Saturday night supper

I’ve written previously about our favorite takeout meal, but most of the time Mom cooked for us on the weekends. When I was in high school, I had a part-time job at Alin’s Party Supply and Dad was working as a security guard. We both worked all day Saturday, so when we came home, we were starving.

One of our favorite Saturday suppers was when Mom made chili. Mom was no gourmet chef, but having been born and raised on a farm, she knew her way around a kitchen and how to cook up family-pleasing meals. The chili was one of those all-day affairs, where you let it simmer for hours on end. Dad and I would each have a heaping bowl, topped with shredded cheese and green onions, and would usually end up going back for seconds.

The battle was over the cornbread twists.

These were not homemade, just a product out of one of those twist-pop cans from Pillsbury. My mom certainly was capable of making real cornbread, and did on other occasions. (No sugar or egg, just like the way her mother made it.) But once these cornbread twists were on the market, they were such a hit with Dad and I that Mom didn’t have to worry about making cornbread from scratch anymore.

You could make them as the traditional twists or you could take two of them, wrap them together, and turn them into muffins. Mom says I told her, “Yeah, those are good, but Dad eats too many that way. Just make the twists.”

I guess Mom was having a nostalgic moment recently and wondered if Pillsbury still made the cornbread twists. I checked for her and they don’t, but from reading the numerous online comments, we weren’t the only family that enjoyed them. Hopefully wherever Dad is now, he can eat his fill of those cornbread twists along with a heaping bowl of chili.