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My great grandmother was a public school cafeteria cook in an old industrial town in the midwest...
She and her fellow cooks used to bake vast numbers of made from scratch apple pies, chicken and handmade egg noodle dumplings, fried potatoes, fresh puddings, etc.

Yours sounds especially good and that's the kind of food I grew up on. My mom was a great cook. Those women deserve special honors in heaven. Maybe their hours weren't too long but it was hot and hard work. Only later was there air conditioning.

I do make wonderful apple pies but it's a lot of work so don't do it too often. They changed the Crisco taking out the trans fats and it doesn't taste any good, doesn't have much taste at all any more. I will work on chicken combinations like maybe use Bisquick for toppers with chicken, gravy and veggies. Fried potatoes, I make different kinds fresh grated hash browns and also leftover chopped. My mom used to stretch with some stale bread which got crispy. Ketchup or chili sauce on that. I have been making a lot of fresh puddings. Also rice pudding the long way in a slow oven. I tweaked it until I got it so yummy and creamy and leave the raisins and spices out now, is just unique is all I can say.

I am waiting to make a latke recipe I found on yt. I did make some yummy scalloped potatoes with Gruyere cheese, sliced with the 2mm blade for Cuisinart. All this is new to me. Anyway, as I peeled the potatoes and always cut out blemishes and eyes, they started turning dark, so got them in some cold water.

I read a tip on yt. Crush some Vitamin C (ascorbic acid). I had 3 all ready so I dissolved them in a cup of water, then as the potatoes were slicing, I poured the liquid through the skinny tube on top. I just shook the extra liquid off the potatoes when I layered them in a pan and they stayed beautiful, no discoloration at all.

I finally got a new ice cream maker, the kind you don't have to buy ice, 2 quart capacity. So I have been making coffee ice cream with Starbuck's roasted beans hit with a hammer, heated with milk, then let sit for an hour and strain out. The problem I've had is to use 1 qt half and half and 2 cups whip cream, I need twelve egg yolks. We never made it that way but it has the best consistency. So now I have 2 dozen egg whites frozen lol. Have to make an angel food cake in an oversized tube pan I guess or throw them out.

Thanks for sharing.

I spent six years as the head chef at my kids’ (Catholic) school, and that’s EXACTLY how I cooked.

If I wouldn’t serve it at my own table, I wouldn’t serve it to the kids. And yes, that meant getting there early to make homemade EVERYTHING — cookies, pizza dough, tomato sauce, soup, you name it. (Except chicken nuggets; the kindergarteners would have lynched me.)

Regards,