Cookbook Giveaway #3: Maman’s Homesick Pie
(The winner of the French Women Don’t Get Fat Cookbook is commenter #31 Megan! Congrats!)
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I have yet another cookbook for you! Maman’s Homesick Pie: A Persian Heart in an American Kitchen
Yesterday I tried the Cinnamon Date Bars, which are like on a date cake that the author greatly enjoyed as a child. I thought it sounded good, but was unsure if my kids actually would. They LOVED it– every single kid. (I’m hoping to share the recipe later – just waiting for permission from the author!) Other recipes I want to try include:
- Madame’s Cocoa Pound Cake
- Saffron Yogurt Rice with Chicken and Eggplant
- Grape Leaf Dolmas with Jeweled Rice
This book doesn’t release until October, but you can pre-order it on Amazon now by clicking on the picture above. Would you like to win a copy of this book? Just comment below and describe one food that you loved as a child. For a second entry you may mention this post on facebook, twitter or on your own blog. For me it would definitely be my mom’s lasagne, or perhaps ‘Aunt Edie Pancakes.’ (If you have Family Feasts you may have spotted that recipe!) I’m looking forward to hearing which foods are rich with nostalgia for you….
Unfortunately, I grew up on mostly processed foods but boy, does my mom make a mean apple crisp! LOL
my nana’s homemade spaghetti sauce.
i would LOVE to win a copy of this book! my hubs and i traveled to turkey last spring to work with persian refugees. we love the people! such a treat
my favorite food growing up was fried chicken. my mom also makes a fabulous blueberry-peach cobbler. yum!
My mom cooks a lot more now than she used to do when I was growing up. It wasn’t her forte and we were too busy for her to do much experimenting. Unfortunately, I mostly remember the processed foods although we really didn’t eat them all that often. We did a lot of veggie meals. The “family favorite” memory is the liver cooked with bacon and onions. Not a single one of us liked it, but we all VERY clearly remember her cooking it at least once a month!
My Mom’s homemade spaghetti sauce. Mmmmmm!
I remember rolled sugar cookies cut out in appropriate shapes at every holiday.
My Mom is an amazing cook – I remember many delicious things! But I guess I will say the assortment of Christmas cookies she made every year. Everyone had their favorites, plus a few ‘we have to have’! She would start baking in October so it wasn’t so crazy at Christmas, and it was such a neat feeling seeing the stacks of cookies growing, and knowing it meant Christmas was getting closer….
The steamed Chinese noodles from the food vendors on the streets of NYC Chinatown for $1. It is flat rice noodles with dried shrimp and scallions steamed piping hot and served with hoisin sauce, soy sauce, peanut sauce, and a touch of sesame oil. Divine, especially on a freezing cold winter morning.
sukyee28@yahoo.com
My mom wasn’t much of a home-cooker…but we did used to make these donuts out of canned biscuits, then coated in powdered sugar that I loved, and that my own kids love as well.
Love the idea of a memoir/ethnic cookbook too!
Ooh this book looks awesome! My mom was a terrible terrible cook, I grew up on frozen corn dogs and pop tarts and even as a child I knew there had to be more out there. So I will share my kids’ favorite: black bean soup with tortilla chips and as much cheese as they want. (I hide in carrots, tomatoes, celery and sometimes spinach! It’s black, they can’t see them!)
Memories of childhood always provoke fond memories of my grandma’s mac-n-cheese. Whenever I need some comfort food I mix up a batch. I was so relieved to find that using brown rice noodles (because we can’t have gluten) to replace regular noodles produces an equally good result. Yeah Grandma’s Mac-n-Cheese!
My mom was big on comfort foods. Our dinners usually resembled meals you can find in Taste of Home cookbooks – warm and filling! Casseroles were a big hit. I’d love to try some variety in home comfort cooking & this cookbook looks like a great opportunity. I was especially eyeing those Cinnamon Date Bars!
Pancake night was a favorite in my house. My dad made the best applesauce pancakes. My mom is a horrible cook, but my dad and his mother were fabulous and that is who I learned to cook from. Would love to make the chocolate pound cake that you mentioned.
My mother made something she called “Dog Food”. Basically, it was a mixture of vegetarian vegetable soup and ground beef. Despite the unappealing name, it became my younger brother’s favorite. To this day, and he’s going to be 45 this year, he still asks for it for his birthday. It provided some shocking looks when, as a kid, he invited friends over for his birthday. “Wanna come for dinner? We’re having Dog Food!”
Spanakopita. My mother is Greek, and though we didn’t eat a lot of Greek foods growing up, those we did have were greatly anticipated.
I was a very picky eater as a child. And so when I refused to leave my Aunt’s house because they were going to be grilling Sardines, my parents were shocked! It must have been a sign that I wouldn’t be a picky eater for long.
Hamburger patties and mashed potatoes, especially if the skins are still on the mashed potatoes! And lots of ketchup. This was one of my mother’s go-to meals and it is still comfort food for me today. I’ll never forget the first time I served it for dinner as a newlywed…my hubby was so confused why we were having hamburgers with no buns! His mom had never served such a thing. Aren’t we all so different?
Maple syrup pie. Oh my!
Oh my! That book sounds fantastic! My mother lived in Tehran for a few years in the 70′s with her first husband and my brothers (before my time). She learned to cook from her in-laws, Iranian women who were in Control of their kitchens.
Because of that, I grew eating food that had a decidedly middle-eastern flare. In the winter we’d eat Ghormeh Sabzi (a sort of a stew made from braised winter greens, herbs, and chunks of beef or lamb) and khoresht-e Karafts (celery stew). In the summer it was Baghali Polo (rice cooked with lima beans and dill), and Chelow Kebab (ground meat kebabs, seasoned with turmeric and a great deal of other things). Rice always had crispy tadig (crunchy golden brown rice or potatoes cooked at the bottom of the pot of rice).
We ate “normal” things too, but it was usually the Iranian foods that I loved. My brothers and I would fight over the tadig and try to steal each others lima beans when the adults weren’t looking. My mother would always tell us that the meat wasn’t juicy enough or that the rice was burnt, but we never noticed. It just tasted like home.
Thali plates are a big childhood memory for me. It is several different Indian dishes that you eat with rice or chappatis. Finding a restaurant here in Africa that serves it has made me so incredibly happy!!
Anything my mom makes!! She is the most wonderful cook and makes delcious meals every time we eat at her home. My favorite might be her German vegetable soup and strudla
Probably my mom’s homemade potato soup. It’s not like what you find in restaurants and I still request it if she comes over when I’m sick.
I unfortunately grew up on processed and fast foods. We always seemed to be on the go. I think thats why I try so hard to make homemade meals and make them as healthy as possible. The only thing I remember really liking is potato soup that wasn’t processed. I asked one of my kids what their favorite food was and they said my homemade nachos so ate least fast food wasn’t the first thing on her list. Yay!
The foods you have listed sound wonderful. Most of kids have loved the ethnic food I have made recently. I look forward to trying more 
I always loved the smell of homemade foods cooking in our house growing up. Most specifically the breads and rolls my Dad would make, and my Mom’s special brownies from scratch. And no baking day was complete without the scent of coffee brewing in their old-school percolator pot. That coffee tasted awful, but the smell as it “perc’d” is still home to me.
Oh my…my Grandma’s cousin, Mid, was at every holiday dinner and brought date pudding. So, when I saw your cinnamon date bars the memories flashed. Wish I had a recipe that was close to hers since she’s now passed.
I loved kraut perogies – a german stuffed pastry.
My mom makes a killer chicken & dumplings. I’m home with my son for a week right now and she made it for us without me having to ask. My 1-year old loved it. I love my mom.
Those date bars look scrumptious! I always loved when my Gram made pies and baked the extra crust pieces into “squirrels” with cinnamon and sugar.
Steph
My mom gave us pie crust scraps too!
My mom made my favorite meal every year for my birthday: macaroni and cheese with Velveeta (!), green beans out of a can, and all beef hot dogs. No birthday dinner at our house was complete without a homemade 3-layer chocolate cake. Such good memories. Now that I’m married, my husband and I love trying ethnic cuisine and I enjoy learning new recipes. We would savor this cookbook.
My best friend growing up was from Iran…her mom cooked like no other. One of my favorites was the fresh baklava…makes me feel 12 again!
I was (and still remain somewhat of) a picky eater and my mom wasn’t exactly a stellar cook, but she made great chocolate chip cookies and blondies. We always had the best baked goods! And, she also made great mashed potatoes.
Mom’s meatloaf & mashed potatoes. Yum.
My grandma’s homemade noodles that she only made at Thanksgiving and Christmas.
Has to be either my Grammy’s Droste chocolate cake recipe (every birthday we make it) or the Thanksgiving stuffing at Thanksgiving.
I loved sweet-tart African oranges, the kind that are delicious and sour at the same time.
This book sounds like a fun read. I always loved my Mom’s home fried potatoes. I always wanted them when I felt even a little under the weather.
I love a my mom’s fish chowder!
Growing up I was excited when my mom made pepperoni bread.
My mom’s lasagna…ironically she called it my Grandmother’s as I was convinced in my kid mind that I didn’t like hers…only learned the truth as an adult!
My mom’s chicken and dumplings. She made the dumplings southern style,which is rolled and cut into strips before dropping into the stock. Love my mom’s cooking and miss it so much since she passed away almost 7 years ago.
I don’t remember my mother being much of a cook & my step-mother was even worse. ;o) I do remember my aunt’s marzipan cookies & her dill pickles, and my older sister’s spaghetti sauce, which I supposedly have the recipe for, but have been unable to recreate & she has no memory of the recipe! Ugh. It stinks getting old. ;o)
My mother’s friend chicken was THE BEST! However, once we all realized how bad it was for our bodies I have not tasted it in decades. I still remember the electric skillet and the fried chicken. A great Tennessee memory…
My mom’s biscuit pudding. We made it with the leftover biscuits from my Grandmama’s house.
chili without beans!
I love my mom’s stroganoff!
My parents are both good cooks, but when I look back at childhood memories (as opposed to stuff I still eat often now) it’s my grandma’s baking that comes to mind. She made the best apple pie and taught me how, but I never learned to make the angel food cake that she brought for my birthday every year until I was about six.
I grew up in a German family, so we enjoyed lots of potatoes and bread. I love sausage, sauerkraut, and very good cheeses.
I loved my Grandma’s macaroni and cheese. Simple, but oh so yummy.
I’d love to win this book and even if I don’t, I’m bookmarking the page on Amazon for later. My father in law is originally from Iran.
Ohhhh I loved my Aunt Sab’s Cream Cheese & Crab spread on Trisket crackers! This book looks fascinating!! If I don’t win, I’m gonna ask my librarians to PLEeeEEEAse order it!! Thanks for the opportunity !!
(AND I made your Zucchini bread from Family Feasts last weekend–it is superb! My whole gang loved it, even those who think they don’t like zucchini! Thanks!!)
My mom used to make chicken and dumplings that were so good… I would love to have some for lunch today!