wilkes

Nothing like grandma's cooking. Try this--

Pinto Beans- use a small pack of dried beans (this makes a large pot of beans), wash them in the morning and drain off the water. Place them in a heavy cooking pot, add lots of water, salt, pepper, a touch of garlic, maybe half of an average onion. If you do not use fatback or streaked meat to cook with these days, you can still season beans to have good flavor by using cooking oil as the fat. Dried beans need to be cooked several hours to become soft. So, just add your seasonings, add plenty of water as when the beans expand they will absorb a lot of water as well as what is cooked from them. I cook mine on medium temperature to a little lower for several hours covered.

You can also add a couple T of tomato catsup to pinto beans to add a little flavor, and of course beef or even chicken bouillion cube, but I prefer not.

When grandma cooked pintos, they did not come "prewashed" in those days, so it was necessary to "look" the beans for small stones and dirt, and to wash them really well. Then grandma would parboil the plain beans until they came to a good boil, drain all that water off, and put water over then again and at that time add her seasonings and cook low for hours and even all day. Even now, I put my beans on early morning, cook them low all day unless I am in a hurry for beans. It is also quite possible that grandma used a ham hock in cooking her beans, as my mama would do many times if she had one.

Good pinto beans take time to cook and don't come out of a can. Good luck, make your grandma proud!!

Macaroni and Cheese--Baked

Using the box mac with the cheese pack is fine or just get dry macaroni noodles and a block of velvetta cheese.

Cover desired amount of noodles with water and boil until done but not over cooked. You must stir macaroni when it starts to boil one time or it will stick to the bottom of the pot you are boiling in. Boiling your macaroni for about 10 minutes shoud be sufficient for being done.

Remove from heat- drain the noodles- wash the starch off the noodles. Putting them back into the same pot you cooked them in, place the pot back on the stove. Depending on how much noodles you have cooked, you determine how much milk to use to make it creamy. I am guessing about a cup of milk should be added, about a cup of velvetta cheese, and a half stick of butter. Salt and pepper to taste. Make sure your macaroni is plenty soupy enough so it will not be dry when you bake, Heat your oven to 325, Whip up one egg (beat it well with a fork and mix this into your mac and cheese. Adding the egg with give it a texture much like K&W Macaroni for lack of a better example. Spray a casserole dish with non stick spray and pour your mac and cheese into the casserole dish. If you desire (and it makes it look nicer ) top it with shredded cheddar cheese and bake at 325 for 30 minutes or more or until it is bubbly. (if you are making a really large batch, whip up two eggs for texture instead of one. For my taste, I like garlic salt and most always add salt pepper, and a little garlic salt to my mac after it has boiled and when I am adding the cheese and milk etc.

Hope this comes close to grandma's, but nothing like the memories of Mom or Grandma's cooking.

I add peanut butter to mine also....wow! people think I'm crazy when they catch me adding the peanut butter.

I have to sneak it in on my husband so he doesn't know it's in the beans.

I find that washing, soaking overnight, and parboiling for about 10-15 minutes the next morning is the best way to start these beans. Drain parboil water, recover with cold water at least 2 inches over the top of the beans, add bacon, fat meat, or margarine as you prefer (Grandmother used a chunk of fatback, I'll just bet!)

I always cut a medium to large sweet onion (cut in half) and 2 Tbsp creamy peanut butter to the beans. Slow cook as long as possible before serving. Watch the beans and keep adding water as necessary. Stir each time you check your beans.

DO NOT ADD SALT until the last 20 minutes before beans finish.

I AM LOOKING FOR AN OLD FASHION RECIPE. MY GRANDMOTHER USED TO MAKE THE BEST PINTO BEANS.THEY HAD ALOT OF FLAVOR AND WERE SOFT. SHE ALSO MADE HOMEMADE CORNBREAD AND HER OWN BAKED MACARONI AND CHEESE. CAN SOMEONE GIVE ME SOME IDEAS PLEASE?