When Ryan and I were still a relatively new couple, I wanted to surprise him with his favorite home cooked meal one evening. When I asked him about his favorite childhood dinner, he rattled off the following foods:
- Ham steak
- Peas
- Ramen noodles (with the broth drained, tossed in butter <— He was very specific about this!)
- Fresh strawberries
Easy to please!
Ryan still raves about ham steak and threw one in our cart at the grocery store earlier this week. Last night I cooked it in a skillet with a super-simple glaze of Dijon mustard and brown sugar.
We enjoyed the ham with with roasted cauliflower and broccoli and a sweet potato topped with a bit of butter.
After a friend highly recommended Kerrygold pure Irish butter, I finally bought some last week and must say it is pretty darn fabulous. Just a little bit of the unsalted butter on top of my sweet potato added so much flavor!
Once we were done eating dinner, we took Sadie on a walk around the neighborhood before we parked our butts on the couch and spent some time reading through all of the awesome travel recommendations you guys left on my morning blog post yesterday.
I love that so many of you encouraged us to enjoy a less-structured vacation in Ireland, since that’s what we really hope to do. Though I’m usually a big-time planner, renting a car and exploring sounds absolutely fabulous!
Question of the Morning
- What was your favorite dinner as a child?
I have a few favorites but spaghetti and corned beef and cabbage top my list!
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Does pancakes count?! haha. It was a favorite for sure. I also loved my Mom’s homemade clam chowder soup.
breakfast for dinner is always a winner. 😉
I have zero Asian heritage BUT I do think my mom (who is Czech and born in Ohio, haha) makes a fabulous chop suey! We would always get so excited to eat it as kids.
I loved when my mom would make a roast, or her matzah ball soup. So good 🙂
My favorite dinner as a child was (and kinda still is!) enchiladas. We would all get in on the action with a different task- my dad was always the enchilada roller. Since I went vegetarian really young and my brother was sort of picky, he would “decorate” the tops with different ingredients (olives, peppers, etc.) so that everyone knew which one was their’s. Good times:)
i love that your whole family got involved!
Definitely taco night! Still one of my favorite meals to this day 🙂
Mine was baked chicken strips & french fries, or a batch of my Dad’s chili! 🙂 A good ‘ol can of Beefaroni was a close second! LOL
This is so gross, but I used to love those Kid Cuisine frozen meals as a kid. You know, the one with the penguin on it? SO bad for you, I’m sure. But that was like the best treat ever.
oh my gosh, i remember those commercials!
My mom would only let me have those kid cuisines like once a month or whatnot and one time she took me to the doctor, and he asked what my favorite meal my mother made for me was and I said “TV DINNERS” haha because that’s what my mom would call them since I could eat them in the living room instead of the table. My mom says she wanted to hide under a rock.
I loved those! We also called them tv dinners – we only had them when my parents would go out and we had a sitter. It was such a big deal going to the grocery store and picking which one we wanted. Big treat in our house.
Hm… I loved it all! Although, my favorite might be my dad’s made-from-scratch fettuccine Alfredo, which he made for special occasions! The noodles were from scratch as was the super creamy, cheesy sauce. SO GOOD!
My mom’s lasagna was the best, and I sure do miss it now that we don’t live in the same city! I also loved when she would make blueberry pancakes, bacon, and eggs for dinner too 🙂
That looks so yum and I love a good ham steak! I want that sweet potato! My favorite childhood dinner was my moms’ chicken parm and her beef stroganoff. I still have yet to make the beef dish. I better get crackin’! You (or Ryan) would probably like this post about the ham steak I had one night. http://danastonerock.blogspot.com/2013/01/ham-steak-for-one.html
Sadie is adorable!
When I was little, my mom would ALWAYS try to involve both me and my sister (almost 3 years older than me) in cooking and one of our favorite things to make was called Salad In A Pocket. It was simply a pita split open with basic salad ingredients stuffed inside of it and to this day, I still love Salad In A Pocket. I always daydream myself back to my mom’s kitchen, standing in a high-back chair at the counter, “helping” her and my sister prepare our magical meal together 🙂
I loved tacos, and also my moms homemade mac and cheese!
Oh very definitely country fried steak, green beans, and macaroni & cheese. It’s just one of those meals that tastes like home.
I can’t say I’ve ever had a ham steak! One of my favorite childhood dinners was lasagna! I also loved when we had blueberry pancakes, eggs, and bacon – BRINNER! 🙂
My favorite was either pancakes for dinner (my dad makes the best) or chicken cutlets with mashed potatoes and stuffing, delicious!
My boyfriend and I just had corned beef and cabbage for dinner last night! We have tons of leftovers, come on over! 🙂
Sketti!!! AKA: “Spaghetti” was my all-time favorite as well! I have to say that Ramen noodles finish a close second though! I have never tried adding butter but I also drain mine. Your dinner looked delicious! Thanks for sharing!
Hahaha whenever I hear the word ‘sketti’ I automatically think of Honey Boo Boo–how sad is that?!
I’ve never been a big fan of butter, but I love Kerrygold!
I love seeing more dinner posts on PBF lately! I haven’t had a ham steak in ages–I promise I’m going to the grocery store to buy one for dinner now!
thanks, lindsey! so glad to hear it!
Definitely tuna pasta bake with loads and loads of cheese. That and tacos or spaghetti bolognaise.
Also mum used to make beef croquettes a traditional Dutch dish since mum is Dutch and they were delicious. Basically a deep fried shredded beef in breadcrumbs served with mustard. So not healthy but definitely delicious!
What exactly is ham steak?? Just a fried ham patty? My favorite childhood meal was either my dad’s spaghetti (it had fennel seeds in it–so fancy!) or my grandma’s fried pork chops. Or really anything fried, let’s get real!
just a sliced piece of salted ham!
I used to love when my mom would make a pork tenderloin for dinner one night and then she would use the leftovers for the best fried rice!
My favorite dinner as a child was mac and cheese! Nothing beats it.
My mom made all sorts of casserole’s. One of my favorites was a tator tot casserole….very healthy, of course. Haha!!
my favourite was always spaghetti with my mom’s homemade sauce. mmmmmmmm
I’m pretty simple, I love a good grilled cheese and tomato soup. Though these days my grilled cheese are a little more fancy pants with asiago peppercorn sourdough and 3 cheeses but good ol’ square Wonder Bread and Velveeta tastes like childhood. So does Chef Boy Ardee Pepperoni Pizza but I think making it was half the fun!
this is gonna sound gross but it really is deeelish!! my mom makes amazing homemade meatloaf and mac n cheese and with that we’d have creamed spinach (which was just the frozen kind in publix). the gross sounding but oh so awesome part- the only way i loved to eat it was by combining all of them together in one big mixed up pile on my plate. still crave it once and awhile even though i’m grown! 🙂
Beef stew was a favorite. Still love it on a cold day.
The Kidless Kronicles
Ryan and I have very similar tastes! I loved (and still do love) a good ham steak. If you want to work in the peas with it, I’ve always been a fan of diced ham steak, peas, some diced broccoli, and pasta smothered with alfredo sauce. Comfort food for me!
Kerrygold is amazing.. you have to try the cheese too!!
I have always and will always love spaghetti night!
Sloppy joes was always my favorite.
Every now and again, my dad would make these delightful pig-in-a-blanket-esque things, which were hot dogs sliced down the middle, stuffed with American cheese, and then rolled up in a crescent roll. aka the definition of health food 😛 Hahaha. They were SO GOOD! Honestly, I liked the crescent roll more than anything, but that was pretty much the only circumstance under which we would get crescent rolls, so I took what I could get 😛
Mac and Cheese!!!
My childhood favorite is probably spaghetti and meatballs or macaroni and cheese. I just love carbs, I guess. Haha! It’s the Italian in me 😉
You never said your own fave childhood dinner?
Also, what are you typical 2-3 standard bedtime snacks. I have bad habits with this!
And lastly, can you give the approx. times of your meals? I always ask this bloggers this out of curiosity!
Thanks.
Corned beef is up there for me, but my grandmother made the best chicken spaghetti, it still stands out and I haven’t had it for years. SHe used to slow cook the chicken so it was more shredded than just chunks. She would also add 1 chicken gizzard and who ever got it was set for good luck.
Growing up in the midwest–my mom was the Queen of casseroles.
When i was a kid, she would make something called “corny chicken.” it was a Bake of shredded chicken breast, celerey, and cream of celery soup with cornbread stuffing on top.
It tasted like a hug.
Kraft Macaroni and cheese.. I was a simple child lol
Corn dogs (bonus points for mini ‘dogs) and french fries. On our birhdays growing up we got whatever we wanted to eat, and I had that for probably 10 years in a row. My whole family dreaded my birthday meal!
Don’t judge, but my mom use to make spam, eggs and rice for me and it always reminds me if my childhood!
Grandma’s macaroni! Made with Velveeta and lots of creamy milk…even to this day, when a relative offers to make it, I’m the first to say yes!
spaghetti bolognese was and continues to be my absolute favourite dinner!
I’ve always been a simple meat and potatoes kind of girl… Chicken fingers with creamy mashed potatoes and a side of corn was always one of my favorite meals. That and mac and cheese 😀
My moms homemade lasagna for sure!!! Whenever I see her I ask her to make it for me! 🙂
I loved eating lil smokies with ketchup for dinner in kindergarten. Not exactly well-balanced, but my parents had just divorced so we were all still adjusting. For my dad that meant learning to cook. Nowadays, he’s an AWESOME cook. But I still remember the lil smokies days!! 🙂
My husband loves ham steak. It’s one of his favorites as well. My mom made this cranberry chicken dish when I was younger that was delicious. I need to get the recipe from her!
I always loved ham & greenbeans with potatoes. Or pork and sauerkraut with mashed potatoes. I grew up in a PA Dutch family– we’re meat and potatoes kind of people. Can you tell?? lol
Why does Sadie look so sad? Did she find out she’s not going to Ireland? My favorite dinner was definitely turkey dinner with my mom’s turkey gravy. Have never had any gravy that tops it!
My favorite was my moms Mac and cheese! She makes it using the Good Housekeeping recipe, which I always use–sooo good!