Category Archives: Mom’s Recipes

MOM’S MOST REQUESTED DESSERT – ORANGE TAPIOCA SALAD


I am not really a dessert person, but I loved mom’s Orange Tapioca Salad, even though I would classify it as a pudding. Mom made this for every family event – what I considered a staple. But when I decided to use her recipe, I found the ingredients hard to find. In fact, I had to order the tapioca pudding on-line! I will continue the tradition and make it for special events. In fact, I have a solo art show coming up,  and because the show is inspired by and dedicated to my mom, I think I’ll whip up a batch and take it. The show was also inspired by dementia, you can read more about it here.

When I was looking around for the tapioca pudding mix, I realized I have always heard of tapioca, but what is it really? Tapioca is a starch that is extracted from the Cassava root.

 While similar to yucca, the cassava and the yucca are not the same plant.  It is a starchy tuberous root that is native to South America, and is now grown around the world. It is one of the most drought-tolerant in the world.

You can download the recipe here.

 

MOM’S RECIPES – BAKED FISH AND CHEESE

I honestly don’t remember my mother ever cooking fish – the only fish I remember eating was frozen fish sticks (no wonder I grew up not liking fish!). But, the recipe I found was hand-written and looks very used. My dad loved fish, so I believe she must have made it for him.

This is a very simple dish – but I didn’t take the time to photograph the finished food because  we were famished and I thought I’d photograph what was left of the fish.  I’m happy to say we ate every single bite! You can download a copy HERE

 

MOM’S SWEET POTATO DISH


This is my first Thanksgiving without my mother. I feel the quote below from Dr. Seuss says it all!

“Don’t cry because it is over. Smile because it happened.”

Since today is Thanksgiving, this seems to be a  good time to make a commitment to cooking her recipes and ultimately compiling them into a cookbook for her family.  

I have chosen a sweet potato dish, which we always referred to at Thanksgiving as a Sweet Potato Souffle’.  It was a staple of our Thanksgiving meal for as long as I can remember. However, I’m not sure why it was called a souffle’, because it doesn’t remotely resemble the definition of a souffle’ below.

“A soufflé is a baked egg-based dish which originated in early eighteenth century France. It is made with egg yolks and beaten egg whites combined with various other ingredients and served as a savory main dish or sweetened as a dessert.”

In fact, the recipe is so old, the word souffle’ has been scratched out and replaced with the word “dish”. This was a staple for many years during the holidays and it never failed to please! But, the recipe itself changed over the years – for instance, 1 1/2 cups of sugar has dwindled to 3/4 cup of sugar – I can’t imagine how sweet this would have been with that much sugar in it.

The dish itself is only 7 ingredients, It is a pretty simple recipe, but a very tasty dish. You can download the recipe HERE.