Cabbage & Rice

I grew up with an odd lunch box. No bologna sandwiches for me, instead, a thermos filled with lentil soup or cabbage and rice. Bottomless bowls of cabbage and rice were served in our house, weekly, and my mother snagged that meal from my grandma. The showstopper in her cabbage and rice were the delicious bits of bacon. Beans and rice are peasant food, I’m glad that I grew up eating like a peasant because eating poor never tasted so rich. American kids rarely grow up with a fondness for lentils and cabbage, but I did. Sure, I was chubby and was made fun of, relentlessly, because of my stinky lunch box – but the truth remains that I wouldn’t change a thing.

dinner, leftoverstina corradoSeptember 27, 2025rice, cabbage, bacon

Turkey Soup For The Soul

A few days after Thanksgiving, there was a turkey carcass sitting in a plastic bag, on the bottom shelf of the 2nd refrigerator in my aunt and uncle’s basement. I opened the door and heard it whisper “Use me. I will make you the most tasty and delicious bowl of soup.” And, so it was. And, so it was true. I removed the turkey carcass from the plastic bag, cleaned out her cavity so there were no more stuffing remains, trimming some fat and gelatinous bits.

dinner, lunch, leftoverstina corradoDecember 5, 2024turkey, soup, vegetables, poultry

Dad's Potato Pie

When I was growing up there were a few things that my father cooked that were completely unforgettable. Although my mother did the majority of the cooking, when my father participated his signatures were pizza, calzones, stromboli, Sunday sauce, fried eggplant, pasta with beans, incredible ham and cheese omelettes, mind blowing sandwiches and potato pie. Potato pie was often made on a Sunday and served when mom made roast beef or a piece of meat, on the rare occasions that we didn’t have pasta.

Tina To Table