Behind The Butter

My Gift To You

So I know I just posted about four in a half minutes ago, but in the brief period after I hit the “publish” button I got up, walked into my kitchen and realized I just have way too much granola.

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It’s becoming a problem. I keep eating it by the handful. It must be gone.
That’s where YOU come in. Just leave a comment on this post telling me your favorite childhood food memory, and at the end of the day I’ll pick a winner at random and will send you this first thing tomorrow.

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Freshly baked granola from me to you. In a super cute pink bag that I got yesterday from Target for two dollars.
In terms of childhood food memories, it could be your favorite meal that your grandma made or the pancakes dad burned in the kitchen. I’ll go first: my favorite memory was leaning over the stove picking at all the clams with my fingertips while mom made linguine and clams for dinner. Linguine and clams has always been my absolute favorite meal of all time and I loved the way the clams squeaked when I chewed them.
Your turn!

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  • Shannon
    July 27, 2010 at 10:49 am

    My fave food memory although weird, is my parents making me eat cream corn. I still hate it to this day, but it is a fun little memory I will never forget. LOL.

  • Alexis
    July 27, 2010 at 10:49 am

    My absolute favorite food memories of childhood were when my parents used to go out solely for escargot. I was legitimately scared of snails so I opted out of ever ordering any for myself. I of course dipped tons of bread into the yummy garlic butter, sneakily. I usually dipped in my mom’s garlic butter but victims ranged from aunts and uncles to even a business partner of my dad’s!

  • Leanne
    July 27, 2010 at 10:51 am

    The first memory that came to mind was my 5 or 6th b-day cake. It was the most memorable cake I’ve eaten with the exception of my wedding cake. It was beautiful and EXACTLY what I asked for, but better. I wanted a barbie cake and instead of getting a sheet cake with some pictures and plastic figures, my mom got creative.

    The cake was the brightest shade of pink, I’d ever laid eyes on and it was a barbie. Bascially, my mother had a baker (or she did this herself) place a barbie in the center and the cake part became this special barbie’s skirt. 🙂 🙂

  • lindsay
    July 27, 2010 at 10:52 am

    my favorite memory is going to my grandmothers house and she would make fried chicken, biscuits, green beans and homemade cherry and rhubarb pie….gotta love living in the south!

  • Kelley
    July 27, 2010 at 10:52 am

    When I was younger my mom used to cut my PB & J into four triangles and stand them up like sailboats, and she would put my goldfish in the center of the “sailboat circle.” Whenever I come home to visit and have a craving for PB & J, she still cuts the sandwich in fours and stands them up like sailboats!

  • Hillary [Nutrition Nut on the Run]
    July 27, 2010 at 10:53 am

    My mother’s pumpkin chocolate chip muffins will always remind me of swim meets and soccer tournaments : )

    • Kendel @ Eating Abroad
      July 28, 2010 at 3:23 am

      My mom makes these too. Anytime I return home, she has a batch waiting for me.

  • Leslie
    July 27, 2010 at 10:53 am

    Baking cookies with my mom, for sure!

  • megan
    July 27, 2010 at 10:54 am

    One of my favorite childhood memories is going to my grandmother’s house, about 30 minutes from my parent’s house. She had carrots cooking for me for dinner every time I visited her. So now, everytime I cook or smell carrots cooking, I think of my Granny!

  • louise
    July 27, 2010 at 10:54 am

    Swinging on the side porch swing with a friend, each with a spoon and a jar of peanut butter mixed with ample amount of Karo Syrup. Even better with a talk glass of cold milk!

  • Scargosun
    July 27, 2010 at 10:54 am

    My favorite childhood memory is crossing the Sagamore Bridge on to Cape Cod. It was positively GLEEFUL each and every time…still is. 🙂

  • theemptynutjar
    July 27, 2010 at 10:55 am

    Will you ship to Canada?

    Off the top of my head….I used to climb up on my kitchen counter as a little kid and reach for the cookie cupboard. I would then take the crunchy chocolate chips cookies and spread butter on them and eat them.
    My sisters thought I was weird to put butter on my cookies.
    I was a rebel as you can see (insert eye-roll).

    • jenna
      July 27, 2010 at 10:55 am

      Gahh sorry—US shipping only!

  • Lauren
    July 27, 2010 at 10:55 am

    My grandma used to make chicken pastry for me every time I came to visit – she lives in North Carolina and I grew up in California, so it was always a special treat to have it at her house. It’s nothing fancy – just flour, water, and a little salt mixed into a dough, rolled out and cut into strips, then boiled with chicken in chicken broth. I loved it though because she made it with love 🙂

  • Beth @ Beth's Journey to Thin
    July 27, 2010 at 10:55 am

    My favorite childhood memory is riding my bike around Southford Falls with my Dad and catching fireflies at dusk. It makes me miss the country!

  • Bridget
    July 27, 2010 at 10:55 am

    Baking Christmas cookies with my brothers….cookies never tasted so good!

  • Heather (Heather's Dish)
    July 27, 2010 at 10:55 am

    sweet! my favorite memory is when my dad would hold an olive and let me cut it in half…i think i was 3? my mom thought he was crazy!

  • Kelly
    July 27, 2010 at 10:56 am

    My favorite food memory from when I was a kid was probably having birthday parties at Pizza Hut! It was totes awesome 🙂

  • Danica
    July 27, 2010 at 10:56 am

    In elementary school, mom would always walk our dog and bring me lunch in my purple lunchbox! That way the ice cream she packed sometimes wouldn’t melt! love her =)

  • maren
    July 27, 2010 at 10:56 am

    mine would probably be every thursday morning before school was cinnamon roll day. my younger brothers and i would fight for who got the gooey gooey middle one. so we had to take turns week after week so there was no one upset! yummy cinnamon rolls 🙂

  • Amanda (The Nutritionist Reviews)
    July 27, 2010 at 10:56 am

    My favorite childhood food memory is when I used to make fruit salad with my grandpa for Easter until he passed away. Now I continue on the tradition and make it myself for my family!

  • sarah
    July 27, 2010 at 10:56 am

    My dad used to make me cinnamon toast when my mom was away. Something about the butter and cinnamon was so sweet and delectable.

  • Anna S.
    July 27, 2010 at 10:56 am

    My favorite food memory was from when I was staying the night at my uncle’s house. He put food coloring in the pancakes for me in the morning, and I refused to eat them because they looked weird. I finally ate them after he told me Mickey Mouse ate colored pancakes.

  • Amy @ LittleChefBakes
    July 27, 2010 at 10:57 am

    My favorite food memory was “painting” sugar cookies every Christmas with my grandma and brothers. She would make a TON of cookies in her little toaster oven. We were responsible for decorating those cookies by painting powdered sugar icing on them. It is one of the greatest memories I have.

  • Megan
    July 27, 2010 at 10:57 am

    my favorite is having kasse spaetzle on a ski trip in austria. we got our own skillet of the stuff and it was amazing. Every few years my mom gives in to my brother’s and my whining and makes it for us from scratch, noodles and all. mmmmm.

  • Jill
    July 27, 2010 at 10:57 am

    My favorite food memory is of frosting gingerbread cookies during Christmastime with my Mom and brother when we younger — about 4 years old. The majority of the frosting would end up on our faces, in our hair, or in our mouths!

  • Megan
    July 27, 2010 at 10:57 am

    My grandparents owned a small town restaurant when I was growing up. My favorite memory is being in the kitch with my grandpa. He would put a little stool next to the sink so I could stand next to him while he got the fixings ready for his homemade hot cereal. It puts a smile on my face to think of him and how lucky I was to have him when I was young.

  • Nicole of Raspberry Stethoscope
    July 27, 2010 at 10:57 am

    Favorite childhood food memory: whenever it was Thanksgiving and my mom would be in the kitchen chopping away, and I’d be watching the Macy’s Day parade. The house smelt like celery from the stuffing, and of course, drippings from the turkey. aaah i love that smell.

  • Angie
    July 27, 2010 at 10:58 am

    My fave food memory is my mom’s enchiladas. I now make my own version, with the addition of jalapenos to make it super spicy! Yum!

  • Dawn
    July 27, 2010 at 10:58 am

    On weekend mornings, my dad would make us scrambled eggs and toast. That sounds normal (and tame) enough, but my dad added a few special ingredients to spice things up including: garlic salt and rosemary. Even though I’m vegan now, I still have mega-fond memories of those amazing breakfasts. :]

  • Monica
    July 27, 2010 at 10:58 am

    Jenna, you are such a sweetheart (:

    My favorite chilhood memory is all of the travelling I did with my family (2 adults, 4 kids). Since I was born in Canada, we have been to over half of the provinces, and they are all different in so many ways (BC is probably my favorite). We also visited Hawaii, Poland, Italy, USA, and other locations. It’s the quality time with a big family that makes all of those vacations a good memory. This comment is long enough, but I can’t wait to travel with my children.

    Have a lovely day!

  • Heather
    July 27, 2010 at 10:58 am

    My favorite food memory doesn’t involve eating food, but rather preparing it.

    When I was about 3, I used to stay with my grandmother after I got home from nursery school. She was (and still is) very big on vegetables and used to give me a huge (in my mind), clear bag with tons green beans from our local grocery store. It was my job, while watching Lamb Chop’s Play Along, to take off the ends of the green beans. To this day, every time I make green beans I laugh 🙂

  • Alyssa
    July 27, 2010 at 10:58 am

    My favorite memory is making Tollhouse Chocolate Chip Cookies with my mom- always the recipe on the back of the Tollhouse chocolate chip bag. My mom doesn’t cook, so spending time with her in the kitchen was appreciated.

  • Jen @ Jen is Green
    July 27, 2010 at 10:58 am

    Eating my grandma’s cinnamon toast for breakfast when she used to babysit me in the summer. 🙂 So simple but so good!

  • valerie
    July 27, 2010 at 10:59 am

    My favorite childhood memory is making christmas cookies with my mom and sister every year. We would make them from scratch and spend hours decorating them with sprinkles and candy.

  • brandi
    July 27, 2010 at 10:59 am

    How fun!

    My favorite childhood memory is my mom’s spaghetti nights. I still cannot make my red sauce taste like hers, even though I have the recipe. I would also always stand at the stove and pick out the sausage pieces (on those special nights when she had sausage) to eat while it bubbled away, waiting for dinner time.

  • lisa
    July 27, 2010 at 10:59 am

    My favorite would just be all 4 of us sitting at the table for dinner. My sister has moved out and its just me and my mom. I miss those family dinner at the table

  • Janet Perez
    July 27, 2010 at 10:59 am

    My best food memory is sitting at my dads feet while he peeled and quartered apples for us. See, my dad died when I was 11 so this memory of the patient, quiet man that he was is one that I will cherish

  • Tia
    July 27, 2010 at 10:59 am

    My favorite memory was from 20 years ago, when I was 4 years old. While my parents worked I would spend days with my aunt and uncle and my 3 male cousins. As the youngest by 6 years and the only girl, I’d get picked on quite a bit. My uncle had a day off (he worked 3rd shift) and had gone fishing, when he came home and saw me playing by myself because the darn boys were being mean, he had me come in the kitchen, stand on a stool and help him clean the fish. He let me help him pull scales and extricate little bones (my fingers were just the right size). We had the fish grilled for lunch, and he called me “Chef”(to the boys chagrin) for the rest of that day. To this day it’s my favorite food memory.

  • Betsy
    July 27, 2010 at 10:59 am

    Baking and decorating Christmas sugar cookies with my mom!!!

  • Kara
    July 27, 2010 at 10:59 am

    Favorite food memory would certainly be my grandma’s homemade butterscotch pies at Thanksgiving and Christmas. Topped with homemade whipped cream. I associate those pies with family gatherings, warmth, and love.

  • Maren @ Simply Maren
    July 27, 2010 at 10:59 am

    My great grandma used to make sourdough cinnamon rolls for breakfast when we would visit her home in Suncity Ca, no cinnamon roll compares.

  • Lauren L.
    July 27, 2010 at 11:00 am

    I love homemade granola, and could definitely use some of yours in my life because I’m moving next week and just too lazy to make my own right now. My favorite childhood food memory was eating at The Buffalo Roam, a tiny small town restaurant in my mom’s hometown in north-central Kansas. When we would go visit my grandparents, we would always get there in time to have Friday night Mexican Buffet and eat the cinnamon crisps and sweet cinnamon rolls off of the salad bar portion of the buffet. I got to go to the Mexican Buffet again earlier this month and it definitely has not changed over the years, and I still love every bite off of the delightful little small town buffet.

  • Sarah
    July 27, 2010 at 11:00 am

    Oooh! Definitely sitting on the front porch with big slices of watermelon and having seed-spitting contests with my sisters and Pappaw. Pappaw always won!

  • Amanda @ Vegacious
    July 27, 2010 at 11:00 am

    My dad taking each of us girls out to breakfast individually. It was always our ‘dad’ time. He rotated every Saturday who he took out. It was a special memory that is still very dear to my heart. 🙂

  • Maria
    July 27, 2010 at 11:00 am

    My favorite memory comes from baking with my aunt. I remember my awe and amazement at what simple ingredients could do. Those peanut butter cookies are still vivid in my mine (even though I didn’t even really like pb cookies!).

  • Bethany @ More Fruit Please
    July 27, 2010 at 11:00 am

    Catching frogs from the river behind my house! I would never touch a frog now, but back then, I was fearless!

  • Elise
    July 27, 2010 at 11:00 am

    My favorite food memories/ritual as a child was standing on the opposite side of the island in our kitchen on Saturday mornings after waterskiing on the lake. I would stand on the stool, staring at the buttermilk pancakes my father was making from my great grandma’s recipe and get really excited when the batter on top started bubbling..cuz that meant they were almost done and we could chow down. And taking swipes of the batter when I swore my father wasn’t looking!

  • vanillavivante
    July 27, 2010 at 11:00 am

    My favorite memory is definitely sneaking up behind my mom when she was baking chocolate-chip cookies from scratch, eat my prize like a chocolate-chip-cookie-dough lollipop. (In retrospect, there’s no way my mom didn’t see me, but I convinced myself that I was so quick and catlike that she hadn’t 🙂 )

  • Beth
    July 27, 2010 at 11:00 am

    One of my favorite food memories is being amazed when my dad cooked for us…scrambled eggs with leftover hotdogs. Later on in my life, I remember him cooking my brother and I eggplant parm while my grandmother was in the hospital.

  • MaryZ
    July 27, 2010 at 11:01 am

    Fried chicken and biscuits on Sunday afternoon at my grandmas was the best. All the family would gather after church in the summer for my grandma’s fried chicken and biscuits. It was so great to have the family together and enjoy the afternoon together.

  • Mallory
    July 27, 2010 at 11:01 am

    When my sister and I were little, my mom worked late hours as an ER nurse, so my dad was in charge of feeding us. We frequently went to this restaurant called Round the Corner (anyone?!) and it was the COOLEST. You sat down at your booth, and when you were ready to order you picked up this old-fashioned red telephone and called the kitchen. Then the kitchen called you back when your food was ready, and you walked over to pick it up. We always used to fight over who got to make the call. I’m sure the food was mediocre, but it didn’t matter; we loved that place.

  • Michelle
    July 27, 2010 at 11:01 am

    I came home from the baby sitters one day and told my mom I wanted a panut butter chip sandwich. she had no clue what I was talking about and asked the sitter the next day – a peanut butter sandwich with potato chips on it, duh mom! 😉

  • Gabriela @ Une Vie Saine
    July 27, 2010 at 11:01 am

    My favorite childhood memory involves my dad making burgers while my mom made fries, and enjoying a family meal on the patio in the summer. My brother and I always fought over who got the pickles!

  • Katherine
    July 27, 2010 at 11:01 am

    When I was 5 I ate a whole rack of ribs. My parents watched me in disbelief. Here I was, this little tiny girl, polishing off a rack of ribs.

  • Cory
    July 27, 2010 at 11:01 am

    Mine is definitely making pancakes with my mom. She would always make them in the shape of mickey mouse and snowmen- I always thought it was so amazing she could do that —- now I realize it was just a bunch of circles, but I still love it!

  • Honey B
    July 27, 2010 at 11:02 am

    My fave childhood food memory involves my mom cooking live crabs–I will never forget her hacking at its squirming leg…which continued to move even after it was detached from its body!! I ran away into the living room and buried my face in the couch cushions until dinner was done.

  • kim
    July 27, 2010 at 11:02 am

    Scaling fresh caught fish with my Papa and then frying it – and learning how to make homemade french fries. All on special time away to the Suwannee River.

  • Liz
    July 27, 2010 at 11:02 am

    I used to share a milkshake with my dad at Dairy Bell every once in a while. It was such a treat and so tasty!!

  • ashley
    July 27, 2010 at 11:02 am

    I remember eating black plums while passing Gingerbread Plum Tree on my Candy Land game. My mother would play the game with me for hours…sticky, plummy, mummy time 🙂 Now I play with my son…plums and all.

  • Allie
    July 27, 2010 at 11:02 am

    Gah! Linguine and clams is actually the one meal that my mom makes that I won’t eat…because they squeak! When I was growing up my mom couldn’t get my sister and I to eat cereal for breakfast so she would make elbow noodles or pastina with butter and parmesan cheese so we would have a filling meal that fueled us for the day. I grew up thinking noodles for breakfast was a normal thing and didn’t realize until way later (I think college!?) that this was not a normal breakfast food.

  • Maria @ Oh Healthy Day
    July 27, 2010 at 11:02 am

    Thanks for sharing! My favorite childhood food memory is baking and decorating sugar cookies with my family every Christmas. We never really cared for the recipe, but it was tradition, so we made them anyways. No one would dare change that recipe to make them more edible. In fact, we still make them at Christmas now that we are adults.

  • Dani
    July 27, 2010 at 11:02 am

    Sitting in my Gram’s kitchen, “teaching” her how to make Grilled Cheese. She let me think I was calling the shots, but truth is, she was instilling a love of cooking and the kitchen and quality time with family into me that i cherish dearly. It’s such a simple sandwich yet even the hint of a smell of the melty cheese on bread makes my mouth water and my spirit flush with happy 🙂

  • Bianca @ Confessions of a Chocoholic
    July 27, 2010 at 11:02 am

    My favorite childhood food memory is late night snacking with my parents in their cool, air-conditioned room. My love affair with chocolate developed because of that (and my parents always gave me a glass of cold milk or hot chocolate!) and up to now, I still look forward to visiting my parents and late night snacking with the two of them 🙂

  • Kacy
    July 27, 2010 at 11:02 am

    I have so many involving my Grandparents, but my absolute fave was when I was really little and my Grandpa would come from work while I was over at their house, I would hide behind the door and when he’d walk in I’d yell “BOO!” to “scare him”. Of course he always knew I was there, but he’d act like he was about to pass out with fright and I’d laugh for 10 minutes. Good stuff.

  • Amanda
    July 27, 2010 at 11:03 am

    my favorite childhood memory involves sitting on the deck of our lake house, eating chocolate ice cream, and watching a rain storm make its way up the lake. it was so quiet and peaceful sitting there with my family, seeing the sheet of water slowly make its way towards us, and slowly eating my favorite treat in the world

  • Janice
    July 27, 2010 at 11:03 am

    Sitting on the counter between the ages of 5 and 8, watching my dad prepare the filling for chinese dumplings. Yum!

  • Lauren Elizabeth
    July 27, 2010 at 11:03 am

    Donuts. When I was little and totally in to sleepovers (who am I kidding, I STILL am into sleepovers), my mom used to sneak out of the house before my friends and I woke up and the morning to get the best donuts in the entire world. Ooey, Gooey, Chewy, and perfectly sweet buttermilk glazed donuts. I remember waking up to sweet smell and to the sound of the tissue paper rustling. She’d always get them from Fluffy Fresh Donuts, a hole in the wall bakery in Kansas City. Oh man, this memory is really making me need a donut.

  • Annie
    July 27, 2010 at 11:03 am

    Baking Christmas cookies with my fam!

  • Katherine
    July 27, 2010 at 11:04 am

    One of my favorite food memories is learning to decorate cakes with my mom. She used to teach a cake decorating class at the women’s club and she’d practice on cakes at home. When we wanted to be “mommy’s helpers” she’d pull out a box of graham crackers and let us go to town. We learned how to make scalloped edging, whole roses, and even cool textures like cookie monster’s fur. And then we got to eat our creations!! 🙂

  • Leslie
    July 27, 2010 at 11:04 am

    My favorite childhood memory has to be learning to cook with my grandmother. My maternal grandparents had a beach cottage on the Chesapeake Bay and we spent a lot of time down there when I was little. I always wanted to help, and when I was about 5 I can remember standing on a stool in front of her in front of the gas range in the cottage, stirring scrambled eggs in a cast iron skillet with a wooden spoon. My mom came in and fussed at my grandmother, saying, “You never let me cook when I was that young!” and my grandmother answered, “Hush. Granddaughters have more fun!” To this day, that phrase still gets tossed about freely between me, my mom and her mom!

  • Steve
    July 27, 2010 at 11:04 am

    Every now and then at dessert time my dad would pull the “look over there” trick and whichever kid fell for it lost a bite of dessert to my dad’s fork. Traumatizing at the time, but a fond memory that we still talk about when the family gets back together.

  • Kelly
    July 27, 2010 at 11:04 am

    My favorite childhood food memory is probably making pancakes on Saturday mornings with my family.

    Either that or my aunts and uncles sneaking me extra desserts and sodas on holidays 🙂

  • Britt
    July 27, 2010 at 11:04 am

    My favorite food memory was my mother’s mexican cornbread. It was utterly delicious with creamed corn, peppers, onions, sauteed beef, cheese, and crushed red pepper. My mouth is officially watering!

  • brandi
    July 27, 2010 at 11:04 am

    My favorite food memory is helping my mom make Thanksgiving dinner when I was a kid. I felt so accomplished, being able to take part in her cooking and baking. I just wish I would have helped more growing up!

  • kelly
    July 27, 2010 at 11:04 am

    orange creamsicles in the summer 🙂 The summer I was 6 years old, I went into my fathers parked car, a stick shift, took it out of gear and rolled down the hill into another parked car 🙁
    My dad was furious!! He yelled at me and may have even put his foot on my rump a couple of times….he felt so bad after that he gave me a quarter to go to the store and get myself an orange creamsicle….I am scarred and I think granola might help 🙂

  • Beth
    July 27, 2010 at 11:05 am

    I think my favorite food memory was scooping out pumpkin seeds for carving. My mom was so grossed out by the slimy, pulpy, flesh of the pumpkin that she refused to be in the room while my dad and I did the dirty work! Once they had been scooped, prepped, and baked (and the kitchen cleaned up, of course) my parents and I would enjoy the yummy fruits of our labor.

  • Monica Kerr
    July 27, 2010 at 11:05 am

    My favorite childhood food memory is making poached eggs & toast with my mom. I would love to make the toast as she prepared the poached eggs and then I would cut everything up and mix it together. Since she is no longer around (she passed away), I always think of her when I make this.

  • Andi
    July 27, 2010 at 11:05 am

    (granola-related!) memory: dreaming up new granola flavors with my mother as part of my childhood granola business (sold to friends and people at church). It was a cool idea – my parents paid for the materials, I did the work, and got to use the money I made to pay for myself to go to summer camp.

  • Danielle
    July 27, 2010 at 11:06 am

    I used to love when my Gramps used to make home-made ravioli. There would be dough and flour all over the kitchen and it was great!

  • Meg
    July 27, 2010 at 11:06 am

    Favorite childhood memory would have to be my Dad and I going to Busch Gardens each summer and riding every single roller coaster…five times.

  • Cassy
    July 27, 2010 at 11:06 am

    I am dying for some granola in my life!

    My fav childhood memory is actually from my teenhood.. it’s also one of my last memories of my grandpa and also the first thanksgiving I really cooked everything myself..

    I have always had a passion for baking so one year for Thanksgiving, I decided I was going to make apple pie.. completley from scratch. I worked HARD on it ALL DAY. Put it in the oven, got tons of complements on the smells and how it looked.. Pulled it out of the oven, let it cool, and TRIED to serve it. Something had gone wrong and I was left with apple pie soup. I was unbelievably bummed.. my grandpa noticed and insisted on eating it! He ate at least half of it while telling the entire time that it was the great apple pie he had ever had.

    🙂

  • Kimberly
    July 27, 2010 at 11:06 am

    Homemade waffles! it’s a tradition!

  • Clare
    July 27, 2010 at 11:06 am

    Favorite (summertime) childhood memory is spending looong summer days outside jumping rope and drawing with chalk all over the driveway. So much fun!

  • Katy(The Balanced Foodie)
    July 27, 2010 at 11:06 am

    Okay, well the food may not be the best in this memory but it’s one of my favorites involving food and my first experience “cooking”. When I was little, my sister would often watch me while my mom worked. This particular day, my sister told me I could make myself a sandwich for lunch. I was SO excited to finally be able to make myself something after watching my mom make food so many times for us. Problem was, I was about seven-years-old and did not know what to make. I thought to myself for a while and then..genius! I LOVE bread and butter so why not a bread and butter sandwich? Just spread some butter on bread, apply another piece of bread. Done! My mom was semi-horrified when I told her of my creation. I have not made a bread & butter sammie since. 😉

  • Heather
    July 27, 2010 at 11:06 am

    My fondest childhood food memory is my Mom cooking breakfast on Saturday mornings while I watched cartoons. She would always make perfect over easy eggs with bacon or sausage and rye toast buttered just right. Ah memories!

  • Amanda
    July 27, 2010 at 11:07 am

    My favorite childhood food memory is digestive biscuits http://www.britshoppe.com/mcvitdigbis.html and tea in bed with my nana in the mornings. My nana was from England and every night before she went to bed she would set a teapot (one with a timer) next to her bed set to go off in the morning and a digestive biscuit to eat with it. Normally she would set out just one biscuit and one cup for tea but when we would visit she would set out one of each for me as well. Each morning I would crawl into bed with her and snuggle while we enjoyed our tea and biscuit. This is one of my favorite memories especially now that she’s no longer with us 🙂

  • Lauren
    July 27, 2010 at 11:07 am

    Making s’mores around the campfire with sticky fingers watching the lightning bugs.

  • Jennifer S
    July 27, 2010 at 11:07 am

    My mom’s lemon chicken in wine sauce… We had it every Christmas Eve.

  • Amy
    July 27, 2010 at 11:08 am

    One of my favorite memories is making cookies for my friends in 8th grade. We wound up having a huge frosting fight and had chocolate frosting all over the walls and doors. I’ve always been a fan of cooking, but being able to share that with my friends at such a young age is nice to have.

  • Christena
    July 27, 2010 at 11:08 am

    Gosh, my grandmother was THE BEST cook. She cooked full breakfasts, lunches, and suppers for her family every single day. When me and my sister would spend the night with her, she would let us make a special breakfast request, which were always her cinnamon biscuits. They were these thick, doughy, sweet, cinnamon biscuits with a cream cheese glaze on top. Oh my goodness. She knew I loved them and randomly throughout my entire life she would bake a batch for me and bring them to my house, leaving them on the porch, in the mailbox, etc. The bag always smelled like her house, also. She never called and told me, or made a big deal out of it, she would just leave them for me. Those are the small acts that make you feel loved, you know?

  • Krista
    July 27, 2010 at 11:08 am

    My favorite childhood food memory is having a race to make saltine and peanut butter towers with my brothers and then racing to see who could eat them the fastest 🙂

  • Dani
    July 27, 2010 at 11:08 am

    Helping my grandmother bake bread!

  • Molly @FuelHerUp
    July 27, 2010 at 11:08 am

    My favorite childhood memory is riding my first horse! I was 3, and it was a huge draft horse named Tom. I still have the little Polaroid of me up there, and I look so tiny compared to him! I started riding competitively when I was 8 years old, when I was 13 I got my own horse, and at 19, I own 3!

  • Emma
    July 27, 2010 at 11:09 am

    My mom’s spaghetti on Sundays!

  • Brittney
    July 27, 2010 at 11:09 am

    birthdays! It was your special day. You got to pick the menu or the fancy restaurant for dinner. I always wanted my mom’s chicken salad, bananas and whipped cream and drinks out of fancy wine cups. My mom would whip up this special dinner for me and my friends. We would pretend to be grown ups and not even realize the randomness of the meals since it was always my favorite foods.

  • molly
    July 27, 2010 at 11:09 am

    waffles with chicken or turkey gravy. i know it sounds so weird/gross but my mom was born/raised in the pennsalvanyia dutch region and it was a local tradition there. i knew anytime she would make a roast turkey/chicken it meant that homemade gravy would be forthcoming and the next day’s dinner would always be bisquik waffles covered in that delicious homemade gravy. my friends would think i was “sooooo weird” but there was nothing better than that combination. christmas morning and thanksgiving leftovers were the prime time for waffles with gravy in our family. yum!

  • Ann @ Appalachian Appetites
    July 27, 2010 at 11:09 am

    Oh YUM! So my best food memory as a child…definitely my mother’s homemade buttermilk biscuits. She made them from scratch and they had the most amazing flaky, buttery taste and texture. She always let me make a “funny biscuit” with the leftover dough that was too small to make into a big round biscuit. It was always my favorite part! And of course I got to eat the “funny biscuit” right out of the oven 🙂

  • Kellie
    July 27, 2010 at 11:09 am

    My favorite memory is when my cousin and I would have “taste tests”. We would go in my Nana’s kitchen and one of us would be blindfolded while the other would search for something to give to the other person to try to identify. That was the first time (and last) I tried caviar- not a fan!

  • Callina
    July 27, 2010 at 11:10 am

    My dad making weekend breakfasts. We loved (and still love) his biscuits and sausage gravy.

  • Tammy
    July 27, 2010 at 11:10 am

    I think my favorite childhood food memory would be having dinner at my grandma’s house..Up north, the call lunch dinner and dinner, supper..At dinnertime, we always had meat and potatoes, some vegetable from my grandma’s garden, and freshly baked bread…my grandpa always drinking suntea out of the same glass and slathering his bread with butter..

  • Julie @SavvyEats
    July 27, 2010 at 11:10 am

    We used to go out for LaRosa’s pizza sometimes on the way home from dance classes when I was little. The pizza was so good, and still one of the best pizzas I’ve ever had!

  • Jenna
    July 27, 2010 at 11:10 am

    It would have to be shooting peas with our spoon catapults across the deck right before we moved out of the house when I was six. Mom made us eat out there to keep the inside clean.

  • Heather @ Life, Gluten Free
    July 27, 2010 at 11:10 am

    My favorite food memory is when my mom used to make “bear porridge,” which was cream of wheat… she always topped it with a square of butter (that she would slice off of a butter stick, which seems to be so “old school” now since most people use margarine), a splash of milk or cream and brown sugar.

    Taat was a long time ago now and my diet has had to change radically. My daughter has allergies and we both have celiac disease (so we can’t have gluten), but luckily I’ve found a way to pass that memory onto my daughter, too. I make her “bear porridge” out of rice instead of wheat and top it with coconut milk, a dab of coconut oil and some raw honey or molasses.

    I can’t eat your granola though, but I thought I’d share my story anyways!

  • Angela
    July 27, 2010 at 11:11 am

    My favorite food memory would definitely be birthday dinners. You always got to pick what you wanted, and we always picked the same thing every year! For example, anytime there are ribs around I was think of my sister and Dad because they always chose ribs. I made my mom cook a FULL THANKSGIVING SPREAD! Hey…it was my birthday!

  • April
    July 27, 2010 at 11:11 am

    Oooooh, i can remember this like it was yesterday; my mom and i sitting at the little table in the kitchen with a bag of Ruffles potato chips and a block of cream cheese. We dipped the chip in and it would break a part, but we made sure to finish the ENTIRE bag and block of Philadelphia cream cheese…Mmmm, what a combo!

  • Jaclyn
    July 27, 2010 at 11:11 am

    One of my favorite childhood memories that just popped into my mind was of a family vacation, at the beach, hanging out, grilling, crabbing, playing uno. I was really young, my ssiters and cousin was there, it was great, makes me miss it!

  • tammy
    July 27, 2010 at 11:11 am

    My favorite meal was when my mom would make chiliquilis (sp?) for bfast! Tortillas cut up and fried in oil till crispy then pour a can of tomato sauce on top and mozz cheese, cover and let melt and serve! … oh I need to try and duplicate.. =)

  • Chandra (@ prettytimepiece)
    July 27, 2010 at 11:12 am

    i love remembering the fun times my mom and I had together on road trips with our tradition of Pizza Hut followed by Dairy Queen blizzards. LOL! i know, not the healthiest.

  • Kate
    July 27, 2010 at 11:12 am

    Mine is so awful! My brother and I each got identical bags of Fannie May chocolates. I told my mom that my brother’s bag was really mine, so that I could eat both his peanut butter chocolate Santa and mine. He was so mad when he found out. 🙂

  • RachaelR
    July 27, 2010 at 11:13 am

    First distinct meal memory is of my great-grandma’s beef and noodles – Beef from my grandparent’s farm, and homemade, doughy, delicious noodles. My parents told me this meal was special and to remember the way it tasted so I could tell my kids…I can taste them now!

  • Maureen
    July 27, 2010 at 11:13 am

    Mine would have to be eating bologna and cheese sandwiches on the beach, the whole family there, sandwich tucked under my towel between bites so the seagulls wouldn’t steal it 🙂

  • Charlotte
    July 27, 2010 at 11:13 am

    My favorite childhood memory is my sister and I would wake up on Sat and Sun and make pancakes, waffles or biscuits out of bisquik every weekend for what seemed like years. There were so many mornings that we added food coloring, flavorings and more to make them a little different each time. My dad would get up and eat whatever we made, no matter what color it was and what it contained. Somehow I still love to make them all!

  • Therese
    July 27, 2010 at 11:13 am

    My mom’s cinnamon rolls on Christmas morning. She makes the dough the night before and lets them rise in the fridge, then takes them out to rise some more when she wakes up. She pops them in the oven as we start to open presents. AMAZING.

  • Lindsay
    July 27, 2010 at 11:13 am

    My favorite food memory is from rainy days. It would be cold and wet outside and my mom would always make us chicken noodle soup and her delicious homemade grilled cheese. Yum!

  • Annie
    July 27, 2010 at 11:14 am

    My father’s absolute favorite food of all time is lobster. Steamed whole, cracked as messily as possible, doused in butter. Because of its expense (and his teacher’s salary), he rarely was treated to it, and as such it was a precious, precious thing when he had it in the house.

    My favorite childhood food memory? When he would crack the little legs off of his once-a-year chicken lobster, and hand them to me, one at a time, so that I could share his joy.

  • rachel
    July 27, 2010 at 11:14 am

    best food memory ever: DIM SUM!

  • Barb
    July 27, 2010 at 11:14 am

    My mom’s chicken & dumplings! YUM!

  • TheNerdyRunner
    July 27, 2010 at 11:15 am

    Oooh, the granola looks yummy!! I would love to try some!!

    I would have to say that my favorite childhood food memory is from summers at my grandparents’ house. My grandfather kept a garden and I remember helping to pick the food as it was ready. My absolute favorite was the blueberries. My sister and I would pick bucketfuls and bring them inside for my mom and grandmother to wash before we started eating them (and boy did we eat them)!!

  • VeggieGirl
    July 27, 2010 at 11:15 am

    Favorite childhood food memory = helping my mom make a Hawaiian-themed birthday dinner for my dad when I was just 6 years old (and my dad was turning 46). Not only was the food themed and fun to make, but my mom and I also decorated our house like a luau as well. My personal favorite part of the dinner was the dessert = pineapple upside-down cake.

  • Bobbie
    July 27, 2010 at 11:15 am

    We used to go to the strawberry farm every June and pick a TON of berries. Then we’d make jam with my mom for days! It was the best strawberry jam I’ve ever had.

  • dr. rose
    July 27, 2010 at 11:16 am

    My mom was a single mother, raising five kids. Still, she made a home cooked meal every night when she got off work. Every time she made garlic bread, because she was so distracted trying to do a million other things, she would burn it. And, every time, we would say “don’t worry, mom, charcoal is good for you.” Then we’d scrape off the burnt top and eat it.

    It’s still a running joke in our house.

  • Shannon
    July 27, 2010 at 11:16 am

    My favorite food memory is always in the fall when my mom and grandmom would make homemade applesauce! The house is filled with the smell of fresh apples and cinnamon. Its like love and autumn in every bite!

  • Brooke
    July 27, 2010 at 11:17 am

    My favorite food memory is when we would come home every Sunday after church, my grandma would always have cooked a roast. I loved to sneak into the kitchen and steal the onions and carrots that had absorbed all of the juice from the roast!

  • Christina
    July 27, 2010 at 11:17 am

    My favorite food memory, although I was super young makes me die laughing every time…I must have been six and my grandparents came to stay with my brothers and I while my parents vacationed in the Bahamas. My big, jolly, German grandpa, never one to let his grandkids go hungry, woke up to make breakfast…he managed to light the toast on fire and threw the toaster oven in the sink while yelling in his deep, German voice some string of German profanity I’m sure.. all of us kids were ROLLING on the floor laughing and my tiny, little grandma just watched, rolling her eyes yelling “Jesus, Frank!!!”

  • Meredith @ An Epic Change
    July 27, 2010 at 11:17 am

    I loved family Beach Week we had every summer with all my aunts, uncles, cousins, and grandparents. The 7 of us grandkids inevitably stole the chore chart and tried to bury it, throw it in the ocean, etc. And we were always caught!

  • Rhonda Pearson
    July 27, 2010 at 11:17 am

    My favorite is when my father would make Eggs Golden Rod. It was basically gravy made with milk and flower, with hard boiled egg whites in the gravy. Then butter toast pour over the toast and top with the egg yolks. Which would explain why I was such a little chunky monkey growing up. ;0)!!

  • Erin
    July 27, 2010 at 11:17 am

    Eating Great Start frozen pancake breakfasts when I spent the night at my grandma’s house!

  • Stephanie
    July 27, 2010 at 11:17 am

    My favorite food memory would be making homemade ice cream outside on my grandparents barn. There are 12 grandchildren in the family and after each birthday dinner, we’d all make our way outside by the barn. The ice cream maker would get a cranking and we’d shortly have yummy vanilla ice cream!

  • Valerie
    July 27, 2010 at 11:17 am

    Broccoli is one of my favorite veggies, but it hasn’t always been that way. My sister and both despised broccoli when we were kids, and did whatever it took to avoid it. Underneath our old kitchen table there was a ledge that connected the table legs. When our parents weren’t looking, we would pick the broccoli off our plates and hide it on the ledge. It wasn’t until my parents moved out of that house that they found our broccoli stash. They were taking apart the whole table, and a whole pile of dried broccoli fell out of it! It’s hilarious, and a little gross, but is definitely my favorite food memory!

    • Ericka
      July 27, 2010 at 11:57 am

      OMG, this made me laugh outloud – my brother once stashed part of a hot dog on the ledge under the table. My mom was cleaning, reached under there, and thought she had grabbed a human finger. lol.

  • Shelly
    July 27, 2010 at 11:17 am

    My favorite childhood memory is when my grandparents bought a new washer and dryer, then turned the boxes into a giant playhouse in the middle of the living room for me, my brother, and our cousins to draw on and play in.

  • Lisa
    July 27, 2010 at 11:17 am

    My favorite memory involves my sister, me, and our cat. My sister and I were eating dinner together, we were probably 5 and 8 yrs old, and there was a plate of chicken drumsticks in the middle of our table. All of the sudden our cat starts walking backwards and takes a running leap up onto the table and takes a piece of chicken. She ran off with it and we thought it was pretty funny!

  • Kara
    July 27, 2010 at 11:18 am

    My favorite food memory is sitting on my grandmother’s kitchen floor, playing with matchbox cars, and watching her make gumbo. We would have to stir the roux so long that I was worried my arm would fall off.

  • Erin
    July 27, 2010 at 11:18 am

    Canning tomatoes with my dad – we had a huge vegetable garden we’d make some of them into sauce to can. My brother and sister and I were in charge of turning the crank and smashing the tomatoes down in our old Squeezo Strainer. I don’t think I ate a store-bought tomato until I was a teenager and to this day I’m exceedingly picky about them. I still love to can tomato sauce in the summer!

  • Kathy
    July 27, 2010 at 11:18 am

    One of my favorite memories is when I would go stay at my dad’s (every other weekend) and he would order Domino’s pizza for dinner on Saturday night. My mom lived in a small community with no pizza delivery, so I always thought that was the coolest thing to have pizza delivered! LOL My dad passed away in 2005 and every time I see a Domino’s commercial, I think of him. 🙂

  • Ellen
    July 27, 2010 at 11:18 am

    Ice-cream “Soup” – basically, I would put some ice-cream in a bowl, melt it in the microwave, then top with rainbow sprinkles and chocolate syrup. My favorite on a hot summer’s day in between running through the sprinkler.

  • Jean
    July 27, 2010 at 11:19 am

    I think my favorite memory is when I tried to make apple cobbler out of not-quite-yet-ripe crab apples off the tree in our back yard. Ummm…I gave my entire family diarehea. I know it isn’t one of those “warm and fuzzy” memories, but my family has laughed about this countless times over the last 10 years. 🙂

  • Red Head, Yellow Dog
    July 27, 2010 at 11:19 am

    A great memory of mine is having dinner in the backyard of our house in Miami on a summer evening and the house was all opened up and Van Morrison was on the stereo and we were eating this amazing corn, cucumber, tomato and basil salad. It was just so fresh and such a perfect summer night.

  • Exercise and Eat
    July 27, 2010 at 11:19 am

    My favorite childhood memory has to do with traveling to New Jersey for Christmases and learning how to make lasagna and cannoli with my family… and then chowing down on them!

  • Bliss
    July 27, 2010 at 11:20 am

    My dad made a lot of international foods – my favorite memory (of many) is of helping him grate cheese for enchiladas. It was a big deal when I got to start helping cook and roll the tortilla. Cooking together was one of the ways we bonding, both growing up and when I’d come home from college. He passed a way a few months ago and I’m going to make enchiladas for the first time without him in a few days; I think it’ll be tough to do it on my own, but I know I’ll be thinking about him while I roll them up!

  • Tara @ FoodforFuel
    July 27, 2010 at 11:20 am

    Every Sunday my great-grandmother (Nanny) would make a huge lunch after church and all the family would come over. Each week it was the same…roast, mashed potatoes, rice, gravy, green beans, squash, and corn cooked in tons of butter, rolls, and an assortment of pies to choose from! Her house was tiny so some of us would eat around the actual table, others in the living room, wherever you could find a seat. Can’t eat any of those things without thinking of her 🙂

  • Jessica @ How Sweet
    July 27, 2010 at 11:20 am

    My favorite is making Christmas cookies with my Grandma every year!

  • Shelby
    July 27, 2010 at 11:20 am

    I remember when I was in kindergarten, my parents would always pack me lots of veggies because I was a weird little girl and I absolutely loved all vegetables. Well, kids used to make fun of me because I never had Snack Packs or string cheese. I stood up at my lunch table one day and started explaining all of the nutritional benefits of everything in my lunchbox. “CARROTS are good for my eyes…and pudding is NOT.” That is my favorite food memory from when I was little. Because I definitely feel the same way still and I plan on teaching my hypothetical children the same things 🙂

  • Caroline
    July 27, 2010 at 11:20 am

    Jenna, one of my favorite childhood food memories is when my health nut mom would send me hummus, carrots and cucumbers on whole wheat bread. Not at all a bad combo now, but as a fifth grader it was ultra embarrassing! And in 1994 hummus was not at all the stinky staple that it is in so many people’s diets today. It was like hummu-what?! I would try so hard to shove the protruding shredded carrots back into the sandwich before someone saw! Now, I am so grateful that my mom taught me those healthy eating habits, but my eleven-year-old self could have killed her! (:

  • Jessica
    July 27, 2010 at 11:20 am

    My mother used to make cinnamon toast for me when I was a little girl. She’d put four pats of butter on the bread and sprinkle the whole thing with cinnamon and sugar. When it came out of the toaster oven, I would eat it slowly, saving the buttery parts for last…yum!

  • Dana
    July 27, 2010 at 11:21 am

    My favorite food memory is of sharing a bowl of strawberries with my sister (who’s 9 years older) when I was 6. We sat at the coffee table and dipped strawberries in sugar and giggled.

  • greenbean
    July 27, 2010 at 11:21 am

    all my favorite memories involve my grandmother. making endless grilled cheese sandwiches and tomato or cream of asparagus soup. using a splash of creamer our cereal. reaching in her cupboards to find a stash of mini-snickers or cheese puffs that she had just for us. or sharing a cup of coffee and buttered toast with her. thanks, jenna!

  • Liz
    July 27, 2010 at 11:21 am

    My favorite childhood food memory would have to be my mother cooking bean soup. Weird, no? I became a vegetarian when I was 6 because I’m pig-headed and stubborn. My mother came up with fun ways for me to get protein. My favorite was this 12-bean soup she would make. She let the dried beans sit in water for what felt like a week (I should ask her how long it really was…) and then whip up this fabulous soup for me to eat for weeks and weeks. So incredible. I must make this today…

  • Suzanne de Cornelia
    July 27, 2010 at 11:21 am

    That’s easy. Thanksgiving. My mother took opera and nutrition in college, she looked like Eva Marie Saint in ‘The Russians are Coming’ and had an amazing voice (as did Dad who also sang in his youth). She was an outstanding cook/decorator. Thanksgiving was one of the few times we all ate together in the beautiful dining room. Usually the 5 of us kids were at the kitchen table with the dog beneath, giving our parents ‘their time’ alone. On Thanksgiving with beautiful music, decor, a gorgeous set table and lit candles all sparkling under the chandelier, and a delectable feast made by our mother–the high point to me was that our parents sang ‘One Alone’ from ‘Desert Song’ each Thanksgiving before we ate. I don’t know where that tradition started. But it still dazzles me thinking of it. Dad was tall, dark and handsome and sang it as well as Cesare Siepi here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5kcrsTdcaAg
    I loved it so much that when I was married had members of the Los Angeles Chamber Music Orchestra–flute, violin, harp etc….play just the music (no vocals) instead of the ‘Wedding March’. Magic.

  • Paula
    July 27, 2010 at 11:21 am

    When I was a kid, I took a trip with my dad and grandma to the east coast. When we were in Boston, my dad had an intense hankering for lobster and dragged me and my then 80 year old grandma all over the city – at least 10 miles – on foot trying to find a restaurant he had gone to many years earlier on a business trip. It was the most fun/tiring/sweaty day. And even as a kid, I remember how good the flourless chocolate cake my dad and I shared for dessert.

  • ashleigh
    July 27, 2010 at 11:21 am

    I would have to say going to my Grandmother’s every Thursday night for dinner! My favorite meal was meatloaf which is kind of ironic since I am now vegetarian.

  • crunchy granola gal
    July 27, 2010 at 11:22 am

    pistachio soft serve ice cream on a hot from an independent shop called custard’s last stand on the catskills, new york state. Delish and full of joy. There seem to be no problems in the world when you’re five and eating ice cream on a hot summer day.

    Mmmm granola!

  • Kate
    July 27, 2010 at 11:22 am

    I was an odd child. When I went grocery shopping with my mom, she would let me get “one of whatever you want” to keep me fed & occupied while she shopped. Normal children would choose an ice cream sandwich, or fruit leather, or a candy bar, right? Me – I chose a giant deli pickle.

  • kate
    July 27, 2010 at 11:22 am

    I have so many food memories, because we grew up having family dinner every night. I have to say some of the best times we had around a dinner table were eating the clams we dug up, and whatever fish we caught earlier that day off Long Island, NY!

  • Amanda (modernation)
    July 27, 2010 at 11:22 am

    My favorite food memory is growing up, my Dad took me to lunch and shopping every year for my birthday. We would eat salmon carpaccio, saffron shrimp pasta and it was fabulous!

  • Corey
    July 27, 2010 at 11:22 am

    My favorite memory is biking as a family to a nearby ice cream place called “Uncle Ralph’s” many times every summer. My brother, sister and I used to beg to go, and it made it even more fun that we biked there to get ice cream and then biked home! I always got a twist in a cone with rainbow sprinkles 🙂

  • Steph
    July 27, 2010 at 11:23 am

    I think there are too many good memories to just choose one! There was always a lot of good cooking and baking going on in the house! My dad’s famous cheesburger’s and my mom’s amazing Christmas cookies and death by chocolate cake! Mmm, I’m getting hungry just thinking about them. I never realized how lucky I was until now to have parents who liked and knew how to cook. All of the food from my childhood is one big and amazing memory!

  • Carly (Swim, Run, Om)
    July 27, 2010 at 11:23 am

    The lunches my mom packed for me. Always either a PB&J with chips or ham and cheese sandwich with some sort of fruit, a package of Little Debbie Swiss Rolls and a thermos of water or tea. Some days I’ll make an exact carbon copy of that meal for lunch. It reminds me of my childhood so much it hurts.

  • Amy H
    July 27, 2010 at 11:23 am

    My favorite childhood food memory is baking Christmas cookies every year with my mother. We took it seriously, often starting in November and freezing the many different varieties until it was time to gift them out to friends and relatives at Christmas.

  • allison @ livingoneday
    July 27, 2010 at 11:23 am

    i have a very vivid memory of sneaking bites of an entenmann’s raspberry swirl cake (i dont know if the company is just an east coast thing? north east? i have no idea). i was too short to reach it so i had to rely on jumping up and hoping i got some. i managed to eat all of the raspberry filling before anyone noticed!

  • Elaine @ Om Sweet Om
    July 27, 2010 at 11:25 am

    My favorite childhood memory is playing watergun fight in my HOUSE when I was 10 or so with my best friend. That was definitely epic.

  • Lorie
    July 27, 2010 at 11:25 am

    my favorite is my dad’s breakfast specialty – crispy bacon and buckwheat pancakes – reminds me of being a kid!

  • Jen
    July 27, 2010 at 11:26 am

    yay giveaways! my fav memory is going out for italian and getting mussels. eeeeew i would never eat them now! 🙂

  • Brooke
    July 27, 2010 at 11:26 am

    My favorite food memory is baking Christmas cookies with my mom and my grandma. We would bake for hours bonding over generations old recipes while listening to Dolly Parton and Kenny Rogers sing Christmas songs to us. When I got older we began to drink wine as we baked which just made the all day bake-a-thon that much more fun!

  • Jen
    July 27, 2010 at 11:27 am

    My dad is a pilot; growing up, he wasn’t home every morning to get us ready for school. The few mornings a month he was, he would get my sister and me up for school and cook us pancakes. We LOVED it because he would make us regular small round pancakes, then spell out both of our names in batter. I plan on making my daughter “name pancakes” when she gets older because I still cherish that memory so much.

  • Shannon @ BetterNextTime
    July 27, 2010 at 11:28 am

    Summer grilling suppers for sure. Fresh sweet corn, steaks on the grill, yum. But the best part was the garlic bread – because I got to make it. I was so proud of it, too!

  • Andrea @ Sweet N Green
    July 27, 2010 at 11:28 am

    My favorite memory was baking chocolate chip cookies with my mom. With a family of 12 she was always cooking or baking something! I loved to sit and watch, I would sometimes help but mostly I was just a good taste tester 😉

  • Annie
    July 27, 2010 at 11:28 am

    First time I helped cook. I was in charge of sauteing mushrooms and onions. 🙂

  • Ashley
    July 27, 2010 at 11:28 am

    My favorite childhood food memory has to be gardening with my dad. He grew everything; tomatoes, radishes, peas, carrots, onions, broccoli, corn, potatoes, cauliflower – you name it! We also had orange trees so we’d always have a fresh, homegrown meal!

  • Beth
    July 27, 2010 at 11:29 am

    My favorite childhood food memory is my Mom’s homemade spaghetti with meat sauce. It was the one meal my parents encouraged my brothers and I too slurp up “like real Italians.” It’s funny because I stopped eating meat a few years back… but if a big bowl of that was placed in front of me I might make an exception. So, so good- thanks Mom!

  • shadan
    July 27, 2010 at 11:29 am

    My favorite food memory was fruit dessert time after dinner. My parents would peel the skin around apples and oranges in a spiral shape and then my brother and I would wear the peels as “bracelets”. We thought it was so cool that my parents could get the peel off in one whole spiraly piece like that. I have tried to do it myself and to this day I still can’t do it! haha

  • sarah k
    July 27, 2010 at 11:29 am

    eating lobster with my dad. he’d pick out the meat and i’d eat it! to this day, i won’t eat a whole lobster on my own. dad’s gotta be there 🙂

  • Kelsey
    July 27, 2010 at 11:29 am

    Mine would definitely have to be Sunday brunch with my family – I LOVED it when my mom made pancakes. Especially chocolate chip ones:)

  • Julie
    July 27, 2010 at 11:29 am

    My dad used to make us ‘animal pancake’ on special occaisons. We could request certain animals, and if any didn’t turn out he would announce it was an amoeba! Every year on my birthday I ate giraffes, teddy bears, unicorns, and of course, lots of wobbly looking amoeba pancakes.

  • Daisy
    July 27, 2010 at 11:29 am

    when my dad brought back lobsters from his scuba diving adventures. my parents let them run around the yard or the kitchen, before they met their demise in a huge pot of boiling water. it was sad and i always felt bad. such is the circle of life. we’d eat them on the back deck with grilled corn on the cob and lots and lots of butter.

  • Shannon
    July 27, 2010 at 11:29 am

    My favourite memory is baking with my grandmother. Especially biscuits. She used to make a metric ton of them and keep them in a huge glass jar. Whenever you wanted one you could just snag one with jam and butter or whatever you please. I still can’t get the exact recipe down, I think it is the baking powder she used. *sigh*

  • Elizabeth
    July 27, 2010 at 11:29 am

    My favorite childhood food memory is coming home after school to my mom’s freshly bakes blueberry muffins and chocolate chip cookies. She always had a special “after-school snack” waiting for us, and it brings back warm and fuzzy feelings! 🙂 She also was really into making home-made granola for us, which I adored, so winning yours would be a treat cause I haven’t had my mom’s in ages!

  • Heather
    July 27, 2010 at 11:29 am

    My pepere (French Canadian grandfather) used to make me homemade french fries in our tiny little kitchen whenever I requested them – though he grumbled under his breath and pretended it was a hassle every time … He couldn’t fool me. I secretly knew that he delighted in being able to provide me with something that no one else could do nearly as well, and perhaps even felt a bit complimented because I asked for them so often. I would rollerskate around the kitchen table, waiting for them to be done, as he periodically looked up from the cutting board to shout “Stop doing that! It’s not right!” =) my pepere was the best!

  • Beth
    July 27, 2010 at 11:30 am

    My favorite childhood food memory is my Mom’s homemade spaghetti with meat sauce. It was the one meal my parents encouraged my brothers and I too slurp up “like real Italians.” It’s funny because I stopped eating meat a few years back… but if a big bowl of that was placed in front of me I might make an exception. So, so good- thanks Mom!

  • Katie
    July 27, 2010 at 11:30 am

    My favorite childhood food memory is eating open faced grilled cheese (Velvetta) with my Nana. Pepperfridge Farm milano cookies were dessert!

  • Lindsay
    July 27, 2010 at 11:31 am

    My favorite childhood memory is getting Dairy Queen after a long day in the sun on the beach!

  • kirsten
    July 27, 2010 at 11:32 am

    my favorite childhood food memory is my moms baked mac and cheese. so good!

  • Rachel
    July 27, 2010 at 11:32 am

    Okay, I need that granola.

    When I was a kid, my babysitter used to make me a special breakfast every year for my birthday. While the food on the plate was pretty normal, the great part was the decoration. She would write a circular note around the lip of my plate using those tiny frosting pouches, and I loved it so much. Frosting makes everything better!

    P.S. I love your blog lately Jenna!!

  • Renee
    July 27, 2010 at 11:32 am

    I salivate just thinking back to this memory….when I was 7, my dad took me to a puppet show/play at the Michigan State Univ. childrens’ theatre and they were selling giant (as big as my head back then:) M&M sugar cookies. I remember begging my dad for a giant cookie and being the great dad that he is, of course he caved in and let me have it. to this day? best M&M cookie of my life:)

  • Kaelie
    July 27, 2010 at 11:33 am

    When I was a little three year old, Gram and Pa would often take care of me, as my mom was completing law school. When I woke up and scurried into the kitchen I’d find Pa ready to take breakfast requests. I always only wanted one thing: Swedish Pancakes. Those thin flat cakes were hopelessly showered in sugar and enjoyed for many years as I dreamily believed them to be an ancient family recipe. When I grew a bit older, I questioned my grandpa about the history of our pancakes and he nonchalantly stated he’d recieved the recipe from a friend years ago. Luckily, {though less romantic,} the pancakes are no less enjoyed by we grandkids today. Thanks, Pa!

  • JILL
    July 27, 2010 at 11:33 am

    My favorite childhood memory (not a healthy one) is my grandmother always kept reese cups in her freezer and gave them to me when my mom wasn’t looking. =) She passed away when I was really young but for some reason that memory stuck!

  • Kim
    July 27, 2010 at 11:33 am

    One of my favorite childhood food memories is actually kind of funny rather than nostalgic. When I was little, I hated eating meat (sometimes still do!). One time, my mom made steak for dinner and told me I couldn’t leave the table until I ate it. Well, when she had her back turned I stuffed all the cut up pieces of steak into my pockets, ran to the bathroom, and flushed them down the toilet! It seems so ridiculous now, I have no idea how I got away with it!

  • Catherine
    July 27, 2010 at 11:34 am

    One summer, my grandparents drove from Florida to California in their giant boat of a car. My grandmother decided one day that to help my mom out, she would make dinner, which was pigs in a blanket and sauerkraut. It was terrible! But, she really meant well and it’s now something funny I can look back on to remember her 🙂

  • Susan
    July 27, 2010 at 11:35 am

    my dad’s baked ziti…yummm!!!

  • Sami
    July 27, 2010 at 11:35 am

    my favorite childhood memory was probably when my great grandma made sauteed cabbage with onion, salt, and pepper with a little EVOO. so simple, but so homey. i miss her very much…it’ll be two years come december since she’s been gone.

  • Beth B.
    July 27, 2010 at 11:36 am

    Sweet! Granola! Thanks for thinking of us hungry readers! My favorite foodie memory is that my mom would fix a “hot breakfast” every Sunday; it would alternate between pancakes, waffles, and on the rare occasion, french toast. YUM!

  • Michele
    July 27, 2010 at 11:36 am

    My favorite childhood food memory is my mom’s homemade mac ‘n’ cheese. Yum!

  • Sarah H
    July 27, 2010 at 11:37 am

    My favorite childhood food memory would have to be waking up to my grandmother’s homemade from scratch biscuits and bran muffins. She would get up really early and make them so they were ready by the time we woke up. She would top them with homemade jelly and spiced cooked apples. Mmmm!

  • Mariel
    July 27, 2010 at 11:37 am

    My favorite food memory is from every year at thanksgiving! We went down to my grandpa’s farm on the Ohio River and everything was fresh from the garden. The kids table had the old telephone chair that all the kids used to fight to sit in, and my sister and i were never allowed to have seconds of our favorites until we finished our plates. To this day our family jokingly denies me the cranberry sauce and her the butter rolls.

  • Jen
    July 27, 2010 at 11:37 am

    Hot dogs and mac & cheese on Wednesday nights before heading to AWANA (this kids program at our church)!

  • Dara
    July 27, 2010 at 11:38 am

    The first memory that came to mind was when my dad would give my sister and I popsicles in the summer every time we went to the park. I can vividly remember the pink, iced treat getting my hands all sticky as my three year-old self would run around in the sun.

  • Amanda
    July 27, 2010 at 11:38 am

    Mmm, picking raspberries at my grandma’s house without her knowing and the coming back in with berry stained fingers looking innocent.

  • Becky
    July 27, 2010 at 11:38 am

    We used to have make your own pizzas for dinner on Christmas Eve when I was little. My sisters and I used to have so much fun putting all our own toppings on our crusts and bragging about how much better our pizzas would be than the others.
    Maybe this is where my pizza obsession started….?

  • Hana
    July 27, 2010 at 11:39 am

    Growing up, my parents wouldn’t buy the Little Debbie snack cakes as a little treat around the house. However, during the fall, my mom would buy the little pumpkin flip cookies (the ones with the little smile on them!) and I remember always looking forward to having one after coming home from school. My family’s favorite season is fall, and having one of those seasonal treats always brings me back!

  • Liz
    July 27, 2010 at 11:39 am

    My favorite is also the grossest. Growing up we went to my great grandmother’s house every Sunday after church. She was 100 percent Polish and the 4 p.m. dinner was always traditional food – pickled pigs feet. blood pudding. All the ugh…foods. I’m still yet to try any of them, but it’ll always be my most memorable food experiences.

  • Laura
    July 27, 2010 at 11:39 am

    My favorite childhood food memory is when my mom would make “Uncle Cherry’s Pork” for dinner!! Uncle Cherry was a nickname for my dad’s best friend and he had the best freakin pork recipe ever!! I loved when my mom would (do her best to) recreate it at home for family dinners on school nights. Yummm.

  • Erin
    July 27, 2010 at 11:39 am

    My favorite food memory is from my sixth birthday, I believe. My aunt had a “Cooke Monster” cake made for me, featuring the Cookie Monster himself eating a cookie-while chocolate chip cookies bordered the entire cake. So fun…and so delicious!

    Runner up-also cake related-was a “Welcome Home” cake my mom made for me when I got home from camp one summer. Midway through dinner we looked across the kitchen to see our cat sitting on the kitchen counter calmly licking the frosting off one side of the cake. Who knew cats liked strawberry frosting?

  • Amber from Girl with the Red Hair
    July 27, 2010 at 11:39 am

    Yum! My favourite was hot dogs roasted over the fire 🙂

  • Caroline
    July 27, 2010 at 11:39 am

    my favorite memory is helping my mom make cheesecake and pecan squares!

  • Lauren
    July 27, 2010 at 11:39 am

    My favorite food memory from when I was a kid was the time that my older brother and I made “green bean soup.” We hijacked the ends of the green beans that my Mom was preparing and we put them in a big bowl with salt, pepper and water. We then brought it outside to “cook” in the sun. We put it out at the table before dinner and made everyone try our delicious soup. That’s when my parents bought me an easy-bake oven… at least those treats were semi edible!

  • Jae
    July 27, 2010 at 11:40 am

    I went over to my cousin’s house in south Korea when I was about three (before we’d immigrated over here to America). They were ten and twelve respectively, and boys at that. Id do anything for my boy cousins, so I was absolutely PUMPED when they put me on their laps and played with my dear toddler heart. We also had some really great food too, but who doesnt when they go over to their aunt’s house.? 🙂

  • Lauren Muscarella
    July 27, 2010 at 11:40 am

    my favorite childhood memory is my grandmother coming to stay with my brother and i when my parents would go on vacation, and spoiling us rottom by making us fried dough for breakfast every day 🙂

  • Sharon
    July 27, 2010 at 11:40 am

    My favorite childhood food memory was from an elderly neighbor that was just like part of our family. I called her “Aunt” Dorothy. She made the best molasses rye bread and homemade chicken noodle soup( yes, with homemade noodles). Whenever one of us was sick she would bring over the bread and soup. Always made me feel better quickly! She did not have the recipe written down. I so wish I would have known to request it. I have tried to duplicate that bread, but have not succeeded so far.

  • Beth G
    July 27, 2010 at 11:40 am

    I loved when my grandma used to make fried zucchini when there was just too much in the garden. It was so good with marinara sauce and parmesan cheese…

  • Rachel
    July 27, 2010 at 11:41 am

    My mom making caramel popcorn in a brown paper bag using corn syrup, butter and I think brown sugar. She would microwave it and then you’d shake the bag up to coat all the popcorn kernels. Don’t know if I quite remember the ingredients right but it was amazing.

  • Shareece
    July 27, 2010 at 11:41 am

    My favorite food memory has got to be when my mom would make big pans full of peppermint bark! SO yummy.. the house would smell like melting almond bark and peppermint for hours. I’d use our little perry knives to cut chunks throughout the day in hopes that she’d never notice. Good times, good times. =)

  • laura
    July 27, 2010 at 11:41 am

    eating the cookie dough (trying to sneak it rather)…I guess I haven’t grown out of that one too much, maybe just lessened the amount I sneak 🙂
    OR…I HATED salad and the smell of it — to the point of I wouldn’t sit by someone eating salad and, god forbid, the salad bowl was placed anywhere near my seat at the dinner table. Needless to say, I LOVE salad now…you can put the entire salad bowl right at my seat 😀

  • EL
    July 27, 2010 at 11:41 am

    My favorite food memory is eating with my grandparents at HoJos. I would always order the clam strips and rainbow sherbert.

  • Rachel
    July 27, 2010 at 11:41 am

    My favorite food memory is my mom’s baked spaghetti. It is so delicious and so bad for me, but I love it. My mom still makes it for me on my birthday every year.

  • Erin
    July 27, 2010 at 11:42 am

    I remember in preschool my teacher was cooking a large pot of “witches brew” for Halloween. In reality it was just instant chocolate pudding but I freaked out and thought it was really haunted human guts and FLIPPED out that everyone was eating it. I guess I was a gullible kid 🙂

  • Sarah
    July 27, 2010 at 11:42 am

    My mom would always, ALWAYS burn the garlic bread whenever we made it with Italian food. One time, it actually caught on fire! My dad grabbed it out of the oven and ran to the bathroom and threw it in the toilet as the rest of us were doubled over laughing in the kitchen…why he bypassed the kitchen sink for the toilet, I’m not sure but it’s still one of my favorite childhood food memories! I can still see the billowing smoke coming from the loaf of bread in the toilet…haha.

  • Amanda
    July 27, 2010 at 11:43 am

    Melissa, my best friend from childhood and to this day, and I always enjoyed baking as kids. We’d make anything we could talk our parents into letting us – cookies, brownies, fudge, caramel corn, peppermint nighty-nights (basically peppermint meringue). One night during a sleepover we decided we’d make fudge at 11:00 without the help of any adults. We were up until 2:30 am just baking away and having a great time. I’m pretty sure her mom almost killed us but we survived and I am pretty sure she forgave us after tasting the yummy fudge 🙂

  • Kristen
    July 27, 2010 at 11:43 am

    One of my favorite memories is when I was a kid for my mothers birthday we would have chinese food from the only place that would deliver out in the boonies. She would pick up a SaraLee strawberry cheese cake and movies from the store and we would have a family slumber party!

  • Megan (Running Foodie)
    July 27, 2010 at 11:44 am

    When I was little, my mom sent me to AM kindergarten which meant I came home in time for lunch. She would make my brother and me grilled cheese sandwiches and we would sit on the floor with our TV trays and eat lunch while watching Sesame Street. 🙂

  • Casper
    July 27, 2010 at 11:44 am

    My favorite memory is birthday dinners. On your birthday you get to pick your meal. I always choose lobster (I had expensive tastes as a child) and meringue shells with fresh strawberries and vanilla ice cream

  • Lauren
    July 27, 2010 at 11:44 am

    my fondest memory that comes to mind is having “sleepovers” with my great-grandmother in my basement. We would watch novelas on the spanish channels and she would translate for me, she i couldn’t speak or understand any spanish at the time. In the morning my whole family would make arepas together

  • Sarah
    July 27, 2010 at 11:44 am

    My favorite memory would have to be going to the local strawberry, or as I called them “bobber” farm with my Mom. We would pick all morning, bring home the bobbers and make jam with them. My Mom tells me that her favorite memory of me was catching me reaching up on the kitchen table to steal the strawberries.

  • ARPL
    July 27, 2010 at 11:44 am

    I used to “help” my mom and/or grandmas make perogies. Mostly I liked eating vast amounts of the cheezy potato filling (our secret Ukrainian recipe calls for Velveeta).

  • Claire
    July 27, 2010 at 11:44 am

    My favorite childhood food memory is definitely making homemade Italian meatballs with my Pop!! All the chopping,measuring, and a big mess(hehe…) was a wonderful bonding experience.They were GOOOOOOD,too:-)cc

  • Shannon
    July 27, 2010 at 11:45 am

    Such a great giveaway idea! My favorite food memory was when I was in Thailand with my parents. In Thailand, whomever the guest is gets to pick his or her food first at the dinner table. It was me and my dad’s first time there (my mom is Thai), and my dad started scooping food into his plate. Everyone let him start eating first, and before he knew it, he had unknowingly eaten the food for EVERYONE, not just him! He didn’t realize there wasn’t any more food left. My mom’s relatives had to make more…mmm it smelled yummy too! Once we all got to eat, there was a lot of laughter (and embarrassment on my dad’s part).

  • Alison
    July 27, 2010 at 11:45 am

    I would have to say always making buttermilk pancakes with my grandparents or pillsbury cinnamon rolls every saturday with my brother and parents. When my brother and I are in town, my mom will still make them on Saturday morning for us. YUM.

  • Ericka
    July 27, 2010 at 11:46 am

    Waking up to the smell of pancakes, sausage, and eggs at my grandparents house. No matter how early my brother and I woke up, they were somehow awake way before us with breakfast ready to go. Then after breakfast, my grandpa would take us in the backyard and we’d scatter pieces of leftover pancakes for the birds to eat.

  • Rebecca
    July 27, 2010 at 11:46 am

    I snuck a huge spoonful of Hershey’s Cocoa into my mouth when I was probably 5 years old…imagine my dismay at the taste of unsweetened cocoa!! I spat it out and my mom discovered what I had done, but decided I had had enough punishment. 🙂

  • kayla
    July 27, 2010 at 11:46 am

    My favorite childhood food memory is picking and eating raspberries and ground cherries in my grandma’s garden. 🙂

  • Erica
    July 27, 2010 at 11:46 am

    Christmas eve at my grandparents house. My family would get there in the early afternoon and I would help my grandma cook a full Thanksgiving-style meal. She never used recipes and it was always fabulous

  • Jen
    July 27, 2010 at 11:47 am

    My favorite memory is being up at our ski house in NH and my Dad making my brother and I Mickey Mouse pancakes! My favorite part were the chocolate chip eyes and mouth! YUM!

  • polly
    July 27, 2010 at 11:47 am

    Hi honey!!

    GREAT question, and I love little Target gift bags. I just love Target. 😀

    Okay, I have so many memories, but my favorites would have to involvethe 4-H fair, the prep for it (washing the pigs and heaing my dad say bad words, he rarely swore but wooee he could if the pigs got loose!) and my fave memory would be us walking our sheep. Yup, like dogs! We had these cute little halters for them and it kept them healthy. I was allergic to WOOL (still am!) but didn’t mind breaking out into a rash every summer just so I could be with my lambs. I remember pouring baby powder down my shirt when I showed them at the fair, because it was so HOT and I would be a gigantic RASH girl if I held them too close. I love them so!

    Yes, I am a dork. But I am talking (typing) to Laura Ingalls and I know you’ll understand. 🙂 XOXOXOXO

  • Katie
    July 27, 2010 at 11:48 am

    I love the smell of walking into my grandparent’s house and smelling chocolate chip cookies baking. Obviously grandma made the best ones!

  • Jamie
    July 27, 2010 at 11:48 am

    My favorite memory consists of my dad, always the meat lover, grilling steak, pork, sausage, chorizo, whatever- and the next morning scrambling eggs with said meat and putting it all in a delicious burrito with cheese and pico de gallo. Mmmmm…

  • Sara
    July 27, 2010 at 11:48 am

    Definitely picking raspberries in the morning with my grandparents at their home in Oregon then making jam with the berries in the afternoon. Or course grandpa’s homemade bread would be baking in the oven waiting for the jam to cool!!!

  • Becca
    July 27, 2010 at 11:48 am

    Oh my goodness, my favorite childhood food memory is a recurring one…ever since I was little, following the Italian Catholic traditions of Mass and Mass(ive) amounts of food, on Christmas Eve we’d stuff our faces with my grandpa’s homemade pizza, we’d go to Midnight Mass, and then come home to feast on his secret seafood cioppino recipe….holy yum. I just remember that all day he’d be in the kitchen, and the smells, that would waft from that room….oh, the smells…..drool.

  • Rachel
    July 27, 2010 at 11:49 am

    My favorite memory is talking with my grandfather after he met with a nutritionist about managing his diabetes. I was about 12 years old, and I clearly remember him talking about how clear her eyes were, and how healthy and shiny her skin and hair was, and how he appreciated learning from a woman who practiced what she preached. It was right there at the table that my desire for a healthy life was born 🙂

  • Michelle
    July 27, 2010 at 11:50 am

    My grandfather used to own a catering truck, so from 2 years old on, I would stand on a chair against the stove while my grandmother let me cook scrambled eggs for it. I have visited my grandfather a lot since my grandmother passed away last year, and every time I see her stove, it reminds me of the time we spent together making food for his truck. It’s nice to know I’ll always have that memory of her! 🙂

  • Jocelyn
    July 27, 2010 at 11:50 am

    My favorite childhood memory is making chocolate chip cookies with my grandma. She would let me have bites of the raw cookie dough (just one or two), and she would even have a bite too! Then I remember I told my mom about it, and she got really mad because HER mom (my grandma) NEVER let my mom eat the dough when she was growing up!!

  • Lauri
    July 27, 2010 at 11:50 am

    Tie between Mickey Mouse pancakes made by my Dad on weekends….and the feast of the 7 fishes that my Italian family did on Christmas Eve every year without fail. Started with spaghetti in oil and then onto the fish – shrimp, scallops, haddock, calimari, cod….and I can’t remember the rest but it was all SO GOOD!!!!

    • jenna
      July 27, 2010 at 11:52 am

      love mickey mouse pancakes!!

  • Hannah
    July 27, 2010 at 11:51 am

    One of my best food memories is eating all my vegetables out of ramekins – my mom would cut everything up into bite-sized pieces and my brother and I would get our own ramekins. Maybe it helped me like vegetables as much as I do now!

  • Lauren
    July 27, 2010 at 11:51 am

    One of my favorite childhood memories is of my family sitting down for meals for Thanksgiving and Christmas and us all having “poppers” to pop open. They all came with a crown, game and riddle and we all had to wear our paper colored crowns throughout the entire meal. We still do it to this day even though I’m grown and married. I can’t wait to carry on the tradition with my future children too.

  • nicole kramarczyk
    July 27, 2010 at 11:51 am

    As soon as my brother and I were old enough to help my mom in the kitchen she would prepare homemade sugar cookie dough 2 days before Christmas. We would help her make the Christmas shaped cookies for her to bake. After all of the cookies were cooled off she would whip up some homemade frosting in all the colors of the rainbow! My brother and I would spend the whole evening decorating these cookies together! We used sprinkles, candies, and layers of frosting! After the kitchen was filled with our beautiful creations we would enjoy a cookie while our Mom cleaned up frosting and crumbs from the ceiling down!!! It was a great family tradition that I hope to share with my son when he gets older! I still don’t know how my Mom found the energy for all of that baking and cleaning, but it is something that I love to look back on and remember Christmas by. It was the most memorable experience that I share in the kitchen with my family growing up!

  • Jenny
    July 27, 2010 at 11:52 am

    I was obsessed with unicorns growing up and my Dad would make me unicorn shaped pancakes on the griddle. They looked amazing and of course tasted good too. 🙂

  • polly
    July 27, 2010 at 11:52 am

    oh!! FOOD memory! hehehe I missed that part!

    Most difinitely my mom “making us” eat a hamburger before we could have corn on the cob! I could eat like 5 ears, and she didn’t want us getting sick. Isn’t that so funny? I had to eat my MEAT before I could have my veggies. hehehe I love my mom and I still love MEAT. 🙂 Just can’t help it. XOXO

  • Angela @ A Healthy Fit
    July 27, 2010 at 11:53 am

    My fav food memory is making gingerbread cookies for christmas. It was always so much fun and I can’t belive how much dough and frosting would make it into my mouth and not on the cookies!

  • Cynthia (It All Changes)
    July 27, 2010 at 11:53 am

    My family is Welsh and we make griddled Welsh cookies with currants at Christmas. We were never allowed to make them at any other time of the year. We made big batches of them and dipped them in tea. My cousins and I made the one Christmas holiday at 4am because we couldn’t wait for grandma to wake up. And I even made them in Spain for a Christmas party because I missed them and they were a big hit.

  • Corinne
    July 27, 2010 at 11:53 am

    My favorite food memory is probably the homemade “churros” my grandfather used to make for us. It was not healthy at all but ohhh sooo gooood!!

  • Jes
    July 27, 2010 at 11:53 am

    My grandma makes the BEST lasagna and she would make it for me whenever i would come over so long as my uncle (he has passed now) would be home to enjoy it too!!! Now, it is reserved for special occassions, and I have to make a special request for it, but I get it every time! =)

  • Emily B
    July 27, 2010 at 11:53 am

    The Saturday mornings when Dad made pancakes (Dad never cooked) or giggle fits in the car with my sister on the way to the beach. Literally, we couldn’t stop giggling and we annoyed everyone. Oh, I loved my childhood.

  • Lauren
    July 27, 2010 at 11:54 am

    I have SO many, but I will say my mom’s “special bread”. Special bread was just made of leftover buns + garlic spread + parm cheese, but as a kid I thought it was the absolute best food ever. Sometimes things would get crazy and we would have it made out of HOT DOG buns instead of hamburger buns. As an adult now who loves to cook and bake, it makes me laugh thinking how my mom must have thought she hit the jackpot when a combination of random leftover stuff under the oven broiler was deemed the best food in the world by her children.

  • Christina
    July 27, 2010 at 11:54 am

    my favorite childhood food memory is when my sisters and I would stay at my grandmom’s house down the shore. she just passed away this past fall by the way. every morning we would wake up bright and early to the smell of her making her signature french toast in the kitchen. so good. we would all have breakfast together and then head to the beach. miss those times. the smell of french toast never ceases to make me smile 🙂

  • Katryn
    July 27, 2010 at 11:54 am

    This is more of a drink memory than a food memory but I figure it still counts! When I was 2 I used to wait for my dad to almost finish his coffee and then I would sneak the last couple sips when his back was turned. He drank his coffee black with no sugar! Thus began my love for strong coffee.

  • Alyssa
    July 27, 2010 at 11:54 am

    My favorite childhood memory are when we spent Christmas at my grandma’s house in Williston, ND. We got to see all of our cousins and extended relatives, go sledding, there was never a year without a ton of snow from what I remember. My cousins and I would always ask our grandma to make us homemade macaronni and cheese – and it was the best ever. She always made sure to buy toaster struedels for us.

  • Lauren
    July 27, 2010 at 11:54 am

    Catching fireflies in mason jars at my grandma’s farm. It was the one time each year I saw alot of my cousins and it was just the best time.

  • LC @ Let Them Eat Lentils
    July 27, 2010 at 11:55 am

    My parents were (are) huge hippies and were very strict about what we were allowed to eat growing up (organic, tofu, no dairy, etc.). They were ahead of their time.

    In any case, this led me to go absolutely crazy whenever I had the occasion to eat something “forbidden.” When I was 6 years old, I was playing at my best friend’s house across the street and we managed to smuggle a box of string cheese from the kitchen. Between us, we ate the entire box of string cheese. I was so full of stringy dairy, and sick already, and then my mom called to say it was time to come home to dinner. I knew they would be so angry if they found out so I forced myself to eat every bite of dinner. It was so painful. Not a delicious childhood memory, but a funny one and a reminder to always eat in moderation!

  • Andrea
    July 27, 2010 at 11:55 am

    So crazy you mention the pancakes dad burned in the kitchen. My dad took care of me and my brother on his own for most of my childhood. He always made sure we had a decent breakfast before we went to school. One morning he made my brother and I banana pancakes but he burned them and the middle was still gooey. I was in love with these things and always requested burnt banana pancakes with a gooey inside.

  • Becky @ flybynyght
    July 27, 2010 at 11:56 am

    That’s easy! My favourite childhood food memory is sitting with my mom on the edge of our garden shucking peas and adopting the one for me, one for the bowl method… 🙂

  • Jen
    July 27, 2010 at 11:56 am

    My favorite childhood memories are all from the annual vacations at the ocean: digging for sand crabs, buying ice cream from the ice cream truck, and coloring white rocks with markers and trying to sell them to passers-by as “tye-dyed rocks.” We managed to sell about a dozen! 😛

  • Rachel A
    July 27, 2010 at 11:57 am

    My favorite childhood memory was when I was very young, 3 or 4 I think. My dad always worked at least two jobs and my parents divorced in 1st grade, so I didn’t see much of him. One morning, he woke me up, and we went out to our garden and picked okra together. I can still remember how prickly it was and how quiet I had to be when I got up. It must have been a weekend morning, because my mom and sister were still asleep. It is one of the very few memories I have of having time alone with my dad.

  • jenn
    July 27, 2010 at 11:57 am

    mmmmmmm searching for and making asparagus in milk with my grandma! I used to call them miss burgers cause I couldn’t say the word

  • Jasmine @ Eat Move Write
    July 27, 2010 at 11:58 am

    My favorite childhood food memory would have to be picking “tommy toes” (cherry tomatoes) with my grandpa. We’d pick them right from his garden and sit on the porch with a salt shaker, eating them one right after another. He’d sit there and tell me about growing up in Kentucky, how he lived on the top of the mountain and was the oldest of 8 or 9 kids, how he ran barefoot through the hills and climbed trees, hunting and fishing.

    I still love tomatoes to this day and think of him everytime I eat them. 🙂

  • Courtney
    July 27, 2010 at 11:58 am

    My favorite childhood food memory is petit fours on my birthday.

  • Lindsay @ Summit Sandwiches
    July 27, 2010 at 12:00 pm

    My fav childhood memory are the post-Christmas vacations that my extended family and I spent up in our favorite mountain town out in Colorado every year. My cousins and I would always go to this big hot springs pool after spending the day skiing, and it was just the best!

  • Emily
    July 27, 2010 at 12:00 pm

    Sticky cookie dough, red and green sprinkles, holiday music. My favorite family food memory is baking sugar cookies with my dad. The tradition started generations ago with my great great grandmother, and I can’t wait to pass along the recipe to my own children.

  • Katie S
    July 27, 2010 at 12:00 pm

    My favorite childhood food memory would definitely be making my great grandmother’s pasta sauce with my mother every Sunday.

  • MMiller
    July 27, 2010 at 12:00 pm

    My favorite childhood “FOOD” memory would be (ok dating myself here) on Friday nights we would order pizza and birch beer soda and watch the Brady Bunch and the Partridge Family! I still miss that style of pizza and Birch beer soda! Now I need a trip back to Philly! I have cooking ones too…but this was the first one that came to mind!

  • brittany
    July 27, 2010 at 12:00 pm

    my favorite food memory is crumb cake every morning on Christmas day. my mom ALWAYS had it and the smell and taste still remind me of childhood christmas 🙂

  • Anya @ Fitness & Sunshine
    July 27, 2010 at 12:00 pm

    Hmm I love food and lots of fond memories with it.
    One of the best memories I have actually changed my life. I had unhealthy habits at the time, but I was at my grandparents’ farm and my grandma made fresh ricotta crepes that perfectly matched her also home-made strawberry syrup in the fridge. At that point in my life I would be worried about how much fat, calories, etc. they had but they were so delicious that I decided it’s time for me to enjoy real food. Since then I’ve made changes for the better. 🙂

  • Colleen
    July 27, 2010 at 12:02 pm

    My favorite childhood food memory is cooking sausage and peaches on Christmas Eve with my dad–love that family tradition!

  • nicole
    July 27, 2010 at 12:02 pm

    One of my favorite memories i would have to say is, making homemade ravolli and a bunch of diffrent homemade desserts with all my cousions the day after thanksgiving.

  • Cat
    July 27, 2010 at 12:03 pm

    One of my favorite childhood food memories involved going to my best friend’s house after church on Sundays. There would either be warm homemade chicken noodle soup in the winters or homemade grapenut cereal ice cream in the summers. Both were always so comforting!

  • Katrina@ Bona Fide Humanity
    July 27, 2010 at 12:04 pm

    mm favorite childhood food memory hands down is my mom’s homemade chicken pizza and dessert nights. So many smiles shared. 🙂

  • Jillian
    July 27, 2010 at 12:04 pm

    My favorite memory isn’t a specific food memory… But more-so just my favorite memory from childhood that happens to involve food…

    When I was little I always sat in the kitchen while my mom cooked dinner for everyone, we’d talk about my day and I would just watch, I’ll never forget how she looked- stirring with the old wooden spoons standing with one foot resting on the other leg. I never fully appreciated all the time and effort that went into all those family meals until now… I’m so grateful for having a family that made family dinners a priority. It’s something I will definitely be passing on to my future children.

  • Hallie
    July 27, 2010 at 12:04 pm

    Fun question! I think I have a lot of food memories LOL but a few that stand out is getting cotton candy once a year at the San Diego fair (but wasn’t allowed any other time) and my grandma making us something she called “Camp Stew” that was ramen noodles, ground beef, and tomato sauce. I kinda want to make it now to see if it actually tastes good or if I just liked it because, well, I was 5.

  • Rachel
    July 27, 2010 at 12:05 pm

    My favorite food memory is definitely the homemade cinnamon buns my grandmother always made whenever I spent the night at her house (which, growing up, meant every weekend). The delicious smells of cinnamon, sugar, and freshly baked bread rising would, without fail, wake me up in the morning. My grandmother is now almost 90 and has trouble seeing, so I haven’t enjoyed her cinnamon buns for years now, but I can still remember exactly how delicious they smelled and tasted. 🙂

  • Candice
    July 27, 2010 at 12:05 pm

    My favorite meal memory is sitting down at my Nanny’s table and watching her make vegetable soup and barely able to contain myself. I’d always sneak in and take a taste and tell her it was ready. She would yell at me to get out of the kitchen and remind me to I’d have to wait till dinner. That was the longest 5 hours of my life.

  • Jess (Nurse Jess the Blog)
    July 27, 2010 at 12:06 pm

    Your story reminded me of when my mom would make quiche for dinner. I HATED quiche, but I loved making little cookies out of the crust extras!!

  • Darcie
    July 27, 2010 at 12:07 pm

    My favorite childhood memory was hosting a Barbie-Q for my 9th birthday. All my friends came over and we grilled our dolls.

    … Kind of sick, but I’m so glad I was weird.

  • courtney
    July 27, 2010 at 12:07 pm

    going to my grandparents’ tiny apartment in brooklyn and filling the entire living room with a fold out table to eat passover dinner. always so wonderful and cozy!

  • Kelly
    July 27, 2010 at 12:09 pm

    My Dad traveled a lot when I was growing up, so when he was home he liked to cook my sister & me breakfast, especially pancakes. Only he loved to “experiment” with the recipe adding things like mushed bananas, yogurt, granola, Grapenuts, etc. They were always crazy, but my sister & I still talk about them to this day.

  • Sarah
    July 27, 2010 at 12:09 pm

    My favorite memory is when I got to have half a can of diet pepsi (OK, more of a beverage memory) while I was cleaning my room. The ONLY time I was allowed to drink anything other than milk, water or juice.

  • MaryK.
    July 27, 2010 at 12:10 pm

    I have 2 favorite food memories… My mom worked nights when I was little so my dad was in charge of breakfast for the 4 of us kids on the weekends. He would make crazy colored oatmeal, usually green or blue, or he would make green eggs, and ham in honor of one of our favorite Dr. Seuss books. We always thought it was so fun to have “dad breakfasts”!

  • Liz
    July 27, 2010 at 12:11 pm

    Without question my favorite food memory was when all the women (on my mother’s side) would come together and make Kase Noodle (homemade German ravioli soaked in butter and cream). My great-grandmother, grandma, mom, aunt, and cousin would spend the day kneading and rolling homemade noodles, stuff the noodle packages, and taste test (of course!). This was serious comfort food and a fond memory of time well-spent.

  • lena
    July 27, 2010 at 12:11 pm

    Being 5 or 6 and waking up for breakfast at my Grandma’s for Norwegian pancakes.

  • Kayla @ Let's Live Wholesome
    July 27, 2010 at 12:11 pm

    My favorite food memory was when my family would make tons of Christmas treats about a week or so before Christmas. We’d make chocolate dipped everything, sugar cookies, peanut butter balls, wedding cookies, and so on… It’s a tradition we still keep, and one I love!

  • Amy
    July 27, 2010 at 12:12 pm

    My favorite was making scrambled eggs with my Grandpa. I’d stand on a chair and use my favorite wooden spoon to make them while my Gramps supervised. 🙂

  • Lauren @ louisianagrown
    July 27, 2010 at 12:12 pm

    I have SO many fond food memories from childhood, but if I had to nail one down I guess it would be helping my dad cook gumbo and always getting to be the taste tester because I was the most honest person around. 🙂

  • AshB
    July 27, 2010 at 12:12 pm

    baking and decorating christmas cookies for santa claus 🙂

  • Sara @ myfancytuna.blogspot.com
    July 27, 2010 at 12:13 pm

    My favorite childhood food memory…hmm…

    Well, one time (at band camp..har har) my grandma’s VERY fat weiner dog ate an ENTIRE bag of Hersey Kisses, foil and all. His poop was sprinkled with silver foil for a while after that. Gooood times.

  • Sarah R
    July 27, 2010 at 12:13 pm

    I remember coming home from Kindergarten and my dad would make me Kraft Macaroni and Cheese with sour cream and onion potato chips and watermelon. I would eat the macaroni using the chip as an edible utensil. Oh man, those were the days!

  • Kt.
    July 27, 2010 at 12:13 pm

    I’ve been hooked on granola for the past 2 weeks, hey, it has to be better for you than cookies, right?????
    Not sure if it’s my favorite food memory, but certainly one that will remain always, it was the summer and the plums were at their best, my Mom had just stopped at the farmers market and bought about 5 dozen, not sure what she was going to do with them all but I ate one then two, they were so sweet and before I knew it had eaten a dozen, that’s when I found out that I was allergic and my throat closed up and off the the hospital I went, to this day I can’t eat citrus, such a bummer, especially this time of year.

  • Olivia @ Blissful Runner
    July 27, 2010 at 12:13 pm

    Orange Julius! Do they still have those in California? I have yet to encounter one in my new home state of Maryland!

  • Courtney @ Sweet Tooth, Sweet Life
    July 27, 2010 at 12:13 pm

    One of my favorite childhood food memories was making things with my grandma. One of the first things she ever taught me to make was a “grape jelly + cream cheese sandwich.” It was like heaven to me! My other would have to be Sunday morning breakfasts, courtesy of Dad. Every Sunday morning, my dad would get up and make us either waffles or pancakes. It was so nice to have everyone together at the table at one time…a great way to start off the day. 🙂

  • Lindsay
    July 27, 2010 at 12:14 pm

    My grandpa always ate his chocolate cake in a bowl with milk…and to this day, I can’t eat chocolate cake any other way! Having a glass of milk with the cake doesn’t cut it! It must be in the bowl with the milk poured over…YUM!

  • Shelley
    July 27, 2010 at 12:14 pm

    My favorite memory involves my dad. My mom stayed home with us when we were younger but then went back to work. She worked evenings so dad cooked dinner for us. He’s a meat-and-potatoes guy but didn’t cook a lot. As we remember it, he cooked us pan-fried hamburgers and boiled potatoes every night. I’m sure there was some variety there but that’s how we remember it! It was his go-to meal. 🙂 I also loved baking with mom, something that I am now enjoying with my own kids.

  • Kathleen
    July 27, 2010 at 12:14 pm

    My favorite food memory as a child was standing on a chair in the kitchen, helping my dad use the ice crusher for the shrimp cocktail chillers at Thanksgiving. My grandma would bring fresh shrimp from a fish market in Berkeley, CA and I would help spoon it into the chillers with the cocktail sauce. Then I would eat my chiller filled with mandarin oranges, LOL… I had no idea what I was missing!

  • andi
    July 27, 2010 at 12:14 pm

    what a fun giveaway! you’re so sweet Jenna. 🙂

    my favorite childhood food-related memory would have to be baking Christmas cookies. it was generally a multi-day endeavor, but it was so much fun and I still look forward to it now (even if it is scaled down quite a bit!).

  • Allison
    July 27, 2010 at 12:14 pm

    My Grandma’s buttery pancakes. She used a mix but fried them in a ton of butter, and they were outstanding. Grandma’s dollar sized pancakes along with a glass of fresh squeezed OJ is definitely my fave childhood food memory!

  • Tracey @ I'm Not Superhuman
    July 27, 2010 at 12:15 pm

    Growing up my family always went to this Italian restaurant by my grandparents. They served family-style pasta and salad and had the best rolls ever. We loved the place because they had a jukebox in the corner and we could play our favorite songs, which in the late 80s were by Michael Jackson, of course.

  • Emily @ For Sweets Sake
    July 27, 2010 at 12:15 pm

    my mom’s family is Danish so my favorite memory was for special occasions my mom would make aebleskiver. When I was maybe 10 or so my mom let me finally be the one who got to flip them over, so I would look forward to every holiday or event so I could say I was the one who made the aebleskiver, when really all I did was flip them over. My mom was nice enough to let me steal the credit though 🙂

  • Natalie
    July 27, 2010 at 12:16 pm

    My childhood food memory is in elementary school whenever my mom would go into work early my dad would be in charge of breakfast and always make me fried cheese and hot dog bites. 🙂

  • Sarah
    July 27, 2010 at 12:16 pm

    One of my favorite childhood food memories was on the weekends when my Dad would sometimes make breakfast. I loved it when he would make english muffins, because, unlike my Mom, he would PILE on the jam OVER a layer of butter! 🙂

  • Kayley
    July 27, 2010 at 12:16 pm

    My favorite, and first, childhood memory of myself in the kitchen was when my mom would let me flip pancakes on Saturday mornings (b/c that was the only time we’d have pancakes). I would stand by the stove and ask every 10 seconds, “are they ready now? are they ready now?”! Oddly enough to this day it’s something I still struggle with…and I’m a culinary school grad. Go figure.

  • Elizabeth
    July 27, 2010 at 12:16 pm

    My favorite memory is going to visit my grandparents during the summer at their house in the country. My grandfather would pick tomatoes straight off the vine and we would eat tomato,cheese and miracle whip sandwiches on potato bread. Whenever I eat that sandwich it always takes me right back to their kitchen 🙂

  • Gaby
    July 27, 2010 at 12:16 pm

    My favorite memory from my youth regarding food would definitely be summer bbq’s in the back yard that contained all the American fixin’s (burgers, corn on the cob, veggies galore) plus a dose of really good prime cut beef and grilled yuca! (My parents are South American). Delish!

  • Monica
    July 27, 2010 at 12:17 pm

    When my mom would make pancakes as big as my plate:) mmm I hope I win.. this looks SO good!

  • Mary @ ferventfoodie
    July 27, 2010 at 12:17 pm

    Cooking with my mom! Breakfast, lunch, or dinner — just loved being in the kitchen with her!

  • Meredith @ 23 Going on 60
    July 27, 2010 at 12:17 pm

    My favorite food memory has to be when I was 8 or 9 years old and introduced my cousins to the “Wonderful World of Eating”. My aunt and uncle were going through a “healthy” phase (although in hindsight it was actually pretty unhealthy) and only kept oranges and saltines around the house for their kids to snack on.

    My mom, on the other hand, kept our pantry stocked with Gushers, Handi-snacks, Dunkaroos, Hi-C, etc. – good kid snacks from the 90’s! So when my cousins came to visit us in the summer, I wanted them to enjoy all of the snacks that they could in a short period of time. In the spur of the moment I excitedly told them that we called our pantry the “Wonderful World of Eating” (we didn’t, it just came to me in the moment) and that we were allowed to go into the pantry alone for 3 minutes and eat as much as we possibly could. Eager to demonstrate, I had them lock me in the pantry and I proceeded to tear open cookies and crackers and smear peanut butter and macaroni all over my face. Who knows what in the heck I was thinking! It was pretty wasteful. But while I was living it up in the pantry, my cousins and twin sister (who suspected I was up to no good) went to get my mom. When I burst out of the pantry with food all over my face I definitely had some explaining to do. I know it is strange, but that is my favorite food memory.

  • rori
    July 27, 2010 at 12:17 pm

    Camping in Montana under the stars. Feeling completely safe next to my dad as he told me about the stars and the wolves howling in the distance. *sigh*

  • saramariesue
    July 27, 2010 at 12:17 pm

    One of my favorite food memories…going to the cabins with the fam and all the mountainy meals. One of which woud be my mom making breakfast in the morning…eggs, potatoes with onion, bell peppers and garlic and all the other fixins. Hmmm…it smelled like heaven mixed with the log scent of the cabin.

  • WendyF
    July 27, 2010 at 12:17 pm

    Growing up, my mother always made her spaghetti sauce and chili in a huge pot..I’m not even sure it was a pot as it had a handle, one you’d more commonly see on a bucket. It would simmer on the stove all day long…the aroma, the taste…ahhhhhh…I was allowed to ‘taste test’ and I’d test the sauce repeatedly..just to be sure of course.

  • Kristy C
    July 27, 2010 at 12:17 pm

    One of my favorite childhood food memories is ants on a log. My mom would make this fun (and healthy!) snack for my sister and me after school. I still get a craving for them from time to time 🙂

  • Dee
    July 27, 2010 at 12:17 pm

    My favorite memory is the first time I ever saw my dad trying to cook for me after he picked me up sick from school one day. I don’t think he could make eggs, and here he was making burnt but still bloody chicken and simmering every ounce of water out of the soup. The stove was on fire at one point, and we couldn’t stop laughing for an hour after. I love him more every time I think of that time.

  • rori
    July 27, 2010 at 12:18 pm

    Ugh! I’m sorry, I didn’t see it was favorite food memory. Eeek! Working in the garden and eating fresh peas as we weeded.

  • Sarah
    July 27, 2010 at 12:18 pm

    when my mom and i used to go to the farmers market, she would always lets me get a gingerbread man from the bakery and a hot chocolate. i would walk around pretending it was a coffee because thats what she always got.

  • Erika
    July 27, 2010 at 12:19 pm

    My grandpa would make the best breakfast ever. Every time we would visit he would make us dipper eggs and the fluffiest pancakes. For Christmas he would make mouth-watering fudge and send it to us. Yummy.

  • Brooke
    July 27, 2010 at 12:19 pm

    I used to love eating ripe, juicy watermelon with my grandfather and brother and having seed spitting contests!

  • Kerry
    July 27, 2010 at 12:19 pm

    Every Christmas my sister, mom and I would spend an ENTIRE day making the dough, rolling the dough, cutting, baking and decorating cookies. I have no idea what we did with all those cookies but it was pretty much the best day of the year. My imagination ran wild with cinnamon hearts, red sprinkles, green sprinkles and some icing.

  • Gloria
    July 27, 2010 at 12:21 pm

    Oh lord, I’ll never forget going over to my Grandma’s house after school everyday for some white bread smeared with way too much margarine and “sprinkled” with copious amounts of sugar. My mom still doesn’t know about Gma’s oh-so healthy after school snack and i’ll never tell 😉

  • Dasha
    July 27, 2010 at 12:22 pm

    I love remembering my grandma cooking fresh mushrooms we picked in the forest behind our country house in Russia. Mmm…

  • Kelly
    July 27, 2010 at 12:23 pm

    My favorite early food memory is going with my grandpa to the Thrifty drug store in town, getting a bubble gum ice cream and cone for 25 cents. My grandpa would help lick the sides when it started melting.

  • Kari Browder
    July 27, 2010 at 12:23 pm

    My favorite childhood meal would have to be when we had pig pickins and everything revolved around smoking the pig. The men sat outside around the smoker shootin the breeze while the women were all inside making side dishes and desserts, catching up on all the gossip. The aroma was amazing inside and outside of the house! And of course, the BBQ was amazing! We take BBQ very seriously in South Carolina 🙂

  • Lina@GreenLivingNY
    July 27, 2010 at 12:24 pm

    Great Giveaway! 🙂 my favorite childhood food was, fresh baked bread with a little bit of water and a lot of sugar on top! also, freshly picked strawberries from my grandparents garden with sour cream and sugar!! and yes, all the cakes that my mom and grandma still bake for me, and definetely creamy potato soup with dill! 🙂

  • StephanieTBS
    July 27, 2010 at 12:24 pm

    My favorite childhood food memory would be visiting my Grandma Kitty’s house in the summer and running down the big hill in her yard to pick raspberries. When we would get back inside she would pick me up and plop me on the counter and let me eat as many as I could fit in my belly. To this day they are my favorite fruit and always remind me of her.

  • Nicole @ Geek Turned Athlete
    July 27, 2010 at 12:24 pm

    My favorite memory: I stepped in dog poop in my grandpa’s backyard, and immediately started crying. I was 4 years old. My grandpa came outside with a can of black whole olives, and we sat down on the porch and ate them right out of the can. Who knew black olives could make someone stop crying?

  • Amy
    July 27, 2010 at 12:25 pm

    My favorite childhood food memory is making myself into Bologna Face. I would take a piece of bologna and meticulously cut out two eye holes and a nose and mouth. Then, I would put it on my face and run around the house screaming Bologna Face!
    I also remember begging my dad for pieces of butter and any kind of meat fat. Yeah, I had weird tastebuds.

  • Jen
    July 27, 2010 at 12:25 pm

    CHOCOLATE MILK. i was a lunatic when it came to this stuff. everyday after school, i would pour one inch of chocolate sauce into the bottom of a cup, then add milk, then enjoy. dont know how i managed to consume so much chocolate and never gain a pound.

  • StephanieTBS
    July 27, 2010 at 12:25 pm

    My favorite childhood food memory would be visiting my Grandma Kitty’s house in the summer and running down the big hill in her yard to pick raspberries. When we would get back inside she would pick me up and plop me on the counter and let me eat as many as I could fit in my belly. To this day they are my favorite fruit and always remind me of her.

  • Maria
    July 27, 2010 at 12:25 pm

    Mine would be getting strawberry flavored ice cream from the ice cream man only to find out I’m allergic to strawberries!

  • Amanda
    July 27, 2010 at 12:26 pm

    what a great question:

    Favorite food memory: There is a toss up between two:

    1. Going to Weathervane’s Seafood Rest. with my grandma and family every Friday night. I shared her salad (iceburg lettuce, blah) and always got chunky blue cheese. I also use to eat tons of steamers (clams) there too which I now think are yucky.
    2. Going to a local Chinese restaurant with my dad right after my parents got divorced. We went every Friday night we were with him. I always got the same thing: “curried pork lo mein” without the pork! h!

  • Christine
    July 27, 2010 at 12:26 pm

    I remember always cooking and eating zucchini fritters with my Mom and brother when I was a kid. it was the one meal my Dad didn’t like so we’d usually have it for breakfast when he wasn’t home so it felt like a sneaky, secret, special meal 😛 it’s still delicious and I still make it with my Mom to this day 🙂

  • Christy
    July 27, 2010 at 12:27 pm

    Favorite memory was staying at my grandma’s in the summer and we would bake cookies. She would let me put them ANYWHERE on the pan, which was huge for me since my mom made me put them evenly in rows. Freedom! 🙂

  • Lisa McGeen
    July 27, 2010 at 12:27 pm

    My favorite memory is gardening with my grandma and grandpa. All of kids sitting on grandma’s porch breaking beans and shucking corn.

  • Maura
    July 27, 2010 at 12:29 pm

    Hmm, my favorite food moment is helping my mom prepare meals for the holidays..thanksgiving, easter, christmas. She loved having both sides (hers & my dads) over to our house and we’d have a HUGE meal together. in fact, i still look forward to that every year!

  • chelsey
    July 27, 2010 at 12:29 pm

    My favorite food memory is the song my dad used to sing to get my brother to eat green beans. It went:

    “Eat those bean. (please!)
    Eat those beans. (please!)
    Eat those beans every way
    Eat those beans every day.
    Eat those beans.”

    Hahaha to this day I still get a kick out of the tiny little high pitched “please” at the end of the first two lines.

  • Laura
    July 27, 2010 at 12:31 pm

    Roasting marshmallows. In Texas. In the summer. At my grandmas. INSIDE over a gas range using a wooden handled ice pic to hold the mashmallow.

    My Opa (grandpa) saw what my brother and I were doing, yelled and made us stop. As soon as we heard him sawin’ those logs in the room next door, my Oma (grandma) sent us children back over the range to keep on roasting.

  • DD
    July 27, 2010 at 12:31 pm

    eating my mom’s freshly baked cookies after school!

  • JessicaE
    July 27, 2010 at 12:31 pm

    My food memory is my Dad showing me how to clean/eat a crab.

    Thanks for the giveaway <3

  • Cynthia
    July 27, 2010 at 12:32 pm

    Going to grandma’s house and cooking brownies, eating dinner and watching Jeopardy!

  • Kelly
    July 27, 2010 at 12:33 pm

    So many! I’d have to say going to Miller’s buffet in Amish country and eating shoo-fly pie, I remember their rolls were delicious! Or maybe the giant handmade PB cup my parents got me at Union Station in DC… yum

  • Jen
    July 27, 2010 at 12:33 pm

    My favorite food memory from childhood is when I was making hamburgers on the grill with my best friend and her little sister. We were so weird, and we were all forming our own patties and throwing them up in the air, trying not to drop them, and smelling, them, too! The reason I love the memory is because it was summer, and the house was right by the beach, and it was just one of those perfect nights! And now I’m a vegetarian, go figure!

  • Andrea
    July 27, 2010 at 12:34 pm

    Mine would definitely be my dad making blueberry pancakes on teh weekends. He would send us out to pick a big bowl of blueberries from our backyard and then he’d whip them up and we’d eat them smoothered in peanut butter. YUM!

  • Michelle
    July 27, 2010 at 12:34 pm

    My favorite food memory is the chocolate pies my Granny made me every Sunday. We always ate lunch at my Granny’s house each Sunday after church and she knew chocolate pie was my fav so she always baked one for me. I still love chocolate pie today.

  • Sandy
    July 27, 2010 at 12:34 pm

    Making floats out of red creme soda and vanilla icecream at grandma’s house. Always a summer treat!

  • Ashley S
    July 27, 2010 at 12:36 pm

    My fave childhood food memory is a strange one that isn’t really about food. When I was really little like 5 or 6 or so, my aunt passed me a small wicker basket about the size of a small saucer and it had what looked like shredded mozzarella cheese in it. She asked me if I wanted some, and I guess I did because I grabbed some and shoved it in my mouth, only to discover it was shredded SOAP. Talk about a mean trick! And this was my favorite aunt! haha! She said she didn’t really think I would fall for it, and I did it too quick before she could stop me! Yuck!

  • Kelly
    July 27, 2010 at 12:36 pm

    My favorite childhood food/snack is still my favorite today! Ants on a log, aka celery filled with pb and raisins on top! They made it for us in pre-school and it stuck with me. Even now being in college its a staple for me and I often get teased for enjoying such a childlike snack 🙂

  • Katie
    July 27, 2010 at 12:37 pm

    I remember the first time I went to a “fancy” restaurant with my mom, wearing my plastic Barbie heels. I tried my first carrot soup and it was love at first taste!

  • Suzanne
    July 27, 2010 at 12:37 pm

    Shelling peas in the summer. We’d pick boxes full and spend a couple of hours shelling (and eating 🙂 ) them.

  • Caroline
    July 27, 2010 at 12:38 pm

    I know you said you don’t ship to Canada, but I want to share mine anyways!
    All of my best food memories come from my cottage, and have to do with my Dad, haha! My Mom would often declare herself “off-duty” in the summer, so my Dad would do most of the cooking. Almost every day at lunch (we would spend the whole summer from june – august there), he would ask if I wanted to have a hot-dog party, and I would always enthusiastically agree. A “hot-dog party” involved me running around and inviting all of my friends over while my dad built a fire for us to roast hot dogs over; afterwards, we would have a watermelon seed-spitting contest off our deck. I loved it, and I wish the thought of hot dogs didn’t freak me out so much these days! I also have great memories of pickling tons of cucumbers with my Dad, and of a visit where my entire extended family came to visit our cottage, and my Mom made the most amazing lemon-ricotta pancakes with raspberry maple syrup. Also, in the summers, my Mom used to break her no-cooking ban and make butter tarts, which (I think) are Canadian, so I don’t know if you would have had them, but they are amazing – like pecan pie without the pecans, if you can imagine…

  • jane
    July 27, 2010 at 12:40 pm

    My favorite food memory while growing up is actually a tale of NOT eating my food. Growing up in south Florida we ate dinner outside in the back yard all the time. My older brother, sister and I would often times be sitting outside waiting for our mom and dad to bring the dishes out. I recall throwing lima beans into the grass while our parents werent looking….the funny part was that i really liked lima beans but since my older siblings were doing it, I of course did as well! 🙂

  • Maria @ a healthier maria
    July 27, 2010 at 12:40 pm

    Oh so many! I will have to say early morning breakfasts at my grandparents’ though. They always woke up to start cooking at 5am so we were feasting by sunrise.

  • Katelynn
    July 27, 2010 at 12:41 pm

    I grew up in tiny-cozy house with a tiny-cozy yard . My mother and I filled the little backyard with all types of vegetables and herbs. Once a week we would check on the veggies and herbs and pick each that was ripe. That night we would create a new dish using those fresh veggies and herbs. This began when I was four, continued through high school and we still make time to do this when I come home. No matter what dish we ended up making it was the time we spent together picking the vegetables and herbs that we planted ourselves that made each dish delicious! 🙂

  • Angela
    July 27, 2010 at 12:43 pm

    waking up on a Saturday morning and smelling my Mom baking cookies, cinnamon rolls, cobblers….whatever….I would come down the hallway and she would always say “good morning there are fresh cookies here for you to try” hot or warm out of the oven….sitting at the table in the kitchen….sun streaming in, eating the yumminess and watching my Mom continue baking…..I love to remember those days….thanx for jogging my memory today Jenna!!!!!!

  • Andrea
    July 27, 2010 at 12:44 pm

    My favorite food memory is my mom making cinnamon rolls on christmas morning. Even though this has nothing to do with the real meaning of christmas, to this day it doesn’t feel like christmas without my mom’s cinnamon rolls. and someday when I have kids I will make cinnamon rolls for them on christmas morning 🙂

  • Jen A.
    July 27, 2010 at 12:45 pm

    Some of my favorite food memories come from my mom packing me lunch in grade school. For some reason, I really loved Kraft singles and nothing else on my sandwiches, and I hate the crust. She would make me white bread sandwiches with Kraft cheese and not only would she cut the crust off, but she would use cookie cutters to make shapes, mostly hearts. 🙂 Best mom ever!

  • Carolyn
    July 27, 2010 at 12:45 pm

    My favorite childhood memory is eating my grandpa’s lasagna at my grandparents lakehouse after swimming all day.

  • Sara Wright
    July 27, 2010 at 12:47 pm

    My favorite food memory was from when I was a wee little girl….I used to help my dad make meatballs for spaghetti and meatballs. It was my absolute favorite.

  • Jordan
    July 27, 2010 at 12:47 pm

    My favorite childhood food memory is of my dad making scrambled eggs and me thinking they were amazing probably just because they were the only thing he ever made. They were really very ordinary. I remember making a recipe book in third grade and putting his recipe for scrambled eggs in it…and I’m pretty sure that was the only recipe in there…

  • Espie
    July 27, 2010 at 12:48 pm

    My favorite food memory is from my 13th Bday. I thought I was a tough cookie because I was a big ol’ teenager. My grandma did what she does best and put me in my place by assigning me the task of making the Christmas tamales (my birthday is 12/25. i know, i know, I’ll just answer your question….no, i didn’t get double presents). Anyway, in my household the Christmas tamales are a HUGE deal. She made the stuffing ahead of time and my job was to assemble everything and wrap them in the corn husk. It’s my favorite memory because I was so scared and nervous but in hindsight, I am honored she thought I was responsible enough to cook WITH her on a day with so much meaning.

  • kathleen
    July 27, 2010 at 12:49 pm

    my favorite meal from my childhood came from when i was about 8 years old, my mom would buy the boboli pizza crusts and my sisters and i would get to “decorate” (as we called it) a pizza with all of our favorite toppings! although these days i have traded the mozzarella, pepperoni, and sausage for goat cheese and veggies most of the time, it is still a wonderful memory and i will never turn down a home”decorated” boboli pizza!

  • Olivia
    July 27, 2010 at 12:49 pm

    Oh man! All of my favorite childhood food memories are of my grandma’s cooking. She lived a few hours drive from us, so we would go visit her a couple times a year. She always seemed to make the same foods when we visited: twice baked potatoes, apple pie, corn pudding, salad with ranch dressing in wooden bowls, and tacos, of all things (different meals, lol!) somehow, the foods she cooked always tasted better, even though we often ate the same foods at my own house. She said it was because they were cooked with grandma’s love. 😀

  • Meg
    July 27, 2010 at 12:50 pm

    my favorite childhood food memory would have to be when i was about 5 or so i would always get up early and run into the kitchen after my mom bought a fresh box of cereal and dump out ALL of the cereal all over the kitchen floor just to find the prize in the bottom of the box! anyone else?..i know you have done that too!

  • RUBY
    July 27, 2010 at 12:51 pm

    my favorite food memory is when hurricane andrew hit miami in 1992, i was in second grade. we stayed at my family’s business, a bowling alley. even when the power went out, we still had a gas powered kitchen. i remember eating grilled cheese in a very dimly lit bowling alley with my whole family. all 6 of my aunts and uncles and my grandparents. i miss being all together with them.

  • Emma Ruth
    July 27, 2010 at 12:51 pm

    when my mom worked on the weekends, my dad (cooking challenged) would either fix my 4 sisters and I us campbells noodle soup, grilled cheese OR get the “family” meal at mcdonald or taco bell. this consisted of either 50 tacos or a plateful of hamburgers/fries. yum…..

  • Tessa
    July 27, 2010 at 12:51 pm

    My favorite childhood food memory has to be when my daddy used to take me to all you-can-eat crab-leg buffets. I wanted to be just like him and eat crab legs but was too little to crack them. So he would crack them all for me, giving me lessons on how to do it, and hand me the pieces. Now I realize that he probably hardly ate any himself because he was too busy making sure I was happy. I still get a warm fuzzy feeling whenever I eat crab legs and I think of that special daddy-daughter time.

  • Anna J.
    July 27, 2010 at 12:51 pm

    My favorite childhood food memory is when I was at my grandparents river house over one summer and we were going to steam crabs we caught off their dock. After putting the crabs in the pot, many of them climbed out of it, fell onto the floor and came after my grandparents, cousins and I! Of course the men did their manly thing and picked up the crabs, put them back in the pot and sealed it shut so it wouldn’t happen again. Once they were done we proceeded to pick them all clean! To this day, we all still get a great laugh out of that memory.

  • Catherine
    July 27, 2010 at 12:52 pm

    My English grandmother’s kitchen, eating bread, butter and her fresh lemon curd. Oh yum!

  • Sandy
    July 27, 2010 at 12:52 pm

    My favorite memory is when I would stay at my Grandparent’s house. At o dark 30 the smell of bacon would come wafting into my room while the weather radio was on what seemed like full blast. The bacon was the crispiest bacon EVER and it was delish along side homemade biscuits and syrup.

  • Maria
    July 27, 2010 at 12:52 pm

    My aunt Maria’s homemade tacos! Corn tortillas fried in oil, filled with seasoned ground beef, topped with lettuce, tomatoes, cheese (lots of cheese), franks red hot and a lemon wedge. They were greasy and good. 🙂

  • Laura @ Foodies Not Fatties
    July 27, 2010 at 12:53 pm

    Making cookies! My family has a recipe that makes close to 10 dozen cookies (it’s a lot, I know), but I remember making them and sample one from every batch until I got sick. It doesn’t really sound like a great childhood memory, but I still love those cookies!!

  • Katherine @ Left Coast Contessa
    July 27, 2010 at 12:54 pm

    My favorite childhood food memory is going out to breakfast every saturday morning with my dad. We would go to the same cafe every Saturday throughout my entire childhood. We still go there when I come home to visit and I still always order whole wheat pancakes!

  • ShoeZq
    July 27, 2010 at 12:56 pm

    Definitely eating neopolitan ice cream in the evenings before bed and then waking up to cream of wheat in the morning when I would spend the night at my grandma’s.

  • tiffany
    July 27, 2010 at 12:56 pm

    haha there’s a reason why i can’t make homemade granola! it just WOULD NOT be safe around me! great giveaway though 😀

    favorite childhood food memory… whenever i would get sick when i was little, my mom would always make chinese chicken congee (porridge), and it is the most soothing dish in the world, especially when you are sick. i suppose it’s like chicken noodle soup for americans. it would always make me feel so warm and nice inside and i swear it makes me heal faster.

  • Tori
    July 27, 2010 at 12:57 pm

    My best memory was the day I decided I wanted to crack an egg on my head to be just like Ramona Quimby (it was one of my favorite books at the time). My mom patiently helped me get the egg out of my hair (which was a painful journey, I assure you!) and then made me the best Ramona Quimby-inspired omelet.

  • Ashley
    July 27, 2010 at 12:57 pm

    My favorite memory is all the times I baked cookies with my Mom. Everytime she turned her back I would steal the dough and then when she caught me (she knew i was eating it the whole time but she would pretend to chastise me) I would tell her I was testing it to make sure it was okay and not poisoned lol. I also remember eating butter raw on cookie baking days : ( my taste buds have changed a bit since then thank goodness

  • Dana
    July 27, 2010 at 12:57 pm

    Making Mudpies after a rain!! he he 🙂

  • Megan
    July 27, 2010 at 12:58 pm

    My favorite childhood food memory is corn pancakes. My extended family shares a shore house on the Jersey shore and after hours of swimming in the ocean we would come back to eat sweet corn pancakes…using fresh jersey corn of course 🙂

  • Jenna Leigh
    July 27, 2010 at 12:58 pm

    My favorite childhood food related memory is cutting watermelon with my grandfather, who the grandchildren called D-Daddy, on a big wooden block table outside our family’s cabin. I don’t even like watermelon to this day. If he was eating it though, you could bet I wanted to eat it too. Whatever that was:)

  • Coco
    July 27, 2010 at 12:59 pm

    every christmas eve, my French family eats escargot. when i was little, i was apprehensive to try it, especially when my mother revealed to me that it was SNAILS–EWWW!!! However, once i forced myself to try it, i was absolutely hooked! now, i look forward to some buttery and garlicky escargot WAY more than christmas cookies or hot chocolate!

  • Nicole
    July 27, 2010 at 1:00 pm

    well, as a true and loyal Italian child, I’d have to say one of my favorite food memories as a child was fighting w/my siblings over the hunk of Parmesan cheese that my mom would throw in the soup pot. It was always salty, a little chewy and soft from soaking in the broth, and full of the flavors of whatever soup it was… pasta patane (potato), pasta fagiole, minestrone, etc.

    along the Parmesan lines (we eat A LOT of it in my house!) we would also come up to my mom whenever she was grating the cheese and beg her to crack off a little chunk for us to chew on while waiting for dinner.
    🙂

  • christie
    July 27, 2010 at 1:01 pm

    Pineapple upside down cake for my birthday!!! Not many other people liked it so that just meant more for me….

  • Carolyn (mealsandmiles.wordpress.com)
    July 27, 2010 at 1:01 pm

    Mine would have to be my grandma’s cinnamon buns at christmas breakfast when i was a kid. we always had a huge basket of cinnamon buns baked that morning, and oranges. i tried to recreate a healthy version for my family this past christmas, but it was a major fail- don’t fix what’s not broken!

  • sarah
    July 27, 2010 at 1:02 pm

    My favorite food memory is helping my dad make his famous peanut brittle.

  • Beth @ DiningAndDishing
    July 27, 2010 at 1:02 pm

    My favorite childhood food memory is having Cocoa Puffs at my grandmothers house in England. My mum NEVER let us have sugar cereal so I think it was the most delicious thing I’d ever tasted in my life! 🙂

  • kristin
    July 27, 2010 at 1:04 pm

    Mine is my grandma teaching me how to make her eggplant parm! still my fav meal to this day!

  • Sarah
    July 27, 2010 at 1:05 pm

    This is sweet of you, some granola would be lovely 🙂

    My favorite childhood food memory would be making cookies with my Mom. In particular chocolate chip because of the process in making them. I remember helping her add ingredients to the mixer, and dropping chunks of batter onto a baking sheet with two teaspoons.

    I have this recipe bookmarked to make soon, but some from the source would be fabulous!

  • Nicole
    July 27, 2010 at 1:05 pm

    My favourite memory is from when my family was camping around Australia. We had a protable camp stove that we would use to cook on (bigger than your typical one, but still pretty small). My Dad would make this dish where he slice up potatoes into thin rounds, and fried them with onion and spices. They would take forever too cook (I think it was at least an hour), but they would be sooo good at the end! And because they were so time-intensive, it was a special treat whenever we made them.

    P.S. I am in Canada. Do I still qualify?

  • Sharon
    July 27, 2010 at 1:07 pm

    My favorite memory is coming home for lunch and my mom making pb and j on toasted bread. Just the way it all melts together when its warm was always so comforting. To this day that is my comfort food. Can’t go wrong with a classic! Of course, now I’ve switched to almond butter!

  • Natalia
    July 27, 2010 at 1:08 pm

    My favorite childhood memory is playing horses with my brother and sister. We would get down on our hands and knees and each pretend we were wild horses. Naturally, there were rides involved as well.

  • lindsey
    July 27, 2010 at 1:11 pm

    Whenever I stayed at my grandma’s house in a tiny town in Iowa, she would make us cinnamon toast. . . don’t ask me how or why, but toast at Grandma’s ALWAYS came out buttery and had the absolute best texture! Toasted just right, buttered up and full of yummy cinnamon sugar! I wish I had some right now!

  • Mary Catherine
    July 27, 2010 at 1:11 pm

    I remember sitting on top of the kitchen counter in my jammies helping my dad make Paul Prudhomme’s Banana Bread on Saturday mornings when I about 3. I would help him peel and mash the bananas with a fork. Then I would lick the bowl 🙂

  • sarah (this is it)
    July 27, 2010 at 1:11 pm

    Eating breakfast for dinner (waffles) is a favorite food memory!

  • Shannon Fox
    July 27, 2010 at 1:12 pm

    My favorite childhood food memory is when my grandma would make peanut butter/chocolate fudge. She made HUGE quantities and so she would buy marshmallow fluff by the 5 gallon bucketful! When the bucket was just about empty she’d let all of us cousins scrape out the rest with whatever kitchen utensil struck our fancy. We’d be covered in that goop from head to toe…and we loved every minute of it!

  • Lisa
    July 27, 2010 at 1:14 pm

    Sunday nights when my Mum would declare that we didn’t have to eat a proper dinner – she would make pancakes instead. I’m from South Africa and my Mum is English, so this means pancakes are something more like a crepe (but not as thin) – English style pancakes. My Mum would say we could eat as many as we wanted! She would serve them with lemons, cinnamon and brown sugar and my brother and I would “construct” them ourselves with our own unique blends of those 3 ingredients. I always vowed I would eat at least 20 and beat my brother but somehow I always got full after about 3 and my brother would manage to eat 4 times as many 🙂

  • Sara Beth S.
    July 27, 2010 at 1:15 pm

    For some reason my mom would let me eat cold hot dogs when I was little. I loved them and I was really picky so it was about the only thing I would eat, even at Thanksgiving dinner I would be eating a cold hot dog. Fast forward 20some years and now I can’t stand hot dogs. Perhaps had I known what was in them back then I wouldn’t have loved them so much?

  • Ashley
    July 27, 2010 at 1:15 pm

    Mine would have to be the authentic polish food my grandma used to make. Stuffed Cabbage, Cabbage and noodles. Ahhh…the comfort food! No one can make it quite like she used to 🙂 But I’m gonna learn!

  • Erin
    July 27, 2010 at 1:15 pm

    My favorite childhood food memory is the homemade bread my mom used to bake. I can still smell and taste it.

  • Sandy
    July 27, 2010 at 1:16 pm

    Baking blueberry pie every summer with my mom
    Also, picking up fresh corn at farmers markets and steaming them that day for dinner… yummm

  • Samantha
    July 27, 2010 at 1:16 pm

    When I couldn’t sleep in the middle of the night, my Mom would take a ripe banana and cut it the long way and put it in a bowl of milk. She would put it in the microwave for a short while, just to get it warm. Something about the warm, soothing and soft bowl quickly put my sleep. Yum 🙂

  • Ashley
    July 27, 2010 at 1:17 pm

    Mine would have to be the authentic polish food my grandma used to make. Stuffed cabbage, pierogies, cabbage and noodles; love me some comfort food. No one can make it quite like her. But I’m gonna learn!

  • Megan
    July 27, 2010 at 1:17 pm

    My favorite childhood food memory, and most fond, is going over to my Nanny’s house on the weekend or just for her to watch my sister and I while my parents went around town running errands. She would always have Chips Ahoy Chocolate Chip Cookies in her kitchen. Everytime I visited, I would ask her for cookies and she would give me a HUGE glass of milk to enjoy with them. :]

  • Brittany
    July 27, 2010 at 1:18 pm

    My favorite childhood food memory is going out for breakfast with my grandfather. It was our favorite meal and we loved to spend time over comforting biscuits and gravy or smiley face pancakes!

  • L.A. Daze
    July 27, 2010 at 1:19 pm

    My favorite childhood food memory was going to the beach with my parents, eating fried fish and enjoying every moment of it…until a seagull swooped down and made off with my fish. My parents couldn’t stop laughing because apparently the look on my face was priceless.

  • Sarah
    July 27, 2010 at 1:20 pm

    What a fun question! I think my favorite memory was from when I lived in Pennyslvania and my dad took us 3 kids to the local pond to ice skate. (I always pretended to be Jo from Little Women when we did this) When we got home all frostbitten and hungry we found that my mother had been busy baking for the coming holiday season. Not only did she have her homemade hot chocolate all ready for us but she had pulled the clouds from the sky to our kitchen table….divinity candy! I sat in the kitchen with my mug of hot chocolate dunked with candy clouds and watched my mother churn out holiday treats like a machine. I’m pretty sure that heaven smells like my mother’s kitchen.

  • Keri
    July 27, 2010 at 1:21 pm

    My favorite food memory is making Christmas cookies with my mom. Even though I’m living on my own now far away from home, baking cookies always brings me back home!

  • Emily L.
    July 27, 2010 at 1:22 pm

    My favorite food memory is going to my family’s dairy for ice-cream with my grandfather growing up. He always used to insist I get an extra scoop. Is there anything as special as being spoiled by your grandparents?

  • Katie @ Healthy Heddleston
    July 27, 2010 at 1:22 pm

    Baking Christmas cookies with my parents. The girls always tried to make them “pretty” and the boys just wanted to sprinkle all the sugar and sprinkles on them so they had the most cookies!

  • Michele
    July 27, 2010 at 1:22 pm

    Without a doubt, baking cookies with my mom.

  • Julie
    July 27, 2010 at 1:22 pm

    I remember my mom making lasagna when I was a kid. Eventually she got too sick to do it anymore, but I’ll never forget how much I used to love it.

  • Charlene
    July 27, 2010 at 1:23 pm

    When I was 6, my parents, younger brother & I flew to Indonesia to see my grandparents and relatives there. I should note that I was such a horribly picky eater at the time! I was afraid I wouldn’t be able to eat anything there so in the backpack my parents gave me to bring along, in addition to colouring books and my favorite stuffed animal, I also packed 2 cans of spaghetti-o’s and a zip-lock bag of teddy grahams. My grandfather prepared a can for us to share and that was definitely the best spaghetti-o’s I’ve ever eaten!

  • Lindsay Perrone (goodiesgalore)
    July 27, 2010 at 1:24 pm

    Mine is of my dad making veggie boats. Don’t even ask me why we thought they were so cool but somehow he managed to trick us into believing that microwaved veggies were the most magical little creations.

  • Ashley H
    July 27, 2010 at 1:25 pm

    I remember coming home from kindergarten and my babysitter making me my FAVORITE meal – a sandwich of White Wonder bread with miracle whip, turkey bologna and a slice of american cheese with a glass of Tang. I look back now and think how incredibly disgusted I am by this meal, but my mom and I laugh about it now!

  • Michelle
    July 27, 2010 at 1:25 pm

    The time my dad took me for my very first banana split at a place called Wags. It was enormous and I was only 6 or 7…but it was a big deal 🙂

  • aubrey
    July 27, 2010 at 1:25 pm

    I will never forget the day I tried making doughnuts. I was 11 and very mischievous in the kitchen. I had been watching Zoom on pbs channel watching them make “kid friendly food” and felt ready to begin my culinary adventure.
    Well…it didn’t work out so well. I had made a pretty decent mixture of flour, eggs, sugar (the ingredients i thought was in doughnuts) and had pressed them into doughnut shapes. I had also poured 2 large containers of vegetable oil into a large pot and let bubble on high heat while I was making the dough.
    UH OH…. the first doughnut went into the extremely hot oil. Smoke immediately filled the kitchen, set off the fire alarm and caused havoc in the house. Good thing my older sister (who was supposedly watching over me) came rushing in to save the day.
    It was scary but such a fun childhood memory. I recently redeemed myself by making zeppole for a dinner party.
    PHEW!
    🙂

  • Conni
    July 27, 2010 at 1:26 pm

    My favorite food memory was the first time I ate haggis. I was in Pitlochry, Scotland-the most beautiful place ever-and they served it at dinner. I was so so so hesitant, but it was DELICIOUS! I will never forget that day. Good food, great friends, memories that last a life time.

  • Molly
    July 27, 2010 at 1:26 pm

    My grandma’s oatmeal raisin cookies. Secret recipes that lies with me.

  • Stina @ Girl Can
    July 27, 2010 at 1:26 pm

    I think my favorite (or at least the funniest) food memory was when I boycotted spaghetti because I felt my mom was making it too frequently.

  • Sara
    July 27, 2010 at 1:27 pm

    Mine would be waking up before school, and having my mom’s homemade blueberry muffins waiting for my sister and I. My mom would often get up REALLY early to make these
    muffins for us, she is incredible!! 🙂

  • Eileen
    July 27, 2010 at 1:27 pm

    Making pie iron pizzas and pies while camping with my family. You take two slices of bread a fill them with pizza or pie fillings (cherry is the best) Close up the iron and lay them in the fire to cook. They were so good. Would love to find some pie irons to make these with my daughter.

  • Caitlin
    July 27, 2010 at 1:27 pm

    Definitely baking – anything – with my Dad.

  • lz
    July 27, 2010 at 1:28 pm

    My favorite childhood food memory is watching in anticipation as my uncle batters and fries eggplant slices and then creates a delicious eggplant parmisiana type savory eggplant dish. It tasted so incredibly good… I miss those days.

  • Misty
    July 27, 2010 at 1:28 pm

    My favorite food memory is: When I was 5, my family had taken a trip to Florida and spent three weeks there…..while staying in Orlando we had rented a place for the duration of our stay….all I really remember (since I was only 5) is eating Super Mario Brother Kraft Dinner (which used to be my FAV food – and yes, I still have it every once in a while but try to only buy the “smart” kind) with ketchup…..it was the best!

  • Healthy Jewish Princess
    July 27, 2010 at 1:29 pm

    my favorite childhood memory was from as young as i can remember during passover time (which is around march/april time). i would always have this thing with my mom and younger brother called a “matzah party”. (fyi, matzahs are basically these HUGE crackers made from just flour & water). we’d set out tons of spreads like cheeses, cream cheese & jam, pb & j and of course, TONS of matzah and i would make sandwiches with the matzah and lots of cream cheese and jam (my fav comno). i looked forward to it every year 🙂

  • Sarah
    July 27, 2010 at 1:29 pm

    My favorite childhood food memory is when my family brought home a new dog, a rescue from a breeder. The minute my parents brought her home she jumped up on the kitchen table and ate a whole pot of Kraft macaroni and cheese before anyone could stop her. 🙂

  • Katie
    July 27, 2010 at 1:29 pm

    Growing up my brother and I would make soft pretzels together after school and have so much fun rolling the shapes into letters and animals. He has turned into an awesome cool…… maybe that was his start!

  • Dorothy
    July 27, 2010 at 1:29 pm

    My first and one of my favorite food-related memories as a child was riding in the kiddie seat on the back of my dad’s bike on Saturday mornings to go get donuts!

  • Stacey
    July 27, 2010 at 1:30 pm

    My favorite food memory would have to be going apple picking in New Jersey while visiting family in the fall. We came home, washed and peeled apples, and all made an apple pie together. I have a picture of seven or so family members all smiling around this pie, looking so happy and proud. It was a really wonderful day.

  • Michelle @ Turning Over a New Leaf
    July 27, 2010 at 1:31 pm

    My 2nd grade teacher would sometimes prepare some sort of food during class. I remember two recipes specifically–waldorf salad, which I hated, and “Scary Spiders,” which I loved! They were chilled, no-bake cookies made with melted chocolate chips, butterscotch chips, peanut butter, peanuts, chow mein noodles, and vanilla extract. I still have the original recipe written down on its original paper with my original 2nd grade crayola handwriting! I’ve made it twice in my life. The first time was soon after this day in 2nd grade, and the second was just a few years ago, at age 20. That recipe is just one of many 90s elementary school memories that are responsible for my unbelievable and childish love for Halloween. It makes me want to have kids! Yes, a food is so powerful it makes me want to reproduce!

  • ashley
    July 27, 2010 at 1:31 pm

    One of my favorite summertime memories was spending the day in the pool, and hopping out for a snack that I’d pick myself. Our yard was full of fruit. My favorites were the tangerines and blackberries – yum!

  • MoodyFoody
    July 27, 2010 at 1:32 pm

    My favorite food memory is walking through a sugarcane field, pick out the thickets sugarcane I could find and ask my grandpa to cut it for me. I would then go sit by the river and finish the whole stick…talk about sugar rush!

  • Marisa
    July 27, 2010 at 1:34 pm

    My favorite memory is angel food cake with fresh fruit during the summer on the deck….ahhh….

  • Lesley
    July 27, 2010 at 1:34 pm

    Mine is my mom’s grilled cheese. I used to beg her to make it and let me up her flip them!

  • Lynn
    July 27, 2010 at 1:34 pm

    My favorite memory is of my family having sunny side up eggs together on the weekend mornings. However, I hated the white part (I know, can you believe it!) and so I would eat the “dippy” out of all the eggs (soaked up by a great piece of Italian toast, of course) and make my dad eat all the whites!

  • Susan
    July 27, 2010 at 1:34 pm

    I want to make that granola but I can’t imagine making the full batch and I’m terrible at downsizing recipes!

    Favorite food memory has to be eating at my grandparents – we always ate the same things there, and we never ate those foods at home, so those foods will now be forever associated with my grandparents: oreo cookie parties with my grandmother, spiral ham sandwiches on rye, and clam dip and ruffles. Clam dip sounds gross, but it’s super tasty (at least as I remember it!)

  • Alexandra
    July 27, 2010 at 1:35 pm

    My favorite memory isn’t a memory at all – it’s a video of the moment. I was about three years old and my dad was making fresh squeezed orange juice as I stood right by his side on a chair. In the video, for whatever reason, I’m just mesmerized by the wooden spoon he is using to stir the orange juice. I look up at him and stutter: “Wh-wh-wh-why you use a spoon?” He looks down at me and doesn’t understand what I had just asked. He responds “Pardon?” And then I continue to stare at him, not knowing what in the world “pardon” means and he leans down and kisses my forehead.

    I don’t know why it’s my favorite. My dad died when I was 15, 11 years ago now and I think it’s one of my favorite moments with him even though I only remember it thanks to the home movie.

  • Lindsay
    July 27, 2010 at 1:35 pm

    My favorite childhood food memory would have to be eating fish sticks with pieces of sliced cheese and ketchup on top! A little strange sounding, I know, but give it a try…it is delish!!!

  • Kristin
    July 27, 2010 at 1:36 pm

    Favorite food memory is Mom having peanut butter bread ready as a snack everyday after school when we were little 🙂

  • megan
    July 27, 2010 at 1:38 pm

    My favorite childhood food memory is walking in the door coming home from school and smelling freshly baked bannana bread my mom had made. I was lucky enough to have a stay at home mom, and the little things like that make be realize how lucky I was!

  • Suzanne
    July 27, 2010 at 1:39 pm

    Growing up in a vegetarian family, my brother and I would find little ways to be like “all the other kids” who ate meat. Who knows how it started, but we ended up tearing up our PB&J sandwiches and putting the little pieces in our bowls of tomato soup. When they were soup covered and soggy, we were convinced they looked like chicken, so, we were eating “Chicken soup.” I am drooling just thinking about it! Trust me, the combo is delicious!

  • melissa
    July 27, 2010 at 1:41 pm

    I’m originally from New Jersey and during the summer my neighbor grew the biggest beefsteak tomatoes I have ever seen. They entered them into contests. Needless to say…they had alot to get rid of and my family were one of the lucky ones.Nothing better than a juicy summer jersey tomato with sea salt…YUMMY. Ahhhh…memories

  • Stacy
    July 27, 2010 at 1:42 pm

    Hey Jenna! Long time no “talk”

    My favorite food memory as a child was when I was 12 years old. It was my first time “cooking” for my family. I grew up in a traditional Asian family where the women are always in charge of cooking.

    My mother always cooked dinner but on one particular evening she was out at some church event and I was the “oldest female” left in the house. She premade some homemade tomato sauce and left me detailed instructions to boil pasta noodles so I could be a big girl and prepare dinner for my dad and my baby sister.

    I felt like such an adult that night. Sadly, I waaaaay undercooked the noodles and did not heat the sauce enough so we ended up with hard rubbery pasta noodles in cold coagulated sauce. My poor but sweet father and sister gamely chewed and choked down the meal anyway to make me feel better. We all got indigestion that night but we laugh about it now, especially since I cook every other night now (as a real adult) and they actually enjoy what I make. 🙂

  • Laura
    July 27, 2010 at 1:43 pm

    Favorite food memory is waking up on Sunday mornings, walking into the kitchen and hearing James Taylor music blaring while my dad started baking Sunday morning biscuits or coffee cake. YUM.

  • Robin
    July 27, 2010 at 1:43 pm

    That granola looks amazing!!! My favorite memory is when my family would go to the shore and my best friend, myself and my brother and sister would walk to the candy shop and pick out our favorite candies after a day of playing on the beach!

  • Katie
    July 27, 2010 at 1:43 pm

    Eating perfectly prepared bluefish at a restaurant down the shore with my family when I was five. I have never and probably will never taste fish that good again.

  • laura
    July 27, 2010 at 1:44 pm

    cream cheese and alfalfa sprouts on crusty bread. I think I took it for lunch pretty much every day!

  • Kate
    July 27, 2010 at 1:45 pm

    My favorite memory of food has to be waking up super early every Thanksgiving to help my mom and my nana cook. They bought me a new apron each year and I couldn’t wait to wake up to help them baste the turkey and peel the potatoes!

  • monika
    July 27, 2010 at 1:49 pm

    Getting my Siberian Husky puppies. Joy of my life.

    • monika
      July 27, 2010 at 1:50 pm

      Big massive ooops! Only saw childhood memory, not food!
      Food-would have to be eating an entire Grouper fish in the Bahamas when I was 7…everyone was amazed that I downed it all!

  • Natalie
    July 27, 2010 at 1:50 pm

    I have to say, my favorite memory lies in every home cooked meal we had together, as a family. Dinners were the best times, when my two sisters and parents and I were all together. No matter what the meal was (although my mother’s Company Casserole was always a highlight) if we were together, it just seemed to taste better!

  • Diane Shay
    July 27, 2010 at 1:50 pm

    My favorite memory is eating carrot cookies in my Grandma’s kitchen. They were light, lemony and she always made them special for me.

  • Janice
    July 27, 2010 at 1:51 pm

    My favorite food memory is getting drunk making “Hard” sauce for my grandmothers bread pudding. I ate so much that my grandmother had to try and sober me up before my mother came to pick me up!!!

  • Bee
    July 27, 2010 at 1:51 pm

    My sisters and I used to (and still) bake all the time! We would bake cookies, bread, cake, muffins and even make our own creations.

  • kathryn
    July 27, 2010 at 1:52 pm

    When my mom worked the night shift at the hospital my dad had to make dinner for me and my brother. It was often spaghetti, or something left-over from the night before but always, always, always boiled carrots with butter. It was his thing that he knew how to make. Then he would take us to Dairy Queen for chocolate dipped, vanilla cone.

  • Barbara
    July 27, 2010 at 1:53 pm

    well, since my mom wasnt much of a cook, all i can do is share my favorite meal growing up that was only served on special occasions. why are those always the best meals? its called chicken divan. chicken, cream of mushroom soup, broccoli, cheese and bread crumbs. so good.

  • Stacey
    July 27, 2010 at 1:54 pm

    Hmmm my favorite memory has to be helping my grandma make her mashed potatoes and candied carrots. It wasn’t a holiday meal unless both were present.

  • Katie
    July 27, 2010 at 1:54 pm

    My favorite food memory is and will always be the smell of my grandma’s kitchen whenever she was making her famous gnocchi and meatballs from scratch. The smell would radiate throughout the house and linger for hours as we all sat around a huge table and ate. She is no longer with us, but thankfully my dad inherited her cooking skills and every Christmas he takes on her role to continue this tradition.

  • valentina
    July 27, 2010 at 1:56 pm

    Cherries straight from the tree in Germany!

  • Christina
    July 27, 2010 at 1:56 pm

    My favorite childhood food memory is eating rice pilaf at family dinners…always have loved it!

  • Danielle
    July 27, 2010 at 1:59 pm

    baking with my mom on a step stool. Didnt matter what it was always had fun!

  • Erin
    July 27, 2010 at 2:00 pm

    My favorite childhood food memory is our annual Labor Day breakfast.

    My gradparents started this tradition with their friends when they were young married couples. They would go to the local park and have a potluck breakfast. The men would cook bacon, eggs and toast over a campfire stove. I looked forward to the breakfast every year as a kid. I even came home from college specifically for this breakfast because I enjoyed the food, coffee and conversation.

    This annual tradition continued until 2005 when my Grandpa passed away on the Sunday of labor day weekend. It didn’t seem right having the breakfast without the master chef.

  • Christina
    July 27, 2010 at 2:00 pm

    My favorite childhood food memory is sitting down for my weekly family dinners with my grandparents and seeing my grandmother’s pasta bolognese on the table. The garlic bread and chocolate cake for dessert didn’t hurt either. Still love the meal 🙂

  • chand
    July 27, 2010 at 2:00 pm

    One of my favorite summertime feelings is walking into an ice cold house from a sweaty day of play. And then my Dad would harvest from the garden and bring in tons of veggies for me to clean. Then he and I would sit down and eat radishes and green onions with a little plate of salt. Oh…I miss those days and my Dad. =(

  • JW
    July 27, 2010 at 2:01 pm

    My favorite memories as a child revolve around christmas mornings with my family! It was always so special.

  • Nina
    July 27, 2010 at 2:02 pm

    My all time favorite childhood food memory is my grandmother teaching me how to make her famous apple pie. From the flaky homemade crust, to the apple filling, to the crumb topping…it takes me back! She’s gone now, but I’ll always have her pie. I think of her every time I make it and I’m so thankful that she passed on her love of baking to me!

  • Amanda
    July 27, 2010 at 2:03 pm

    The best childhood food memory of mine would have to be when my mom introduced me to peanut butter on waffles. I was around two and I haven’t stopped eatting that combo yet!

  • Jocelyn
    July 27, 2010 at 2:03 pm

    When I was growing up my mom was always the “chef” of the house, but every once in a while when she was away my dad would make dinner. It was always the same (either because that’s all he knew how to make, or because we all requested it over and over again) hamburger gravy (ground hamburger, water and flour… don’t ask me why this was good, it just was) and lumpy mashed potatoes. I stick to a much healthier diet now, but thinking of my dad over the stove making this always makes me smile!

  • Angharad
    July 27, 2010 at 2:04 pm

    My favourite food memory is eating fish and chips out of a newspaper cone at the seaside with the salty air blowing my hair all over the place!

  • Katelyn
    July 27, 2010 at 2:04 pm

    so nice of you jenna! my favorite childhood memory with food was making caramels at christmas time. it was such a long process, but something that the whole family did together and devoured together!

  • irene
    July 27, 2010 at 2:05 pm

    Pierogies my gramma would make…totally polish, totally perfect.

  • laura
    July 27, 2010 at 2:06 pm

    my best memory is the PB and cheese sandwich my mom made me for lunch every day. with a note on a napkin of course 🙂

  • Liza
    July 27, 2010 at 2:07 pm

    Winning a watermelon contest at age 12! I beat all the boys! 🙂

  • Amy
    July 27, 2010 at 2:07 pm

    My favorite food memory is helping my mom make cinnamon and sugar “crackers” out of extra pie crust dough. I was small enough to sit on the counter while I helped. Oh how I loved those crackers!!!

  • Cate
    July 27, 2010 at 2:07 pm

    When my Southern grandmother made her special buttermilk pancakes, my grandfather would always instruct my sisters and I on the fine art of cutting the pancakes in an organized, straight-lined fashion. We would always be too anxious to actually eat the yummy pancakes to go through his ritual, and he would pretend frustration while we enjoyed antagonizing him. They are both gone now, but I would love to share some pancakes with the two of them again.

  • Laura
    July 27, 2010 at 2:08 pm

    my favorite food memory was when my dad was in a REALLY good mood come dinner time and he let us have banana milkshakes with dinner instead of a plain old glass of milk. i can still taste its deliciousness!

  • Danielle
    July 27, 2010 at 2:08 pm

    My favorite memory would have to be my and my grandmother sitting for hours on her front porch, stringing green beans. She would give me a huge pot to string for lunch the next day with the rest of the family. And nothing beats grandma’s green beans, even though they’re made with lard. Haha.

  • Jess
    July 27, 2010 at 2:12 pm

    My favorite memory making my 10th birthday cake with my mother. My birthday is in the summer, so we spent all day making a cake out of sorbet to look like a watermelon. Even adding chocolate chips to be the seeds. It was delicious!

  • Cara
    July 27, 2010 at 2:14 pm

    My grandmother’s fresh bread she would make weekly and give us a loaf. Yum! Oh and her cinnamon rolls! I miss you grammy!!!!

  • Tiffany Marie
    July 27, 2010 at 2:15 pm

    MY favorite childhood food memory would have to be this salad my grandma would make….homemade dressing, avocado, tomatoes, romaine lettuce, and sunflower seeds….I would save my salad to eat last because I loved it so much.

  • Laura
    July 27, 2010 at 2:17 pm

    My favorite memory was coming home after-school to brownies my dad baked. He was a stay-at-home dad for years, and the brownies weren’t any special recipe, but it was always a cool surprise when I would come in after school to a plate of brownies waiting. And these days, I appreciate even more how awesome it was that my dad cooked, cleaned, baked, did my hair, and even played games like Pretty, Pretty Princess with me when I was really young.

  • Megan
    July 27, 2010 at 2:17 pm

    Friday night pizza night at Paisano’s! Growing up we didn’t have much money and rarely went out to eat, so this was a big treat for me and my siblings. Still love my pizza!

  • Amy
    July 27, 2010 at 2:17 pm

    Haulin’ in the sunkissed, juicy produce from our huge organic garden!

  • Adriana
    July 27, 2010 at 2:18 pm

    Every year around Christmas time – my family gets together to make this delicious food from my our hometown in Italy. It is nowhere near healthy, basically dough stuffed with Mozzarella, tomatoes, ham & capers and then fried. Looks like a calzone but a million times better. But it’s not only the food that we look forward to (although it’s a big part of it), it’s making it together and hanging out as a family that we enjoy the most. It’s not only dinner, but it’s an event.

  • Phyllis
    July 27, 2010 at 2:23 pm

    When I was younger I was an extremely picky eater, unlike now, and even at the age of 8 had refused to eat pizza. I don’t know why, but it grossed me out. One day my mom bribed me with a 7-11 slurpee to just try a piece. Now, in college, I’m a pizza addict. Kind of a pizza snob, but I love it. I crave it all the time. Almost every time I order it I think of slurpee’s.

    Unfortunately I can’t get those here in Georgia!

  • Dawn
    July 27, 2010 at 2:23 pm

    My family was big on home-cooked meals, but we did have a favorite pizza joint. On one visit, when I was about 7 the owner took me and brother in back and let us make our own pizzas – we even got to try tossing the dough!

  • Annie
    July 27, 2010 at 2:23 pm

    Before she became a health nut, my mom used to make “monkey bread,” balls of biscuit dough rolled in cinnamon sugar and baked together in a bundt pan. We would come home from school, cut a huge slice, and peel the buttery morsels apart. mmmm
    And because she became a health nut when I was in 4th grade or so, I have very fond memories of going to the snack/smoothie bar at our local health food store and ordering the “oatmeal icecream.” It tasted like health food (ie not sweet at all) lol but I think that’s why I liked it. To this day, I LOVE that slightly odd health food store smell ;p

  • Jen
    July 27, 2010 at 2:26 pm

    My favorite memory was when my family vacationed in Maine and my dad, uncle, and grandpa went to buy live lobsters to cook. They put them on the floor and let them crawl around so my brother and I could play with them. However, they then proceeded to kill them in front of us and later have us eat them. At the time it wasn’t so funny but it is always makes a good story and gives me great memories!

  • Jen
    July 27, 2010 at 2:26 pm

    My favorite food memory: eating the first cucumbers and tomatos out of our garden each summer. So fresh and delicious, and a treat every year!

  • Christie {Honoring Health}
    July 27, 2010 at 2:26 pm

    I actually just posted about my favorite food memory a couple of days ago. It is surely my grandma teaching me to make pancakes and telling me to watch for the bursting bubbles on the top and to be sure to only flip them once. We were using bisquick but it was still the best food memory I have!

  • Melanie
    July 27, 2010 at 2:28 pm

    My favorite memory is after my mom would make rice krispie cake, my sister and I would get to scrape the pot clean of the left behind bits. I loved how the rice krispie cake was warm and gooey!

  • Erinn
    July 27, 2010 at 2:28 pm

    My favorite childhood food memory would have to be summer cooking with my Oma (grandmother in German) in her kitchen. We would peel cucumbers for cucumber salad, boil potatoes for potato salad with crispy, crunchy bacon, prep skewers for bbq-ing, and roll out butter pie crusts for peach pie. We’ve grown apart over the years, but I can still see her, busying over bubbling pots and stirring sauces. Being a war-time German woman, she was cold at times, but in the kitchen, she was as warm as the pie on my plate.

  • Erin
    July 27, 2010 at 2:29 pm

    My favorite food memory is Saturday night dinners. My mom would make a caesar salad every Saturday with homeade dressing and it was delicious! I still make it to this day.

  • Coley
    July 27, 2010 at 2:32 pm

    I spent a ton of time with one friend in particular growing up and we would walk over to her grandma house every morning I spent the night to eat cream of wheat. Nothing special, but she always served it with whole wheat toast with butter and peach iced tea… and every time I eat cream of wheat, I have to have buttered whole wheat toast to dunk in it and I can taste the peach iced tea as I eat! Makes me want some badly!!

  • valen
    July 27, 2010 at 2:36 pm

    My favorite memory is Saturday mornings making pancakes with dad. Pancake was one of my first words.

  • Clare
    July 27, 2010 at 2:36 pm

    Horseback riding summer camp and hiding in the lilac trees in front of our old house.

  • Sana
    July 27, 2010 at 2:38 pm

    Favorite childhood memory is easy…everything my grandmother made was delicious but one of my favorites was toast with homemade cheese and homemade jam. It was amazing!

  • Meredith
    July 27, 2010 at 2:43 pm

    My favorite food memory is of my mom’s pancakes. I remember them always being so fluffy and delicious, especially with butter and maple syrup on top. But more specific to this memory is the fact that I used to make my mom stack my pancakes (4 to be exact) and cut them for me a certain way. I don’t know why, but the pancakes just ALWAYS seemed to taste better when my mom cut them. This went on for years (longer than I ever want to admit)… but to be honest, I’m not embarassed. In fact, I’m headed down to jacksonville in a few weeks and I think I’m going to request she make pancakes and ask her to cut them for me 🙂

  • Michelle
    July 27, 2010 at 2:44 pm

    My most vivid food memory is of making doughnuts out of biscuit dough with our babysitter. Cutting the hole with a soda cap. Frying them on the stove. Rolling them in cinnamon sugar or powdered sugar. Eating…. mmmm… eating. Who lets the babysitter fry food on the stove now?!?!?!

  • Miranda
    July 27, 2010 at 2:45 pm

    Every Christmas my mom would make Almond Roca to give away to the neighbors and teachers. To this day, chocolate and toffee always make me think of Christmas.

  • Katie
    July 27, 2010 at 2:46 pm

    My favorite food memory was when my dad tried to make oatmeal for my sister and me. Instead of using the stovetop method, he put old-fashioned oats in the microwave and they exploded everywhere! We still kid him about it to this day.

  • Amanda
    July 27, 2010 at 2:46 pm

    My favorite food memory is of pizza! My cousins and I always had our birthday parties at this place called Jelly Beans when we were little, and they had the best pizza! 🙂

  • KatieF
    July 27, 2010 at 2:52 pm

    My favorite food memory isn’t necessarily one memory–it’s many, all surrounding being at the family camp with my cousins in the summer. The adults would get fresh vegetables and fruit from the local fruit stands. Every time I eat corn on the cob, or watermelon, or smores, or see kids run by holding those little Hug drinks in their hands (you know–the neon-colored drinks in the plastic barrel-shaped bottles that are in no way good for you) I get transported back to those fun summers.

  • alex
    July 27, 2010 at 2:54 pm

    One of my favorite memories from my childhood, is when we would have to go on trips involving airplanes, and my mom would pack us a whole caer package with stickers, coloring books, snacks, candy etc. It was always such a treat!

  • Tracy
    July 27, 2010 at 2:55 pm

    My favorite memory of food is my grandpa making us pancakes. Both of my grandparents are gone now, but I used to love going there for summers for a week or two at a time. My grandpa NEVER cooked….except some mornings to make us pancakes. They were delicious!

  • Lauren
    July 27, 2010 at 2:55 pm

    My favorite food memory from childhood was getting a lesson on how to make pie crust from my grandma, who was and is the end-all be-all pie crust expert. Mine will never be as good, but I felt so special that she showed me the ropes when I was so little!

  • Danielle
    July 27, 2010 at 2:57 pm

    Making homemade pizza with my Italian grandma! She was awesome and lived with my family and I, so I basically grew up on pizza (and red wine…yes, since I was little) 🙂

  • Erica
    July 27, 2010 at 2:58 pm

    Riding bikes on my street until it got dark outside…

  • Michael Kaider
    July 27, 2010 at 2:59 pm

    This one is simple. I’m 10 years old and the youngest of 8 kids. I’m hungry and I want a hard boiled egg only my mom won’t let me use the stove so I decide to stick the egg in the microwave. I put it on for 1 minute and about 20 seconds in my mom walks into the kitchen and asks what I’m cooking…..at 27 seconds…KAABBBOOOOMMMM!!!!!! the door microwave door flies open and the egg explodes everywhere. Turns out the water in the egg expands rapidly in the microwave….something I learned the hard way. I didnt have eggs that day….I had a “time out”.

  • julia
    July 27, 2010 at 3:00 pm

    My favorite food memory is when my grandmother would make ribs. The ribs were just okay, but the best part was that she’d put out a huge pyrex bowl of warm water and fill it with rose petals from the garden so we could dip our fingers in to get the sauce off. She’s an amazing cook, but I was really just eating the ribs so I would have an excuse to use the bowl.

  • Kittie
    July 27, 2010 at 3:02 pm

    My favorite memory is breakfast. Breakfast was always amazing to me because I never got it on week days so on weekends when my dad made eggs, bacon, grits, and biscuits I was thrilled.

  • Katie
    July 27, 2010 at 3:05 pm

    Having Tang mixed with 7-Up at my grandmas, along with Ritz crackers THINLY coated with cream cheese 🙂 Ahhh the midwest!

  • Crystal
    July 27, 2010 at 3:05 pm

    My favorite food memory as a child was when my parents would make homemade chicken marsala with mashed potatoes and green beans every year for my birthday.

  • Ashley
    July 27, 2010 at 3:07 pm

    My favorite childhood food memory is when my mom makes shortbread for Christmas. My mom’s shortbread is SO amazing….people try to copy her recipe but never can get it just like her….she says it’s all in the blending…ANYWAYS…my favorite childhood memories is when I come home and the house smells like shortbread and my mom is blending like a mad women with maybe 3 bowels around her making shortbread at mock nine pace….THAT’s when I know it’s Christmas….

  • Christina
    July 27, 2010 at 3:07 pm

    My favorite childhood food memory is a giant bowl of spaghetti with marinara sauce. I ate this almost every single night!

  • courtney
    July 27, 2010 at 3:07 pm

    Fun!! My favorite childhood meal memory is the first time my dad ever made pot pies for us. My mom was out of town, and he loves to cook. It was a snowy night, so it was the perfect comfort food and it just makes me happy thinking about it 🙂

  • Jen
    July 27, 2010 at 3:09 pm

    My grandpa used to take me for rides in his jeep, driving around his town and telling me about the places my mom hung out as a kid. We would always end up at the local drive in, where he would buy me a black raspberry ice cream cone the size of my face – and he let me eat it in the jeep even though I got it everywhere. Such good memories! 😀

  • Tracy
    July 27, 2010 at 3:09 pm

    My Mom was never much of a cook. She worked full time as a nurse. She always made dinner and left instructions for my Dad to warm it in the oven and feed it to us for supper. My Dad would toss it in the trash and make us creamed chipped beef on toast (an old army recipe of his). I loved my Dad!

  • Janelle
    July 27, 2010 at 3:11 pm

    Favorite memories? That is simple. Making mud pies. Such messy fun.

  • Audrey
    July 27, 2010 at 3:12 pm

    my favorite memory has to be when we were little (i have 2 younger sisters) at the community pool we would get orange flinstone push ups. sooooooooooo good. soooooooooo perfect for a hot summer day!

  • Sarah
    July 27, 2010 at 3:13 pm

    I have SO many wonderful childhood food memories! I’m half Italian so MOST of my memories involve food! Growing up, my sister and I would send our summers with our Grandparents, Rosie and Papa 🙂 It was like a never ending feast! My Grandfather would wake us up super early every morning for his special breakfasts of pancakes, french toast or ‘Egyptian eyes’, for lunch we would usually go out with Rosie and dinner was always CRAZY! Eggplant parm, spaghetti and meat balls, broccoli garlic, homemade pizza, or strangely enough rice-a-roni lol The best was pan fried left over spaghetti!!!! Every night before bed my grandfather would give us one of those Italian Baci chocolates. His little secret for us 🙂 I miss being able to to eat like that!

  • Trista
    July 27, 2010 at 3:14 pm

    My favorite childhood food memory is sharing cans of chicken soup or spaghetti and meatballs with my brother; we always had to count the chicken or meatballs to make sure we got the same amount!

  • Sarah
    July 27, 2010 at 3:16 pm

    My favorite food childhood memory is also one of my very first memories—when I was probably 2 at the oldest 3, my parents took me on vacation to Montreal. The waitress was astonished when this child who could barely speak (me!) ordered herself 2 dozen steamed clams for dinner!

  • Tori
    July 27, 2010 at 3:17 pm

    Trying lobster for the first time at Sizzler is one of my favorite memories. It was my mom’s birthday, and I remember it tasting so good! I was probably 4 or 5.

  • Angie
    July 27, 2010 at 3:18 pm

    One of my favorite childhood memories is of my mom making her own granola when I was very little – I loved that stuff!!

  • Lindsey
    July 27, 2010 at 3:18 pm

    I loved my grandma’s minestrone soup and would eat it till I was sick! She also always had the sweetest, best-tasting clementines EVER. Could have been because they were grandma’s. For some reason, food made by one’s own mother or grandmother always tastes best!

  • Emily G
    July 27, 2010 at 3:19 pm

    My dad would make pancakes most weekend mornings, and he always made mine in shapes – usually my initials. Any pancakes we didn’t eat I got to toss out the window for the squirrels. The tossing was most fun in winter, when they would land on top of the snow, and when I got to open a window in the middles of winter.

  • Love2Run
    July 27, 2010 at 3:19 pm

    My favorite childhood food memory is making taco salad on family night. We always had all the fixings set out separately then we were all allowed to make our salad the way we wanted (lots of chips for me usually hehe). I always looked forward to taco salad night.

  • Kendall
    July 27, 2010 at 3:19 pm

    Eating beans and cornbread on Halloween night. We ate this each year because the beans could cook all day in the crockpot. Trick-or-treating excitement or warm, fresh cornbread…I don’t know which is better.

  • Allison
    July 27, 2010 at 3:21 pm

    Making banana pudding with my Nana every year for Thanksgiving and Christmas get togethers!

  • Sarah for Real
    July 27, 2010 at 3:21 pm

    I remember making bisquick biscuits with my dad once when my mom was running late. I was too young to know what to do and my dad was totally useless in the kitchen. They were sticky so we kept adding more mix and ended up with hockey pucks with dinner instead of biscuits.

  • Kristin
    July 27, 2010 at 3:21 pm

    My family used to drive from Florida to the mtns of Pennsylvania every Christmas when I was little, and I absolutely could not wait to get there and trek through the snow to my aunt’ house where she would have warm hot cocoa with mini marshmallows waiting for us by the fire downstairs. Hot cocoa is never as good as it was there and then, but I’m always reminded of it! So cozy!!

  • Dynamics
    July 27, 2010 at 3:21 pm

    My favorite memory is watching my daughter and my dad in his tiny garden. They were pulling veggies and eating them raw, right from the garden. Popping open the peas and laughing and just having a great time. A week later my daughter not being allowed to eat the lunch I had packed. I was a horrible mother sending my daughter to school with UNCOOKED peas. Opening the pea pod and eating the peas raw to this day is still my daughter’s favorite food. I think every time she pops open a pod she remembers her grandpa and how much fun they had in the garden when she was a young child.

  • Sarah
    July 27, 2010 at 3:22 pm

    Making toad in a hole (egg in toast) with my dad on weekend mornings when I was little. I got to cut the hole out of the toast and crack the egg into it while it was in the pan. I felt like I was making and eating something very complicated and gourmet:)

  • Raya @ Raya Runs
    July 27, 2010 at 3:22 pm

    My most favorite childhood memory of food is when my brother and I “helped” make spaghetti sauce one night, and we literally put every single spice from the cabinet in it. It probably tasted horrible, but my parents smiled and ate it anyway!!!!

  • Tess
    July 27, 2010 at 3:23 pm

    My favorite food memory were seafood boils at my grandparents house. I was a very gifted shrimp peeler but was always terrible with crabs (blue crabs from Louisiana). I learned to sit close to my grandmother and she would do all the peeling for me. Thus, I didn’t learn to peel my own grabs until I was 25 or so.

  • Courtney
    July 27, 2010 at 3:24 pm

    My mom had to go out of town and left my dad to make dinner. He got frozen Green Giant green beans and cooked them. After they were done, they were neon green and tasted horrible! We still tease him about them to this day!

  • Dana
    July 27, 2010 at 3:24 pm

    My sister and I used to chow down on rice crispy treats to the point where we would have to make a second “secret” batch to replace the one we ate. I’m sure our mom wondered how we went through a box of cereal (or bag of marshmallows) so fast!

  • theresa
    July 27, 2010 at 3:25 pm

    my favorite childhood memory was when my mom would come home at night from work (she was a waitress) and after she dropped the babysitter off at work she would make my brother, sister, and myself cinnamon toast before she tucked us in for bed. we didn’t have a toaster at the time, so she would spread the butter on the bread, shake a little cinnamon and sugar on top and pop it in the oven. that was one of the best memories of my childhood, knowing that even after a hard day’s work, my mom would still make us this treat to show that she loved us 🙂

  • Terri from Sunnyvale, CA
    July 27, 2010 at 3:27 pm

    Spending the night at my grandma’s and waking up in the morning to smell of freshly baking bread, and the sound of her kneading the dough on her old rickety, formica-topped table.

  • avryan
    July 27, 2010 at 3:28 pm

    Most definitely spending Christmas day making raviolis by hand with my grandfather.

  • nicole
    July 27, 2010 at 3:29 pm

    Making brownies with my mom and sister and licking the spoon! I still do it… shh.

  • nicole
    July 27, 2010 at 3:30 pm

    Making brownies and licking the spoon.

  • Stephanie
    July 27, 2010 at 3:31 pm

    I’ve been eying that granola since you posted the recipe!!!

    My favorite childhood (and continuing whenever I can get home) memory is definitely leisurely weekend mornings with blueberry pancakes listening to James Taylor with my family. Something about James Taylor and pancakes…the perfect pairing.

  • Janet
    July 27, 2010 at 3:34 pm

    My favorite childhood memory was going into New York City with my parents to see Broadway shows. Instead of your typical family vacation, like going to disney, my parents would drive me and my brothers into the city (we live close) and we would stay at fancy hotels, eat fancy food, and dress up to see shows. To this day I still love Broadway!

  • Heather
    July 27, 2010 at 3:35 pm

    Favorite childhood food memory? Peanut butter honey banana sandwiches. Most definitely. And good old Tollhouse chocolate chip cookies with my papa. 🙂

  • Emily
    July 27, 2010 at 3:35 pm

    My favorite childhood food memory is making Hungarian noodles with my Grandma. It was a big and special occasion to be asked to make them with Grandma. There was a special bowl, noodle maker, attire… It was the best thing ever. I even have a picture of it. Now, after she’s passed away I also have the special bowl as well. It’s awesome and reminds me of her every day!

  • Neena
    July 27, 2010 at 3:35 pm

    My favorite food memory was waking up on Sunday mornings for my dad’s famous breakfasts! The menu was always the same: omelette with onion and tomato filling, grits with lots of butter and sharp cheddar cheese, breakfast sausages, and fresh OJ. To this day I crave my dad’s breakfasts even though we live in different states.
    Great giveaway!

  • Allie
    July 27, 2010 at 3:38 pm

    My favorite childhood food memory is my dad making a HUGE bowl of popcorn every Saturday for movie night. He would heat up half a stick of butter and pour it over the air popped corn and sprinkle a little salt. Each of us would have our own dishtowl because the popcorn was so buttery. Yummmm. To this day I CANNOT eat microwave popcorn, because it simply does not compare.

  • Gina
    July 27, 2010 at 3:43 pm

    Wow, if I don’t win this granola I’m making it Friday (the only reason I’m waiting that long is to go grocery shopping)!! It looks SO good.

    My favorite food memory is whenever my Greek relatives would invite us to come with them to a Greek restaurant and eating tons of bread and lamb. That and sleeping over my grandma’s house and drinking soda with breakfast…definitely wasn’t allowed to do that at home!

  • Anna
    July 27, 2010 at 3:44 pm

    When we didn’t have any cookie dough, or couldn’t decide on which kind to make, me and my dad would always turn to Oreo’s, with our own little twist. We would open them up and spread peanut butter on the inside, close them back up and dip them in milk. I still do it sometimes. Haha, yuuum! 🙂

  • Elana
    July 27, 2010 at 3:47 pm

    Your granola looks so yum!
    The first memory that popped into my head was eating my Great Aunt’s noodle kugel…. mmmmm. If you haven’t had a good Jewish kugel, you need to! SO DELICIOUS and rich and just yum.

  • Sharilyn
    July 27, 2010 at 3:52 pm

    My favorite food memory is when my Papa made chicken cattchitore for Christmas Eve dinner-delicious!

  • Diana @ frontyardfoodie
    July 27, 2010 at 3:53 pm

    Such a generous lady!

    My favorite childhood food memory was the first time I remember going to a Chinese restaurant. I have a big family so we were in the private dining area with a HUGE lazy Susan in the middle of the table piled with Chinese foods and while we were praying I opened my eyes and glanced at the food (because I couldn’t resist!) and saw a plate overflowing with fried rice complete with carrots, sugar snap peas and eggs and in my head I literally thought, “wow, that’s such a genius idea.” and even though I’d never tried fried rice I knew that it was going to be a life long love of mine. It definitely is!

  • Lindsey
    July 27, 2010 at 3:56 pm

    My favorite childhood memory is licking the cake batter off the spoon when my mom was baking brownies. I have to say fending off 3 older siblings for that one lick was a feat in itself!

  • Tracy
    July 27, 2010 at 4:00 pm

    My favorite memory is watching my grandma roll out thick dumplings for “chicken and dumpling” dinners with the family. Boy, did they taste good!

  • Tamara
    July 27, 2010 at 4:01 pm

    My favorite food childhood memory is waking up on Thanksgiving morning at my Grandma’s house (we always slept over the night before). Waking up to the aroma of breakfast, turkey dressing and all the baked goods is unforgettable!

  • Angie
    July 27, 2010 at 4:03 pm

    My dad is the cook in the family, and our favorite thing to eat was his famous french toast. He uses french bread and makes an amazing batter. We also don’t use syrup – only granulated sugar on top, maybe cinnamon if you’re feeling crazy. So anytime we had friends over when we were little, dad would make french toast for breakfast. My friend Marie loved it so much one morning she at 10 of them (still a record in this household) and lost her tooth in one. And then continued to eat more. Who loses their tooth in french toast?!

  • Laura T.
    July 27, 2010 at 4:03 pm

    i loved coming home from field hockey practice on a crisp, fall afternoon to a house that was filled with whatever my mom threw in the crockpot that morning! even though im a vegetarian now, she made the BEST pork & sauerkraut and beef stew. the house smelled like heaven whenever she made those dishes!

  • postcollegecook
    July 27, 2010 at 4:04 pm

    I loved the big Italian family gatherings at my great aunt’s house, with homemade stuffed shells, lasagna, antipasta, Italian cookies and cannoli. It wasn’t just the food (which just seemed normal to me at the time – nothing special) but the boisterous stories from my grandma’s siblings as we all sat around the table and in the living room.

  • laura
    July 27, 2010 at 4:09 pm

    christmas morning brunch was my favorite childhood food memory. as kids, we were so antsy to open our presents, so after unwrapping our stocking gifts, we would take a “break,” eat some brunch (my dad’s famous egg casserole, fruit salad, toast, etc.) and get back to unwrapping presents.

  • Ashley
    July 27, 2010 at 4:10 pm

    My Grandma’s fried chicken and milk gravy (made from left over bits in the frying pan and milk!) will always be my favorite food memory. Especially since I learned how to make it:)

  • VCK
    July 27, 2010 at 4:11 pm

    I lived on PBJ sandwiches as an uber-picky kid. My favorite was a PBJ with my neighbor’s homemade strawberry freezer jam. Makes my mouth water now thinking about that jam.

  • cori
    July 27, 2010 at 4:12 pm

    My favorite memory is definitely whenever it was my birthday (or my sibing’s birthdays) my Mom would get up early to make chocolate chip pancakes. She hates waking up early! She still sends me pancakes mixes on my birthday even though I’m a professional cook now 🙂

  • Melanie
    July 27, 2010 at 4:15 pm

    Mine is eating cut-up hotdogs and white rice with squeeze butter on the nights where my mom had to work and it was just me and my dad. We’d watch *USA Cartoon Express* and *Airwolf* before Mom got home.

    This question actually brought up some serious emotional introspection about the food-emotion connection, so I did a full-length blog post about it also. Good question, Jenna. It really made me think about my own emotional issues and what I’m trying to accomplish by eating my “comfort foods.”

  • Bing
    July 27, 2010 at 4:16 pm

    My favorite menory… making chocolate chip cookies with my older sisters. Now after all these years I’m the only one who bakes!

  • Emily
    July 27, 2010 at 4:18 pm

    Ooh, so many good memories! I loved finding recipes as a kid and putting them in a notebook. No surprise that the majority of my recipes were desserts 😉

  • Ilene
    July 27, 2010 at 4:19 pm

    Favorite memory was definitely whenever my dad baked – he used to bake a lot and made delicious desserts, but now he doesn’t have as much time. Either that or whenever my mom would make Rice Krispy treats.

  • Sunny Anderson
    July 27, 2010 at 4:22 pm

    My favorite thing to eat as a kid was simply Kraft mac and cheese. I loved the blue box and learned to make it myself when I was four.

  • emily
    July 27, 2010 at 4:26 pm

    My favorite childhood food memory is having real homemade fried chicken at my Italian grandmother’s house. It’s the only time we ever had it, and boy was it good!

  • Tay
    July 27, 2010 at 4:27 pm

    My favorite has to do with Disneyland – we would go to the ice cream parlor on Main Street for all birthdays at the end of a long day. Tradition!

  • Katie
    July 27, 2010 at 4:27 pm

    Food & childhood memory: helping my grandmother make food around the holidays, especially press cookies and scalloped potatoes.

  • kyla
    July 27, 2010 at 4:31 pm

    My favorite childhood memory would have to be my Grandmother’s famous “pan cookies”. Concept is simple enough. Chocolate chip cookies baked in a pan but the way that she makes them can never be replicated. They are so thick and dense that no amount of milk will ever make them soggy. The cookie just soaks it up. It’s pure heaven.

  • Mae
    July 27, 2010 at 4:34 pm

    Favorite childhood memory… hmmm. Summers with my cousins at my Grandma’s house. We found plastic and layed it out to create our own slip n slide, made home made sprinklers and ate raw cookie dough for lunches. It was so great 🙂

  • amy
    July 27, 2010 at 4:36 pm

    every night we stayed at my mamaw’s house….she’d make use little tv trays up of snack food! ritz crackers and peanut butter n jelly..pop corn…apples….and even ice cream sometimes!

  • Lauren
    July 27, 2010 at 4:41 pm

    Aww, that is so sweet of you! 🙂

    My favorite childhood food memory was sitting on my kitchen counter making cream of mushroom soup. I only ate the kind in the can (Campbell’s) and I HAD to plop that blob that comes out of the can into the pot or else I wouldn’t eat it. It was my favorite part of eating mushroom soup!

  • Kristina
    July 27, 2010 at 4:44 pm

    I have a pink bag on my blog today too! 🙂

    My favorite childhood memory is baking pumpkin pie, standing on a stool to reach and stir the bowl, when I was 5. We have a photo of it – I’m wearing my robe 🙂

  • Lizzie
    July 27, 2010 at 4:44 pm

    I have a twin sister and my mom was always worried that she and I wouldn’t be treated as individuals, only as “the twins” so every year for our birthday, she threw us separate parties, each complete with its own homemade cake–strawberry for me and chocolate for my twin. Like you, I suffered a loss: my mom passed away last fall. She loved cooking so now I feel as though food is a connection between us, but I wish I had her around still to help me in the kitchen. I’ll always cherish all the delicious meals she made for me, though, including my special birthday cakes 🙂

  • Kristie
    July 27, 2010 at 4:44 pm

    I know this isn’t very “foodie”, but I remember the best days in our house (single mom + 5 kids) were when we would splurge and get a giant bag of pepperoni pizza rolls. Each kid would get 12 and watching them bake up in the oven was a definite test in patience haha. I love cooking my own food now but my immediate family doesn’t really do a lot of cooking or have any cooking traditions so hey, if it means I look back fondly on pizza roll night, then that’s just what I’ll have to do :).

  • Lana
    July 27, 2010 at 4:45 pm

    I live in Texas and had yet to see snow as a five year old. I told my dad I wanted to see snow, so the next time the temperature reached below 32deg my dad left the sprinklers on and we woke up to a winter wonderland! Icicles were everywhere!!

  • Ellie
    July 27, 2010 at 4:45 pm

    My favorite food memory is when my dad tried to make clamcakes in the toaster oven. They were not delicious, but it was so nice to see him try cooking for our family.

  • Emily
    July 27, 2010 at 4:46 pm

    My father’s spaghetti and meatballs, which I would eat until I had a “spaghetti stummy ache”. To this day I haven’t had better meatballs.

  • Yasmin
    July 27, 2010 at 4:50 pm

    My fave childhood memory was staying with my grandparents down south in Texas, heading to South Padre, and eating watermelon with salt while the seagulls begged for my food.

  • Jessica
    July 27, 2010 at 4:52 pm

    My favorite childhood food memory would have to be making orange juice popsicles at my neighbor’s house when I was about 4 years old. This is one of my earliest memories of life, which is probably why it’s my favorite!

  • Christina
    July 27, 2010 at 4:55 pm

    My grandma’s banana bread!

  • Taylor
    July 27, 2010 at 4:55 pm

    My favorite childhood food memory definitely has to be with my grandmother. Every year, the day before thanksgiving, my parents would drop me off at her house and the two of us would do the Thanksgiving baking together. We’d make biscuits and pies. I cherish those memories…plus the food was always amazing.

  • Katharine Burd
    July 27, 2010 at 4:57 pm

    definitely getting “engaged” to my best friend in preschool!

  • Shannon
    July 27, 2010 at 5:03 pm

    My favorite childhood food memory was when my dad introduced me to tomato sandwiches. Just tomato slices on toasted bread with a little bit of Mayo or Miracle Whip and pepper. I still love them to this day!

  • Grace
    July 27, 2010 at 5:04 pm

    My fondest and most favorite memory was of baking with my mom! We would bake cookies and cakes, all the time. It was so great and tons of fun. I especially loved licking the bowl and spoon – then eating the first cookie or piece of cake, hot out of the oven! 🙂

  • Courtney
    July 27, 2010 at 5:04 pm

    Chips Ahoy Mud Pie. It used to be our go to “homemade” dessert when we were kids: nice and messy and incredibly easy! Just a jar of Cool Whip, a box of Chips Ahoy, and some milk. Dip the cookies in the milk, make a layer of cookies, top layer with cool whip, repeat until container you’re making in is full.

  • joy
    July 27, 2010 at 5:05 pm

    my favorite childhood memory is that when I was 12 I wasn in the hospotal for a long time and my mom came to see me every day just to kiss me on the top of my head and tell me she loves me – I talked about that in her eulogy that she showed me what love is

  • Runeatrepeat
    July 27, 2010 at 5:05 pm

    I usually opt out of contests, but I have finally admitted my love for granola despite the calories…

    My fave childhood food memory is eating pomegranates from a neighbor’s tree in the summer. My mom would make us put on old shirts (because they get ruined) and go outside to eat them!

  • Mary C.
    July 27, 2010 at 5:06 pm

    My favorite memory has to do with my love affair with watermelon…it started at an early age! I remember being at a church picnic in a blue and white polka dot dress and eating TONS of watermelon and ended up with it all over my dress…To this day when we eat watermelon my mom always brings that up!

  • Kelsey
    July 27, 2010 at 5:08 pm

    Graduating from Cuis Kids, the cooking school I went to when I was little. We made a different dish each week…I haven’t stopped since.

  • tina sappington
    July 27, 2010 at 5:08 pm

    I looked forward to Thanksgiving dinner, because it meant my Korean mother would make spicy Korean soup with the leftover Turkey bones and meat the next day.

  • Terin
    July 27, 2010 at 5:09 pm

    My fondest memory was in Disney World…my parents said I could order anything I wanted in this beautiful restaurant that housed the aquarium in Epcot Center. I ordered the lobster. And didn’t even flinch when it showed up whole and staring at me with its beady little eyes. I was five and so my love affair with food began 🙂

  • Rachel
    July 27, 2010 at 5:12 pm

    I remember popping popcorn with my mom and younger brother when I was around the age of seven. We used corn kernels in a big popping machine (no microwavable bags for us). I loved watching the popcorn pop. I would get as close as I could for a bird’s eye view. Unfortunately, the best view was also where the hot air escaped. I got too close once, and burned the tip of my nose. I ended up with an indention that I still have to this day. It hurt!

  • Emily, The Lady Pastor
    July 27, 2010 at 5:14 pm

    I LOVED going to grandma’s.
    Grandma made SO many tasty treats.
    A simple favorite: she always had a yellow and red tomato cut up with a glass container of sugar close beside.

    YUM!

  • Tammy
    July 27, 2010 at 5:15 pm

    My favorite childhood meal was always peanut butter and grape jelly on wonder bread.

  • karen
    July 27, 2010 at 5:15 pm

    homemade chex mix in a big red bowl at my grandparents’ house over christmas

  • Shauna
    July 27, 2010 at 5:17 pm

    On Friday nights my dad, brother and I would turn off the lights, turn on our flashlights, and tell “Scary-Silly Stories” using stuffed animals as props. They were always hilarious (my dad’s especially, probably because he wasn’t six) and kept me laughing (and sometimes frightened).

  • Kelsey H
    July 27, 2010 at 5:22 pm

    my favorite childhood memory is a vague one, but also easily my favorite. i have memories of sundays in our house growing up. sunday mornings were always the mornings where we cooked and ate breakfast as a family probably bc saturdays we always had some sort of sports practice or competition. but sundays were devoted simply to church and family. i remember waking up with the sun shining brightly in our kitchen and some sort of smell wafting through the kitchen that instantly let me know what we were going to be eating: french toast, waffles, pancakes, biscuits with gravy. sundays remain my favorite day of the week and i hope when i have a family of my own to recreate the peaceful sense of warmness and security that i always instantly felt waking up on sunday mornings.

  • Erin
    July 27, 2010 at 5:26 pm

    Nom nom nom. My mom always mixed peas in with our mac & cheese to get us kids to eat veggies. Even today as an adult, I eat my mac & cheese the same way. It reminds me of being a little kid and also tastes awesome. 😉

  • Steph
    July 27, 2010 at 5:26 pm

    my favourite childhood food memory is of my grandma teaching me how to make scrambled eggs when i was around 11 years old. it was the first time that anyone had allowed me to cook something on the stove, and i remember feeling so special! i still use her technique until this day!! 🙂

  • Kelsey H
    July 27, 2010 at 5:26 pm

    Waking up on Sunday mornings to the smell of some grand breakfast making has always been the most distinct memory of my childhood. Our weekdays were frantic, and Saturdays were devoted to one or more sport practices or competitions, but Sundays were always devoted to church, family, food, and sometimes football. We never ate breakfast as a family except for on Sundays so I feel like that made me appreciate it so much more.

  • Lindsay
    July 27, 2010 at 5:29 pm

    My favorite food memory is from one summer when my family was on a California coastal vacation. We stopped in Monterey, and my sister and I both ordered the Clam Chowder. At one point while we were eating, my dad said “Wow, you girls sure love those clams”. I turned to him in utter shock and horror and said, “There are CLAMS in this soup????? I thought that it was just like French fries– they don’t really come from France, you just call them that!” My dad laughed for about 10 minutes, until tears streamed down his face and I refused to eat anymore soup due to the horrifying clams. Luckily, I have grown out of my 10 year old, crazy self, and love to enjoy the occasional bowl of clam chowder– clams and all 🙂

  • Gigi
    July 27, 2010 at 5:30 pm

    My memory is of my Grandmother’s homemade chicken noodle soup. It was spicy and sweet (cayenne and garlic) and always made me feel better. I still make it every-time I feel a cold coming on (or have a day when I need nurturing!) and it takes me back to Grandma’s kitchen with her 1950’s metal cabinets and red and white floor. Warm Fuzzy~

  • emilie
    July 27, 2010 at 5:32 pm

    baking red velvet cake with my mom for anyone and everyone’s birthday!!! i would end up with a face covered in the batter and try to deny having a taste (or 50).

  • Holly
    July 27, 2010 at 5:39 pm

    Holy crap. How are there over 600 comments on this.

    um.

    My favorite childhood food memory is picking zucchini out of the garden and then making ZUCCHINI BREAD with my mom. My favorite. Such a great way to have vegetables when you’re a kid!

  • haylee
    July 27, 2010 at 5:39 pm

    Eating bubble gum ice cream push pops from the Schwans man while laying on the tramp watching clouds 😀

  • Lindsey
    July 27, 2010 at 5:40 pm

    My favorite childhood memory is creating mini-movies with my little sister. We’d dress in my mom’s clothes and pretend to be news anchors. I aways got to read the top news and made my sister give the weather report. My dad was the camera man, and had to hold any cue cards. (-:

  • Linda
    July 27, 2010 at 5:42 pm

    I’m going to have to go with a memory involving a fav comfort food – peanut butter and jelly sandwich. My older sister was making peanut butter and jelly sandwiches for the four of us. Oh, how we loved our pb&j sandwiches. I begged her to put extra peanut butter on mine. And she did. And it was then that I learned too much of a good thing is not necessarily good. Yes, that delicious peanut butter was very heavy getting down. But I still love a good pb&j sandwich.

  • Tess
    July 27, 2010 at 5:46 pm

    My favorite food memory involves Tootsie Pops. When we were little and we’d go to visit our grandparents, my grandfather would always get the big box of lollipops down from the highest shelf in the closet and let my sister and me pick one out. My favorite? Chocolate. It’s the kind of food I might turn my nose up now due to unknown ingredients or preservatives some other reason (too bad, really?), but I sure hope my kids have a grandfather that will feed them Tootsie Pops to their hearts’ content. 🙂

  • jenny
    July 27, 2010 at 5:46 pm

    my favorite food memory is making apple pie with my mom. she would always give my sister and i the leftover pie crust and apples to make ourselves mini pies. to this day, no other apple pie compares to hers!

  • Katharine (Meal Muse)
    July 27, 2010 at 5:46 pm

    My favorite childhood food memory was definitely making cinnamon-sugar toast with my dad before he went on his morning run. Butter, cinnamon, sugar – so simple and so comforting 🙂

  • Lindsey
    July 27, 2010 at 5:47 pm

    My favorite food memory is baking banana bread with my mom. She has the best recipe, hands down!

  • Allison
    July 27, 2010 at 5:49 pm

    I remember my dad teaching me how to make his favorite macaroni and cheese recipe for me to submit to our third grade class cookbook – nothing too exciting, but it’s been a vital part of his life since he was in college and it’s definitely a feel-good food for me 14 years later!

  • Kelsey
    July 27, 2010 at 5:53 pm

    I was the kid who would ONLY eat Kraft mac and cheese. Had to be from the blue box. One time my parents force fed me shrimp from a pasta dish they made and I gagged it up just because I was so stubborn. Now I can’t get enough of seafood!

  • Shayla
    July 27, 2010 at 5:58 pm

    My favorite childhood memory is when my grandpa made hamburgers for dinner and my brother cried because he did not want mustard, so my grandpa washed the mustard off in the sink and put it back in front of him and said, eat it!!!

  • sirenjess
    July 27, 2010 at 6:10 pm

    I know that I won’t win this, but my fondest childhood memory food is eating an ice cream made by Blue Bell. It had caramel and pecans. I don’t think they make it anymore but it was so good. And chocolate pudding made from the Jello box. That was my mom’s idea of dessert.

  • Alyssa
    July 27, 2010 at 6:10 pm

    The smell of ginger and garlic while made dad made Chinese food in the wok!

  • Jenn
    July 27, 2010 at 6:10 pm

    My favorite food memory was at Christmas time my mom would always make pizzelles. I would want to help, but the iron was too hot for me to use, so I would stand on a chair by her side and break them into 4 triangles. Every time I broke one into little pieces, I’d eat them! They were always delicious. I now make them at Christmas time, and every time I break them in 4 I think of how much I enjoyed this when I was young. I hope some day to have my own child to pass the tradition down to!

  • Sahar
    July 27, 2010 at 6:17 pm

    My favorite childhood memory is that my dad (who’s a chef) would makes his famous fried eggs with tomatoes and afghani naan and my whole family would gather around the frying pan and we would eat out of it. Now, no matter how much I try to recreate it, it never tastes the same. I think it’s the copious amounts of oil he still uses to make it!

  • Vanessa
    July 27, 2010 at 6:17 pm

    I loved sunday afternoon bbq’s at my grandmas house. We still have them every sunday all summer!

  • Leslie
    July 27, 2010 at 6:19 pm

    My favorite food memory was my dad’s tuna casserole. He made THE BEST tuna casserole. When he passed away, my bothers and sisters all discussed what personnel items we all wanted, and I all I wanted was that recipe. I never found it, (because now I know he didn’t have a written recipe.. he just made it.. ) and to this day I have not had any tuna casserole since his!

  • Johanna
    July 27, 2010 at 6:25 pm

    Mine is my great grandmas norwegian pancakes. She would make them for me every time I came over to visit. As I got older she taught me the recipe and would have me assist her in making them.

  • Michelle
    July 27, 2010 at 6:27 pm

    My favorite food memory is watching my grandma while she made pasta. I was always so fascinated by how quickly and expertly her fingers worked! I would snack on Italian cookies and watch her for hours!

  • Julia
    July 27, 2010 at 6:33 pm

    What a great question! And it’s hard to answer, because I have a lot of good childhood memories. I’ll pick playing baseball on our dead-end street with my dad when he got home from work. Simple and sweet!

  • Laurel
    July 27, 2010 at 6:38 pm

    My favorite childhood memory of food is eating graham crackers by the dozen, dunking them in a glass of ice, cold milk. Would never drink the milk though as it was tainted by the graham crackers…. 😉

  • Jennifer K.
    July 27, 2010 at 6:39 pm

    My mother used to make pillowy soft bread that I would then secretly dip in sugar and scarf!

  • Laurel
    July 27, 2010 at 6:39 pm

    My favorite childhood memory of food is eating graham crackers by the dozen, dunking them in a glass of ice, cold milk. Would never drink the milk though as it was tainted by the graham crackers…. 😉

  • AshinMT
    July 27, 2010 at 6:41 pm

    My favorite food related memory is peeling (and eating) apples for my great grammie to put in her pies. I have began the life long quest to re-create them. Yum Granola, hoping for this one!

  • Niki (Running in Pink)
    July 27, 2010 at 6:44 pm

    My favorite food memory from childhood is probably baking Christmas cookies with my grandma every year and seeing them all set out on Christmas Eve. For dessert, we would have a few different pies to choose from, but I would always dig into the cookies!

  • Amna
    July 27, 2010 at 6:45 pm

    My favorite food memory is every night after dinnner,for as long as I can remember, my mom cuts fruit for “dessert.” It’s a way to satisfy that sweet craving in a super healthy way!

  • Sadye
    July 27, 2010 at 6:47 pm

    My favorite food memory was making elbow pasta with meat sauce. My mom taught my twin sister and I how to make the sauce and we loved to put in all the spices and brown the meat. When we are together we still make it to this day!

  • katyrenee
    July 27, 2010 at 6:47 pm

    Picking apples from my grandparent’s apple tree. Taking a bath and eating fresh made applesauce right after. Best night time snack ever!

  • sarah
    July 27, 2010 at 6:49 pm

    My friend/coworker were just talking about this today! My parents used to bribe my sister & I with the chance to pick out our very own boxes of cereal when we were kids as a reward for bravely facing scary events…first day of Safety Town, vaccines, etc. Since we only had healthy “boring” cereals ordinarily, it was a Big Deal. If only my very own box of cereal could make everything right in the world now that I’m 31. 😉 It remains one of my fondest, funniest childhood memories though and once in awhile I’ll pick up Cracklin’ Oat Bran or Cinnamon Toast Crunch to this day.

  • Blaire
    July 27, 2010 at 6:52 pm

    My fondest food memory is my dad slow cooking spare ribs and me saying it was my favorite meal ever at 6 years old!

  • Lisa
    July 27, 2010 at 6:56 pm

    My mom would make my brother and I “frog in the well.” It was simply mashed potatoes formed into the shape of a well with a slice of butter (the frog) dropped in the middle. The ploy to get us to finish all our potatoes was to do so before the butter melted/the frog got loose! Somehow we got a kick out of this! 🙂

  • Katie P
    July 27, 2010 at 7:02 pm

    sitting on my living room floor after church on sundays eating tomato soup and grilled cheese with my sister while we watched the torkelsons 🙂

  • Kristie S
    July 27, 2010 at 7:03 pm

    Summers as a child eating fresh watermelon and corn on the cob, can’t beat it.

  • Ashley
    July 27, 2010 at 7:18 pm

    My favorite childhood food memory is eating fried pies straight off my great-grandma’s skillet. She lived on a farm in rural Missouri and everything was fresh and cooked in lard. I would watch as she tossed laid the omelette shaped pie in the skillet and wait anxiously for it to get brown and crisp around the edges. After what seemed like hours, she would hand me a fresh fried pie. I remember that first bite where the apple filling squirted out and ran down your chin. I would thank her and run out the door, fried pie in hand. I devoured the remainder of my pie while petting some sort of baby farm animal. Not the most sanity thing to do, but hand held pie and baby animals. That’s a good day in my book.

  • Teresa @ vinogals
    July 27, 2010 at 7:22 pm

    My Dad would make pancakes Saturday morning in the shape of a “T” for my name! It made me feel special and Saturday mornings are still a special time for he and I to make breakfast together when I go home to visit.

  • christa
    July 27, 2010 at 7:22 pm

    mmm I would LOVE to try some of that granola!!!
    I don’t have a very vivid memory but I do remember eating fresh raspberries off the plant in my grandpa’s back yard and then putting one on each tip of my fingers. Then we would go inside and after dinner we would have vanilla ice cream with freshly picked raspberries! sooo good!!

  • Holly
    July 27, 2010 at 7:26 pm

    When my mom would make spaghetti and would stand in the kitchen and eat the hard, dry noodles.

  • Tracy
    July 27, 2010 at 7:27 pm

    I loved when my dad made dinner. It was always pancakes!!! 🙂

  • Lori H
    July 27, 2010 at 7:30 pm

    Has to be helping my grandmother bake biscuits! She never had an exact recipe,but they turned out perfect every, single, time…And yes she used real lard, butter, and crisco-that set out on the counter at all times. They were the best crunchy biscuits ever! Her “granny green beans” were good too cooked with bacon grease. Yum!

  • Gina G
    July 27, 2010 at 7:30 pm

    My favorite food memory is this one thanksgiving when we all worked together in the kitchen to make our feast. Later that evening more family members came over, and it was just a beautiful time. We made sure to eat 4 meals in one sitting, dessert, and laugh our butts off playing LCR. Loved it.

    🙂

  • ann
    July 27, 2010 at 7:38 pm

    Making xmas cookies with my mom!

  • Raewyn
    July 27, 2010 at 7:43 pm

    Wow, thanks, Jenna! I’d love to win. Mine is of my mom teaching me how to bake a cake. She never let me lick the batter but I’d sneak a lick behind her back! She even let me pretend I had a cooking show! I have great memories of sitting on the counter watching her cook while she fired math problems at me (I’m homescholed). I loved being in the kitchen with her.

  • Claire
    July 27, 2010 at 7:50 pm

    That is so hard! Can I give two? When Miss America and Miss MS came on, my mom would make a picnic in the den and we would enjoy the pageant on the floor! The next is Saturday lunch…I would usually have PB&J (but open faced with the jelly in the face of a heart!) and fritos.

  • heather
    July 27, 2010 at 7:53 pm

    Going to the farmer’s market every Saturday with my dad and being allowed to have a brownie for breakfast. 🙂

  • Janna
    July 27, 2010 at 8:00 pm

    Eating wild blueberry pancakes in Maine every summer with my family!

  • nadia
    July 27, 2010 at 8:02 pm

    I don’t know if it is my favourite memory, but definite the most memorable food experience I have was my dad baking chicken fingers in the oven before a soccer game. Except that he mixed up Fahrenheit and Celcius, so I bit into a half-cooked chicken finger. As a very picky eater (as a child), that pretty much ruined the one kind of “meat” I would eat…

  • Kristin
    July 27, 2010 at 8:05 pm

    my favorite childhood food memory is eating SEVERAL frosted blueberry pop-tarts at one time and looooving every bite of them. i would toast it until a very specific point and cut it into a certain number of tiny squares….no other food brought me such satisfaction 🙂 hahah

  • Dana
    July 27, 2010 at 8:14 pm

    My favorite childhood food memory would have to be going on bike rides with my dad and he would always prepare us “surprise” picnics, but they were always the same thing: 2 thick slices of whole grain bread, slathered with chunky peanut butter and a layer of grape jelly from the farmers market. He sticks 2 crumbled up potato chips (with ridges!) in the center of each sandwich to add a bit more crunch. Whenever I am home from college, to this day, he always packs us pb&j for our long bike rides to help us refuel. Tastes so much sweeter when made with love by dad!

  • Meagan
    July 27, 2010 at 8:27 pm

    for as long as i can remember, my parents have been divorced and remarried. it’s no big deal. it just means that i got to share every other weekend growing up with an additional brother and sister. (i am otherwise an only child). well, when ever my step- brother and sister were over, we always made a point to wake up early, brush our teeth and scurry downstairs for breakfast. this wasn’t just any morning, it was PANCAKE morning. every single saturday and sunday that my siblings were with us, my step-dad would make us smiley face pancakes with LOTS of butter and syrup. in addition, he had his own special way of making chocolate milk. he would set three tall glasses touching on the counter and take the gallon of milk and just pour and move and pour and move and pour. without stopping. same with the chocolate syrup. probably the messiest way to create chocolate milk, but when you’re 8, eating your Flintstones daily vitamin, and fighting over the “good” seat with a brother and sister you only had every now and then, it was the best freaking breakfast on the planet.

    side note (i know, it’s only supposed to be one memory, but this one is attached..) one morning, my step-dad decided he was going to flip all of our pancakes to us from the other side of the kitchen and we had to catch them with our plates- the dogs got the strikeouts. well, my sister and i caught ours perfectly (ladies first) and it was my brother’s turn. only dad didn’t tell him when we was throwing the pancake, so my brother wasn’t looking. the pancake- hot out of the skillet- soared threw the air and landed perfectly. in my brother’s lap. he looked down at it, looked at all of us, then looked down at it again. it took almost 30 seconds for the heat to register and then he finally jumped up, hollered, and danced around for a good 8 minutes while the rest of us were cracking up. mean, but hilarious. my favorite food memory. 🙂

    • Meagan
      July 27, 2010 at 8:30 pm

      grammar nazi**

      dad didn’t tell him when HE was throwing…
      soared THROUGH the air..

      had to correct my quick type typos.

  • kim
    July 27, 2010 at 8:28 pm

    sour pickles chopped width-wise in a little baggie with a bit of their juice with a scoop of hot sauce. close the baggie up, shake and let it marinate over night and I would stink up the classroom by leaving the baggie open in my desk and sneaking my hand in from time to time. hehheh.

  • Lorin
    July 27, 2010 at 8:31 pm

    After school during elementary school, I would eat chips ahoy cookies with milk while leaning back against my dad and watching t.v. Sometimes the best memories are the simplest.

  • M.E.
    July 27, 2010 at 8:51 pm

    eating ballpark hotdogs, microwaved with Kraft american cheese, I get the heebie jeebies just thinking about it now

  • Kirsten
    July 27, 2010 at 8:56 pm

    Sunday morning breakfast-my father was in charge and made so many different types of pancakes-the best were skinny pancakes-esentially crepes.

  • Chelsea
    July 27, 2010 at 9:00 pm

    picking the cookie dough chunks out of the CCCD ice cream while mommy & daddy weren’t looking ;]

  • Karoline
    July 27, 2010 at 9:12 pm

    Mine is when my grandma would visit my house, always pulling the same seafoam green cooler. Its contents were the best coldcuts from her deli in Brooklyn, her sister’s “curlies” (aka spiral pasta salad), and a giant tupperware of her homemade spaghetti and meatballs. Oh, and an Entenmann’s crumb cake in her hand!

  • MyThy as in "Mighty"
    July 27, 2010 at 9:26 pm

    I love your giveaway! I’ve been meaning to make homemade granola!
    My fave food memory was when my dad cooked for my sister & I b/c my mom had to work late (and he never cooks b/c my mom forbids him from making his “natural disaster” anywhere he works.) He made us top ramen noodles with spaghetti sauce and diced in hot dogs and hard boiled eggs. The eggs were ok if you skipped the yolk, but when you’re 8 yrs old, what do you care?! =P

  • Steph
    July 27, 2010 at 9:28 pm

    Just one!?!? I will leave you with three.

    1. My mom cooking me grilled cheese and tomato soup.

    2. My dad making omelets and American fries for Sunday brunch.

    3. My great grandma always having Pepperidge Farm Milano cookies on her kitchen table for me and my sister to eat.

  • Chelsea (Chelsea's Chew and Run Fun)
    July 27, 2010 at 9:32 pm

    My favorite food memory was eating Filet Mignons with my Dad. We ate them every other Friday (payday), and he never passed judgment on me for slathering my cut in A1 Sauce. Of course, I know better than to ruin a good steak with A1 Sauce now. 🙂

  • Annie @ Delicious Wellness
    July 27, 2010 at 9:42 pm

    I remember licking the cookie dough (or any dough for that matter) bowl until there was absolutely not a bit left. My family always made fun of me for it! I may or may not still do the same thing today. 😉

  • Jill
    July 27, 2010 at 9:45 pm

    Eating Life cereal with my brother in our jammies on bar stools in the kitchen. 🙂

  • lisampls
    July 27, 2010 at 9:48 pm

    corn on the cob! “knee high by the 4th of july,” they say. my parents would soak them in the husks alllllllll daaaaaaay and then grill them, husk on, to tender perfection. sweet, crunchy, buttered and salted. simply drool-worthy and divine.

  • chefgirl
    July 27, 2010 at 10:18 pm

    My sister and I were kind of spoiled, usually got what we wanted. One summer when I was 10 we were camping (1986-heavy canvas tent and red coleman canoe, can’t you picture it?) and us girls wanted grilled cheese sandwiches. There was no bread or cheddar left. So of course, we started whining uncontrollably. Then dad discovered a couple leftover hot dog buns and some mozzarella, making a grilled cheese in his old cast iron pan. They looked just like running shoes. From then on, we called them running shoes and requested them all the time at home. Dad died after a long battle with cancer six weeks ago. I was a very lucky girl.

    • Kendel @ Eating Abroad
      July 28, 2010 at 3:22 am

      And we’re lucky to have heard your story. Thank you for sharing something so special with us. I hope you pass on the story and running shoes to your kids someday. Celebrating the life of someone you’ve loved and lost is, in my opinion, the best way to heal.

  • Kassi
    July 27, 2010 at 11:40 pm

    Hmm. Maybe a more recent one, but the discovery of banana soft serve! And yum. I am hooked 🙂

  • Andie
    July 28, 2010 at 12:44 am

    I lived in LA with my grandparents and my Dad and sister lived in SF. The summer just after his second marriage, we went on a road trip to stay in a creaky old beach house that a friend owned, in Mendocino. A trail leading to the beach had blackberries growing wild along the sides of the path. My sister and I picked baskets of berries that were then made into pies by our new step mother, who was an amazing cook. After the pies were done we made fresh whipped cream flavored with vanilla. It was the first experience I remember of eating food that was so fresh, and with fruit that I had picked. Berry pies still remind me of that idyllic time.

  • Kendel @ Eating Abroad
    July 28, 2010 at 3:19 am

    Favorite food memory, has to be a spoonful of peanut butter tapped into chocolate chips and consumed in one, full, sticky bite. Thanks mom this this healthy habit!

  • Amy
    July 28, 2010 at 3:36 am

    I remember my dad making us “special breakfasts”-hardboiled eggs, chopped up with buttered toast-yum!

  • Kara
    July 28, 2010 at 4:09 am

    Both my parents were amazing home cooks. My favorite food memory is baking on snow days. We would be off from school and my mom (also a teacher) would spend the day baking muffins or brownies. I would be in the kitchen doing whatever I could to lick the spoon!

  • Sara N
    July 28, 2010 at 4:35 am

    Cinnamon buns on Christmas morning!

  • Meghan
    July 28, 2010 at 5:42 am

    My mom’s chocolate milkshakes when I didn’t feel good and I stayed home from school.

  • Arden
    July 28, 2010 at 5:42 am

    My favorite childhood memory is definitely eating cold pizza and ice cream during weekend breakfasts with my dad!

  • jeanna
    July 28, 2010 at 5:47 am

    I used to insist on eating peanuts out of a cup with a fork. Despite the peanuts always falling off and never making it into my mouth, I couldnt be convinced that their was an easier way.

  • Anna
    July 28, 2010 at 5:54 am

    I get nostalgic anytime I see blackberries these days because growing up we had quite a few blackberry bushes that had the hugest, sweetest, overall most awesome blackberries you’ll ever meet in your life. We used to make blackberry jam and pies and cobbler and even tried juice one time… boy do I miss those days.

  • Alison
    July 28, 2010 at 5:55 am

    My favorite childhood food memory is baking Christmas cookies with my mom and grandma. My mom and I still get together to bake every year!

  • Caroline
    July 28, 2010 at 6:00 am

    I missed the drawing, but I thought I’d share anyway: There was a week or weekend that my parents were on vacation and my brothers and I stayed with my dad’s parents who had a garden in their yard. Granddaddy took us out and let us eat cherry tomatoes right off the vine. And he always grew the best, sweetest corn and fried, homegrown okra was always a staple at family gatherings! Unfortunately the city later widened the road and the garden disappeared. I do miss it!

  • Ashley
    July 28, 2010 at 6:04 am

    I know I’m probably too late on this….but this is one of my favorite childhood memories of all time. My dad was 18 when I was born, so his culinary expertise wasn’t exactly flourishing. Needless to say we ate a lot of spaghetti, and at that age, it was only buttered noodles for me. So to make it more interesting one night, my dad used food coloring and made the spaghetti purple. BEST NIGHT OF MY 4 YEAR OLD LIFE 🙂

  • Alyssa
    July 28, 2010 at 7:02 am

    My favorite childhood memory is helping my dad with our huge garden that we had in our backyard!

  • Marilyn
    July 28, 2010 at 7:03 am

    My favorite childhood food memory is when our whole neighborhood would make homemade ice cream every 4th of July. So good and refreshing during the summer!

  • nita
    July 28, 2010 at 7:42 am

    Food memories? Well, any time I eat at my grandparents house. They were farmers who cooked very simple food but the love that went into it you could feel to your core. It makes me all warm inside just thinking about it now so many years later. After I moved from Minnesota to the East Coast I didn’t get to experience that food of love much but even now after they have passed I will never forget the happiness I felt in their kitchen helping bake cookies as a little girl or sharing the food that was made to heal my childhood pains. My grandfather had to give me a nickel when I left so I would stop crying. Food is Love, Love is Food.

  • Sarah T
    July 28, 2010 at 7:44 am

    The smell of fresh baked bread after school and eating the warm slices with butter. Yum!

  • Elizabeth
    July 28, 2010 at 7:59 am

    Mine is definitely going to the beach with my mom and sisters. We would stay literally all day and would have peanut butter and jelly sandwiches as snacks. When we would go too deep, my mom would wave from the shore to instruct us to move in. I love thinking about that image.

  • Kelly
    July 28, 2010 at 8:30 am

    Your post after this one is ironic, b/c my very favorite childhood food is my mother buttermilk biscuits. They’re perfectly light with crispy edges and they melt in your mouth. Part of their mysticism is that I cannot for the life of me make them just like hers.

  • Kelly
    July 28, 2010 at 8:33 am

    This is going to sound gross, but one of my favorite memories is when we would take a road trip from Michigan to South Carolina to visit my grandparents, and a part of our road snacks were Ritz crackers and easy cheese (you know, the cheese that comes from a can? :-)). I LOVED it when my mom would bring out the “cheese” and crackers – and she would make little designs on the crackers with the cheese. I don’t think you could pay me to touch that stuff now… 😛 Ha!

  • Amanda
    July 28, 2010 at 8:39 am

    Baking chocolate chip cookies with my Momma. I always had a hard time creaming the butter and sugar together…and the one thing I alllways hated the most was dropping it onto the cookie sheets in the appropriate size, so I’d always beg and plead until she’d do that part for me. Mmm, chocolate chip cookies.

  • Cynthia
    July 28, 2010 at 9:08 am

    picking blueberries from my grandmother’s garden with my sister and my grandparents. most of the times, we would eat them straight from the bush!

  • Claudia
    July 28, 2010 at 9:20 am

    picking grapes from my grandmothers garden and the fact that my mom made everything from scratch. she is such an awesome cook and always fed us great food. i still remember her making yogurt, and we would eat it with cantaloupe and a drizzle of honey.

  • Pippa
    July 28, 2010 at 9:30 am

    My favorite food memory is being invited over to my godparents’ house to make dinner when I was younger. I have 2 sisters and all three of us were invited to make our first dinner with my godparents (who are excellent cooks!) when we turned 5. I was sooo jealous of my older sister when she turned 5. Since then, my godfather, who is from Tennessee, has taught me to make amazing buttermilk biscuits with Lilly White flour and blueberry pies! My godmother still teases me that I requested Asparagus soup on my first visit.

  • Kelsey
    July 28, 2010 at 9:31 am

    My favorite childhood food recipe was when my grandma taught my how to make chicken an dumplins. I was probably 6 years old. I remember make the noodles from hand and being covered in flour! Another fond food memory from my childhood was making a gingerbread house. We worked so hard on it… then in the middle of the night we hear “CRASH”… we go into the kitchen and the cat is eating the remainders of our demolished house…. how sad.. we all ate it the next day 🙂

  • Cinemarie
    July 28, 2010 at 10:39 am

    My mom used to make me this weird thing that I used to love – I can’t remember for sure what all the ingredients were but it involved dipping a slice of bread in milk and sprinkling a bunch of brown sugar on top of it… I should ask her how she used to make it and try it – it’s still a bit of a mystery to me 🙂

  • Dena Semkowski
    July 28, 2010 at 10:53 am

    My favourite childhood food memory includes my whole family, every sunday, for a get together at my grandma’s house. Fortunately we still have this tradition, but a few very important people are now there only in spirit.

  • ky
    July 28, 2010 at 1:10 pm

    Making rice pudding with my grandmother

  • Heather
    July 28, 2010 at 2:11 pm

    Favorite memory: picking blueberries at the cabin in Maine and taking them back to Grandma to make muffins.

  • Jenn
    July 29, 2010 at 3:49 am

    My favorite memory is making spaghetti & meatballs with my Gramdma. Her sauce was the the best and the sauce was delicious too.
    Grandma has been gone 5 years now and even though we try to duplicate that recipe….it just doesn’t taste the same without that little pinch of Grandma’s love. <3

  • Gail
    October 31, 2010 at 1:23 pm

    Although I grew up in the city, most of my large extended family lived on farms where they raised everything they ate. One Thanksgiving when I was 12, my uncle brought in the freshly slaughtered turkey. The large feathers had been removed, and my 11-year old cousin and I were assigned the task of removing the remaining pin feathers. I will never forget how hard we worked pulling out all those small feathers. The turkey’s revenge: when we pressed on him too hard, he surprised us with a large poop! The family had a roaring laugh about the city girl running away from the Thanksgiving turkey! It’s only Butterball on my table now, but this is such a funny memory to share with my granddaughter as we prepare our frozen turkey.