Old memories now....
As I was eating my instant oatmeal this morning I was reminded of how my mother always tried to feed her family nourishing foods. The oatmeal triggered this memory. In the 40's we were served cereals, cooked in a double boiler. It took long to cook on the gas stove. While it was being prepared, she squeezed oranges on the Sunbeam Mixmaster Juicer. The year was around 1945. I especially remember this mixer because my father bought it for their 10th anniversary and she cried and cried because they couldn't afford it at all! I was 8, brother 5, twin sisters 2.
As for other foods we ate that were nutritious, I can tell you that they included lots of dairy because my dad was a state dairy tester. We had milk, cream, cheeses and butter. Home made ice cream was a favorite project of my dad's - getting out the old wooden bucket with the cylinder and paddles and ice and rock salt and sitting on a milk crate in the cellar churning the mixture, that my mother put together, by hand. Peach was our favorite. Oh, so wonderful!
This is the exact churn that I remember
The vegetables were grown in our Victory Garden and included turnips, parsnips, rutabaga, carrots, beans, peas, potatoes. To this day I love them all EXCEPT sweet potatoes. I don't care how they are prepared, they gag me. Fruits were brought home from farms all over the state as he was working. Honey too - in combs so we could chew the wax. Our protein was mostly home-grown and home- processed chicken and rabbit. There were plenty of eggs as well. Sometimes we were "treated" to mutton YUK! YUK! YUK! YUK! and scrapple! YUK! YUK! YUK! YUK! YUK! YUK! YUK!
Well, maybe you get the idea that I had good parents who did their best in bad times. They sure did!
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ReplyDeleteThere's lots here that hits home with me. My mother had a Sunbeam mixer exactly like the one above. My fingers twitch to turn that dial! I don't remember all of the cereals you mentioned, except oats and Cream of Wheat. But, I do, however, remember every part of our old ice cream mixer. At some point, my mother fashioned a padded cover for it from a pair of Dad's old overalls. To this day, I have never found anything so delicious as Mother's homemade ice cream topped with fresh ripe peaches. We do, however, love our oven-baked sweet potatoes!
ReplyDeleteThe ice cream had fresh peaches incorporated into the primary mixture. They used to make it with fresh strawberries too!
DeleteOh, and I love your snow pictures. Wow!
ReplyDeletePretty looking out from indoors! It's been years since I had parsnips!
ReplyDeleteI don't know anything about mutton and scrapple. What is it? I do remember we had a hand turn ice cream maker like the one pictured above and my dad would put a towel on top of it and we would argue which one of got to sit on it to hold it down while he turned the handle. It made the best ice cream.
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