7/16/2020 Cook’s Corner
Betty KaiserOne of my activities during this Corovirus confinement has been to “get organized” and get rid of junk. You know, that stuff that you haven’t used since the last century! That’s a little hard to do when you’ve lived in one house for 31 years. Everything is precious and there’s no junk!
Well, maybe there’s some in the kitchen. I have a hard time parting with kitchen stuff. I won’t bore you with all the no-longer-used gadgets that I have but I will tell you that I have too many cookbooks. How many? Well, at last count, I had over 100 nice, hardback, quality cookbooks and too many recipe booklets to count. And that doesn’t include old magazine clippings.
It is all really my husband Chuck’s fault. He built me a beautiful maple bookcase and I filled it up with cookbooks. But it wasn’t big enough! Still homeless are several recipe boxes and a couple of drawers filled with folders of must keep magazine recipes for Cook’s Corner.
Last month, I bravely waded in to weed out what I no longer use. I began with the bookcase. I now only have left 75 nice, unused quality cookbooks neatly stacked. Hmm. That means that they almost all fit in there along with the recipe filling boxes. The others are in a box marked “garage sale.”
My cookbook collection started out with a Betty Crocker loose leaf cookbook as a wedding shower gift in 1957. It is now falling apart and has been replaced a few times but it remains my go to favorite. I have others (Pillsbury, etc.) that I like but none can beat Betty for basics.
There are also some other cookbooks that I won’t part with including “The Pioneer Lady” collection, “The Joy of Cooking “Dear S.O.S” by the L.A. Times and some specialty booklets.
Also, anything written by Maryana Vollstedt is a keeper. Years ago, she and her husband started the Reed & Cross nursery that grew into a large retail complex with great food in Eugene. I knew her as a freelance food columnist for The Register Guard including a “Kid’s Cook column.”
I literally gobbled up all of her columns. Simple and tasty. She also self-published 15 cookbooks. I only bought two books, “What’s for Dinner” and “The Big Book of Casseroles.” Now I wish I had bought them all.
Maryana died in 2017 at 91 years of age but will not be forgotten. The following recipes of hers I have not tried, because I just found them hiding in a folder! Let me know what you think. They sound yummy. Enjoy!
CRAB BRUNCH CASSEROLE
3 Tablespoons butter
12 ounces medium mushrooms, sliced
6 green onions, including some tender green tops, sliced
8 large eggs
2 cups small curd cottage cheese
2 cups sour cream
1 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese
½ cup flour
½ teaspoon salt
Dash of white pepper
3 cups grated Monterey Jack cheese
12 ounces crab meat, flaked
Preheat oven to 350° F.
In a medium skillet over medium heat, melt butter. Add mushrooms and green onions and sauté until tender, about 5 min. Set aside
In a food processor or blender, blend eggs, cottage cheese, sour cream Parmesan, flour, salt and pepper. Transfer to a large bowl. Fold in Jack cheese, crab meat and sautéed vegetables. Pour into a lightly sprayed or oiled 9X13” glass baking dish. Bake until casserole is puffed up and golden, about 45 min. Let stand 10 min. Cut into squares to serve 8.
WALNUT SOUR CREAM COFFEE CAKE
¾ Cup butter, at room temperature
1 cup sugar
2 large eggs
2 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 cup sour cream
1 teaspoon vanilla
Sugar nut filling (recipe follows)
Preheat oven to 350° F.
In a large mixer, beat together butter and sugar until fluffy. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition.
In another bowl, combine flour, baking powder and baking soda. Add to butter and sugar mixture, alternating with sour cream, starting and ending with dry ingredients. Beat well. Stir in vanilla.
Lightly spray a 9x 13 inch glass baking dish. Pour half the batter into the baking dish. Sprinkle half the filling mixture over batter. Pour remaining batter over filling and sprinkle remaining filling evenly on the top.
Bake 30-35 min. or until a toothpick comes out clean when inserted in the center. Cool on a rack and cut into squares to serve. Serves 12
Note: This cake can also be made in a sprayed and floured Bundt pan.
SUGAR-NUT FILLING
1/3 cup packed brown sugar
¼ cup sugar
1 cup chopped walnuts
1 teaspoon cinnam
¼ teaspoon nutmeg
In a small bowl, mix together all ingredients. Use in above recipe. Makes about 1½ cups.
Keep it simple and keep it seasonal with Betty Kaiser’s Cook’s Corner
Contact her by email bchatty@bettykaiser.com
