This morning I was watching Rachel Ray. She was creating her favorite Sicilian Recipe that she used to make with her grandfather. She noted the fact that when she gets to heaven, it would be the first meal she would fix for him.

This so touched my heart. It took my mind on a journey of dishes from my German heritage.

When I get to heaven, these are the meals I want to share with my heavenly ancestors.

Mom..Pork roast…sauerkraut…mashed potatoes..applesauce.

Dad and Granpa O… Limburger cheese on black rye bread..onion..mustard..and an ice-cold glass of beer. Ok, I know it sounds gross, but when you’re raised with it…..just say’n.

Aunt Myrt and Nina….your German Potato Salad.

Granny…Dandelion Salad.

Later this afternoon, I was out in the yard with the pups, I began to pick dandelion leaves, for a savory treat. In the spring, our barn lot is a plethora of dandelions, ready for the taking.

I was always questioning Granny about her childhood. Life was tough for her growing up. My Great grandfather owned a bar in over The Rhine neighborhood in Cincinnati, during the late 1800’s.

At Christmas she would always say, ”Remember, at Christmas, all we got back then was an orange. Back then, we called it survival. There weren’t a lot of highly educated people back then, especially women.”

She always laughingly would say, ”What doesn’t kill you, will make you stronger”

Learning lessons from her life experiences, and carrying on family traditions were very important to me.

On Easter Break, when I was in the sixth grade, I picked her brain about some of her childhood Easter traditions. She’d laugh, ”Easter Bunny? Are you kidding me? Easter for us was mass and a meal. LOL..If we were lucky, we got the meal. We had to go to Mother Nature for a lot of table fixings.”

I enquired,”Gramma, can we fix a dish that you helped to prepare when you were a young girl?

“It’s the perfect time of the year to make Dandelion Salad! Let’s see if Mother Nature is ready for us,” she replied.

Out we journeyed to the outback of our small farm. I can still see Granny with her sun hat, basket, and garden trowel. She explained that we had to dig the dandelions before any flowers began to surge. ”We want to gather the leaves of a young plant. The leaves taste somewhat like endive lettuce. It has somewhat of a mild bitter taste.”

She also explained how Dandelion Tea is very healthy.

We gathered the necessary crop, and prepared the recipe:

Dandelion leaves/onion/small ,red boiled potatoes/bacon/vinegar/sugar/salt and pepper to taste.

Fry the bacon crisp. Save the drippings. In the drippings sauté the onion . Make a German vinegar dressing with vinegar and sugar. Pour the hot dressing over the dandelion leaves. It’s the same as making wilted lettuce. Add small boiled

potatoes. Then add salt and pepper to taste.

Whenever we did something special together, she always added a twist, by including a life lesson.

“You know, as you get older, you may get into a rut. You may need to change a job, or build a new life. You may have to move and build new relationships. Don’t be hesitant. Life is sort of like making Dandelion Salad. By adding simple, new experiences, your life can take on a whole new flavor. Things of little importance can flavor your life”

May God lead you to add flavor….and savor your new life.

Love Granny,

Sue