Empty Nest Nostalgia: The Holiday Foods We Still Crave - E115

Clancy Denton (00:06)
Hey guys, welcome back to another episode of the loud quiet. We are so excited to share with you all that our book is in the final stages of being ready. The cover is done. The manuscript is done. It is really just getting formatted right now and, and basically getting put into a physical book that we will be able to share with you all very soon. So if you'd like to be on our list, that will be getting the

real life up to date timeline of everything you can head on over to our website the loud quiet.com and click the book button and there's a place for you to sign up to be on that list.

Rick Denton (00:46)
Yeah, coming soon.

It's getting real.

And something that is coming out sooner than our book is Christmas. Christmas is a period that is filled with nostalgia. And we were actually in a conversation even before we were getting into the season about...

nostalgic foods. And I know that this season has a lot that is associated with the food, and you remember it associated with Christmas and family and all that, but food has a lot of nostalgia even beyond that as we were talking to some folks. So we wanted to go through and have an episode today talking about foods.

So as we get into the season, we'd asked a question out on the Loud Quiet Facebook community group of, know, what do you associate with the season? And I love Mark Ronick shared his answer, which is candy canes. And it's something so simple, but what I love about it is it's so simple and yet 100%, you think about candy canes and you immediately think of the holiday season.

Clancy Denton (01:46)
Do you remember

when you would get a candy cane in your stocking and be like, OK, I would always toss it to the side. That was not ever one of. But I did love the soft chewy ones.

Rick Denton (01:57)
don't know that I can agree with you that we're taught, I love candy canes. here, let me differentiate. I really didn't like, do you remember the tiny little candy canes that you'd pass out at school or taped to the back of some car or something? Not a fan. But give me a good sized candy cane. was. No, yeah true. So.

Clancy Denton (02:16)
And I liked the fruit flavored one. liked those.

Rick Denton (02:21)
Thanks Mark for giving us that. And Mark said his is mostly the traditional ones, but I did. Give me the grape flavor. There'd kind of a ⁓ sour apple. Basically, was it Jolly Ranchers before Jolly Ranchers?

Clancy Denton (02:33)
Yeah, I know now they have skittles has all flavors of them and everything. So yeah, I don't I don't remember what the brand was that did the the ones but yeah.

Rick Denton (02:43)
I can't

even imagine the brand. Well, I will start with the one food that I, it is my number one, when I think of holiday, I think of this food and it is Texas trash. And for those that don't know what that is, if you're not from this region, it's our version of Chex Mix.

Clancy Denton (03:03)
didn't you used to always make it for Thanksgiving too? I thought it was always around at Thanksgiving, was it not? I don't remember that, maybe. I thought it was, maybe not. Maybe that was just in my family, because my dad would make it too. And that's funny, because it's always the dad that makes it.

Rick Denton (03:09)
Well, I'm glad you said that, because now I can start adding.

Yeah, why is that our

thing? Probably because we like the snacks. And what I love about it is it cooks for about an hour as you stir it multiple times. Well, all those seasonings start to filter throughout the house. And what's so hard is you can't eat it right as it comes out of the oven because then it's chewy. You actually have to sit and wait. And that is such torture to be able to prepare it and have to

Clancy Denton (03:42)
Did your dad do my I remember my dad used to put newspaper out on the table and then he'd dump it out on that Yeah, and I don't know. I don't know. I don't know if there was like I don't know what his recipe looks like versus the recipe that you made I don't know if there was more Grease or well, I don't know. It doesn't head just has butter in it So I don't know but yeah, he would always dump it out maybe because he was making more batches

So yes, we look forward to that one every year. The kids love when the Texas trash is sitting in the container that it sits in on the counter and everybody just goes by and snacks on it all day

Rick Denton (04:21)
One handful

at a time and then suddenly you realize you've eaten three quarters of the pan.

Clancy Denton (04:27)
Just

very easy to eat. our, you know, one thing I remember making and my mom made and then we made together with Teagan when we would get together to do our baking is they're called haystacks. At least that's what we called them. And basically it's butterscotch morsels melted and the. ⁓

chow mein noodles that you buy in the Lachoi blue round tub and you just mix those together and they do they look like little haystacks. man, I mean, I could down some of those.

Rick Denton (05:02)
And that's

one that I don't recall growing up. I'd have to check in with my sister to make sure. That's one that I feel like you brought to it. And yeah, that's really, cause it gets all the right notes, the butterscotch, the sweet, and then that crunch.

Clancy Denton (05:16)
And I haven't made them in years. And I made a butterscotch cake for my dad's birthday on Thanksgiving Day. That was good. And so there's some morsels still sitting. And I was like, huh, if I just melt those in a little ramekin, because we have the chow mein noodles. I was like, I can make a few little ice stacks.

Rick Denton (05:38)
I wonder if you,

have you just come up with a new dip? Like it's like.

Clancy Denton (05:43)
But the chow mein noodles are

too, you know, they're too skinny to do.

Rick Denton (05:46)
No, I would

hold like four and I'd do a mini haystack.

Clancy Denton (05:50)
So,

yeah, so that was one that I love. And again, yes, you could smell it as the, butterscotch was melting on the stove along with and smells, I think are a lot of. That science, it's yeah, that.

Rick Denton (06:06)
so much is that you

smell nostalgia.

Clancy Denton (06:10)
Something

and it just brings you back to. And so I remember walking into the house around December and you'd smell my mom and make the spice tea in the crock pot. And yeah, you just knew or sometimes on the stove, too. But you just knew it's Christmas time. I can smell the spice tea across the house.

Rick Denton (06:30)
I don't recall any spiced tea in my house, but as you said that, and we didn't talk about this ahead of time, I think my mom used to just boil. That is a fragrant.

Clancy Denton (06:39)
and the clothes and the orange.

My mom would do that too. Yep, same.

Rick Denton (06:46)
And I guess the closest, see, guess maybe my family was a little more boozy than yours. I remember my dad making his glue vine bowls. so that would bring a smell to the house.

Clancy Denton (06:56)
But that's, you know, it's true. Back then we didn't have all the scent diffusers that we had. our moms just did it on the stove.

Rick Denton (07:09)
Maybe we need to get back to that. It's probably a lot better for our health if we were boiling cinnamon sticks.

Clancy Denton (07:15)
Yeah, I guess

did they just keep that stove going for?

Rick Denton (07:21)
memories are gonna be lost

on my side of the house. Yeah, and there's some things that were memories from my mom that she made. We were talking about this. Not all the Christmas treats were things that were my favorites. I...

I think it's because Christmas is a very sweet treat holiday and I'm more savory. That's why I migrate to the Texas trash. My mom, what she would do as her homemade gifts that she'd give out to friends was her peanut brittle. And she was legendary for her peanut brittle. And she would make it, you know, the candy thermometer. And there was a specific moment that it had to come off. And I still remember the frustration if she'd burn it or under it. I never was a big peanut brittle fan. I bet I'd like it now. I feel like I missed out.

But she, that was always, and I mean, days upon days that she was making that because that was her gift for friends and family.

Clancy Denton (08:13)
Yeah,

I remember coming when I became a part of your family. Coming around at Christmas time and yes, seeing the bags of peanut brittle and. Yeah, it's not my favorite either. I don't know. And even when we've been to like Arkansas and you buy Juanita's if anyone's from Arkansas has been through that's that's everyone goes to Juanita's and gets the tub of I don't.

Oh, it's all over. Oh, it's all over. I mean, I remember it from, yes, Arcadelfia, Otspring's area. you saying that my mom used to always make fudge and make all several kinds of fudge. And we haven't done that in years either.

Rick Denton (08:56)
Maybe it's been a couple years, but I remember her making that. yeah. I'm not a huge fudge guy, I remember.

Clancy Denton (09:01)
The caramel fudge is so good. my gosh, see I'm just sitting here now. I'm remembering so many other things.

Rick Denton (09:07)
This is not for y'all,

Clancy Denton (09:10)
We'll be listening

to this when it comes out later this week. So maybe there'll be some fudge at Christmas time this year. Let me just I'll just do it. Subliminal. You really did that. I can't say that word. I'll send a subliminal message. Fudge.

Rick Denton (09:21)
You

You said that in the most sweaty balls NPR voice that I think I've heard.

Clancy Denton (09:34)
Which my gosh yesterday We to share this aside we were at our nephew's Recital he plays the electric guitar and I mean the lady that was introducing the kids from the music school She was in PR sweaty balls, and then my older brother was sitting in front of me, and he turned her I said

Rick Denton (09:38)
I know.

Clancy Denton (10:01)
my gosh, she's also Will Ferrell's wife when they do the piano. So there's just a fun aside for you.

Rick Denton (10:10)
We brought in, Shwetty Balls was not a part of our tradition. You know, one that was and one that I enjoyed. It was always, she would give this out too. Maybe I'm revealing too much because she'd give the peanut brittle to some and then the T-ring.

Clancy Denton (10:23)
Depending on

what list you're on.

Rick Denton (10:25)
Are you the A-list? But it

was her tea ring. And it was a dough wrapped, it had some of the candied fruits and then raisins and that sort of thing in it and it had a lot of frosting on it. And that's what we would eat as our sweet that we'd have in the morning of Christmas morning. And it was tasty.

Clancy Denton (10:40)
And I

remember having that too. And I was like, I liked it except for the candy fruit. I was like, can we make them without the candy fruit?

Rick Denton (10:49)
Yeah, if

it was just like a raisin, some kind of cinnamon-y sort of thing,

Clancy Denton (10:53)
and that, you know, going back to sweaty balls and day balls, I just that was one that I loved those two. Like, I feel like a lot of the Christmas snacks and treats are little little bites like, know, which you don't have around all the time at other holidays. But I feel like you could fill a 10 with the haystacks, the date balls and the day balls were. And again, it's one that I don't make because it.

takes a little bit more effort. But yeah, you take the chopped up dates and I don't know what I can't even remember what else goes. Maybe Rice Krispies and then you roll it in coconut. they're so good.

Rick Denton (11:33)
That's why I'm not a huge fan of it because of the coconut.

Clancy Denton (11:35)
But I've made some without the coconut because I know you don't like coconut Which is why I don't ever get Italian cream cake anymore, which was one of my favorite desserts at Christmas time But once because once Rick became a part of my family, my mom was like, ⁓ Rick doesn't like it So I won't make it because you were you were the first one that entered in

Rick Denton (11:49)
ever.

Let's bring another media reference in here then. That's so Four Christmases where Vince is over at ⁓ Wreath Witherspoon's character's mom's house and they're all just fawning over him and she's now being ignored.

Clancy Denton (12:13)
Exactly. yes, I don't ever get the Italian cream cake anymore.

Rick Denton (12:17)
Watch out for those jump jumps. Well, one that we do agree on. Yes. And it's been a tradition in your family from the beginning of time. Yeah. And was introduced to my family much later, but thank God it's there. And what we do today is Mexican.

Clancy Denton (12:31)
food. And when my family moved to San Antonio and I was in second grade, that was what we started. And a lot of times it might have been at a restaurant because our church was downtown. And so by the time you finish Christmas Eve service, you know, 30 minutes to get back to your house. So we started, you know, doing restaurants and sometimes we would, you know, cook too. that has been a tradition that has stuck.

And yes, you were very excited to see that that's what my family's tradition was.

Rick Denton (13:06)
I made you get rid of coconut.

But I got to bring in tamales into our, and that's something I absolutely love is that, I mean, I could rip through a dozen tamales on my own, which is.

Clancy Denton (13:20)
Yes, I know and that's when everyone is there we have to allot for the amount of corn husks that are going to be sitting on the table. ⁓

Rick Denton (13:27)
There's Rick.

back with the corn

husk. We talk about these as these are our memories, these are our nostalgias, these are our things. They're they're things though that are like we just do.

we're planting the seeds of nostalgia for our kids, which is kind of fun. I don't think about that. Texas trash is gonna be our kids'

Clancy Denton (13:56)
which I didn't really, I've always thought about it, because, you know, certain years if I'm like, oh, maybe I won't do that, and then the kids will say, wait, we haven't had this yet. But Teagan the other day, we were talking about appetizers for some reason, she's like, oh, I love the Christmas appetizers, and I was thinking, gosh, what do I do? Yeah, day appetizers. I was like, what do I do for Christmas day appetizers that are, and she said, mom.

the pickle platter, which you know, like the relish tray, everyone calls it, you know, it's got all the different kinds of pickles and olives. And she was like, and then all the dips, which I don't think I even make any of those. just buy them. There's certain ones that we love from places. And you know, the Texas trash will be out. She's like, I just love the Christmas appetizers. And I was like, okay, well that's good. I did. Well, and so we were going through the list. I knew.

Rick Denton (14:48)
So we'll

Clancy Denton (14:54)
the ones that I typically buy, she was just, yes, reinforcing that, those are the ones that she wants out again this year.

Rick Denton (15:04)
And

think that's what really triggered the point in my mind that to us, it's just the things that we do. To them, it's the nostalgia and the memories that are being built that they'll be talking about 20, 30, 40, 50 years from now. Like the reindeer mix that you build with them.

Clancy Denton (15:24)
So when I was growing up, there was a recipe that got floated around between all the moms and it was reindeer mix, but all it had in it was nuts. And it was like some nuts that are odd to eat or find as well. And you were supposed to leave it out. What's an odd nut? Brazil nuts are huge. yeah. And you can't really.

Rick Denton (15:43)
to f-

Clancy Denton (15:47)
You can eat them, but they're like the ones that everyone moves to the side when you go through. So you were supposed to leave it out for the reindeer, you know, on Christmas Eve. when Tanner was probably three when I was like, you know what? I'm going to bring that back, but we're going to.

Alter it the way that we want to alter it and they must have been a little older because I asked each one of them What would you want to put into the reindeer mix? So yes, so we built our own reindeer mix and I have been giving that as gifts Yeah Since that we don't throw that in the yard. No And it's good So basically it's a sweet version of a checks mix. you're me on the spot what all goes in it's got golden grams honey nut Cheerios and

Rick Denton (16:20)
That goes into harmony.

Clancy Denton (16:34)
&Ms, was trying to think of the other pretzels. I put raisins in it, even though the kids pick out the raisins. Do you throw a caramel? Yes, the little, the little caramel baking ones that you can buy.

Rick Denton (16:43)
drop in there.

It's good. And what's good is when you take a left hand of Texas trash and a right hand

Clancy Denton (16:56)
Yeah,

put them together Yeah, but they look forward to that one Every year and I and I still enjoy, you know handing that out To neighbors friends that kind of thing used to be teachers, but we don't do that anymore. So I guess they could take some to their professors, but Huh, that's an interesting question. Do people give their professors gifts? I guess if you have a special relationship you would

Rick Denton (16:59)
together. ⁓

Clancy Denton (17:26)
Okay. I know. All right.

Rick Denton (17:28)
This was completely unplanned. Alright listeners, viewers, we would like for y'all to let us know with your kids if you've got them in university age or if they have already passed through that. Did y'all give gifts to your professors?

Clancy Denton (17:40)
Or

if you are a professor, we probably have some out there that are professors. a gift? Have you gifts? I don't know. It's one final one that our kids are very and it has to be made at every holiday, every holiday. And if there is a

Rick Denton (17:46)
I like how you're saying

this up over at the loud quiet.com.

Clancy Denton (18:01)
Extended family dinner planned. It has to be there and I've mentioned it before is my mom's mashed potato casserole that If that is not there, I don't know what would happen I mean, I even got them shirts one year that said we're just here for the mashed potatoes because It's their favorite

Rick Denton (18:20)
It's good. It's real good. It's real good.

And this is all holiday, right? But it got us to thinking about a whole nother category of the non-holiday foods that are meaningful. And there's actually a lot of these that we realized they've been lost. Like things that we used to eat all the time and we never even...

don't want to say never think about them anymore, but they're just not a part of the routine. And they were so meaningful and important in the past.

Clancy Denton (18:51)
And what's interesting is, you know, like we said, we were talking with Brandi and Brian one night at dinner and we just brought up foods that we used to eat. And it's so cool to see, even though we all grew up in different parts of Texas, these recipes kind of floated around that we all were like, ⁓ yeah, my mom used to make that. yeah. And a lot of them are casseroles.

Rick Denton (19:18)
I guess the cookbooks of the 70s and the 80s were casserole heavy, which would be our childhoods. so, we... different names for them. My mom made chicken tetrazzini, which is very similar to your family's chicken spaghetti. I didn't even know what the word tetrazzini meant. You were telling me just yesterday.

Clancy Denton (19:39)
I mean, it's just another version of... It's just a fancier name for pasta. ⁓

Rick Denton (19:48)
My mom made up

like I did not know until yesterday that it was a real So

Clancy Denton (19:51)
I well,

OK, I don't know. didn't look it up, but I just know. ⁓

Rick Denton (19:57)
But that

one, we, you and I love chicken spaghetti. I loved my mom's chicken tetrazzini and it just doesn't happen anymore.

Clancy Denton (20:07)
Those

recipes, I don't know if it was because the way my mom made it, I mean, it's a can of tomato soup, a can of cream and mushroom soup. That's another thing. I would know that we were having chicken spaghetti because you could smell the boiling chicken when you came into the house. Look at your face. That is the worst smell, that boiling chicken.

And to where when I make something that's shredded chicken in it now or something like that, I buy rotisserie because then it has flavor because boiled chicken does not have any flavor. So maybe that's why you had to put it into a casserole so that you could eat.

Rick Denton (20:49)
Surrounded

by flavor. It was just texture and protein and the rest was flavor.

Clancy Denton (20:55)
there were several of those kinds of recipes that were those casserole heavy, guess, maybe because it was just one thing and you're done. don't know. you.

Rick Denton (21:07)
You definitely get leftovers out of that because you can make a mess of it and it can last for a while.

Clancy Denton (21:11)
The Austin people

that I knew, which includes you, they made King Ranch chicken, which was similar to my mom called it chicken enchilada casserole. ⁓ okay. And so, you know, very similar dishes. And again, yeah, I mean, we used to have those on heavy rotation.

Rick Denton (21:29)
Yeah, and it wasn't like, you now I think about that kind of dish and, it's cold, let's have that. It could be the depth of summer and you're still eating one of big.

Clancy Denton (21:36)
We had that all the time. I've made chicken spaghetti a couple of times, but it's just not.

Rick Denton (21:43)
didn't know that our kids would even know to think of that as a, can we have that dip? No, it's not.

Clancy Denton (21:47)
Yeah, because

I did make it probably a couple of times when they were younger.

And I think too, the healthier side of cooking started to come out in the, you know, early 90s, late 80s, early 90s. These were not high on the, throw a block of cream cheese in there and some crushed up Doritos.

Rick Denton (22:03)
These aren't Mediterranean.

⁓

I'm hearing Monica Geller from Friends talking about light mayonnaise. It's not mayonnaise, right? So it had to be full on lard back then.

There's dishes that are from the past that were regulars that are showing up. They're just only showing up for special events. the rice and broccoli is the one that I love that dish. Yeah. It tends only to appear for Easter or some other kind of holiday or family gathering. It may have used to have been a Tuesday night dish.

Clancy Denton (22:45)
Yeah, we used to have that, I'm sure quite often again. We just don't. But yes, I make it every, Easter. That's the dish that I always bring. then and sometimes I know Teagan will request it on occasion sometimes. so.

Rick Denton (23:03)
Even

that though is a special, like she's back.

Clancy Denton (23:05)
Yeah, it's

in my regular rotation by any means yeah like for My older brother's favorite is pistachio salad, which if y'all don't know what that and this this goes back to this was my grandmother's my mamma's dish and It's like jello pistachio pudding cool whip and ⁓

So it's not anything and marshmallows.

Rick Denton (23:37)
Such

a 40s, 50s dish. Like when you think of that era, then that sound like 40s and 50s.

Clancy Denton (23:42)
mean,

you give my brother a Tupperware of that, he will eat the whole thing. So that shows up on holidays. And then I know, I guarantee my mom, because I overheard them yesterday saying they were having roast last night, guaranteed pistachio salad was there.

Rick Denton (23:56)
Add contact, your brother and his wife are in town for the holidays from Germany and so I'm sure he's getting all...

Clancy Denton (24:02)
the things

that he can't get overseas. you know, I like it. You like it. our kids don't they're they don't like it. They're not big fans of it. Yeah. They don't like the texture of it, I think.

Rick Denton (24:14)
some of it is it like I like it but it's not the nostalgia and so for your brother it's nostalgia that gets in there.

There's a dish that has a ton of nostalgia for me. I also know that I love it even outside of nostalgia. I would want this all the time, any day, and it's lasagna. The lasagna that you make based off of my mom's recipe is one of my favorite things to eat. I mentioned going through the entire Texas trash and the dozen tamales.

I could put down a pan of lasagna. I bet I could eat it end end.

Clancy Denton (24:50)
Yes. I don't know that you could do that now, but definitely when we first started dating, not one that I want to be around for. But I even know now, like when we were going to Austin and Tanner was coming with us to and your sister was like, I'm making lasagna. How many pans do I need to make?

Rick Denton (24:58)
Search.

because Tanner is like, well,

he and I are the Joey Chestnut.

Clancy Denton (25:19)
And that is what he requests when, you know, he that's his special dish too. I love to make it. I love to make it for y'all. I love it too. But I don't make it now because it's just the two of us. And yes, I know everyone's like, you can freeze it. I don't like freezing food and unfreeze. That's just my hang up. I don't like eating stuff.

after it's been frozen. So unless it's certain things, but like lasagna, no, I'm not gonna eat it after it's been in the freezer.

Rick Denton (25:54)
And I wonder if that's a category of a lot of these dishes that we love that are part of our past but aren't a part of our present that it may be just kind of the empty nest evolution of, man, you're not gonna make a pan of lasagna. Now I realize I could eat the whole thing, but you're not going to want to do that.

Clancy Denton (26:13)
Because,

yeah, I eat one square, you eat two or three, and then you have three fourths of the pan left that is just waste.

Rick Denton (26:23)
Which

is why I think it's great when you do have those regathering moments to be able to bring those dishes back in.

Clancy Denton (26:32)
And we have, like I said, Tanner loves it. Teagan, nope, not a fan. She just wants, when I make it when she's home, I have to just keep out two plain noodles. And that's what she likes to eat. because I didn't serve a lot of casseroles growing up, she doesn't like food when it's mashed together like that, unless it's rice and broccoli. That's about pretty much, I think, one of the only ones that she'll

Rick Denton (27:00)
to inventory

her.

Clancy Denton (27:01)
Yeah, you that's you talking about your mom making lasagna. My mom, which came from my grandmommy, who is my other grandmother, made spaghetti and meatballs. And so we would have spaghetti and meatballs. That was always my dad's request. When he would get to choose what we were having, we would have.

spaghetti and meatballs. That's one thing that differentiates my family from yours is that your family always had the same meal on Christmas every year. Mine did not. We kind of rotated through, let's do Italian this year. Let's do this this year. And so now you and I have established we have a meal that we have every year.

Rick Denton (27:46)
We truly only do that meal at Christmas. There's no other time that we do it.

Clancy Denton (27:51)
Yeah, which

again, because we could know because again, well, we could, but you have to have enough people over to eat a how many ever pound tenderloin. but yes, spaghetti and meatballs was always one that was in my family. And yes, you could smell the sauce cooking. again, it wasn't like they made anything. They weren't making their own, you know, peeling tomatoes, those kind of things. It was hunts.

And it still is one that, I think even my grandmommy back then, I think she used ragu. So.

Rick Denton (28:28)
All

of all of our Italian

Clancy Denton (28:31)
they're dying.

⁓ I know. know. And I apologize. I am sorry. But, you know, but when I make it, and again, though, it's a dish that you can't just make four meatballs.

Rick Denton (28:44)
It's

good though, I do. And I love it when these show up. And that's what's kind of fun to think back to all of these nostalgia dishes, whether they're Christmas oriented, whether they're just family getting back together. We love food, we love family, and we love mixing family and food. And I think that's why these dishes are just so special.

Clancy Denton (29:04)
I think food is a common denominator that can just bring people together. know, most of our social activities are over food. Yeah. it's nice to just sit around a table, enjoy something good, and just get to talk and connect with everyone.

And especially, you know, this time of year is really about that connection. Remembering, sharing fun memories, laughing. This is just a good time of year to sit around a table, have some Texas trash and enjoy time together. We hope that you guys will continue to have a great December.

Share with us if any of these foods resonated with you share with us on the Facebook community group again you can join that if you go to our website the loud quiet.com there's a button at the top that says Facebook community we'd love to hear from you guys and thanks for joining us on another episode of the loud quiet.