Joyce Freund, my mom, was raised in a small town in upstate New York. Food is not extravagant or fancy there, just simple and fresh. Dinner is served at 2 or 3 in the afternoon and can be a really big meal. Meat, potatoes and vegetables. All the basics.                      

    When my mom married and had me to raise, meals were meat, potatoes and vegetables but with a side of fun. I learned all the good basics of baking chocolate chip cookies, making pudding on the stove and learning why you wait for Jello to gel. Mom always tried to make sure we had fresh veggies, fruits and grains in the house for breakfast and snacks outside of the regular meals. We never had any junk food.    

    To this day, I’m sure that mom has never traveled without a piece of fruit or a muffin in her purse. With this in mind, my favorite snack to keep handy as I grew up was her blueberry bran muffins from a recipe that can barely be read anymore from all the kitchen use. I think there are actually a few cards floating around from trying to recopy so we didn’t lose the recipe! Mom and I are both lovers of fresh breads with lots of texture. Those muffins had it all. She made them big and small and often – still does. With or without the extra dollop of butter on them, they were portable, and a definite treat.

 

June, 2007