Red Velvet Wisdom

Dena and I were talking a while back about the serious lack of real lunch ladies in the world today.  When we were kids at a teeny tiny school, the women who served lunch were a bunch of sweet matronly older women, and the food was GOOD.  I remember my mother looking at the menu every week to see what was going to be coming up so that she could see if they were having chicken and dumplings or chicken and dressing.  These women used what I can only guess were their real recipes that they used in their own kitchens, and from the homemade rolls to the meatloaf, it was good.  Really good.  And they knew many of the kids by name, and if they knew a kid wasn’t getting much food at home, they made sure that kid got a little extra.  It was those little things that made the lunch ladies endearing and sweet characters.

Somewhere in the years since we graduated and moved on to the world of adulthood, school cafeterias became a business.  They became about turning a profit instead of feeding kids good food that doesn’t come in the form of a nugget.  Now I am not saying that I don’t realize a school district can’t just bleed money in order to keep kids fed, but I also wonder if there isn’t another way to feed kids other than the process pre-packaged things that they eat now.  The lunch ladies are sometimes not even connected to the school in any way and work for a company contracted out to serve the frozen pizza and chicken nuggets that pass for meals on a daily basis in most schools.

As a nod to the women who made us enjoy school a little more and who provided us with a little comfort food to get us through the day, here is a recipe from a very sweet woman who spent years serving the children in our cafeteria.

Chicken and Dressing

• 1 lg chicken, boiled and deboned
• 1 lg pan of cornbread, crumbled
• 2/3 full of the same pan of white bread, crumbled. (all bread is better if it is 2 or 3 days old)
• 8 ribs of celery, diced
• 2 lg onions, diced
• 6 eggs
• 1 can cream of mushroom soup
• 1/2 c. milk
• 1 T. sage
• 1/2 tsp. black pepper
• salt to taste

Cover the celery and onions with water and boil until done. Beat the eggs, soup, milk, sage, and black pepper together in a bowl. Add diced chicken last. Mix the cornbread and whitebread together in a large bowl. Then wet it with the broth until really wet. The add egg mixture and salt. Add celery and onion mixture and some of the water. Pour into a well greased pan and bake at 400º for about an hour or until set and browned.

*This recipe is from Shirley Eddy and is found in a cookbook from the Genoa Athletic Booster Club. The cookbook is dedicated to her for 27 years of “carefully and lovingly preparing hot meals for our kids”.

After spending time in six different doctors waiting rooms in just a weeks time, I have realized that many people have no idea how to behave in a waiting room.  I spent three hours this afternoon with people who really need this lesson.

• Speak Quietly. This should fall under the realm of common sense but not once in a week have I been in a quiet waiting room. I don’t feel like hearing you chat with your husband/wife/live-in/ex/neighbor/6 people you brought with you. Read a magazine. Just be quiet.
• Don’t bring a team with you. I know that sometimes you don’t have anyone to keep the kids, but I’ve seen people drag in a crowd and fill up the whole area. And, they are loud. I don’t need an audience to feel bad.
• Kids. I don’t expect them to be perfectly still and quiet but what happened to bringing them a book or toy? Why let them maul people who are there because they don’t feel good in the first place? Not only do I not want their germs, why would you let them crawl on sick people? The thing that chaps me the most is when they act a fool and then you decide to scream at them. Back to the being quiet thing. I would rather hear a child scream than an adult.
• Life Story. Personally, I don’t want to hear it. I’m glad that you have a boyfriend now, and am sorry that he is in a lockdown facility. I also am not anxious to share my life story with you.  I don’t mind chit chat about weather, or something generic.  One girl today was determined to get my name. “Is your name Mary?” “Is it Jaunita?”
• Rent A Room. To the young couple who giggled, talked loudly, and tried to fit their selves into one seat: I almost gagged. Anyone who wasn’t sick before that show was wretching by the time they left. LOUD wasn’t even the word for it. Innappropriate discussions of the last time you bathed, what you washed, and how dirty your clothes are almost sent me other edge.
• Do #2 at Home. Why go the bathroom INSIDE the waiting room and saunter out 10 minutes later, rubbing your belly? Have you  no shame? Your girlfriend thought it was cute, and it was the only time she had her big mouth closed, so maybe that was worth it just a little for the peace and quiet it bought. My bladder took a hit though.
• Everyone has a cell phone. Don’t wave it in my face and text and say, “Oh, was that my cell phone?” like you are the only person who ever had one.

Odds are, if I’m sick and don’t feel well, I tolerate less on the idiot scale.

Boo decided today that she wanted fried green tomatoes for lunch. These are the perfect food for someone who likes greasy vegetables (I know it is really a fruit) and is too impatient to let them get ripe on the vine. She is excited that she helped grow these and before I knew it, she was helping cook.

She also posted on Facebook that she was making them and some kids didn’t know what they are. Shameful! Right as we started to make them my wonderful mother-in-law came in and we discussed variations on the recipe. To begin, you need a few green tomatos, washed and sliced. My husband says. “Not too thick,” after each slice, so that was our mantra. Not too thick.

I like to dip mine in egg and milk mixed together. Some people don’t.

Then, dredge them in either flour, cornmeal, or a mixture of both. Add salt. If you live in my house, add salt before, during, and after cooking. Then drop them in hot oil until lightly brown.

Perfect!

Yellow? Our pale and pasty family owns no yellow. I had no pictures with yellow until I looked and found this…..

Check out the other entries at I Heart Faces.

Happy Mother’s Day!

Our moms (Our mom and my MIL) are strong southern women who know everything from how to pluck a chicken to how to arrange the cutlery on a formal dinner.  They also know just about everything in between, which is why we love them so much and depend on them so frequently.  Happy Mother’s Day to all the moms out there, and know that you are leaving your mark on all the generations that are following behind you!