"Kangaroo Eggs" - lox and onion and eggs scrambled. My father knew if he told me what was really on the plate that I wouldn't eat it so he invented kangaroo eggs which we still sometimes refer to them as.

I have two:

My dad's steak sauce.

He loved Steak and Ale's Kensington Steak and the chef wouldn't give him the recipe. So he figured it out on his own.

It isn't unusual to have a steak sauce, but he made a large amount, marinated the steak in it prior to grilling, then brought the marinade to a boil, put the steak in it after it was grilled, then we put it all over our baked potatoes. HEAVEN.

Another family tradition, for my sister and I only:

We both hate ham. Hate it. The only way we can tolerate it is on a sandwich, if it is sliced paper thin, and covered with so much mustard we cannot taste it. The thought of hot ham makes our stomachs turn.

Well ham is all my grandmother made on Easter. That and some vegetables we didn't eat either. My sister's and my diet on Easter Sunday consisted of rolls and mashed potatoes. Period.

Because of this, on Thanksgiving (I cookout on the grill for Easter now, and we never did eat a Christmas dinner) we literally get at least one dozen rolls per person coming to dinner. And most of them get eaten :)

The pooh butter was a Girl Scout thing, but machts nichts.

My mother used to make something her mother made, called Grant's Gunk (her maiden name was Grant). It was a kind of hamburger stew, with carrots, potatoes and such, simmered on the stove for at least one day. Maybe for a week, depending on how bit the pot was.

We did much the same with leftover pie dough, but called them cinnamom bites.

My father used to make us nest eggs - he'd take a pirce of soft white bread and pull most of the middle out and then put lots of butter in the frying pan, put the bread in and then put an egg in the middle. He let it just set and then turned the whole thing to quickly brown the top. I couldn't wait to get at it.

One of the kids' favorites was fish with pink jellyfish sauce. It's actually flour dusted chunks of Haddock sauted in an olive oil/butter combo until browned. Then chopped shallots are sauted in the remaining oil. The pan is deglazed with a pink wine and finished with lemon juice. The sauce is poured over the fish in a platter.

They loved it served with rice and trees(broccoli).

Growing up, we had Glop. My mother made it and it was one of our favorites.
Brown ground beef and chopped onions, drain and place uncooked egg noodles on top. Stir in drained cooked spinach (or carrots or other vegetable of your choosing). Top with undrained canned tomatoes (making sure that there is enough liquid to cook the noodles), place lid on top of pan. When noodles are cooked, fold (not stir) in one carton of sour cream.
It is a fairly quick and easy (basically) one pot meal.

My dad used to make us "goulah-goulah", summer and winter versions. Summer was like a cold pasta salad with mayonnaise and whatever vegetables he could find to chop up. Winter was hot, with a red sauce and whatever vegetables he could find to chop up.

Hwo are you going to miss me if I don't go away?

A Friday night supper specialty of my mother's was creamed eggs on toast. Hard boiled eggs mixed with a white sauce served over toast. Lots of black pepper on top.

Ain't no sunshine when you're gone, OMG.

Gotta blame this weather on someone...

I may be late to the party but congratulations to Susan Who Has A Job and is Now Known as Cosmo Girl!

Roe eggs. An horrific concoction that I actually loved as a child but cannot imagine eating today. Back then you could buy fish roe in a can; I have no idea what kind of fish this came from. My mother would mix it with eggs and scrambled them for breakfast. I cannot even recall what it tasted like, but I do remember liking it. She also made fish roe cakes from these canned eggs. They were also served for breakfast.

Roe eggs -- doubly eggy! :-)

Regina, you can still buy fish roe in cans, usually labelled caviar. The supermarket grade isn't all that terribly expensive.

My mom made four supper dishes that I'm pretty sure were "her own." One was creamed eggs over toast and one was creamed chipped beef over toast. (I now know that neither was exclusive to our household.) If Dad didn't like what was being served for supper, Mom either made tomato gravy or milk toast for him. For the former, she cooked canned tomatoes with a little sugar until the liquid evaporated, then added milk very carefully so it wouldn't curdle. The other is self-explanatory: milk warmed with a little butter until just hot. Both of these dishes were served over toast Finally, Mom made a casserole of layered cooked ground beef, cooked spaghetti pieces, drained canned tomatoes, and cheddar cheese; repeat the layers, add milk or the drained tomato juice for moisture, and bake about 45 minutes. I still make it, and I could eat it every day!

Dottie--milk toast! That was what my mother always made for me when I was sick or recuperating. It would have a pat of butter melting on top and a sprinkle of sugar. I feel better already!

How'm I sposed to care about funky family foods with that unexplained flying fish video flopping around on stage?

My mother's summer salad was a variation on potato salad that I haven't seen anyone else do, a potato salad/slaw hybrid:

Finely chopped raw onion; chopped carrots and celery; sliced radishes; cubed or sliced boiled potatoes; a generous quantity of chopped raw cabbage; and just enough mayonnaise (always Hellman's) to cover the elements lightly. (You could add cucumber or green or red bell pepper, but they tend to get slimy.)

My children and I eat it voraciously.

I should have added:

My mother's bourbon balls:
http://sullicom.blogspot.com/2007/09/mcintyres-bourbon-balls.html

My mother's fried chicken:
http://weblogs.baltimoresun.com/news/mcintyre/blog/2008/01/the_one_true_fried_chicken.html

My grandmother's sour cream cookies:
http://weblogs.baltimoresun.com/news/mcintyre/blog/2006/12/the_best_batter_you_ever_ate.html

Dottie, in my parent's house, we had Creamed Chipped Beef on Toast (aka, SOS) whenever Mother was mad at Daddy. We ate it a lot. Once, we had it for 6 days straight. By the 6th day, we were begging our father, "Puh-leeze! We don't care what you did! Just make the SOS stop!"

Eve, it had nothing really to do with mad or not mad. We never had SOS because my father had it in the army and HATED it with a passion. We never also had broccoli, spinach, fresh fish (lots of Mrs. Pauls though), and lots of other stuff I didn't taste until I was a teen eating at friends homes. The funny thing is, my son LOVES SOS and would eat it daily if allowed!

We used to have creamed chipped beef on toast.
My oldest brother's favorite was "Meatcakes and Kraft dinner". These were ground beef "cakes" (about the size of a large crab cake) cooked in a cast-iron skillet and served with brown gravy. The Kraft dinner was the Kraft mac-n-cheese.

I think he still eats that a lot.

Joyce, that's why my father hated SOS and why it made such good punishment. He also (still) hates all of the things you mentioned as well as anything with "stinky" cheese (only Velveeta at our house!), cheese sauce or mushrooms. And Democrasts.

jl asks: How'm I sposed to care about funky family foods with that unexplained flying fish video flopping around on stage?

I said Fisherman's Delight is normally a side dish served with fresh fish.

Sometimes, though, you go fly fishing and the fish aren't flying. So it becomes the main course.

Eve - they must have really made some putrid SOS back in the day for our poor soldiers! Yes, a good punishment indeed! My father cracks up when we take my son to a diner and he (my son) orders it. He won't even taste it and give us his expert opinion on whether or not it's still horrible.

Blue Moon (I think that is the name of the place, down in Fell's Point) does a very tasty SOS. Of course, they don't exactly call it that.

Joyce and Eve,

My dad was in Vietnam and loved SOS. We never had it though, 'cause mom didn't like it. He would make it for himself like once a year. I didn't listen to him and try it 'til I was in my 20's and now I LOVE it.

My mom also made salmon cakes alot. Gack. She loves them. I can still remember the smell. I think all I ate those nights was the side of Mac-n-Cheese (blue box). Dad didn't like those either, but they got made all the time. Hey.....I think I'm seeing a pattern here......

In the navy, they sometimes had (as a breakfast choice) a white sausage(?) gravy that they would pour over biscuits. While that is a big thing here in the South, not too many guys would get it in the chow line. Even the southerners.