This week and last, in honor of Mother’s Day, we are sharing our mother’s or grandmother’s best recipe.

I have a very mixed ancestry: my maternal grandmother was Norwegian and my maternal grandfather was Polish.  My paternal grandfather was German and my paternal grandmother was Swedish.  We carried a few meal traditions in our household, typically just around the holidays.  My maternal grandmother made Polish sausage for Thanksgiving and Christmas and she also made Yulekaka, a traditional Christmas bread from Norway.

So my mother started her own tradition on Christmas Eve in our family.  We always waited for Santa to deliver our presents (oddly, he always arrived while my much older siblings were driving me around looking for his sleigh), then we had an amazing arrangement of hors d’oeuvres. After eating, we would open our presents. 

Here’s a selection of our typical meal: Swedish meatballs, chicken wings, taco dip and chips, water chestnuts wrapped in bacon, veggie tray, cheese and crackers and homemade cookies.  Here is my mother’s recipe for chicken wings: [Read more...]