Dear Mothers of the Kitchen,
Today I am writing about making steak dinners when you have no steak.
This is how I made SALISBURY STEAK. You just fry up hamburgers and then drain them and put brown gravy mix on the top. Serve this with candlelight and mashed potatoes and a green vegetable. Hogwash the children by commenting on how tender your steak is.
Swiss Steak is like this. Fry the hamburgers part way and drain. Then put in carrots and onions and put tomato soup over the top diluted with a half can of water. Bake for about 30 minutes until carrots are done. Serve this with mashed potatoes and plenty of B.S. and you are good to go.
One time in the early years, I managed to get a small roast for the family. It was about 3 pounds but I was going to slice it thin. So I had it on a nice serving plate and my dinner was on its way except to slice the meat. John, my son (13), was standing beside me as I cut off a piece of fat and laid it on the table. Then I told him I needed a sharper knife and went to get it. I called over my shoulder for him to give that fat to the dog. I came back to the meat and it was GONE! I asked John, "What happened to the meat?" and he said, "You told me to give it to the dog." Well, the dog was happy!
Jim was sitting in the living room watching TV and waiting for the nice dinner he was about to receive. I just didn't know what to do. I was in Shock! So I just went in the living room and said to Jim, "The dog ate our meat." And went back to the table. No one said much about it. We just ate potatoes and gravy and a vegetable. I probably had bread and all... I can't remember. But that was so funny!
Well, Daisey our dog thought she was on a roll. So later in the week, I had this chunk of ham. It was small but I had it in a roaster with vegetables. I had opened the oven door to check it and my dog ran up to it and snatched the ham. I ran after her and made her give it to me and I took it in and washed it good and put it back in the roaster. Talk about fighting for your dinner!
I know I have told these nutty stories before but I have a lot of new readers so thought you all would like to read them again. Life was an adventure raising 6 children on a very small one income. Being a stay at home mother was something I had to really work at.
Love,
Connie
