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I miss the S'mores cookies and Fudgies, the little Kraft chewy candies in a gold wrapper. Does anyone remember the cereal, Double-Dip Crunch? I was like a "frosted" Crispix. Mmmmm!!! Oh, and the Quacker "strawberry" snack/dessert bars that looked like Nutri-Grain but had a little "squiggle" of white "icing" on top. I'm hungry now.

I found this one on the cocktail menu at Morton's Steakhouse and started making it myself- I haven't had a single person tell me anything except "this is absolutely delicious". It really is a perfect summer drink.

In a large rocks glass, muddle 3 slices of seedless cucumber. Add:

1.5 oz vodka (Morton's uses Absolut 100, and maybe a little less than 1.5 oz)
.5 oz St. Germain Elderflower Liqueur
splash of fresh lime juice
top with ginger ale (Reeds, Stewarts, or another high-end brand is best but Canada Dry will work).

stir gently and enjoy.

It was great today. everyone raves over my moms cinnamon rolls, but she makes with frozen bread dough. I make it from scratch, and can soooo tell the dif.

G-daughter doesn't care for my moms, but sure tasted the difference today when we made them with sweet roll dough.

When we made the icing (buttercream) she tasted the sugar / butter mixture and said it has no taste. I said, good, try this and added a splash of real vanilla. Then she tasted again. Her eyes grew wide and she said that is AWESOME. She knows what she likes and has a good palate!

And thanks to a previous suggestion.. I took pictures of her with the finished product!

I love this. I should have cooked with my grandma every Friday! How about this vanilla cake?

Hillary
Chew on That

Well peeps.. you'll be so proud. She was reading through cookbooks and family recipes last night trying to decide what we would make! I almost cried when I found that out !

Her suggestions: Fudge, puppy chow (chex/chocolate), Fruit Pizza and a christmas cookie her mom likes (which I actually promised to make her in July so she didn't have to wait till Christmas for them!)

My suggestion was Cinnamon Rolls (From scratch) .. not her favorite but her dad loves them, and won't he be impressed when she makes them for his Father's Day Breakfast!

Thanks for all the suggestions.. It seems she is more than capable of finding things.

Tonite we'll be making steak (she loves steak) and Oven Spareribs tomorrow for her to take home with her so her mom won't have to cook Friday night.

This is going to be a great summer!

Is there something you cook that you are "known for" or particularly proud of?
One of my favorite memories of Gram was when she showed us her "tricks" for how she got some of her famous Christmas cookies to turn out like they did. Her "tricks" weren't listed in her recipes.

When I was learning how to cook, I was most interested in learning about the things that, when they were finished, didn't look like the original ingredients. Like, you couldn't look at it and take it apart to see how it was made.

So broiling a steak, eh, I knew how that was done and it didn't interest me all that much. But taking flour and butter and other ingredients and making a batter and then making cookies -- that was really interesting, because it was sort of like learning the magician's tricks.

Mom never baked bread, but if she did, I would have been thrilled. I thought dumplings were completely amazing.

I thought soups and stews and casserole-y things were pretty interesting, too. Spaghetti sauce was a big deal. I mean, I knew what the canned tomato products looked like, but the finished sauce was completely different.

If I was that young today, I'd think that tamales and enchiladas would be more interesting than tacos or burritos. Eggrolls would be fun. Ravioli or even home made flat noodles would be fun.

Hands-on cooking would be more fun than just broiling/baking. So seasoning some meat and roasting it would be a lot less interesting than making mountains of meatballs, or even a meatloaf.

Oh, and teach her how to make a roux and a gravy before she gets old enough for people to tell her that gravy is hard to do.

Lucky you, and lucky granddaughter that you get to spend time together and make some nice things!

Maybe you pick the recipe one week, and she can pick one the following week. All these ideas are great! If I were granddaughter, I'd choose spaghetti sauce. Maybe teach meatballs 101 while waiting for the sauce to simmer.

Little bit of salt with a touch of pepper and garlic. Cooked on the hottest propane or charcoal grill possible. Flavor of the meat should stand on it's own without a sauce. Maybe a little bit of melted dipping butter in a ramekin on the side.

The BYO steak party is a great idea. Never really though of it.

Chili. Spaghetti Sauce.

Why not give her the choice to pick out a recipe from a cookbook that you can make with her?

Cupcakes are always fun, have diffeent types of frostings and spinkles and candies to put on top. Brownies are a sure bet along with lemon squares. Sugar cookies with different cutters. As far as savory maybe mac and cheese or chicken fingers..