Grandma’s Holiday Recipes!

Great news for the holidays!

Halo Publishing has just published a new book written by Award-Winning Author Dave Grunenwald! Lucas and Emily’s Cooking Adventure is the latest book in the Lucas and Emily’s Adventure series of story books and it’s now available - just in time for the holidays!

Here at Grandparent Merit Badges, we are getting ready to kick off the holiday season by having our own cooking adventures. Lucas and Emily’s Cooking Adventure is a fun story to help get the children excited about cooking with loved ones and sharing favorite recipes!

You can read more about this beautiful new book here. 

The holiday season is the ideal time to share time-tested traditions and cherished family recipes with our loved ones. One of the best things about recipe sharing, especially during this time of year, is the sharing of the related treasured memories and stories that go with them. Thanksgiving is the perfect time to give thanks for our beautiful families and the delicious food we are able to share!

This month, GMB was fortunate to have had contributors from all over the country share some of their time-tested family favorites with us, and best of all, they shared some anecdotes that go along with them!

Interestingly enough, we have not yet received a favorite recipe for cooking “The Bird”! If you have one to share, reach out to us... Your recipe might just win you a free copy of Lucas and Emily’s Cooking Adventure and a Grandparent Merit Badges for Cooking Enthusiasts book!

Thank you to the moms and grandmas and grandpas who contributed to this year’s list of Thanksgiving Holiday Recipes. The different recipes listed below are so wonderful looking and sound so scrumptious. I will be absolutely inspired to try some of them this year in our kitchen!

We hope that you will have a delicious time cooking with your loved ones this holiday season, and that you enjoy the following recipes and stories as much as we did!

Breda’s Irish Mashed Potatoes

California Grandma Breda Geiran left a lasting impression on her beloved family, much of the time with her delicious Irish cooking. Breda was born in Dublin in 1919 and relocated with her husband and children to California when she was 35. Breda could knit and sew anything, serving her well in the merchandising world in Los Angeles. She loved Irish dance and was a business wise woman. She had a truly loving, quiet, and caring nature. Classy and hardworking, she was a wonderful Irish lass! She died at the age of 92 in Manhattan Beach, California and is very much missed by her family. Her mashed potato recipe is lovingly shared below.

Breda’s Irish Mashed Potato Recipe

1) Potatoes: Three Pounds of Russet Potatoes. Peel, chop in quarters, boil for 20 mins. Or until the fork goes easily through them.
2) Milk and Butter: warm one cup whole milk with one stick of butter 8 oz .
3) Scallop or sweet onion: Cut up tiny scallop onion 1/2-1 cup and add to warmed milk and butter.
Remove water from cooked Potatoes, pour little by little the warm milk and butter, mash with a masher or very low setting hand mixer. Add salt to taste. Serve and know why the Irish love Potatoes! Enjoy!

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Delisia’s Turkey Stuffing “Dressing”

Grandma Delesia Robinson of the Cleveland non-profit organization called P.A.D.S., an organization that donates feminine products to girls and women in need, has Thanksgiving memories of her mom’s hard work in the kitchen.

She says, “My mom bakes all the sweet potato pies, pound cakes, cheesecake etc. She makes an awesome Holiday meal. She is 84 years old and has slowed down some, but not much.

When I host Thanksgiving, my husband does the turkey, and the guests bring the sides. My favorite is the Dressing.” Delesia wanted to share her Turkey Dressing recipe with us, but as she told us, “I asked my mom and she doesn’t use a recipe. She sorta tastes as she goes. Probably why I never learned to cook as well as her. She starts by making homemade cornbread, I do know that much, Lol. I will have to sit with her and record it on paper. :)”

Here is one delicious Thanksgiving Dressing recipe from The Carefree Kitchen.

GMB Manager Terry Stephens has sweet memories of her grandma preparing dressing too.

Terry says, “My Gram made a delicious turkey dressing.  She cooked our big family turkey in an old-fashioned standalone roaster and the dressing cooked outside the turkey in the bottom of the roasting pan (rather than inside like traditional stuffing is usually prepared), and then the dressing is further tended to on the stove in a frying pan. It's very different from the traditional bread cube type stuffing my mom makes - which I also love! This conversation with Delesia really brought up so many forgotten memories from past Thanksgivings and it inspired me to reach out and talk to one of my uncles about the recipe. So many good times and loving memories center around our shared food experiences and I love hearing when others are talking about their own!”

Sweet Whipped Mashed Potatoes

Another fun and quite amazing contributor to our GMB’s holiday recipes is Dale Josey of the National Podcast Aging with Grace 55+.

For Thanksgiving, Dale loves dressing and whipped sweet potatoes with marshmallow topping! Dale’s favorite Thanksgiving memory is watching Santa Claus parachute from an airplane into the shopping mall on Black Friday and sitting on Dad's shoulders as he'd point out this falling speck that blossomed into a red and white parachute, of course!

Here is a delicious whipped sweet potato recipe! 

And More Delicious Sides

Holy Smokes! Where would we be on Thanksgiving without myriad side dishes to complement and pile on our plates? The sweet and the savory, the crumbed and the crusted. It makes me drool just considering the yum factor of Thanksgiving side dishes.

There is a grandma in North Carolina who has been perfecting the yum factor before she could drive, growing up on her parent’s peach farm with her sister Barbara, an equally impressive cook! “Grama” Mary Alice Bryant takes great pride in preparing unforgettable foods and her Thanksgiving fare is quite the perfect holiday opportunity to bring out the big guns!

“MA”, as she is affectionately called, has a mouth watering Mac ‘n Cheese dish with two cheddars, Gruyere, and buttery bread crumbs baked on top. Dig in! We love it!

Here is a mouth watering version of this recipe!!

Valerie’s Cranberry Relish

With four generations of women sharing recipes and teaching each other family tradition, it’s no wonder the Basinger Family of West Virginia has their cranberry sauce recipe down to a science.

“Grammy” Jennifer shares her mom’s delectable recipe here.

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Valerie’s Cranberry Relish‍

This recipe is made using a hand-cranked meat grinder. However, a food processor could chop and blend on pulse mode. Be careful not to over-process the fruit. The texture should be like pickle relish. Best made 1 week in advance and kept in the refrigerator.‍

Ingredients:

2 Cups Fresh Cranberries in season
2 Seedless Navel Oranges, washed (peels on)
.5 to 1 cup granulated sugar (to taste)

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1. Soak cranberries in cold water for 10 mins, removing any damaged or soft berries.
2. Chop oranges (with peels on) into 1in. pieces.
3. Alternating berries and oranges, run the fruit through the grinder into a glass bowl.
4. Add sugar to taste and mix well.
5. Refrigerate for up to 3 weeks.

Holiday Pies

Holiday dessert tables are a serious business in families! From the pumpkin to cheesecake, the pecan, the meringues and the holiday cookies, the desserts are a formidable force of the holiday.

“Bubby” Amy Bookwalter started her pie making traditions in 2001, when her daughter was 4.  Nowadays, with grandbabies dotted around the country coming in to visit at the holidays, Amy hosts a pie making extravaganza to share the love of family and the love of cooking traditions with the younger set. “Bubby” Amy loves spending this quality time with her “Daughters-in-Love” as she refers to them.

She uses a time tested recipe from Better Homes New CookBook for Pecan Pie. 

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Ree’s Caramel Apple Pie

The McGinn Family have many traditions but could not pass up sharing this apple pie go-to for holiday pies that their family loves!

It is Pioneer Woman Ree Drummond’s Caramel Apple Pie recipe. If anyone has ever tasted her lasagne, you know that her recipes are amazing!

Gram Fisher’s Chicken Corn Soup

Nannie Theresa Coates Ellis loves sharing the holidays with her large and extended family. She has fond memories of her grandma, Gram Helen Fisher. Their favorite memories included traveling and laughing a lot together. Gram didn’t have a driver’s license, so the family would take the tour buses together. Theresa says she remembers their trip to NYC, people watching, visiting tourist spots and eating at the delis with sandwiches piled high with meats and cheeses. Nowadays, Theresa loves spending time with her own children and grandsons, especially during the holidays. She shares her grandma’s Chicken Corn Soup recipe below.

Gram Fisher’s Chicken Corn Soup

Ingredients:
Whole chicken 4-5 lbs
8 qts water - to cover chicken
1 tbs salt
¼ tsp. Pepper
1 tbs parsley flakes
2 cups celery chopped
1 cup of onion chopped
3 cups fresh corn off the cob
½ lb med wide egg noodles
Large box chicken broth
1 tbs onion salt
1 tbs celery salt
2 tbs sugar
Rivels: (small dumplings for soups) (easy recipe)

Directions: Boil whole chicken with water covering. Skim if necessary. After skimming, add seasonings, sugar, celery and onion. Remove chicken when tender - cool - pull off pieces of chicken. Add chicken, corn (removed from the cob), rivels, noodles, and bring to a boil. Simmer until noodles and rivels are cooked.  Eat with crackers. Enjoy!

We hope you have enjoyed our families’ collection of Thanksgiving Cooking Recipes!

From all of us at GMB, we wish you, your grandparents and your loved ones happy cooking together! There are so many delicious recipes, and with any good traditions, they are being passed on to your next generation. 

We are so pleased to announce our newest children’s reading book that celebrates the joy of cooking together with family!

Check out Lucas and Emily’s Cooking Adventure - our Newest Release!