My Mimmie was such a cool lady. Not a day that goes by I don’t wish she was sitting in my rocking chair with a great grand baby on each knee or on the other end of the phone line laughing at all the stories I could tell her about my life now.
One particularly fun memory I have of her was right after she bought a new mini van. She loaded up my sister and I plus our cousins and took a trip to town. On the way home, out of nowhere, she announces “lets see what this thing can do!”, floors the gas pedal and we go flying down a little back road.
I mean, it was a mini van so we couldn’t possibly have gained speed that quickly, but it felt really fast!
The railroad tracks were quickly approaching, we were all plastered to the seat backs screaming and Mimmie was just laughing! She eventually slammed on the brakes at the last minute and we made it home safely. We all tripped over each other trying to get in the house first to tell Pappap we almost ramped the railroad tracks Dukes of Hazard style.
Along with being the coolest and most fun Grandmother ever, Mimmie was an amazing cook and loved feeding anyone and everyone.
Big holiday dinners with Mimmie were AH-MAZING! We had the turkey, usually a ham, all the usual sides, 10 kinds of cookies and pies, but our absolute favorite thing she made was her homemade noodles. Our family still calls them “Mimmie Noodles”.
All of us kids would find reasons to sneak through the kitchen and steal a few noodles off the counter before they made it into the pot. She let us snag a few, but then would start swatting at us with her spatula to save enough for dinner.
Oh and if anything ever went wrong in the kitchen her usual curse words were “oh spatula!” A solid 75% of my memories of her she had flour covering most of her body too. Oh how I miss her!
I don’t know why, but noodle making was one activity I never helped her with. After she passed away I realized I had no idea how to make them! Thankfully my Mom and Aunt took good notes.
Turns out it’s fairly simple - eggs, flour and salt is all it takes! The actual “recipe” she used involved adding enough flour til it had the right feel plus a hand of salt, but I’ve tried to recreate the recipe with some actual measurements.
Mimmie Noodles
2 Eggs (Grass Powered pastured eggs make the best noodles!) :)
2 Cups Flour
1 tsp Salt
Ok, now keep in mind these measurements are very approximate, but this should get you pretty close!
Add flour and salt to a mixing bowl - whisk together
Make a little hole in the middle of the flour and add in the eggs. Use your finger, or a whisk if you’re not into playing with your food, to scramble up the eggs a little bit then combine the flour mixture and eggs.
Mix until the dough holds together. You’ll have to get your hands into the dough for this step! If it’s super sticky, add a tablespoon or so of flour at a time until it comes together and isn’t sticking to your hands. Sometimes you’ll need to add a teaspoon or so of water at a time to help it hold together better. I know it sounds complicated, but I promise once you start working with the dough you’ll know what it needs!
I’ve never owned a pasta maker, but if you have one it can be rolled through it. We roll them out by hand Little House on the Prairie style!
Add a little flour to your counter where you plan to roll, plus a little on the rolling pin and dusted over the top of your noodle dough. Roll out the dough fairly thick if you want dumpling style noodles, or thinner if you want dainty little noodles. ThIn noodles do dry out better if you’re planning to store them, but otherwise it doesn’t matter at all!
There are 2 methods of cutting the noodles:
One option is once the dough is rolled out, you can use a pizza cutter or knife to cut long strips of noodles. If you fail at cutting straight lines like I do - the next technique might work best.
Option two is to carefully roll the dough into a log (make sure you lightly flour the top so it doesn’t stick to itself), use sharp knife to cut slices, then shake out the noodles so they don’t stick to themselves as they dry.
If you’ve planned ahead, it’s best to leave the noodles to lay out on the counter to dry for about an hour before cooking. It’s also totally fine to just plop them right in a pot of simmering stock! They just tend stick together in the pot without some drying time.
To cook the noodles - drop into a pot of simmering chicken or beef stock in handfuls. If you drop a bunch at a time, they usually stick together so add in small amounts and keep stirring!
Cook until noodles start to float and aren’t doughy when you take a bite. How long that takes will depend on the thickness of your noodles, so you’re just going to have to wing it and trust me that you can’t mess this up and it’ll be fine!
My family likes to serve them over mashed potatoes. Is that normal? I have no idea if other families carb load that heavily, but that’s our holiday meal style!
These are also delicious tossed into chicken noodle or vegetable beef soup, and can be frozen then cooked for a quick meal another day! If you’re planning to freeze the noodles, let them dry on the counter until they are slightly crisp and won’t stick to each other before putting them in a bag or container.
They can also be fully dried and kept in the pantry, but that’s not something I’ve tried yet so can’t teach you that method!
My sister and her husband are coming to visit this weekend for “Thanksmas” and I am so excited to be in the kitchen with her, my Mom and my little girls making noodles! I predict it will look like the flour bag exploded…. Mimmie would be proud!
Does your family have favorite holiday meal recipes or memories? I would love to hear them!
Hope you enjoy a wonderful holiday season surrounding by family, friends and delicious food!
~ Dana
Want more recipes and stories from the farm delivered to your inbox? Be sure to sign up below so you don’t miss any of the randomness!