Moms’ Old-Fashioned Recipes That Deserve a Second Look

Some recipes we grew up eating we would rather forget.

Mystery casseroles, questionable meatloaf, strange gelatin salads and Hamburger Helper can take a seat. For me, growing up in the ‘80s and ‘90s, my mom cooked a lot of dry baked chicken and baked potatoes, with SnackWell’s devil’s food cake cookies for dessert.

But not all the food we grew up eating was bad! Sometimes we find ourselves nostalgic for the food our parents and grandparents made us. Let’s revisit some of those recipes to see which are worth making for our kids today.

Poppy Seed Chicken

This one is just as good as I remembered. It’s a dish that was sometimes served at showers or ladies’ luncheons. It’s also great as a quick weeknight dinner. Just make sure your chicken is already cooked and chopped (a great make-ahead thing to do on the weekend). There are many versions with varying amounts of sour cream and chicken. This version comes from Southern Living.

Most kids will love this creamy, buttery dish. Try it over cooked rice.

Poppy Seed Chicken

Makes 4 to 6 servings

• 3 cups cooked chicken, chopped
• 10.5-ounce can condensed cream of chicken soup
• 8-ounce container sour cream
• 1 tablespoon poppy seeds
• Crushed buttery crackers, such as Ritz (about 30)
• 1/4 cup unsalted butter, melted

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Lightly grease an 11-by-7-inch baking dish.
2. Make casserole filling: Mix together cooked chicken, cream of chicken soup, poppy seeds and sour cream. Spoon mixture into dish.
3. Make cracker topping: Pour melted butter over cracker crumbs and stir together. Sprinkle over casserole.
4. Bake casserole for 35 minutes or until hot and bubbly. Serve over cooked rice.

Ramen Noodle Salad

Do you remember when everyone and their mom was making this salad? It’s sometimes called Chinese Chicken Salad, though there’s not much that’s Chinese about it. The novelty of breaking up raw ramen noodles and adding them to the salad for crunch was the draw to this salad.

You’ll for sure find this recipe in church or community cookbooks from the ‘90s. But it turns out, it’s still a good recipe today!

If you’re making it in advance or packing it in a lunchbox, keep the dressing separate until serving.

Ramen Noodle Salad

Makes 6 servings

• 2 (3-ounce) packages chicken-flavored ramen noodles, broken into pieces, seasoning packets reserved
• ½ cup raw sunflower seeds
• ½ cup slivered almonds
• 16-ounce package coleslaw mix
• 3 green onions, chopped

Dressing:

• ½ cup olive oil
• 3 tablespoons white vinegar
• 1 tablespoon white sugar
• ½ teaspoon ground black pepper

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spread ramen noodles, sunflower seeds and almonds onto a baking sheet. Bake until toasted, about 10 to 15 minutes. Set aside to cool to room temperature.
2. Combine coleslaw mix and green onions in a large bowl. Sprinkle cooled noodle mixture over the top.
3. Make dressing: Whisk olive oil, reserved ramen seasoning packets, vinegar, sugar and black pepper together in a bowl until smooth.
4. Pour dressing over noodle mixture and toss to coat.

Wacky Cake

Wacky Cake is a recipe with Depression-era roots. Food rationing led industrious women to create all sorts of recipes with limited ingredients. But a cake without butter or eggs – both ingredients that were scarce – seems impossible and downright wacky. And so it is that the Wacky Cake got its name.

Long after the war, women passed this recipe down to the next generations. And Wacky Cake saw new life in a place where budgets are always tight – school cafeterias. Wacky Cake was a mainstay in school cafeteria lines through the ‘70s and ‘80s.

Make it just as listed for an afternoon snack cake or frost it with your favorite icing for a richer, celebratory cake.

Wacky Cake

• 1 ½ cups all-purpose flour
• 1 cup white sugar
• 4 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• ½ teaspoon salt
• 6 tablespoons vegetable oil
• 1 tablespoon cider vinegar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 cup water

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. Sift flour, sugar, cocoa powder, baking soda and salt together in an 8×8-inch ungreased cake pan. Make 3 depressions in flour mixture; pour oil into one well, vinegar into second and vanilla into third well. Pour water over all, then stir with a fork until well blended.
3. Bake in the preheated oven until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean, 30 to 40 minutes.

Watergate Salad

OK, here’s a real throwback recipe. If you’re old enough to remember the difference between VHS and Beta, you’ve probably heard of Watergate Salad. But even some millennials and Gen Z may have eaten this salad, especially if it’s one that’s become a family tradition.

For some families, it wouldn’t be a potluck or backyard barbecue without this dessert. (Many gelatin-based desserts were often called salads in the ‘50s and ‘60s, but calling it a salad isn’t fooling anyone.)

The basic recipe has been the same since it was printed in the ‘70s, though it’s been called different names including Pistachio Delight and Shamrock Salad. Though unverified, some say Watergate Salad got its name because it was served at the D.C. Watergate Hotel.

Watergate Salad

• 3.4-ounce instant pistachio pudding mix
• 20-ounce can crushed pineapple
• 1 cup miniature marshmallows
• 1/2 cup chopped pecans or pistachios
• 8-ounce container Cool Whip, thawed

1. Combine pudding mix, pineapple (with juice), marshmallows and nuts in a large bowl. Mix well. Fold in Cool Whip, and chill 1-2 hours or until ready to serve.
2. Garnish with crushed pistachios or maraschino cherries.

Natalie Mikles is a mom of three. She writes about food, sharing recipes for busy families and picky eaters. She has been recognized for her food columns as well as features on families and issues affecting local children. She loves pizza and movie nights with her family.