Behind Every Recipe is a Story: Bailey's Famous Salad

The Bailey side of my family would make gobs of food when we all got together.

Grandma Bailey would always let me eat as many of her DELICIOUS sugar cookies as I wanted, as long as I had enough room for dinner, too.

I loved my Grandma with all my heart - she accepted me into her family like I was a blood granddaughter.

I was a kid - so I could eat A LOT of those cookies!

The one side dish my Aunt Faye made every time the Bailey's got together I HAD to get the recipe for when I got near my late teens, so I could make it at home.

I loved the famous Bailey salad and still to this day make it for all the big holiday meals (and sometimes just by itself for dinner).

I got better preparing it than my Dad!   Sorry, Dad! :)

Here is the recipe:

Enjoy!

1) Use one of the larger bowls you have, to help mix and also hold the large salad.  You can easily feed 4 people.

2) Three different lettuces together - the lettuce is never cut, but torn apart by hand:

• Romaine, 
• Iceberg, 
• Leaf,

3) 1 teaspoon garlic powder
4) 1 teaspoon fresh ground pepper
5) Cooked REAL bacon (usually a whole package)
6) 1 tablespoon canola oil
7) 1 1/2 tablespoon red-wine vinegar

Behind every recipe is a story: Tacos

Back in the mid 1990s, I was VERY picky with food.  I still ate like a child, and would not try a lot of different types of food in fear of my taste buds having another rejection, lol.

One day, I go to my dear friend June's house, and she had just made some tacos for her and her husband.  I think I stopped by to drop something off or pick something up, as dinner plans had not been made with her.  But, ironically, I was STARVING.  Omg, I was SO hungry, I actually almost had to try the tacos.  Even though I was SO very picky.

I was nervous, as it seemed there were quite a few "things" in the seasoning of the taco meat that scared me (the unknowns!).  Because I could SEE there wasn't just meat, I was timid and nervous.  But I was too hungry not to try it.

I took a bite.

And could not believe how so delicious it was!

I ate the whole thing!  I was ecstatic!

"What is in your tacos?"  I exclaimed with excitement.

"It's a secret,"  she replied laughing.

She watched me devour another taco, expressing how SO good they were.

She finally got up, went to the cupboard and grabbed a few things.

"Here is my secret," she reveals.

McCormick Taco mix (original, not mild, not spicy).  BUT!  Then she adds Fajita seasonings and Lemon Pepper - which is what makes it so dang tasty!

I make them to this day, and it takes less than 10 minutes prep time!

Cook hamburger meat, add taco seasoning and water.  Come to a bowl.  Then add a lot of fajita seasoning and a lot of lemon pepper.  I would say half to a full teaspoon of each.  Taste as you go along after half a teaspoon, to see if you should add more or not.

While it cooks for 5 minutes, I heat up the stand-alone corn tortillas, shred the lettuce and copped the tomatoes, while setting out sour cream and finely shredded sharp cheddar cheese.

YUM!

Behind every recipe is a story: Mom's Spaghetti

My Mom had this great recipe for spaghetti!  She would make it once a month or so all my teenage years, and I would devour it in several sittings (it was enough for several meals).

We never had store bought spaghetti and even to this day, I cannot eat spaghetti at a restaurant, because it's not "Mom's Spaghetti."

My Mom knew what I did and did not like and most spaghetti sauces have huge chunks of onions in it, and I do NOT like onions.  If I take a bite of something and can feel an onion on my tongue, I spit it out, and push my plate away. YUCK!

I always visited my parents a couple of weekends a month while I was in college.  This one particular weekend, my Mom asked me what I wanted to eat and of course I said, "Mom's Spaghetti."

During the late afternoon on Saturday, I come flying through the kitchen to go into the backyard and I stop dead in my tracks.

"Mom, what are you doing!?!"  I say with a raised, upset voice.

"You KNOW I don't like onions!"

There they were, 2-3 big round onions sitting on the carving board.

"Melinda," she shares, "I've been putting onions in the spaghetti all these years, Honey."

I look at her dumbfounded.

"What?" I now say in a whispering, deflated, disappointed voice.

She continues, "I put them in the blender and the onion purees and you can't see it or feel it in your mouth. I've been doing it for years."

"You have?"

"Yes, and you never noticed, so you better eat dinner," she demanded.

I ate dinner that night (carefully at first) and it was still VERY tasty and Mom was right, I could not tell there were onions in it.

Years later, I get her spaghetti recipe from her because I'm craving the awesome taste of it.  I go to the grocery store and on the list for the spaghetti is "Two Medium Yellow Onions."

"Two medium yellow onions," I repeat in my head.

I am in the fresh vegetables area and I walk up to the onions.  I see there are white kinds and yellow kinds.

Medium?

WTH would be a "medium?"

Being as I HATE onions, I have never bought an onion before in my life.  Medium?  I tried my best to pick two medium yellow onions and went on my way with the rest of the recipe ingredients down the list.

I got home and made the spaghetti, putting the onions in the blender with the cans of whole tomatoes. Blending for a LONG time to ensure the onions aren't even visible, lol.

Turns out, now I buy even MORE onions for Mom's Spaghetti.  :)  Little did I know that's what gives the sauce it's sweet taste!   Two mediums will no longer suffice. :)

Mom's Spaghetti Recipe:

1 pound of hamburger

2 each-6oz can of Hunts tomato paste and sauce

2 can Hunts whole, peeled tomatoes (28oz)

2 yellow medium onions (blend in blender with whole tomatoes)

4 pinches of sweet basil and oregano

2 leaves of bay (not turkish)

4 pinches italian seasoning

3 pinches of (fine,ground)

4 pinches of minced garlic

1 cup of red win