By Ben Marshall
Mealtime in the Warning household followed a simple formula. Protein + starch + vegetable resulted in a satisfied family of six.
“A lot of fried chicken, a lot of meatloaf, a lot of tenderized round steak and a lot of potatoes – mashed, boiled or fried,” Meleia Marshall (née Warning) said, recalling meals growing up in Bloomfield, Iowa. “And we always had a vegetable.”
Bloomfield, a tiny speck in the southeast corner of the state, is one of those towns that is lucky to appear on state maps. Although slightly larger today than in the 1950s and early ‘60s when Marshall was running the streets, Bloomfield remains a largely rural community.
Marshall said she didn’t realize it when she lived there, but this type of rural environment had a large impact on the way she and her family ate. Growing up with access to local livestock and farm fresh produce meant “good beef, good pork, farm fresh chicken” was all Marshall knew. Until she left the boundaries of Bloomfield in 1972.
City food just didn’t taste right
“When I first came to Kansas City, I could have totally given up eating meat products,” Marshall said. “Because it was nothing like what I was used to eating.”
The family bought local meat butchered at the town meat locker. They bought eggs from Miller’s Produce. In late spring and early fall, fresh fruits and vegetables would be picked from nearby gardens.
“There’s a difference in farm fresh chicken, beef slaughtered off the local farmer’s field and hogs and everything else,” she said. “There just is.”
Breakfast in the Warning house was generally always prepared from scratch by Marshall’s mother Ritzanna.
“My mom always made a hot breakfast for us,” she said. “French toast or pancakes or waffles, oatmeal. Sometimes sausage or bacon and eggs and toast. And milk – always milk.”
During the school year, Marshall was adamant that she would always pack her lunch. Bologna sandwiches and chicken and tuna salads were often toted in brown paper bags to school.
The Sunday tradition
On Sundays, Marshall said the family’s largest meal was in the afternoon and it usually consisted of a roast with potatoes and vegetables – anything that could be “put in the oven and be ready by the time we got back from church.”
By fifth or sixth grade, Marshall said she split evening cooking duties with her mother. When her mom worked, Marshall cooked and vice versa. This is when Marshall said she learned the most – by getting in the kitchen and just cooking.
“I did not necessarily learn to cook reading a recipe. If I was reading a recipe, it was for cookies, I did not read recipes for mealtime dishes,” Marshall said.
And it is from these experiences and dishes that she gets the inspiration for the food she prepares today. Lots of hamburgers and fried chicken and meatloaf and potatoes – fried potatoes. Goulash and chili, too.
“If it wasn’t being roasted in an oven, it was on top of a stove in a fry pan,” Marshall said. “I’ve never really strayed too far from what I knew growing up. I pretty much fix today what is familiar to me; I prepare what I knew and what I ate growing up.”
And for Marshall’s own family of four, this proven formula has shown to be a winning one some 50 years later.
Pancakes
From Ritzanna Warning’s small green cookbook
No Bisquick or packaged pancake mix has ever seen the light of day in my grandmother’s house. Or my house, for that matter. This simple recipe for pancakes was handwritten in my grandmother’s green cookbook, and it has always been a family favorite. My mother recalls her mother fixing this recipe before school. “I never left the house without eating breakfast,” my mom said. On holidays or special occasions, her father would take over pancake duties, creating Mickey Mouse pancakes or snowman pancakes, depending on the season. This recipe doesn’t call for blueberries or chocolate chips, but you may certainly add them if you’re so inclined. (But they’re just as delicious left plain with a little real butter and maple syrup.) Enjoy this easy recipe and never buy Bisquick again.
Makes about 12 pancakes.
1 ¼ cups flour, sifted
2 ½ teaspoons baking powder
3 tablespoons sugar
¾ teaspoons salt
1 egg
1 cup milk
3 tablespoons butter, melted
In a medium bowl, mix together flour, baking powder, sugar and salt.
In a large bowl, mix egg, milk and butter. Add dry ingredients to liquid ingredients and stir until flour mixture becomes incorporated. Don’t over-mix; lumps are fine.
Let batter stand a few minutes and thin slightly with milk if needed.
Spoon batter onto a griddle or pan over medium heat. Cook until bubbles form and pop, about 2 minutes. Flip pancake over to finish cooking, about 1 minute.
Serve immediately with maple syrup. Or freeze and reheat on griddle or pan until warm through.