Family Recipes

[Adrienne]

Any family "recipes"? These can be simply methods or whatever without a written thing. Often I find passed down recipes to be extremely affordable.

Not really a "meal" thing, but my grandma's chocolate frosting recipes is the best, and so easy! My mom makes it too. It's great because you don't have to wait for the cake to cool before you frost it. It's also way cheaper than buying store-bought, and waaaaaayyy better. You can fancy it up if you have super nice dark cocoa powder.

This will be enough for a 13x9 cake.

Fudge Frosting
1/2 stick butter
2 T milk
1 t vanilla
3 T cocoa powder
Powdered Sugar

Melt butter, add milk, vanilla in pan on stovetop. Cook, constantly stirring, until bubbly. Wisk in cocoa powder. Wisk in powdered sugar until, as Grandma puts it, "it looks good to spread." This is not a super exact science. I think I put in a cup or two? I don't know. Dump it in until it looks like frosting. I know mom's is thinner than Grandma's and both are good. It gets thicker when it cools.
Spread the frosting while it is still warm on the still-warm cake. Do this quickly because it starts to cool and gets hard to spread. Don't worry about making it beautiful, just spread it around until the cake is covered. If you have any leftover frosting it can be spread on graham crackers, which makes kind of a "homemade" E.L. Fudge cookie, you'll be surprised how good they are.

[Amanda]

My mom's mom is French Canadian, so she made pate a la viande (meat pie):

Pate a la viande

4"-6" square (6-8oz) cooked beef roast/steak, shredded to hash-like consistency

3 medium cooked potatoes, shredded to hash-like consistency

1 yellow onion, finely diced

1 tsp sugar

1/2 tsp cinnamon

1/4 tsp cloves

1 tsp sage

1/4 tsp salt

1/2 tsp savory

1/2 tsp thyme

Fresh-ground black pepper

4 tbsp butter

Pie crusts

A little milk

Gravy if available, if not, broth or water.

1. Preheat oven to 400F

2. Heat butter in frying pan, add onions and saute until transparent/fragrant.

3. Add the shredded meat, shredded potatoes, and all the spices.

4. Blend until it forms a clay-like consistency. Add the gravy or broth and blend.

5. Spread pie crust in plate. Put in blended filling. Add top pie crust and seal, brushing lightly with milk so it will brown nicely.

6. Slice vents in pie and put in center rack of oven, cook for 20-25 minutes or until crust is golden brown.

My grandmother added a note to the recipe that this is best accompanied with "green salad, rolls, and fruit".