Meals are Memories

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

I want to do something different for the holidays this year. Instead of just blogging and giving you my holiday recipes, I am going to blog about FAMILY recipes. And I want you guys to join me! For the next six weeks, from Thanksgiving through New Year's Day, I want everyone to join me in preserving their family legacy and heritage through recipes and traditions. I am going to challenge each and every one of you to go out and gather a family recipe along with the memory or tradition that goes along with that recipe. I always say the "Meals are Memories", how are you preserving yours? 

During the next six weeks, I want you to start gathering those favorite family recipes and traditions. I want everyone to do this before it's too late. I know that there are a ton of questions I would ask my grandparents if they were still alive. I can't remember a single family holiday without them making "Golden Cadillacs" for dessert. Where did that tradition begin? What was the recipe? These are things that I don't want my kids and grandkids to ask, I want them to have all of our past, present and future traditions written down so they can be passed on. And that is the reason for this blog post. Ask you family members to give you a copy of their recipe and then write down a memory that goes along with it. During the holidays we see more family and friends and eat more meals together than any other time of the year, so don't let this season go to waste. Preserve those memories and start gathering those recipes and memories so you can pass them on to future generations. 

Once you get a family recipe, make the dish and feel free to post a photo of that meal with the hashtag #mealsarememories. I would love to see how many families we can reach this holiday season.

 I am going to start this off with my mother-in-law's goulash. I have included her recipe and I have added a few things to modernize it. So when I pass this recipe down to our kids and grandkids, I will add both her recipe and my updated version along with some of the stories and photos about both dishes. (Note: this is an American style goulash, not the traditional Hungarian goulash. The best Hungarian goulash I ever ate was at a restaurant in Marco Island, Florida called the Bavarian Inn. It was delicious. The main ingredients in all goulash are beef and paprika, then each region has their own interpretation of the dish.)

Here's what I made today from her recipe, while modernizing it a bit:

I added ground beef that is grass-fed, antibiotic and hormone free. I added the large onion, but instead of the macaroni I added cooked fusilli pasta. Instead of canned mushrooms, I added fresh mushrooms. In addition to the worcestershire sauce, I also added some soy sauce for a little more umami flavor. In addition to the red pepper, I also added some yellow and orange peppers. I added smoked paprika instead of regular paprika and I finished the dish off with fresh dill instead of oregano. 

Now, get out and ask for those family recipes so you can start preserving those memories today. Don't forget to upload a photo of the dish you made using the recipe to social media using the hashtag #mealsarememories. I can't wait to see all of them!