While The Golden Girls was famously associated with cheesecake, and occasionally spaghetti or lasagna, Estelle Getty had a culinary tradition of her own.

The actress, who played Sophia Petrillo, embraced her Polish heritage through the foods she grew up with and continued to cook at home. Her kitchen was a far cry from Sophia’s Italian-American table on The Golden Girls.

And while the Golden Girls reportedly ate more than 100 cheesecakes during the show’s run, Getty said in a 1986 interview with the Philadelphia Daily News that it was impossible for her not to gain weight. Between her on-screen snacks and her home cooking, Getty found herself surrounded by plenty of temptation.

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"It’s so easy to gain weight because there is always food around, lots of goodies," Getty said. "That’s one of the things I have in my head that comes from my mother. She always told me that when I’m working very hard, I must eat."

And Getty was eating well. Long before home cooking and being a "foodie" became a lifestyle trend, it was one of her favorite things to do outside of her work on The Golden Girls.

"I make the same kind of dishes my mother made because that’s how I learned to cook," Getty said. "I cook Polish dishes like blini, but I don’t bake. My older sister does the baking, but I make rolled cabbage and onion, pot roast, roast chicken, chicken soup, potato pancakes and noodle pudding."

Noodle pudding might sound unusual to some modern readers, but for Getty, it was a familiar taste of home. It consisted of egg noodles, cottage cheese, sugar, raisins, cinnamon and other ingredients.

"Everyone likes my noodle pudding," Getty said. "It’s easy to make. My whole idea about cooking is not to handle things too much."

According to the interview, Getty’s parents died when she was young. Cooking gave her a way to stay connected to them long after they were gone. It was more than preparing a meal; it was a way of keeping her family’s traditions alive and staying close to her Polish roots.

And Getty carried those traditions beyond the kitchen. She continued to celebrate the holidays and traditions passed down by her family.

"I genuinely like people," Getty said. "I like to be surrounded by friends. I value my privacy. I don’t require a whole lot of aloneness. During my hiatus from filming, weekends or holidays, I entertain. They are there for me when I get a little crazy every once in a while."

While Sophia Petrillo may have made cheesecake synonymous with The Golden Girls, Getty’s own recipes offered a different kind of connection — one that brought a little taste of home to every meal.