By Jenna Shelton
For as long as I can remember, growing up, we would always split holidays between my grandparents’ houses. For example, on Christmas Eve, we would go to my mother’s parents house and on Christmas Day, we would go to my father’s parents house. During those holidays, no matter what holiday, we were always expected to bring two specific dishes, my mom’s rye bread with dill dip and her famous green bean casserole.
One year there had been a mix up and she accidently made a green bean casserole, even though my grandma had made one as well, but everyone just went crazy over my mother’s dish. The next year, it was requested that she start making the green bean casserole from then on.
Ironically, my grandmother, who had immigrated here from Germany and had adapted many of her home country recipes, had reportedly made up her recipe herself; but, when asked, my mother had told everyone that she just uses the Campell’s Soup recipe with some adjustments that she had made that she believes that makes it just right.
Although COVID has done a number on many of our plans for the upcoming holiday seasons, I do believe that taking the time to pass down recipes from generation to generation, spending time together in the kitchen, cooking these recipes and having the opportunity to break bread with those that we hold dear, even if they are only the ones in our quarantine bubble at this time, is infinitely important for the soul and so important to make memories in the face of an uncertain future.
Do you have a family favorite recipe that you think we should try to master or that should be featured in The Bridge? Please contact Jenna Shelton at jshelton@lc.edu or Alex Johnson at amjohnson@lc.edu for more information.
