Cook's Corner celebrates 15 years

12/10/14 Cook’s Corner

Betty Kaiser

I was mulling over longevity last week (I know, that sounds weird) when I realized that Cook’s Corner is celebrating a milestone anniversary this month. If my math serves me correctly, I started working for the Sentinel in July of 1996 and I began working in the newsroom in Dec. of 1999. That was 15 short years ago.

Cook’s Corner was the new kid on the block when I moved into the newsroom. I had already been writing the Chatterbox and was looking forward to publishing recipes from the public. In fact, my first tagline read, “To submit a recipe, cook’s name or cook book, contact Betty Kaiser at the Sentinel, 942-3325.” 

I wish I could tell you that my phone rang off the hook but it didn’t. It seemed that very few readers really wanted to share their recipes. One woman bluntly told me “I won’t have anything special to take to potlucks if I share my taco salad recipe with you.” Interesting. I hadn’t thought about that possibility!

To celebrate Cook’s second year, I suggested to the Sentinel staff that it would be fun to publish our own in-house favorite holiday recipes. Most of my fellow employees didn’t think it sounded like fun at all. Some claimed that whenever they cooked the smoke alarm went off. Others said they only cooked if it involved a microwave. A few had a recipe on my desk the next day.

Today, in honor of Cook’s Corner’s 15^th anniversary, we’re going to take a look at some of those recipes from Dec. 19, 2001.

We’ll start off with a clam dip appetizer from Matt Treder our blond, gangly, sports guy of that era. He and his wife Eiko added sour cream and Tabasco sauce to his “Grammy’s” holiday recipe. I would love to see pictures of his adorable little girls who are now teenagers! By the way, there are no serving sizes on any of these recipes so just enjoy

CLAM DIP

(Matt Treder)

Mix all ingredients together and serve with chips or veggies:

1 clove garlic, minced

1 8 ounce package cream cheese

1/4 cup sour cream

2 teaspoons lemon juice

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 1/2 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce

1 7-ounce can minced clams, drained, broth reserved

1/4 cup clam broth (from the clams)

*Betty sez to add more lemon juice if needed and garnish with chopped parsley. Yummy!

Editor Finn John’s wife offered a healthy vegetable side dish that she got from her mother-in-law. She said that it is easy to prepare with a hearty flavor and she usually doubles the amount of garlic. Yikes!

ROASTED VEGGIES

(Natalie John)

6 cups beets, peeled, diced

4-5 cups butternut squash, peeled and cubed

3 cups turnips, peeled and cubed

2 cups carrots, sliced (thick)

1 cup red potato, peeled and cubed

8 garlic cloves

1 tablespoon olive oil

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon black pepper

Preheat oven to 450° F.

Place vegetables in 13X9 baking dish, coated with cooking spray. Drizzle with oil and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Bake 1-1/2 hours, stirring occasionally.

*Betty sez: I needed to add additional oil and seasonings.

Robin Reiser has returned to the Sentinel after another career. Her mother Betty Watkins worked for Grove Escrow 31 years. Every year at Christmas, until her passing, she would share plates of homemade goodies with friends and neighbors. This recipe is 60+ years old!

CARAMELS

(Betty Watkins)

2 cups sugar

2 cups light corn syrup

2 cups canned milk

1 cube butter

2 teaspoons rum, brandy or vanilla flavoring.

Boil sugar and syrup and slowly add milk. Add butter. Cook until hard ball stage. Add flavoring. Pour into buttered 9 X 13 pan and let cool. After caramel is cool, lay sheet of candy on waxed paper. Cut into bite size pieces and wrap in wax paper. Delicious!

Longtime advertising manager, Brad Chambers (now living in Hawaii), shared one of his dad’s fudge recipes. Mel Chambers offered a smorgasbord of fudge choices ranging from divinity to light or dark chocolate with or without nuts. He would take orders from family members for Christmas. This year I’m finally going to make his peanut butter variety.

MEL’S PEANUT BUTTER FUDGE

2 cubes Blue Bonnet margarine

1 can evaporated milk

4 1/2 cups sugar

12 ounce package miniature marshmallows

28 ounce jar chunky peanut butter

1 tablespoon vanilla

In heavy pan, melt margarine over low heat. Add milk and sugar. Bring to rolling boil. Boil 6-7 min., stirring often. Remove from heat and add marshmallow and vanilla. Mix well. Add peanut butter and mix until smooth. Pour into greased 9X13 pan. Let set 24 hours before cutting into squares.

Mona DeSando was not a Sentinel employee but her daughter Brandalee, briefly worked with us. It was a thrill every year during the holiday season when Mona gifted us with her wonderful rum cake. We always ate every morsel!

RUM CAKE

(Mona DeSando)

1 box yellow cake mix (with pudding)

1 small box instant vanilla pudding

1/4 cup oil

1/2 cup water

4 eggs

1/2 cup dark rum (or substitute appropriate amount of rum flavoring)

Preheat oven to 350° F.

Grease and flour the bottom of an angel food cake pan. Line bottom of pan with chopped walnuts or pecans. Mix all ingredients together well and pour into greased and floured pan. Bake for one hour. Invert on plate and poke holes in top of cake with toothpick.

GLAZE:

Melt 1/4 cup butter in saucepan.

Add 1/4 cup water and 1 cup sugar

Boil 5 minutes, stirring constantly.

Remove from stove before adding rum. Glaze will be thin. Drizzle over cake and allow to set.

Keep it simple and keep it seasonal! Betty Kaiser’s Cook’s Corner is dedicated to sharing a variety of recipes that are delicious, family oriented and easy to prepare. Contact her at 942-1317 or email bchatty@bettykaiser.com

A traditional 1950s Thanksgiving

11/26/14 Cook’s Corner

Betty Kaiser

Thanksgiving Hymn

We plough the fields & scatter

Matthias Claudius, circa 1790

We plough the fields, and scatter
the good seed on the land,
but it is fed and watered
by God's almighty hand;
he sends the snow in winter,
the warmth to swell the grain,
the breezes and the sunshine
and soft refreshing rain.

We thank thee then, O Father,
for all things bright and good,
the seedtime and the harvest,
our life, our health, our food.
Accept the gifts we offer
for all thy love imparts,
and what thou most desirest,
our humble, thankful hearts.

Tomorrow is Thanksgiving Day and so it seems appropriate to begin today’s column with a hymn of Thanks-giving. The above hymn is part of a longer poem in which country people sang a harvest song of devotion to God. It is as relevant today as it was when written.

Thanksgiving day at our house has always been about tradition. As a youngster, it really began on Wed. with a trip to the meat market to pick up the turkey, fresh shrimp, fruit and vegetables.

Preparing the meal was a team effort. My grandparents lived across the street. Mother and grandmother would divvy up the baking. Mother would roll out piecrust dough for two of her traditional pumpkin pies. While the pies baked she would set the dining room table with her best white linen tablecloth and holiday china, silverware and glassware.

Over at grandma’s house, she would start early to make her famous yeast rolls. While the dough was rising she would also make piecrusts and fillings for her mouth-watering apple or cherry pies.

Thanksgiving morning the cooks rose early to get the turkey ready for the oven. Wearing their most comfortable housedresses and aprons they attacked the 20-pound bird. It was fresh from the farm but it was not the clean and perfectly prepared bird that we bring home today from today’s supermarkets.

Yesterday's turkey had to be thoroughly washed in the sink and the heart, giblets, neck and gizzards removed. They were not nicely packaged in a plastic bag. They were cleaned and set to simmer on the stove to make broth for the dressing and gravy. Then, with tweezers in hand, I helped mother with the tedious task of removing the bird’s pinfeathers. It took forever!

In the meantime, grandmother was putting together the dressing. A large pan of cornbread had been baked the night before. She crumbled the cornbread into the biggest pan she could find, along with seasonings (marjoram, sage, salt and pepper) and set it aside. Then she chopped up onions and celery and sautéed them in a generous amount of butter. They were added to the cornbread along with chopped giblets and just the right amount of giblet juice.

The recipe never varied. There were no apples, cranberries, chestnuts, sausage or other fancy stuff to mute the cornbread flavor. I make a similar dressing today. However, I use canned chicken broth (not available in the 1950s) and add shredded carrots for color and moisture. Sometimes I add chopped water chestnuts but that’s about as far afield as this southern trained cook can go.

Once the dressing was prepared they stuffed the turkey (both ends!) and put it in a roasting pan. The wings were tucked under the body (didn’t want it flying away); the legs and cavities were sewed together with needle and thread to hold its shape. It was then smeared with butter and seasonings and a lid put on the roaster. It was about 9 a.m. when the bird went into the oven at 300° to cook all day.

Around 4 p.m. our traditional appetizer tray was assembled: stuffed celery (pimiento and olive cream cheese), crackers, black and green olives and tiny gherkins were set out on the table. Shrimp cocktails with a traditional diced celery base were arranged in individual serving dishes along with a dollop of chili sauce and chilled.

At the same time, potatoes were being mashed, rutabagas, parsnips (ugh) or some of other kind of vegetable were seasoned; rolls were heated and Cranberry Jell-O salad was put on top of lettuce leafed salad plates. The turkey was tested for doneness (did the drumsticks move freely?) and removed from the pan. The stuffing was spooned into a serving dish and set aside.

The pan drippings were put into another large pan for gravy along with some of the giblet juice and cooled. The grease would rise to the top and be scooped off. More liquid would be added to the broth if needed. A roux would thicken the mixture and chopped giblets added.

Voila! It was show time! Mother and grandmother would remove their aprons and smooth their hair. Grandfather would say grace and the feasting would begin.

My mother and grandmother made Libby’s Pumpkin Pie and I do too. Following is the recipe. It’s practically foolproof. FYI: Be sure and make your own crust. Use the smaller can of pumpkin for premade crusts. I replace the ginger with nutmeg.

Enjoy your traditions and have a Happy Thanksgiving!

LIBBY’S PUMPKIN PIE

(Makes 2 pies)

4 eggs, slightly beaten
1 (29 oz.) can Libby's solid pack pumpkin
1 1/2 c. sugar
1 tsp. salt
2 tsp. ground cinnamon
1 tsp. ground ginger
1/2 tsp. ground cloves
2 (13 oz.) cans evaporated milk or 3 1/4 c. half and half
2 (9") unbaked homemade pie shells with high fluted edge

Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Combine filling ingredients in order given; divide evenly into pie shells. Bake 15 minutes.

 Reduce temperature to 350 degrees and bake an additional 45 minutes or until knife inserted near center of each pie comes out clean. Cool; garnish, if desired, with whipped topping.

Yield: 2 (9") pies.

Keep it simple and keep it seasonal!

Betty Kaiser’s Cook’s Corner is dedicated to sharing a variety of recipes 

that are delicious, family oriented and easy to prepare.