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

For as long as I can remember, Mock Danish Meatballs have been a favorite of my brothers and sisters. You knew it was going to be something special when you walked into the kitchen and our mom was making them. Succulent little meatballs filled a huge frying pan (or two, if we were lucky). The whole thing, with a delicious sauce, got poured over noodles at the end and mixed up together, the sauce clinging to the noodles.

We would fight over the last morsels.

I remember at my baby shower, my mom made huge batches of the meatballs, and had my brother carry in crock-pots to keep it warm; she even made me a special batch, since I am supposed to avoid wheat in the regular noodles.

It was a recipe my mother got from her mother, who grew up as something of a Southern belle. Mary Fleming, as my grandmother was called, was a dark-haired beauty. She grew up in Virginia and there was nothing Danish about her (except she did have great taste in furniture – does that count?). My grandmother was a wonderful cook. When I was little she had a special trick: she would mix grape juice with orange juice and let me watch the purple swirl into the orange. She was the only adult I ever knew who did that, and I loved drinking that special mix she made just for me. [Read more...]