What’s to eat?

Discussing the possibilities, the Kansas Woman noted that there were dishes we once enjoyed but don’t have anymore.

We chalked off one thing after another and settled on something we haven’t had in years.

The KW said her mom used this dish as a meal stretcher, combining two things her father would eat.

The throwback dish was stewed apples with sausage. Crumbled sausage cooked while we chopped apples and stewed them. When the sausage was done, the two were combined to stew covered twenty minutes with brown sugar, cinnamon and chopped onion. We used bulk country sausage, but you could use link sausage.

There was a restaurant along I-75 that specialized in frog’s legs. “King Frog” has been closed for years, but it was popular while it lasted. Some Asian restaurants have frog’s legs as a special item.

I grew up enjoying meat loaf and never tired of it. KW had it so often that she can barely look a meat loaf in the face. She doesn’t cook it, but she will eat it if it isn’t swathed in ketchup.

The other thing she will not cook is turnip greens. Her dad grew turnips but tossed the greens to the cows.

Tapioca pudding amazed me. The tiny opaque balls have no taste other than what they acquired from the sweet pudding they floated in.

It was something we had here but not in a long time.

I remember my folks talking about “sweet breads” but never gave them much thought. I assumed they were like banana nut bread.

Not so. The KW says they are a favored cut of organ meat.

A nearby grill specialized in “Grilled Ruben Sandwiches.” A Ruben is not complicated, but you don’t make them out of what you have around the house. You have to go shopping to build a Ruben. I made them as a special item for dinner.

It is made of thinly sliced corned beef, Swiss cheese and sauerkraut on rye bread with a dressing such as Thousand Island salad dressing. And of course a dill pickle.

They are technically not kosher because the sandwich contains meat and cheese.

My mom cooked a lot of rice. We ate it plain with butter or under gravy. She stretched casseroles with it and made rice pudding. I survived on rice for a stretch of time but never tired of it.

I’ve had rice on my mind for two months after driving through Arkansas and awed at the miles and miles of rice fields, but I never see bags of Arkansas rice in the store.

We never made hot dogs but do make hot dog buns, and that looks like a good supper. joenphillips@yahoo.com