Happy Mother’s Day!
To celebrate I thought that I would share a little index of all of the recipes that we have posted on this blog that came from my Mother (Glenda) and my sister’s mother (Ieva). They are both beautiful, intelligent, strong women (Our father had excellent taste) who like their food healthy and simple to prepare. We are lucky girls to have been fed by them!
As I worked on this index, I decided that I needed to include an index of recipes from my Aunty Mona and our Estonian Grandmother (Elvi) as well. These are the women who fed us on weekends and over summer vacation to give our hard-working single moms a break. Our grandmother really knew her way around a vegetable garden and a kitchen and so does my Aunty Mona.
Delicious, Easy Recipes by Glenda
My mother was a vegetarian when I was little, but added a bit of meat and a lot of fish to our diets when we moved to Hawaii when I was nine. My mother does not LOVE to cook, but she really does have a knack for creating really simple dishes that take almost no time to prepare but are tasty beyond belief. My mother has a vegetable garden again now and I cannot wait to eat from it the next time I visit her!
Elegant, Simple Recipes by Ieva
When I stayed at Ieva’s house as a teenager she introduced me to an elegant, simple way of eating. Buy good fruits, vegetables and dairy and eat them right away. Don’t destroy them with unnecessary processing or refrigeration. My farm grandparents ate this way, but Ieva taught me that one could live in a city and still seek out and eat that quality of food. Sometime in my twenties, I went to visit Ieva and my sister and Ieva was preparing a big batch of simple sautéed swiss chard and batch of home-made chicken stock. She said that she did it once a week to make preparing good food during the work week easier. I picked up the practice from her. I always have sautéed swiss chard and home-made chicken stock in my fridge!
Comforting, Impressive Recipes from Mona
Aunty Mona taught me how to bake, cook meat and make jam. These are the things that I feel I am best at as a cook. Mona is my mother’s older sister and is of the domestic goddess generation. Even amongst a generation of domestic goddesses though, I would say that Mona is a particularly accomplished and excellent cook. Whenever I am learning how to cook something new or complicated I try to channel Mona’s kitchen confidence. I say to myself “Well of course you can make jam…angel food cake…pickles…venison stew…corn pudding…a souflee.” I feel that my personal attitude toward health food can be traced to Mona as well. The pleasure that you get from the making, sharing and eating of food contributes to your health as much as the vitamins and minerals in the food itself!
Magical, Estonian Recipes from Elvi
Our Estonian grandmother grew and cooked amazing food. My sister Silvi is twelve years younger than me, so she did not get to cook with our grandmother that much. The magical thing is that Silvi grows and cooks amazing food very much in the same style as our grandmother, even though she only had a little bit of time with her. It makes me very happy.
- A Composed Spring Salad inspired by Estonian Rosolje
- Magical Estonian Apple Cake
- Vegetable Soup with Goat Milk Broth and Dumplings
MORE FAMILY STORIES AND RECIPES…
Big Sis Little Dish 
Wonderful recipes…….but even more wonderful were the ways in which you spoke of the women in your lives and their contributions to who you are! Obviously, they had powerful influences on you…..Blessed be the Feminine consciousness on the planet! Much aloha….
Happy mothers day and aloha to to you also Rollene!
xo
Erin
Thank you, Erin. What a lovely Mother’s Day present! Love, Mum
I love you!!!!!
Erin
Lovely sentiments, Erin & Sylvie (for your papa as well). And hello Aunty Mona! Pork chops in jam sauce…Sounds delicious!
Thank you Maki! If you were excited by the Aunty Mona index you could try typing Mona into the search bar to find more recipes that she had a hand in creating.
Erin
Thank you so much Erin for your sweet words. They came when needed. Love you so much dear.
I love you Mona. All the words are true!