Meals My Mama Made - 2

Dad loved meat and potatoes .. every evening we would have meat, potatoes and GRAVY. Mom was an expert at making gravy .. whatever we had .. somehow she managed to give Dad the gravy he needed .. whether it was bologna, liver or bacon .. there was gravy.

There was a winter that we moved to the farm across the road .. the Vilner Place .. it was a bleak winter. The garden had not thrived .. except .. for the much loved potatoes and green beans. Meal after meal we ate eggs, potatoes and beans .. and when we didn't eat that .. we ate potatoes, beans and eggs .. and then for a change .. we had beans, eggs and potatoes. This changed when Uncle Sam produced a case of Spam and one of strawberry Quik .. now we had Spam, potatoes and beans .. but it wasn't just your ordinary Spam .. Mom .. the gravy queen .. produced marvelous Spam gravy. Life didn't get better than this .. and we could now wash it down with strawberry flavored milk (Unfortunately .. we had so much then .. I haven't been able to really enjoy strawberry flavored milk since that time).

I am my father's daughter .. I love potatoes .. and if the gravy is as good as Mom's always was .. I love gravy. When Mom made meatballs .. there was always enough gravy for the potatoes and there was even enough for Dad to pour over a slice of bread to eat after he finished his potatoes. So I include the meatball recipe that Mom used time and time again over the years. The meal always included mashed potatoes, boiled veggies, buns or bread and often a Gramma salad as well.

Meatballs

2 lbs ground beef

3 slices of bread, crumbed

1 medum onion, finely chopped

1/2 cup milk

1/2 tsp pepper

1 tsp salt

1/2 tsp allspice

Mix ingredients together, make into balls of desired size, flatten a bit and brown in a frying pan. Drop into a saucepan with approximately 4 cups of water and boil for about 20-30 minutes. Add about a 1/4 cup of flour that has been shaken in 3/4 cup of cold water to remove lumps .. bring to a boil and cook until nicely thickened.

Sometimes after this we would have dessert .. but often Mom would say "You can have a slice of bread with jam if you want dessert."