I don't think she really cared

I didn’t starve as a child; I just didn’t eat well prepared, tasty food.  It was probably more nutritious than I supposed but still lacked the flavor of my own cooking.  My grandmother on the other hand was very well adept in the kitchen.  I can still remember the smells of turkey, mashed potatoes, and biscuits at family gatherings.  Some of my recipes still linger with the Midwest meat and potato dishes I grew up eating.  There is nothing better than a meal loaded with carbs and starch.  There were two staples to my mother’s cooking; frozen ground beef and instant mashed potatoes.  I don’t recall why my mom lacked the skill to cook or she just never realized that her lack of skill was shaping the palates of 3 young children.  We weren’t poor but we were always on a budget.  This was the way of most families during the late 60’s and 70’s.  I hope to lead you through my childhood and give you some insight to cooking simple meals that taste like the person who made them actually cared about the end result.My mother tried, bless her; beef stew, beef and noodles, meat loaf, hamburgers, lasagna, pizza with ground beef of course, cubed steak, beef, beef, beef.  Our only ethnic dish as I remember was tacos, from a box of course with ground beef.  I still crave them today.