You know, my mother was probably an average cook. It's surprising because she was so exceptional in other ways as a mother. But I think she was very adventurous in cooking, much like me. When I was about 5 or 6 she and I came up with this recipe. Chile con carne with raisins. Her Chile recipe was already pretty good. But raisins taste very good with Chile. You'd be surprised. They plump in the Chile you know. Try it. And she made my father and I this Chinese Chicken nugget dish. The Chicken nuggets were good. But the Sweet and Sour dipping sauce was exceptional. One part Apricot Jelly and one part Ketchup. Make sure the Apricot jelly has no chunks of fruit in it though. Again try it. It's very good. And around 1995 she was making us this Polish dish Bigos or Hunters' Stew. Bigos is usually Kielbasa, Sauer Kraut and Beef, often in Beef Stock. She used Cabbage instead of Sauer Kraut. And then simmered it in Campbell's Consommé. It wasn't really part of the original recipe. But it tasted much better. It was really very good. Try it.
I'll pass on the Polish stuff, but I like Borscht. I ate enough stuffed cabbage as a kid. The raisins with chili and apricot with ketchup on chicken nuggets sound interesting!
