My mom did all the cooking, and she made it clear she didn’t enjoy it.

One of my favorites was “beans and hamburger”, basically what it says, but whatever else she put in it was lost to time and Alzheimer’s. I gave up trying to replicate it.

Probably, tuna casserole was the closest we got to hot dog jell-o. I liked tuna casserole. I liked pretty much everything my mom made for dinner. We often had canned peaches or pears over cottage cheese as a side.

However, she overcooked meat, and I thought I didn’t like meat until I was an adult. My poor dad just put up with it, because the only alternative was cooking it himself, and that wasn’t going to happen. But, even if he had, she would have complained, so the only time he got decent meat was at a restaurant.

The only thing I remember my dad making was rice pudding. he made it with raisins and it was delicious.