Vernabelle

The year has arrived to finally complete a dream I've had for my family. I grew up in a home where Mom made everything from scratch, things like sauces, gravy, salad dressing, mayonnaise, noodles, breads, and endless desserts. Rarely, did you ever find a box mix for cake or a frozen entree to heat up in the oven. Of course as kids, we always craved what you didn't have, we wanted those bags of Chips Ahoy! But not! Not really, because nothing tasted as good as Mom's Sunday dinners, Thanksgiving feasts, or holiday meals. I grew up from that determining to be the kind of Mom who would be remembered for homemade cooking too, even though modern times would have me give it up. So this is a blog for recipes from the best, from Vernabelle. These are her choice recipes to pass on to the next generations, with the encouragement to delight yourselves in the ministry of homemade food for your families . . .

After Mom had passed away, I told Dad of my plans to write a recipe book from Mom to pass on to each of our family members, and he was quite delighted. I asked him to write a preface for me and this is what he wrote:

"Cooking is both an art and a ministry to be cultivated through experiences whether good or bad. My young wife, Verna, was a 'city' girl learning so well from her mother who was an excellent cook.

Throughout the years, Verna, developed into a homespun, masterful, culinary artist without creating fancy dishes but with solid, basic, tasty food, pleasing to the palate for her husband and family.

One of my favorite dishes was tenderized round steak, mashed potatoes with gleaming golden brown gravy, and giant Lima beans, prepared carefully and lovingly. She would top this off with some unusual treats from some of the recipes found in this book.

May the readers be motivated to try them and determine to be the best cooks possible!"

Robert C. Strubhar, Verna's husband
(otherwise known as Daddio)