Recipes Passed Down

Today I made one of my favorite meals for dinner, Hawaiian Chicken. My Oma used to make this for my dad and my dad used to make it for us. I will most likely make it for my children who will make it for theirs. I love that. I love that I have this hand written recipe from my Oma to share with my family. A lot of my kids, if not all, will probably never meet my Oma. She has one foot out the door and the other foot will soon join the first one. I will tell great stories about my Oma. I'll let them know about this awesome family tree she had. It was a burnt orange and brown. Each person was represented by an owl. All the grandkids were smaller owls. I loved it. I will also tell them about my awesome experiences I had at her house. Like how every time we were there my Opa would drive us down to the swimming pool on his electric golf cart to meet my Oma after her water exercising so we could swim. Oh the memories. Anyway, I will tell my kids all of these great things and on top of that I will be able to share with them some of her cooking. It will be almost as if she is there with us enjoying a delicious meal.

All of this got me thinking of how great family is. Each generation of family changes. The time changes, the fads, the music, the way we live life. With that comes stories from the past. I have never personally been to a Sock Hop but it's great to hear about them. I could pretend I was at one and let my imagination run wild. Also, with each generation comes challenges. With these challenges comes opportunity to grow and learn. I learned so much from my mom. She taught me how to fight against peer pressure and how to do what I thought was right instead of what the world thought was right. I learned from her stories and I love that. I feel like the best things in the world we learn from our family. I also think that they are the most important things.

I will never be able to express how grateful I am for families. Not only for their unconditional love and sweet acts of service, but for their stories and recipes. I hope you take the time to scavenge through your families lives so you can make sure to pass the best stuff down to your kids, like my Oma's Hawaiian Chicken.

Hawaiian Chicken

Ingredients:
7-8 Chicken pieces, with or without skin
Flour
Oil
Salt and Pepper
Sauce:
1lb 4oz can Sliced Pineapple
1 C Sugar
2 T Corn Starch
3/4 C Vinegar
1 T Soy Sauce
1/4 tsp. Ground Ginger
1 Chicken Bouillon Cube
1 Green Pepper sliced into rings

Coat chicken with flour and brown in oil. Arrange pieces in shallow roasting pan and season with salt and pepper.
Preheat oven to 350.
Drain pineapple syrup into a 2 cup measure adding water to make 1 1/4 cups.
In a medium sauce pan, combine sugar, cornstarch, pineapple syrup, vinegar, soy sauce, ginger, and bouillon cube. Bring to boil, stirring constantly. Boil 2 minutes and pour over chicken.
Bake uncovered, 30 minutes. Add pineapple slices and green pepper rings. Bake 30 minutes more. Serve with white rice.