In the Kitchen
This Issue Contents | Recipe | Home Plan | Publishers notes
If you’re looking for more information on church cookbooks, perhaps you’ll want to attend an event called Potluck Paradise: Favorite Fare from Church and Community Cookbooks from 2 to 3 p.m. Sunday, March 8, at the Mill City Museum 704 South Second Street, Minneapolis. Join Rae Katherine Eighmey and Debbie Miller as they demonstrate recipes and sign copies of their new cookbook “Potluck Paradise.” Eighmey and Miller combed through hundreds of cookbooks compiled by groups around the Midwest, then tested the most popular recipes before winnowing the list to 125 of the tastiest crowd-pleasing dishes. Learn how to make Lemon Sponge Pudding and the best and easiest smorgasbord meatballs, while hearing recollections of growing up in the 1950s and what cookbooks can tell us about a community. Samples will be available. Copies of “Potluck Paradise” will be available for purchase and for signing. The program is included with museum admission of $10 adults, $8 seniors and college students, $5 children ages 6-17.
Yes, canned cream soup is a staple in Minnesota church cookbook cuisine. So is Jell-O. You can make everything from a simple, jiggly gelatin mold to strawberry pie with Jell-O. A recipe for the latter illustrates another common thread among church cookbooks: missing or misplaced ingredients. Before you tie on your apron, it’s best to read church cookbook recipes all the way through. Often, key ingredients are not listed at the start of the recipe, but are buried in the directions, as you’ll see here:
Strawberry Pie
Our Lady of the Prairie Church Cookbook, Belle Plaine
1 package vanilla pudding
1 package strawberry Jell-O
1 cup cold water
1 teaspoon lemon juice
Cook over low heat until it gets thick, 10 minutes. Cool in icebox and then fold in 1 small box Cool Whip, 1½ cups sliced strawberries. Pour into graham cracker or baked crust. To serve, garnish with more Cool Whip and a few berries.
If you had started making that strawberry pie based on the list of ingredients, you would have been short not only a crust and Cool Whip topping, but also the strawberries themselves. Perhaps the cooks who submitted these recipes were not too concerned, knowing that the folks in their communities are solid, practical sorts who can figure things out on the fly. Or maybe they knew that Mrs. Huber or Mrs. Dworshak would simply pick up the phone to get the rest of the recipe. Because a church cookbook is compiled by the folks who live in a small geographic area, it stands to reason that a book would reflect the region’s heritage. The Bechyn book, for instance, features recipes for Czechoslovakian spice cookies, Rajska Jablicka Smazena (fried tomatoes), Skubanky (potato mush made from potatoes, sugar, salt, lard and more lard) and Kysele Zeli (Czech sauerkraut). Czech bloodlines also run strong a couple of hours east in Belle Plaine, but those of Irish lineage apparently were more inclined to contribute to the Our Lady of the Prairie Church Cookbook, which features recipes like Moriarty’s Irish Stew and Irish Potato Salad. Read on for an array of church cookbook favorites from an array of Minnesota cooks.
Coffee Cake
Recipe Treasures, St. Joseph’s Church, Waite Park
A favorite of Terri Brunner, Luxemburg
2 loaves frozen bread dough
1 cup half & half
1 cup sugar
2 tablespoons cornstarch
½ teaspoon cinnamon
1 tablespoon sugar
Thaw dough in 9x13 greased pan. When thawed, punch down dough and combine the two loaves. Let rise. Mix half & half and sugar in pan. Bring to boil. Mix cornstarch with 1/3 cup milk and slowly add to half & half mixture. Thicken over heat until pudding-like consistency. When bread is double in size, make thumbholes in the top of the bread, and pour mixture into holes and spread rest of mixture over top of loaf. Sprinkle cinnamon over the top of the loaf. Bake at 350 degrees for 30-35 minutes – or longer as needed.
Easy Barbecue
Favorite Recipes, Our Saviors of Thief Lake,
Middle River
A favorite of Rachel Fredrickson, Thief River Falls
Brown:
1 pound lean hamburger.
Add:
2 tablespoons vinegar
2 teaspoons Worcestershire sauce
2 tablespoons brown sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup catsup
2 teaspoons dry mustard
Simmer 15 minutes. This is better the second day and it keeps up to 3 months if frozen.
Keebler Salad
Favorite Recipes, Moorhead Evangelical Free Church, Moorhead
A favorite of Cathy Lee, Brainerd
Mix together 1 3-ounce package instant vanilla pudding and 1 cup buttermilk. Then add the following: 1 9- ounce container Cool Whip, 1 can mandarin oranges, 1 large can crushed pineapple (not drained), 16 Keebler Fudge Stripe cookies, crushed. Chill before serving.
Fresh Apple Cake
Our Best to You, First Congregational Church, Grand Marais
A favorite of Lynn Youngblom, Duluth
3 cups sifted flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon soda
1 ½ teaspoons salt
1 teaspoon cinnamon
2 cups sugar
3/4 cup vegetable oil
4 cups finely chopped apples
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 eggs
1 cup chopped nuts
Sift together the first 5 ingredients into large bowl; add oil, vanilla and beat at medium speed for 2 minutes. Add chopped apples. In another bowl, beat eggs until light yellow. Gradually add sugar, continue beating until light and fluffy. Fold egg mixture into apple mixture. Mix well. Stir in nuts. Pour into greased Bundt pan and bake 1 hour and 10 minutes at 350 degrees. Let cool in pan.
The remainder of the following recipies are in the printed edition of Minnesota Moments
Oatmeal Drop Cookies Hostess III, Woodland United Methodist Church, Duluth A favorite of Lynn Youngblom, Duluth |
Barbecued Turkey Legs Mount of Olives Baptist Church, Duluth |
Banana Bread Bless Us, O Lord, Church of Nativity, Cleveland |
Apple Jell-O Salad St. Paul Lutheran Church, Arlington |
Raspberry Delight Salad St. Paul’s Evangelical Lutheran Church, Seaforth, and St. John’s’ Evangelical Lutheran Church, Sheridan Township, Belview |
Buster Bar Dessert St. Anne’s Catholic Church, Wabasso |
Sour Cream Raisin Bars Trinity Evangelical Lutheran Church, Walnut Grove |
Rice Krispie Cookies Peace Lutheran Church, Echo |
Apple Dessert St. John’s Evangelical Lutheran Church, Vesta |
White Cake Christian Mothers, Seaforth |
Chocolate Cake Christian Mothers, Seaforth |
Orange Jell-O Salad St. John’s Lutheran Church, Redwood Falls |
Hamburger Soup St. Mary’s Catholic Church, Sleepy Eye |