Poor mans stew

[Guest guest]

I love old recipes too. I loaned Will an old 3 section book I got for $10

in a small town store. Turn of the century book. One part by a physician on

keeping your family healthy, one part by a vet for farm animals and pets,

third section was a farm cookbook.

My grandfather died young. Grandma had six kids to raise by herself, so she

sent them to the northern Minnesota family farm with grandpa's sister every

summer. Always lots of work, food, and love on the farm. My grandma worked

two city jobs during those months, to earn money for the extra things like

new shoes, a dress, for the school year. She always said " anybody could

afford soap, if clean, you didn't always need something new " .

My own mom spent her summers on the farm, and she could not wait to marry a

rich city fella. My dad was not rich, he just had a nice car for that time.

The funny thing was that they took their kids to " Aunt Della's " farm every

summer. That was ME. As soon as I grew up, had a job, land was more

important than a big house to me. I loved that small farm.

They used to eat " Snapping Turtle Soup " because the farm was on a lake. I

don't have a recipe. When I was 18, I called Grammy (born 1901) and asked

her how to make it. She told me that it was the best meat ever, because it

went from a white meat like walleye, to a dark red meat like liver. Seven

different colors of meat.

All I remember is that after we had the meat out, I slow cooked it in water

with veggies and it was almost like scallops. Of course, we had never

tasted scallops at that time. It was like a seafood of Minnesota.

Snappers are such ancient looking turtles. They are a part of our wild

past. There is not a problem with hunting them now, but they are on a

watch, so I would be careful about not taking to many. I want to show

snappers to my great grandkids.

Kathy