Serving Lincoln County for more than a century!
Serving Lincoln County for more than a century!
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Borscht Soup is a spring menu item in my book. Though it was a Deutschesfest menu item for many years provided originally by the Odessa Baptist Women, the dish was most often made in springtime with fresh young dill. If you ever had one stalk of dill in your yard, you know it seeds prolifically, and there will be lots to thin out. Six-inch-tall dill is mild, yet full of flavor. Traditional borscht soup consists of a lot of broth with a minimal amount of vegetables and meat, in...
March and St. Patrick's Day brings corned beef to mind for many folks doing the meal planning. Corning, the old time method of preserving meat before refrigeration came along is done for us and the product is readily available in the markets. The method is not difficult but our modern standards require refrigeration and 10 days of curing time. Most of us don’t want to sacrifice the refrigerator space, but the end result is worth doing at least once in your lifetime. There a...
Recipes do fail. Recently I tried a recipe for orange cake with fresh orange syrup. It was circulating the Internet last December. Taking into consideration different tastes among folks, this recipe still falls in the flop category. You won’t find the recipe repeated here, and it will soon disappear from my Pinterest “To Try” board. It is very, very heavy, dense, overly sweet, yet lacking flavor. You can eat it, but it’s not worth wasting calories on, nor time figurin...
Listening to young people talk about food, cooking and recipes can be informative and entertaining. With most families spending more time at home, children are taking an interest in meal and snack preparation. Some love baking cookies. Others like helping with meal prep. One even told me, they should never be allowed in a kitchen unsupervised, as there was danger they would set the kitchen on fire. The most interesting was a young brother and sister telling me all about...
Wrapping up our series on using specialty items hanging out in your pantry after the holiday cooking season is past, I am including a recipe for Mexican Lasagna. Janie Steward shared this recipe with me in 2013, and it was my first experience using uncooked lasagna noodles in a recipe. I have adapted this method to almost all recipes calling for lasagna noodles or manicotti tubes. The trick is 5 cups liquid per 12 noodles or tubes. The other nifty trick in this recipe is the...
January and the new year often bring the urge to spring clean. Finding places for new Christmas gifts spurs the need to purge unused items or bring them out to replace the old and tattered. A close look at kitchen pantry items may also have you discovering a number of specialty items that didn’t get used over the holidays. One option is to donate those items to your local food bank. On the other hand, food dollars were spent on these items and there are many non-holiday recipe...
For most readers, this issue will arrive on the Eve of the New Year. We all look forward with hope to something resembling normal. Meanwhile, meals must be prepared and the trappings of holiday celebrations put away. In this column the recipes presented are designed to help deal with culinary remnants. Ham or prime rib roasts were popular on many holiday menus, and any leftovers make a fine start to weekday meals. One Dish Ham Bake is versatile as you may also use turkey,...
Soon, many area kitchens will be bustling with week-before-Christmas preparations. Company may be coming, kids home from college and you need something for the breakfast crowd. Ground Beef Strata, a recipe I developed, is a breakfast-type casserole that can be made ahead to be ready for baking in the morning. With an hour and a half baking time, set it to bake before present-opening time if a brunch following is in your plans. Ground Beef Strata 1-1 1/2 pounds lean ground...
Food and fellowship, the two go together, belong together. The times make it difficult to combine the two. Recipes and the sharing of family favorites or the newest recipe combos from various publications, is one way for friends and loved ones to connect. This year, those on my Christmas card list will be receiving a recycled Christmas card. I will write a favorite recipe I think they may like on the back side of the pretty card cover. Some of my most loved recipes are those...
Thanksgiving Day is less than a week away, and conditions this year may have many cooks experiencing their first time roasting a turkey. The internet has hundreds of seasoning recipes, how-to guides and roasting/cooking methods, but if this is your first time roasting a turkey, the abundance of various recipes may be overwhelming. Following are some guidelines to help you be successful with most any recipe you choose. First, make sure a frozen turkey is completely thawed...
ODESSA – The high school class of Christ Lutheran Church is conducting a coat drive. People may come to Christ Lutheran Church, 602 East Amende Drive, just east of the Odessa Clinic, from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. daily to look through the selection just inside the fellowship hall door across from the secretary’s office. You do not have to make an appointment or check in, just come. Please use the provided plastic gloves to search through the coats. Donations of winter outerwear may be left in the same area. If you don’t have time...
Current times have drastically changed how we honor the passing of family members and friends. Teresa Stone, daughter of the late Mildred Deife included me in a recipe memorial to her friend Marie Hein of Riverside, Wash. Marie was a committed, from scratch, cook. Teresa asks all in her email address book to share a recipe. Teresa, led off sharing a recipe she received from Marie for Potatoes Romanoff. The nice feature of this recipe is the baked potatoes called for, can be...
This should be the week things gear up for Deutschesfest in Odessa. Sadly, like most area towns, traditional festivities have been canceled due to the corona virus. Normally, the enticing smell of apple strudel, baking in the community center kitchen would waft through the air this week. Workers setting up the Biergarten would enjoy the aroma of pickles and sauerkraut fermenting. Sausage, kraut ranza, kuchen and many other German delicacies would be tucked away in freezers...
Harvest season has begun in Northeast Washington. Canola and hay harvests are currently underway, with wheat to follow soon. Many area families have a connection to the process, either as a farmer or harvest crew member or grain elevator crew member. This makes for a lot of hungry harvesters. Tater Tot Casserole is a favorite of many cooks and diners alike. Easy to prepare and assemble ahead, it holds well if the crew is delayed. Terri Sonata shared a recipe for a Tater Tot...
ODESSA — Summer popsicle time has arrived. When I was growing up, at this time of the year my mother started pulling out the quarts of fruit syrup she had drained from canned fruit over the winter to make popsicles for us kids. Usually she would mix in some Kool-Aid for color. Before Tupperware came out with popsicle molds, mom used ice cube trays or small paper cups. And, yes we were to save the sticks to be reused. To a quart of fruit syrups, mom would add half a package of...
What wonderful June rains we have been having. Gardens are flourishing with natural watering. Dill is growing by leaps and bounds. Soon zucchini will be proliferating with some getting a bit big for stir-fry and too numerous for zucchini bread. Zucchini Soup Base uses lots of zucchini and freezes well for a starter to winter soup recipes. I thawed the last quart from 2019 and put it, 1/2 cup chopped onion, 3 stalks sliced celery, 2 cups chopped cabbage, 1 can each drained...
Salad season must be coming soon. The first day of summer is only a month away. Three-bean salad comes to mind, mostly because I have received a number of questions about cooking dry beans. Many families laid in a supply when the first directives to shelter at home came along. For many, cooking dry beans is a new experience. You can find dozens of cooking methods in cookbooks, internet recipe forums and on YouTube. Stovetop, slow-cooker and Instant-pot are just a few...
Potatoes have recently been given away in just about every growing area. With schools shut down and restaurants on limited service, growers, brokers and processing facilities have more that they can sell. Kindly, many have brought supplies to communities and food banks, so they don’t go to waste. Potatoes distributed now, have been in storage six or seven months, so need to be used up quickly. Potato soup and casseroles can use up potatoes fast, but sunny weather has us t...
Spring is here! Gardens are being planted and outdoor activities have increased, even with social distancing. It is the beginning of salad season, but one more requested soup recipe from earlier soup suppers to start us off. Stuffed Pepper Soup is another of the spaghetti sauce recipes I tried and it has been added to my permanent collection. Plain spaghetti sauce is a versatile staple in my kitchen. With a few spice and herb additions, it substitutes well for pizza sauce,...
Easter celebrations will be different for most this year. Social distancing and shortages of some grocery and household items has us all researching different ways to keep house and prepare meals. A number of folks have grown, purchased or received a gift of sourdough starter, a hedge against bread and yeast shortages. One question I have been asked often lately: What can we use the extra starter that builds up for, or do we just throw it away? There are a great number of...
Cold nights and a cool wind from the north, makes for chilly days, even if the sun comes out. Soup season is still with us. This freezes well and is a much more flavorful addition to recipes than commercially canned versions. Cream of Mushroom Soup 4 Tbsp butter 2 cups diced onion 1 clove garlic, minced 1 1/2 to 2 pounds fresh, white or brown mushrooms, sliced 1/2 tsp dried thyme 1/2 cup dry white wine 6 Tbsp all-purpose flour or cornstarch 4 cups beef or chicken broth 1 - 2...
Spring is trying to burst forth, but we do live in Eastern Washington, so anything can happen weather-wise. Spring brings new, fresh food items to market. Lamb chops, roasts and other cuts are more prevalent at large supermarket meat counters this time of year, and some families include roast lamb in their Easter menu. Roasting lamb is not hard, but requires a bit more roasting time per pound that other red meats. This is because lamb is not as marbled with fat as beef and...
Valentine’s Day falls on a Friday this year. This makes celebrating with dinner out more feasible on the holiday than when it falls midweek. For others, ball games, work schedules or just not wanting to navigate the crowds, means preparing meals at home. With a little ingenuity, you can still make the meals special. Cutting cheese slices, lunch meat, even the whole sandwiches in heart shapes is a fun treat. Heart shaped cookie cutters may be used to cut brownies, Rice K...
A bit of sunshine teases us into thinking winter is over. February and March have yet to come. Winter is not done so we might as well make the most of it. Lemon flavored desserts can add a spark of spring to winter gathering menus. Charlene Kagele shared a recipe for Lemon Cheesecake Bars she found at www.healthygffamily.com. This site features gluten free recipes. These bars would be a nice addition to a Superbowl gathering buffet, or anytime a gluten free dessert is...
Winter weather and hot meals go together. Meatloaf, casseroles, soups and stews, top the list of requested recipes, whether one is using a conventional range, slow-cooker or insta-pot. Jessica Torres shared the recipe for Mozzarella Stuffed Meatloaf she recently found on www.thestayathomechef.com. The recipe gives instructions for oven baking, but it works equally well in a slow cooker. The mozzarella cheese and seasonings give a pizza like flavor. Mozzarella Stuffed Meatloaf...
