Monday, July 5, 2010

Coming full circle...

 Have you ever noticed how we seem to have come full circle on how we prepare the foods we eat.
   Our Grandmothers and Great Grandmothers made everything from scratch.  They also grew their own gardens and preserved the bounty for later.
   Our Mother's lived in the age of convince.  Canned foods, frozen dinners, and ready to make mixes.  Hamburger Helper was a Mother's best friend.  No one had time for a garden, and why go to the trouble the local store carried everything you needed. No matter what the season.  Women were freed of the need to spend hours in the kitchen fixing meals for the family.  Just check out you Mother's recipes compared to your Grandmother's and Great Grandmother's. 



2 cup cooked beans versus
1 16 oz can of beans

3 tomatoes, pealed, seed removed and chopped versus 1 large can stewed tomatoes....etc.



     But where our Mother's where trying to convert their Mother's recipes into what to use from a pantry of  canned goods.  This generation is trying to convert the canned goods back into cooking with fresh foods from the gardens outside their doors, or at least from the nearest Farmer's Market. 
   No we don't tie ourselves to the kitchen.  We have food processors to cut, microwaves to cook, fryers to fry and freezers to store.  Now we can even buy the vegetables chopped.  And meats chopped, seasoned and cooked for us.  We don't even have to do this. We are even back to making our own breads, with a bread machines help, of course.  Yep, we are all about fresh foods instead of canned.  Cutting back on sugar, salt, and chemicals.  But what if we had to do it all by hand like our Grandmothers... Yeah, I think I'll hang onto the can opener for now.  Ah, you know for nostalgic purposes.

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