Hand-me-down recipes are among the most treasured gifts our parents or grandparents can pass on to us. I’ve always had an affinity for them, no matter if they are mine or someone else’s.

That is why I was intrigued when seeing Yvonne Wasvick-Kalka’s post on Facebook the other day. Yvonne, who teaches English and speech at Grand Forks Central and also coaches the speech and debate teams, shared her grandmother’s recipe for vomachka, which is basically a dill/potato soup with fresh green beans and eggs.

“It’s Czech,” Yvonne told me. “We had it every summer growing up. My mom was 100 percent. My grandma came over from Prague.”

While doing a little research on the Internet, I discovered several variations of the soup as well as spellings for the name. But just about all of the recipe had green beans and potatoes in common.

And since beans and dill are abundant in my garden this summer, I’m certainly going to “Czech” out the following recipe.

Vamaschka
1 bunch of fresh dill
3 pounds new potatoes
1 pound green beans
1 dozen eggs
1 pint whipping cream
Salt and pepper to taste
Vinegar (optional)
Start with half a big pot of water. Cook a bunch of dill new potatoes and green beans until tender. Crack in a dozen eggs and let them hard boil. Turn down heat to low add whipping cream and salt and pepper to taste. When serving, you can add some vinegar to bowl.