A Recipe for Remembering
Adapting a family recipe to protect my mind and carry forward a legacy of adventure.
I’ve prepared five-course meals on yachts in the Mediterranean, balancing complex flavors for palates that have tasted everything. But lately, the dish that’s been occupying my heart is my Great Aunt Mabel’s hamburger hot dish.
It’s the simplest thing you could ever imagine, and a staple from my childhood. My mom made it, and I made it for my daughters. In a square baking pan, she’d put four raw hamburger patties, layer them with thinly sliced potatoes, and then pour a can of cream of mushroom soup and some water over the top. A sprinkle of frozen corn, and into the oven it went for what felt like an eternity.
It had to cook so long to get the potatoes tender and the hamburgers cooked through. It always came out piping hot, a bubbling landscape of Midwestern comfort. I can’t count the number of times I burned my tongue, unable to wait for it to cool.
I’ve been thinking about Aunt Mabel a lot. I’m currently reading a manuscript she wrote in the late seventies, a family history she shared when I was just a child. It’s a tangible link to our past, and it’s been on my mind as I’ve been forced to confront my own future.
Recently, I’ve been making some significant changes, prompted by strong indications for dementia in my family line. I decided that while I’m young enough to make a difference, I have to try. For me, this meant finally addressing my hearing loss and untreated sleep apnea. After getting a CPAP machine, this has been life-altering. It also meant adopting the MIND diet.
This diet is specifically designed to support brain health, which means limiting things like red meat, dairy, and high-fat foods.
Suddenly, Aunt Mabel’s beloved hot dish, with its ground beef and canned soup, felt like a memory I could no longer enjoy.
Then, we planned a camping trip to Fort Stevens, Oregon, and the challenge clicked into place. Could I adapt this piece of my childhood for my new reality? Could I make a version that was not only MIND-diet friendly, but simple enough to cook on a propane stove at a campsite?
The night before we left, I did my prep. I browned ground turkey with onions, garlic powder, and a half-bag of kale. I boiled, cooled, and sliced some potatoes. I sliced mushrooms. I packed everything into the cooler, ready for the adventure.
Our first night at Fort Stevens, I set up my little propane stove. The smell of the forest, thick with pine and damp earth, was all around us. The ocean was so close I could hear it.
As I sautéed the mushrooms, onions, and celery in my cast iron pot, I thought about Aunt Mabel’s manuscript. In it, she details a family trip from Iowa to California, up the coast to Seattle, and back again. It took them nearly a year, traveling in a way we can hardly imagine.
I stood there, stirring oat flour into the vegetables, then slowly adding a mix of chicken broth and oat milk. As it thickened, I added the pre-cooked turkey, the potatoes, and a packet of frozen corn. The smell wafting from that pot, earthy mushrooms, savory turkey, the sweetness of corn, mingled with the scent of the trees.
And in that moment, I could almost see them. My ancestors, perhaps on this very stretch of coast, cooking a simple meal over an open fire.
I was connecting to my past not just by reading about it, but by living it, in my own way. I was honoring their legacy while taking active steps to protect my own, ensuring I’ll be around to tell their stories, and mine, for a long time to come.
It’s a strange and beautiful thing, to hold a childhood memory in one hand and a new reality in the other, and find a way to make them dinner.
-R. Michael
GET THE RECIPES!
Ready to make a memory? You can find both the classic version of Aunt Mabel’s Hot Dish and my new, brain-healthy camp adaptation in a separate post right here.
CLICK HERE for Aunt Mabel’s Hot Dish (Classic & Campfire Edition)
I love Fort Stevens! I camp there with the Casita and my dog Poppy at least once a year.
What a wonderful way of honoring your ancestors and yourself. Change is hard, but you have the skills and the desire and I'm inspired by your journey. It's so easy to fall into unhealthy patterns and I need to make some changes too. Go you!
What a feeling to be retracing your family's footsteps. Great pic.