and juicy. From there you are going to get yourself a Brioche bun and spread a healthy amount of horse radish on the buns. After done applying you’re going to cut your steak into slices, not too thick, but also not super skinny. After that you are going to apply the steak on to the bun. Once your steak is applied to the buns you’re also going to want to caramelize some mushrooms and onions in a pan and once those are done you are going to apply that on top of the steak on the sandwich. To finish it off you’re going to want to put a few strains of arugula on your sandwich. For sides I usually will either air fry some sweet potato puffs or cook some brussel sprouts with a Parmesan garlic seasoning. This is my go too meal every time I get to go home, and probably will be as long as my mother and I are on the planet together.
For me, it’s very hard to pin down one specific meal as my favorite. Though I’ve been on earth only nineteen years, I like to think that I’ve had my fair share of culinary experiences from some reasonably extensive travel in Europe as well as a few crossings of the United States under my belt. However, the dish that really sticks with me the most is a dish my father started making around the year 2016. If I recall correctly, it was created after a trip to the grocery store where he’d gotten an assortment of culinary odds and ends and decided to make a meal of it while keeping it quite healthy. Each time he serves it, it is slightly different though it consists of a core of rice, ginger, soy sauce, mango or pineapple, peppers (sometimes spicy, sometimes not so much) tofu and basil. As I said before, each time it’s a little different than the last but those are the general core ingredients upon which he improvises. It’s not a real glamorous meal, nor is it a recipe that’s been passed down from generation to generation, but the effort, care and taste make it ultimately my favorite home cooked meal and quite possibly my most favorite meal, and someday soon I hope to sit down and learn precisely what the collection of ingredients precisely is so I may cook it for myself, and someday perhaps even hand it down to another generation, creating a culinary legend from a improvised mess of food.
There is nothing more tasty than a home cooked meal. I didn’t realize how much I took them for granted until I came to college. But now they seem even tastier since I don’t have them as often. My mom or dad goes to Wilson’s Farm, an organic market in Lexington, and buys uncooked sirloin with salty and sweet seasoning on top. My dad cooks it on the grill when whoever bought it comes home. They also pick up gold potatoes and fresh green beans. We wash the potatoes so they’re nice and clean. Then we cut them into small slices so they look like orange slices. We spread olive oil on each one and sprinkle salt and pepper on them. We put them in the oven at 400 degrees for 20 minutes or until they’re nicely golden brown and crispy. Just how I like them! We usually eat them with ketchup, after all they’re sort of like french fries! Next comes the beans. Green beans are my favorite vegetable. We wash them and put them in a pot with water and put them on the stove for about 5 minutes. We also sprinkle a little bit of salt into the water so that the beans absorb and give it a saltier flavor. Once they are done boiling, we drain the water using a strainer. My favorite way to eat them is spreading butter on them using a knife and slicing up a lemon and covering them with lemon juice. But if we don’t have any fresh lemon, we just use lemon juice from the container you can buy at the store that comes in a yellow plastic container that looks like a lemon!. Once all the food is cooked and the kitchen smells delicious, we grab our drinks, sit down at the table and dig in!
Throughout the years, there have been a lot of homemade meals that I have fallen in love with, but there is one that my dad makes that just always tops the rest. It is a meal that is made a little bit differently every time but always ends up tasting amazing. We call it mayo chicken (I know it sounds weird, but it has amazing flavor). It is a pretty easy meal to make, only needing a few ingredients for the main portion. The chicken is always made with breast, even though thighs would be practically the same, and each chicken breast is always cut horizontally into three pieces, each relatively thin. The chicken is then slathered in a creamy mixture of mayonnaise, Italian breadcrumbs (not panko), garlic salt, onion salt, and Italian seasonings (these change each time). On top of the mayonnaise mixture, there is another layer of breadcrumbs to help the chicken crisp in the oven. Then the chicken is baked until perfectly crispy. My dad always serves the meal with two side dishes, a bowl of rice, and a vegetable. The rice is always the same, rice pilaf, but the vegetable changes depending on the day. I am not really sure how my dad makes the rice, but it always comes out buttery and fluffy. My favorite is when the chicken is paired with garlic-roasted green beans, but during the warmer months, corn on the cob with butter is a great pairing as well. Sometimes we will cook some rolls or mini baguettes to have some bread with the meal and it really finishes the meal perfectly.
I have had many favorite foods over the years, recently my all time favorite would have to be my Nana’s homemade pasta dinner. My family is very Italian oriented so pasta has been a big part of my childhood. Once a month since I was little, my family gets together and makes pasta and so many sides. We make homemade pasta, me and all of my little cousins create funny shapes for us all to eat. While we were making all of the little pasta shapes, all of the adults were in the kitchen making homemade sauces. We always have three different types of sauces. My favorite sauce we have is homemade vodka sauce. I recently learned how to make vodka sauce myself and it is my favorite dish to make. Sometimes I make it for my family and they love it. Another sauce we have is homemade pesto alfredo and it is so delicious. I love putting it on farfalle with extra parmesan cheese. Lastly we have regular red sauce. I love the regular red sauce, it is so basic but so delicious. We also make homemade garlic bread and we dip it in all three sauces. We also have homemade meatballs as well as spicy and sweet sausage. To top it off we have a salad with homemade caesar dressing that my Grandfather makes from scratch. I have been slowly starting to learn to make all the homemade sauces and the meatballs so I can carry on the tradition. I love this meal so much and it will continue to be my favorite meal from now on.
Home cooked meals were an every night event for my family as I grew up. We were a family of five so going out to eat was difficult and expensive, but my mom preferred to cook for her family anyways. As I grew up, I would always stand on a stool as my mom cooked to observe and learn. I have many favorite meals, all my mom’s recipes, but the first one that popped into my mind as I read the topic question was beef stew with biscuits and apple pie with ice-cream for dessert. Every year in the fall my mom would make beef stew in the crock pot in the morning and then my family would go apple picking for the day. By the time we got back from apple picking, our dinner would be almost done, and, in the meantime, we would make apple pie with the fresh apples we picked. My mom’s beef stew was the classic beef stew with beef, potatoes, carrots, onions, and celery in a beef broth base. We always paired our beef stew with the Pillsbury flaky biscuits. It was the perfect meal to accompany a day in the chilly fall weather and the apple pie with ice-cream just topped it off. My mom would make the pie crust dough and I would make the filling by peeling and spiraling the apples with my grandmother’s old apple peeling machine that stuck to the side of the counter, and then tossing the apple chunks in a cinnamon sugar mixture. My family’s favorite ice cream brand is Ben and Jerrys so we would have a scoop of their vanilla ice cream with the hot apple pie. Eating dinner with my family every night is absolutely my favorite memory as a child and I will definitely be doing the same with my future family.
I have spent an hour of thinking and drooling about all of the deliciously desiring foods that displayed in my head trying to answer this question. Growing up I’ve always been one to be diversely interested in the food realm. Exploring through all types of different combinations of foods throughout different cultures. I can never get a hold of myself when I’m asked this question. My brain can never finalize or select one favorite meal as it’s distracted by other competing foods. But narrowing down my decisions to one of my favorites but also one of my most eaten meals I must select a cheeseburger with a side of French fries. Now some may be disappointed in my selection, while others can vision the same home loving meal I do. Beginning with the soft, warm heavenly buttered brioche bun. Continued by adding a cooked ground beef patty topped with the oozing melted cheese of your choice. This is just the traditional cheeseburger but there are countless options of toppings you can add such as, lettuce, tomatoes, onions, peppers, mushrooms, guacamole, fried egg, fried onions, pulled pork, or bacon. Also, some of the traditional sauces such as ketchup, mayo, mustard, or barbecue serve great with burgers. Now onto the side of lightly salted, deeply fried potatoes also known as French fries. Your French fries can be cut into all shapes and sizes including thin strips, chip shaped, or even waffle shaped.
Every birthday in my family we get to choose which meal we want for our birthday dinner. The one I chose for my last three birthdays was chicken parmesan with spaghetti. My mom makes the best chicken parmesan I have ever had even though she hates making it. I normally cook the spaghetti while she makes the chicken. She starts off by setting up the chicken we usually do about 5-8 chicken breasts because my family loves chicken parmesan. She then will make the breading and put that on the chicken while I am boiling the water for the spaghetti. She only puts sauce on a few of the chicken breasts because my sister doesn’t like the sauce. I love the sauce on the chicken as does the rest of my family. We don’t really make the sauce we just use regular spaghetti sauce for it. Then she will put the mozzarella cheese on all of the chicken breasts. At this point I am boiling the spaghetti which is one of my favorite types of pasta. Then she cooks it for a while, and I do the pasta on low heat, so they finish around the same time. We all used to eat this with my grandparents when they came over, so it is a special meal. My Pepe showed a trick which is very unhealthy, but we put bread with butter and put the spaghetti on top and it is delicious. This meal is my all-time favorites, and I will continue to pick it for every birthday meal.
My favorite meal can only be made by my mom. We call it chicken pepperoni. The base of the dish is pasta. The pasta we make is anything but ordinary. We make it homemade, from our pasta machine. When you taste the pasta you don’t taste processed food. You taste a soft mouth watering piece of pasta. When you take a bite you can taste my mothers love. The pasta is my favorite part. The pasta is the lower level of the dish. On top of the pasta, a cream of mushroom base soup is placed into the pan. The cream of mushroom base is nothing special; it’s canned soup. The canned mushroom soup adds flavor and spice to the chicken. The chicken is the most important part. It has to be sauteed and soaked in the mushroom sauce. If the chicken is not cooked to perfection with the perfect amount of tenderness, forget it. The chicken is out on the grill, and checked on every few minutes. When all three of these ingredients are made, they are put together. Pasta and mushroom soup coming first. The chicken gets cut up into small pieces that are inserted into the pan once the pasta and sauce is done. When it’s all complete, we put cheese on the top. The cheese is the glue that holds the meal all together. As I take a bite of the chicken pepperoni, I can taste the shredded cheese slowly melting in my mouth. The pasta tastes so fresh and the chicken is so tender. The mushroom sauce makes it just the right flavor. Chicken pepperoni tastes like home to me. It’s scrumptious peculiar taste is not for everyone. To me, it tastes like all the protein you would need in a meal. After I eat my chicken pepperoni I am left feeling full of carbs and love.
The “pastelito”, or in english “small cake” consists of fried dough stuffed with various meats, and sometimes sweets. My grandmother might as well be Gordon Ramsey in the flesh while making these. The first step of making a pastelito is to take the dough, roll it around, and beat it up a little in order to make the construction of the pastelito easier. In this instance, we will say my grandmother is making a cheese pastelito, nice and easy. She takes a block of cheese about the size of half a butter stick and places it onto the flattened dough; very much like the preparation of pizza the dough is a flat circle. Then, she folds the dough over the cheese into a shape resembling a croissant. After this step, she closes the dough by using a fork along the edges of the dough. Now she pours some cooking oil into a frying pan; a very shallow amount. Then she will place the pastelitos into the pan, using a spoon to scoop the cooking oil and pour it onto the pastelitos. The cheese melts during the frying process. Soon after, the lid of the pan goes on and my grandmother will take them out in five minutes when they’re golden brown.
My favorite homemade meal would have to be my mothers meatloaf. I’ve never been a picky eater and especially when it comes to meat. My mother’s meatloaf has to be hands down one of the nest things I have ever tasted in my whole eighteen years of my life. It tastes amazing. My mother only makes it when I ask her to because I am the only one in my family to eat it. My mother makes it with bacon, and barbeque sauce. It’s hard to describe because it is a loaf of meat, hence the name. I believe my mother’s meatloaf has onions in it as well, I’m not the biggest fan of onions so I care not to pay attention to them when they are in any meal. I also put ketchup on almost every meal I have so even with the ketchup it still tastes amazing. It takes about an hour to prepare, an hour to cook, and five minutes to eat. It’s one of those meals where I act like the food is going to grow legs and run away from me. It sounds weird but I love when meatloaf is juicy, warm, mostly steamy… I could never eat it cold. I don’t like cold food especially cold meat, I would need to throw it in the microwave. But meatloaf has got to be hands down the best thing I have ever tasted, I love how good it is, especially with barbecue sauce.
My favorite homemade meal that my mother makes for me is a steak sandwich. Not to be confused with a steak N Cheese, a steak sandwich is a marvelous creation made with only the finest ingredients. First purchase that you will need to make is your steak. There is a variety of steaks you can buy at a supermarket, but for this recipe you will need to buy yourself a cut of ribeye. A fatty tender cut of meat for this recipe is the perfect combination for the sandwich. From there you’re going to pan sear it and cook it to a medium rare finish, with the meat pink and juicy. From there you are going to get yourself a Brioche bun and spread a healthy amount of horseradish on the buns. After applying you’re going to cut your steak into slices, not too thick, but also not super skinny. After that you are going to apply the steak on to the bun. Once your steak is applied to the buns you’re also going to want to caramelize some mushrooms and onions in a pan and once those are done you are going to apply that on top of the steak on the sandwich. To finish it off you’re going to want to put a few strains of arugula on your sandwich. For sides I usually will either air fry some sweet potato puffs or cook some brussel sprouts with a Parmesan garlic seasoning. This is my go too meal every time I get to go home, and probably will be as long as my mother and I are on the planet together.
I usually get some pretty weird looks when I tell people that my favorite food is pasta. It is thought to be a very simple and convenient dinner, but I think of it as a meal of perfection. There is a huge variety in pasta dinners. Whether it’s the different shapes and sizes, or the different ways and timing to boil the pasta. My personal favorite kind of pasta is gnocchi. The thing about gnocchi that is so unique is not just the shape, but it is also made differently than the average pasta. Gnocchi is made with potato and eggs to create the perfect creamy consistency that melts in your mouth when you eat it. Anyone can make gnocchi, but only if you have the perfect recipe and boil it for the perfect amount of time. My family is very Italian, so whenever my grandparents come up to visit from Florida, they make their famous gnocchi and an amazing pink sauce to go with it. The mixture of marinara and alfredo sauce makes the gnocchi even more delicious. Eating it gives me a sense of satisfaction and fulfillment that I don’t feel with any other food – it satiates me to the point where I don’t think I’ll need to eat anything else for the rest of my life. Something about the smoothness when you bite into it, and the flavor despite its main ingredient being known as quite bland. In my opinion, a good gnocchi with a good pink sauce just can’t compare to anything else. Gnocchi is my version of a ‘sweet treat’ regardless of it falling under the savory category. I could argue that the lack of complex ingredients is what heightens this dish even more – the triumph of one sensation in your mouth over multiple sensations is something I pride gnocchi for, and something that draws me towards it even more.
My favorite meal was a yearly occurrence in which my cousins, parents, and grandparents all get together in the summer for a Lobster boil. Bringing together family from all over is a tradition I look forward to more as I age and prioritize time spent and memories made. In regard to the meal, there is no replacement for New England lobster sitting in drawn butter. Cracking hardshell claws for my grandmother and taking legs from my dad who is too impatient to get the minimal meat out. Everyone contributes to large steel bowls filled with tamally and shells, creating the perfect environment to have juice flying, ice being thrown, and wide smiles. Simple lobster meat in butter is not much of a homemade meal, certainly isn’t as delicate and precise as an italian family’s homemade pasta night, however It really isn’t about the food in this case. Highlights of the meal include cooking with my dad and grandfather because they always run the propane outside, laying places for everyone to eat with my grandmother and the necessary ice cream trip that takes place after the sun goes down. I believe that I chose this favorite meal because it takes place during memories that I wish to not forget. Everyone can talk about Christmas dinner because they get to see their family, however the memories I hold of my Grandmother’s old house. Summer nights where we all sleep on the porch, packing the whole family into one car to get to the ice cream shop just after dark, and not wanting to leave the lake after being out all day. All these memories aren’t necessarily because of our family dinner, but they go hand in hand and are some of my strongest memories with my family.
Every home-cooked meal should be made with love as the main ingredient. Wrong, every home-cooked meal should be made with barbeque sauce. Stepping through the front door to be met with the most mesmerizing aroma, I know what I can expect for dinner that night. The signature meal that is a staple in our household, is the meatloaf. I know it can sound like a strange favorite meal, but the recipe my father created has been perfected. My father prefers to use venison rather than beef since he hunts and provides it fresh for us. He also prefers it since it is more lean meat than beef. He also includes portobello mushrooms, smokey seasoning, peppers, typically jalapeños, some gouda cheese, and onions. On top, he adds the famous barbeque sauce. Now, no dish would be complete without a couple of sides. In our household, we stay quite consistent. There is always the main entreé paired with some kind of vegetable as well as a starch. However, the meatloaf is so esteemed that it is only paired with the best. Roasted vegetables sprinkled with a variety of spices including garlic salt and roasted or mashed potatoes also sprinkled with seasonings. Sometimes, the potatoes are switched out for a sliced Parisian loaf, toasted with a garlic butter spread. I cherish the memories that have been made throughout the years when I enjoyed this meal with my family, and I know there will be more to come.