What is your most treasured recipe from your Grandma, Mother, or other relative?

Both of my Grandmothers are gone. Both of them were excellent cooks. My maternal Grandmother used to make this dish for Thanksgiving, Christmas, and Easter that included cottage cheese, lime Jello mix, pineapple chunks, and chopped pecans. You just mixed all those ingredients together, it was not like a Jello mold. The Jello mix was only there for flavor. We called it Gramma’s Green Jello Salad.

Unfortunately for me, Jello contains gelatin, which is not a vegetarian ingredient, so for many years I never tried to replicate the dish. A few years ago, I found a vegan Jello substitute made with agar agar (seawead) that was perfect, except that they didn’t have a lime flavor, but they did have a raspberry flavor, which tasted almost the same. It was made by a company called Hain. Unfortunately they don’t make it anymore. More recently, I found a similar product at a Japanese market, so we’re back in business. The only difference is my salad is pink, rather than green, but that’s OK, because it still fits in with the holiday color theme.

My paternal Grandma was also a great cook, but my most favorite thing that she made was this incredible garlic bread. She always let me melt the butter on the stove and then spread it onto the big, thick loaves of French bread which were sliced down the middle. She had one of those nifty old Pastry Brushes with which to apply the melted butter. Then she would give me a jar of Lawry’s Garlic Spread which was spread on top of the melted butter, then the loaves went into the oven, under the broiler. Best garlic bread ever.

My Mom was, and still is an excellent cook. Today, I’m making for her, her nectarine crisp which is similar to This Recipe

Do you have any favorite recipes from your Grandmothers, Mothers, or other relatives? Do you have the original recipe in your possession, and have you tried successfully, or unsuccessfully, to replicate it?