Our paternal grandmother Muddie (don’t ask me why we called her that, her name was Hattie Hughes) cooked from sunup til sundown and never once wrote  down a thing.

I emailed my cousin the other day in search of our grandmother’s recipes for the from-scratch rolls and cakes that she baked, intending to figure out how to make them healthier. Muddie lived with our cousins in Greensboro, NC, and we lived in Philly, so we didn’t get to see her very often. She baked rolls and caramel cakes, mailed them to us for the holidays and we just couldn’t seem to get enough.

But when she did visit us a few times a year she’d take over my mama’s kitchen. Unfortunately, she kept all of those recipes in her head, and not one of her five granddaughters learned the trade secrets of her baking. Then again, that’s probably a good thing since they were so fattening, and we’re all watching our weight.  My cousin agrees with me that her cooking, like many southern blacks, although delicious, wasn’t healthy at all.

Although my own mother is also a good cook, her foods were much more nutritional. So, naturally like most children, we wanted the opposite and considered Muddie’s soul food a real treat. But there was always this  jar of bacon grease - I worried about it and have long since gotten rid of  – that would find its way into many of her dishes. Muddie would  tell me just to pick out the bacon floating atop her stringbeans when I’d complain.

Since most of our family suffers from hypertension these days, we’re all careful about what we eat. Dad did pass down her technique for  frying  chicken.  Although it’s unhealthy, I have to admit that I do make an exception every once in a while. Normally, I oven-fry chicken, which tastes just as good. When I do fry, I use pure vegetable oil instead of grease ,and lots of fresh herbs replace the need for heavy salt and pepper.  We’re all more careful about high fat content food since Muddie eventually had several heart attacks before she died.

Fortunately, she  also loved fresh vegetables and Mom would always take her to the Farmers Market when she came up to visit. She especially loved white corn and would cut the kernels from the cob instead of using frozen. With the economy the way it has been recently, everyone  is cutting back on spending and in our household that includes food.

Eating plenty of veggies, brown rice, beans and soy (but with limitations) instead of flesh is one way to minimize grocery bills. We also find that the vegetarian soy crumbles are just as good in spaghetti  sauce. Beans and legumes are also excellent sources of protein and can be eaten by themselves when seasoned well or served over  rice,  pasta  and salads. I like them because they’re very cheap, at least one-tenth the price of eating flesh. They are also more easily digested by the body and with practically no fat  are heart-healthy. Fortunately I do remember how to make Muddie’s tomatoes and okra, and creamed corn. They are excellent comfort foods that remind me of Muddie but with a healthier twist.

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