Bena Mae’s Kitchen: Grandparents, talk to your grandchildren

Grandchildren are the dots that connect the lines from generation to generation. Louise Wyse.
 Being a grandparent is one of the most wonderful experiences one can have, as most grandparents will tell you.
I don’t remember much about my own grandparents, they died before I got a chance to know them well. But word from my mother and aunts told me that my maternal grandmother was an angel.
I only have one grandchild, a boy, who has been the joy of my life. We are very close. I try to instill within him a sense of family heritage, where he came from, his forbearers — warts and all. I want him to know that the world didn’t start on the day he was born. It will be important to him in his older years in giving him a sense of history and continuity.
I want him to know that his great grandfathers on both sides were honorable, hardworking men with a work ethic that followed them throughout their lives.
I want him to know that his paternal great grandfather seined the Clinch River for mussel shells he sold to button factories in order to pay the electric bill (2.98) each month, never late, always on time. That he farmed several acres of land and held down a full-time job in a knitting factory,
He was a kind gentle man, honest to the core, always willing to help a neighbor in distress. He never drank or abused his family, his only discretion being a swig of moonshine he drank first thing in the morning, he said to get him started. He called it his “starter” and that was the extent of his drinking. He was what you call a “good man.”
I want my grandson to know that my own father was orphaned at an early age and raised by a sister. That he went to work at the age of ten, working on the tunnel between Cumberland Gap and Middlesboro. That he was mostly self-educated, taking correspondence courses by lamplight after a hard days work where he learned his trade of building roads and bridges across parts of Kentucky.
His reputation for truth and honesty was widely known, and he died with a good name that he prized all his life.
I want to be sure to instill a measure of belonging in my grandson. I want him to feel the security of the past, that the world didn’t just start the day he was born.
So grandparents, start early with your most beloved grandchildren. Tell them their history. Teach them from whence they came. They will feel the rewards later in life.

It takes less than 45 minutes to make this delicious pub favorite, right in your own kitchen. Cream of mushroom soup and instant mashed potatoes make it quick and easy!

Shepherd’s Pie

1 pound ground beef
1 medium onion, chopped (about 1/2 cup)
1 can (10 3/4 ounces) Campbell’s® Condensed Cream of Mushroom Soup (Regular or 98% Fat Free)
1 tablespoon ketchup
1/8 teaspoon ground black pepper
1 cup frozen peas and carrots
2 1/2 cups milk
1/4 cup (1/2 stick) butter
2 cups instant mashed potato flakes or buds

Heat the oven to 400°F.
Cook the beef and onion in a 10-inch skillet over medium-high heat until the beef is well browned, stirring often to separate meat. Pour off any fat.
Stir the soup, ketchup, black pepper and peas and carrots in the skillet.  Spoon the beef mixture into a 9-inch pie plate.
Heat milk and butter in 2-quart saucepan over medium-high heat to a boil.  Remove the saucepan from the heat.  Stir in the potatoes.  The potatoes will be stiff.  Spoon the potatoes over the beef mixture.
Bake for 15 minutes or until the potatoes are lightly browned.