I LOVE that my dear friend wrote the recipes down on cards in her handwriting. Who knew I'd be using them throughout the years to this very day? That I'd be raising four daughters on that spinach quiche and those delicious oatmeal chip cookies? That any of us would be responsible enough to raise children? LOL Yes, I have some pictures of us but I really don't think y'all want to see exactly how crazy we were back then.
Anyway, the cookies were her father's mother's recipe and that tells me why the cookies are so delicious! I've never made a grandmother recipe that I didn't love. Even my grandmother's recipes turn out pretty good even without knowing the secrets.
Here's the quiche. One of the reasons I love the recipe is that it is versatile. I don't love swiss cheese so I use my cheese of the moment and this time I changed the crust. I wanted to try a sweet potato crust because I had sweet potatoes and not a frozen crust and I don't make homemade crusts because when I do, they are awful. It worked!
The same day I made the quiche I had the television on while Baby M was sleeping and Rachel Ray was on. I don't watch her show because she gets on my nerves by talking on top of people but there was a guy making something interesting so I watched for about 3 minutes. He poured a squash mixture in a bowl and mentioned eating color, and it was a beautiful shade of yellow, and then added quinoa when Rachel says, "It's trendy, too!" Ok, what's trendy? The quinoa? Wasn't that trendy a few years ago? Eating color? Hasn't that always been the idea? Good grief.
The word, trendy is also getting on my last nerve. I suppose that's a millennial thing but let me tell you something when the big technology breakdown comes millennials won't be able to deal because they seem to want to throw everything of the past away so they'll have no idea how to live without the instant gratification technology allows them. They also won't be able to access the latest fads (because isn't that really what trendy things are?) with a mere touch.
I'm not opposed to new thoughts/ways/ideas/trends but I see no good reason for tossing out all the old thoughts/ways/ideas/trends. I feel that's cutting off your nose to spite your face. The trend-focused crowd has no idea how to take the time to relate and share ideas. They get an idea and toss it right out if it doesn't work, throw it out there if it does, and move right along to the next idea. There is no perfection of an idea. There is no sharing. There is only moving through the days at the speed of light throwing ideas all over the place without once taking their eyes off their digital devices. Here's a thought: how long before they forget what human beings look like? Oh wait, they see humans on those digital devices. What was I thinking?
Back to the food... It's not that I never check out the new, 'trendy' recipes. But I will say this, healthy, organic eating is not new. It was the same kind of food my grandmother made because we weren't fighting against big pesticide companies and GMO corporations. We got our food from family farmers who farmed the way they were raised and this did not include pesticides or GMOs. Food used to come from the ground without the unhealthy additives. Plus, people used to cook every meal from scratch. That's the way I learned and it's what I did when the lovelies were growing up. It's what I do now. We've always made our meals colorful, this is not a new trend. Putting the name 'artisanal' in front of a word such as, butcher, does not change what it is. Putting multiple foods in a bowl is supposedly a new trend but I've seen this for YEARS and please ask anyone of the Asian culture how long bowl meals have been in existence. What I'm thinking is putting a fancy word behind another or renaming a dish with something sounding more clever is what the trenders are drawn towards. Brunch? Not new, y'all. None of this stuff is new it's just trendy. It's what they like right now. Trend = Fad. Anyway...
To go with the quiche I made grilled cheese but, instead of bread, I made bread out of zucchini (is that trendy enough to be considered trendy?). The 'bread' (trendy bread?) was like zucchini fritters and very good. I didn't follow the recipe to the letter because that's not what Grandmother did and I learned from her (not a trendy thing to do). I was going to make the two recipes at different times but couldn't decide which to make when and that's how we ended up with both for one meal.
Trendy or not, I eat what I want to eat. I prepare food the way I want to prepare it. I don't need a trendy word to make something more appealing. I'll enjoy preparing my home-grown food over a fire and not losing my mind over not being able to use my digital devices should the world ever come to that in my lifetime. I might also enjoy watching millennials run around not having a clue what to do.
Until then, life goes on in a whirlwind of technological development and e-waste destruction.
Oh, and I guess we can't use FB to abbreviate Facebook. Seems it stands for, Follow Back.
Are y'all trendy?
Nope, not trendy here, in fact, my mantra has always been "I don't do trendy."
ReplyDeleteI think your food looks wonderful and I think I would like to try making a crust like that.
I have my ole favorites too. I love all of the cards I have with the different handwriting of the people who gave me their recipes. That is so nice.
I'm the same way. I have never been that way with anything especially fashion. The crust turned out great but I'll always love a 'real' crust. :) Thank you!
DeleteIt looks delicious. How did you use the sweet potatoes, just mashed them to form a crust?
ReplyDeleteI shredded the sweet potatoes and mix in one egg, a little tiny bit of panko bread crumbs and pressed it into the pie pan. I cooked it for about half an hour before pouring the quiche mixture in.
DeleteYeah, trendy gets on my nerves too. Quinoa was being eaten in the Andes mountains of South America probably for centuries before Rachel Ray noticed it.
ReplyDeleteI'm so glad I'm not the only one. Good grief with everything that's trendy and it's been around for centuries as you say. It's ridiculous.
DeleteI have no idea what trendy is, I am many things trendy is not one of them
ReplyDeleteI'm not trendy either and I like it that way. :)
Deletetrendy hipsters - oh those fake people who act so smug
ReplyDeleteartisanal - reminds me of an article (last year or before that?) highlighting a small company making artisanal ice for cocktails. Yes ice, you know frozen water.
You're joking, right? Ice? SMH.
DeleteI am probably the opposite of trendy! LOL Good golly - who knew FB didn't mean Facebook?! I use FB all the time. I can't make pie crust either.
ReplyDeleteI am, too. And proud of it. LOL I sure didn't know. It means Facebook to me. :)
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