My good friend, Cheryl, brought it to my attention the other day that a lot of my good memories that I have from back home have to do with food. We spend a lot of time together, one because we are friends, but also because we work together. So needless to say, there is a lot of time that we share funny stories and things about ourselves.
Anyhoo, her comment got me to thinking. There are certain foods that remind me of such special times in my childhood, and of special people to me. I can't remember a family get together, BBQ, Holiday, Birthday, or Anniversary that we didn't have great foods right along with it. It wasn't a Peterson or Busteed family gathering without good foods. It is a wonder and a miracle that everyone on both sides of my family aren't as a big as a house.
Grandma Peterson's Chocolate Chip cookies. An all time classic cookie, but for some reason, no matter who else in the family that makes them, they just aren't as good? I remember coming into grandma's house and sitting up to the counter while she had just finished some fresh cookies and sampling them as we talked about our day and what was going on in our lives. These cookies are a very popular treat among the Peterson members. One of my cousins when he was barely old enough to spell, came in to grandma's one day hoping to have one of these special cookies and say that her cookie jar was empty. He then wrote her a little note and taped it to her cookie jar for her to see when she came back home. "Need More Cookies."
Grandma Busteed's Homemade Wine Cake. I remember this one being around her house all the time leftover from "coffee hour" they used to have on Sunday afternoons. I was little, but I just loved it for some reason. Still do. So growing up my grandma would make us a homemade cake for our birthdays. None of that Wal-mart store bought cake stuff that all of us lazy moms do today. She lived just down the street from us, so she was there at every one of my birthdays until I recently moved to Oklahoma. I'm not sure how old I was, but too young to know what wine really was. Grandma asked me what kind of cake I wanted for my birthday and without skipping a beat I said, "I want your wine cake grandma." I remember everyone got a real good chuckle out of it, but I got my homemade wine cake at my family party and it was yummy!
Grandpa Busteed's Cheetos. When I was little my grandpa Busteed was a little scary sometimes. We knew when we went to stay at his house, we better behave ourselves. He was a lot more strict than grandma was. But one thing I had in common from the start with grandpa was his bag of Cheetos. He always had one in a pull out cupboard of the kitchen. This is the cupboard that held all the snacks in it. I always went for grandpa's Cheetos. I remember trying to hide them real fast if I heard grandpa coming into the house from the garage so he wouldn't get mad for me eating them. One time he caught me eating them and he didn't get mad at all. He just said, "So you are the one who's been eating all my Cheetos?" He didn't care at all that I was eating them. Funny as it sounds, that was the first time I felt a bond with him. Over a mutual love for Cheetos.
Grandpa Peterson's Pop Machine. My grandpa Peterson owned an Office Supply business. This family owned business is ran by three of his sons now that he has passed away. The Office Shop is actually attached to my grandma and grandpa's house off the back of their garage. He would work out there all the time, night and day. My grandpa was a Diet Pepsi drinker. He always had one in hand or on his desk. The Office Shop had a pop machine that sold a can of pop for .25 cents. Now that is a deal eh? He had a little drawer that had held quarters in it on his desk and all of the cousins when we came over would run out to this drawer and grab a quarter and go buy us a pop from grandpa's pop machine. I think this is where my love for Barqs Root Beer and Squirt came about.
Now there just isn't enough space or time to list off all the wonderful memories with foods that I have around my mom's home. My mom is the best cook and the best baker in the whole world. At least in my world she is. When I think of my home in Wyoming, I can just smell the many foods that I love and that I would definately call my comfort foods.
I remember fond memories when I was really little sitting on the kitchen counter top while mom was cooking or baking. I would watch her and wait intently for something that I could do to help. Now, as I have my own daughter, Alyssa does the same thing in our kitchen while I bake.
When I was older, I remember me, mom, and my sisters, pulling hot homemade taffy with our buttered up hands. We would make homemade suckers with different flavorings. One time I got some cinnamon flavoring on my hand and then rubbed in my eye on accident. That was not such a fond memory, but a memory about food non the less.
Mom would make these homemade fried scoons and OMG they were the best thing in the world. Then we would do the coolest thing with the leftover scoons. After they cooled a little, mom would make homemade maple icing and we would ice the scoons and make maple bars out of them.
Every Christmas my mom, grandma Busteed, and all the women in my family will get together and spend all day dipping Christmas chocolates. Caramels, Coconuts, and Peanut butter centers, and English Toffees. It is a lot of work and takes a lot of time, but it so fun to sit around as women and make chocolates. I get excited just thinking about it.
Do you see where I get my sweet tooth from everybody???
Dinners at mom's house is always a treat. Partly the great food, but partly because of the great company. I have so many good memories from just sitting around my childhood dinner table every night. That is something that I don't think a lot of families do these days and that is sad.
Today when I go back home and me and all of my siblings and our kids are there, my mom will put out of spread of things to graze on and we will just stand around the kitchen island and talk and munch and talk and munch. We will play cards and games while munching and watch movies while munching. Like I said...it is a miracle that we are not all obese.
What can I say? These are comfort foods to me because they remind me of such fun times growing up and the people I shared them with.
Okay, so I am going to share with you one of my family's easiest, fastest, and best comfort foods because I want you to be able to have just a little slice of my heaven here on earth. This one is great for the summer because you don't have to turn your oven on and bake them.
Scotcheroos
On cooktop bring to boil (just long enough to disolve the sugar):
1 Cup White Sugar
1 Cup Light Karo Syrup
Take off heat and Stir in:
1 Cup Peanut Butter
7 cups Rice Crispies
Spread in 9x13 pan and set aside
Melt in Microwave:
6 oz butterscotch chips
6 oz semi sweet chips
Stir til smooth and spread over crispy mixture. Put in fridge to set up.
Enjoy!
