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By Debbie Oliver
 I looked at the bowl of gooey egg whites and debated throwing them down the sink. I was bone-tired after working all day, cooking supper, and cleaning up the dishes. I picked up the bowl, then sat it down again. The image of my grandmother wouldn’t let me throw away those egg whites.
My grandmother was raised during the depression and spent many years of her married life learning to stretch a dollar. Her favorite sayings had always been “Waste not, want not” and “A penny saved, a penny earned.” How many times had I watched Nee Nee scrape every bit of cake batter out of the mixing bowl, find creative ways to reinvent leftovers, or pop something into the oven because it was already heated up? That’s it! Forget-Em cookies! That’s what Nee Nee always made with egg whites left over at the end of a meal, when the oven was already heated up and ready to go.
Forget-Em
Cookies
2 egg whites
¾ cup sugar
1 t. vanilla
1 cup chopped nuts
6 oz. chocolate chips
Heat oven
to 375 degrees. Beat egg
whites until stiff. Add sugar
a little at a time. Fold
in vanilla, nuts, and chips.
Drop by rounded teaspoons
on cookie sheets lined with
aluminum foil. Place in oven
and turn oven off. Leave
overnight – don’t
open the door! Forget-em
tonight, enjoy them tomorrow.
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I reached for my book of collected recipes and found the index card with Nee Nee’s handwriting. “Forget-em tonight and enjoy them tomorrow.” I felt a little revived as I pictured my children waking up in the morning to help me pull cookies out of the oven.
I made sure I had the right ingredients and started mixing. As I chopped nuts and measured chocolate chips, I began to think about all the things my grandmother has taught me over the years.
I see images of what her life has been like through her stories. Although she never had much money, I sense the wealth of love she experienced at home with her mom, dad, and siblings. Their house wasn’t big, but it was open to friends and relatives. Church was the social event of the week, and the family found comfort together during those hard times in hymns like The Old Rugged Cross and When the Roll Is Called Up Yonder.
Nee Nee is a great cook, and she never lets a person leave her house hungry or empty-handed. She has been known to feed the repairmen and utility workers who come to her house. She patiently taught me how to sew, beginning with Barbie doll clothes made from the scraps of material from the dresses she made me. These are her ways of showing the importance of hospitality and love.
I see a lot of my grandmother in myself. I love to cook and sew, and I sppreciate the things of old. My house is full of antiques – the kind that have more sentimental value than monetary.
But that’s not all – Nee Nee shared her faith with me as well. She taught me the power of prayer, and the thought of all of the prayers my grandmother has said for my family is comforting. And so, as I placed two sheets of fluffy white meringue cookies into the oven, I said a prayer of my own – in gratitude for my Nee Nee.
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