My Mom Died on Mother’s Day. Today I Made Her Beef and Cheese Pie.

My mom died on Mother’s Day this year. 

This is my first post since she died in May. I’ve started writing it in my head more than once, and every time I thought about it, I got overwhelmed and felt like I needed to say something profound about grief and missing her. 

But the truth is, I’m not there yet.

So instead, because our shared love language was food, I’d like to tell you about one of the most unexpected recipes from my childhood.

Beef and Cheese Pie

Mom was an incredible baker, but she wasn’t known for fancy meals. She fed a family of five, stretched a strained budget with assistance from government commodity food, and made meals that became the comfort foods of our childhood.

Dishes like tater tot hot dish, grilled cheese, goulash, tuna noodle casserole, and macaroni and cheese with peas and diced SPAM® graced our family mealtimes often. (Yes, one of our favorite snacks was commodity cheese and the square sheets-of-four saltine crackers.)

So, when I wanted to feel closer to her this week, I got in the kitchen and made something that she would’ve been excited about.

I made one of the most unusual recipes she made for us: Beef and Cheese Pie. It’s one of those recipes that not every household has. But my sisters and I really liked it growing up, and mom made it for me even as a young adult when I’d come home. But it has since quietly disappeared. 

Beef and cheese pie is a hearty casserole with only 10 ingredients—just eight ingredients for her because mom never would have included the onion or green pepper—including ground beef, green beans, tomato sauce, and cheddar cheese. The crust is a tube of crescent rolls, which makes me wonder if this recipe originated from the Pillsbury company. I’d love to know. Did it?

Simple Steps to Making Beef and Cheese Pie

When I took the bubbling savory pie out of the oven, I cried. It instantly brought me back to the dinner table with mom. Not because it was her signature dish, but because it reminded me of her and that memories are sometimes tucked inside a recipe from a loved one. With my mom, I have a lot of them.

This goes back to what I’ve been talking about for years…recipes aren’t just instructions, they’re a memory—a story. 

All these feelings line up exactly with what I said in my TEDx Sioux Falls Talk in April—that the most important part of a recipe is never written down. Recipes have a way of preserving people and moments that matter. (When my TEDx is online, I’ll come back and link it here for you. Sadly, my mom was too sick to attend my talk at the Washington Pavilion, and she died 17 days later.)

Meet My Mom

I’m sure I’ll write more about her as I gather my thoughts and learn how to be without a mom, but for now, if you’d like to hear my mom, Linda Moe, in her own words, these two Funeral Potatoes & Wool Mittens podcast episodes are treasures to me:

• Vintage Snow Frosting and Birthday Cake with My Mom, Season 1, Episode 12, February 22, 2023
• Christmas Baking Recipes with My Mom, Linda Moe, Season 2, Episode 11, December 22, 2023

To learn more about mom’s life, you can read her obituary on George Boom Funeral Home.

Is there a recipe that nobody outside your family understands, but you’d miss if it disappeared? 

Sweet wishes,