Side Dishes

Nature provides an abundance

Claudia Foran of House Springs captured the side dish category title with her Creamy Zucchini, a “comfort food” take on the ubiquitous garden vegetable.

“We had such a good garden this year,” she said. “So much zucchini, cucumbers, all those. I made a lot of zucchini bread, but I needed something more.”

Foran said she came up with the recipe on her own.

“I pretty much just made it up myself,” she admitted. “I make a spinach and Parmesan dip all the time, and it’s creamy and good. I just thought it could work with zucchini just as well. I just experimented with it until I got what I wanted. I was just trying to come up with a different use for this wonderful harvest, and everybody loved it.”

Foran, 69, is retired from a long career cooking in the cafeteria at Rockwood High School.

“It’s very different, cooking for over 1,000 kids in three lunch hours and cooking for just the two of us,” she said.

Her boyfriend, Dennis, serves as her culinary guinea pig.

“He enjoys my cooking,” she said. “We hardly ever eat out; I’m always baking and cooking. I don’t always have success, but I mostly do pretty well.”

Foran said she does even more cooking and baking during the holidays.

“I am the baker of the family,” she said. “Cookies at Christmas, pies for Thanksgiving. The family loves to come over and eat; they love my baked chicken.”

Foran said she’s something of an adventurous chef.

“I do follow a recipe, but then I also like to experiment,” she said. “I have a firecracker slaw that I came up with that’s very colorful; everybody loves that. I’m always willing to try different stuff and to experiment.”

Creamy Zucchini

Claudia Foran, House Springs

FINALIST

4 medium zucchinis, julienned

1 1/2 teaspoons garlic, minced

2 tablespoons olive oil

2 (3-ounce) packages cream cheese, cubed

1 cup half-and-half

1/2 cup parmesan cheese, shredded

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/8 teaspoon pepper

Dash of nutmeg

Shredded Swiss cheese

In a large skillet, saute zucchini and garlic in oil for 3-5 minutes or until tender; drain. Remove mixture with a slotted spoon and keep warm. In the same skillet, combine the cream cheese and cream and stir over low heat until smooth. Stir in parmesan cheese. Return zucchini mixture to pan; cook and stir 1-8 minutes or until heated through. Sprinkle with salt, pepper, nutmeg and Swiss cheese.

Cold Pea Salad

Barb Luhrsen, Barnhart

1 can tiny peas

1 can French-style green beans

1 jar pimento chopped and drained

1 small bunch celery, chopped

1 small bunch green onions, chopped

1/2 cup salad oil

1 cup vinegar

1 1/2 cups sugar

Mix all together in casserole and let stand overnight in refrigerator. Serve cold. Serves 6.

Herbal Italian Bread

Debbie Greff, Hillsboro

1 tablespoon yeast

2 1/2 teaspoons sugar

2 cups warm water

2-3 cloves minced garlic

1 tablespoon Italian seasoning

1 tsp dried rosemary, chopped or crushed

2 1/2 teaspoons salt

1/2 cup whole wheat flour

5-5 1/2 cups unbleached flour

Olive oil

Egg, beaten

In mixer bowl, add yeast, sugar and water and let sit until it gets foamy and starts to grow. Then, add in garlic, Italian seasoning, rosemary and salt.

Add 1/2 cup whole wheat flour and then add, 1 cup at a time, 5 to 5 1/2 cups unbleached flour until dough is barely sticky.

Rub olive oil all over dough ball, and let sit in the mixer bowl, covered, until risen to doubled. On a lightly floured surface, divide the dough in half.

Roll each half into a rectangle, then roll into two cylinders. Pinch the edges. Let the loaves rise, covered, on a baking sheet, for 1 hour.

Cut three slits on the top of each loaf, and brush with beaten egg. Bake at 400 degrees for 17-20 minutes. Cool before slicing. Makes two loaves.

Slow Cooker Mac and Cheese

Lynne Doty, Imperial

16 ounces elbow macaroni

1 teaspoon salt

6 tablespoons butter

2 1/2 cups milk

8 ounces Velveeta cheese

8 ounces cream cheese

1/2 teaspoon black pepper

1 (12-ounce) can evaporated milk

16 ounces sharp cheddar cheese, divided

Add salt to water; boil macaroni and drain.

Spray inside of slow cooker with nonstick spray. Add all ingredients except 1/4 cup cheddar cheese and stir.

Cover and cook on high for 2 hours, stirring twice. Sprinkle with reserved cheddar cheese and cover until melted.

Lemon Cucumbers

Karen Emerson, Florida, formerly of Hillsboro

My mother, Betty “Pinky” Emerson, 96, of Hillsboro doesn’t cook any more, but she was an epic cook. Our favorite was this dish; we always had a jar in the refrigerator, and they go great with any meal.

3 large cucumbers, sliced

1 medium onion, chopped

1 medium bell pepper, chopped

1 tablespoon salt

2 teaspoons celery seed

3/4 cup sugar

1/2 cup fresh-squeezed lemon juice

Combine vegetables, salt and celery seed; allow to stand at room temperature for 1 hour. Dissolve sugar in lemon juice and pour over mixture.

Add 1-2 thin slices of lemon and refrigerate.

Scottish Smash

Margie Rose, Herculaneum

1 large rutabaga

8 - 10 large carrots peeled

1 stick butter

Peel rutabaga and carrots and cook until soft and able to be mashed.  Add butter (I use Irish butter, it has a wonderful taste). Smash until desired consistency (I like mine a little chunky). 

Apple Mallow Yambake

Ethel Lewis, De Soto

2 apples, sliced or chopped

1/3 cup chopped pecans

1/2 cup brown sugar

1/2 to 1 teaspoon cinnamon

2 (17-ounce) cans yams, drained or fresh yams cooked, peeled, and cut in 1-inch slices

1/4 cup butter

2 cups marshmallows

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Toss apples and nuts with brown sugar and cinnamon. Alternate layers of apples and yams in 1 1/2 quart casserole dish; dot with butter and cover. Bake 35-40 minutes. Remove from oven; sprinkle with marshmallows. Return to oven and broil until lightly browned.

Sweet Potatoes

Robin Wright, Barnhart

1 stick butter

1 cup brown sugar

1 cup chopped pecans

1 cup coconut

2 trays of sweet potato rounds (found in meat department or frozen food section)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a medium bowl, thoroughly combine butter, brown sugar, pecans and coconut to make a crumb topping.

Place sweet potato rounds in a single layer in a large, lightly greased ovenproof dish or pan. Cover with the sugar-pecan mixture and bake until sweet potatoes are heated through and topping is melted and slightly brown.

Donna’s Oyster Stuffing

Rosemary Graham, Hillsboro

2 (14.5-ounce) cans chicken broth

Turkey neck and giblets

2 (14-ounce) packages cubed, seasoned bread stuffing

2 (8-ounce) cans oysters

6 eggs

1 large onion, diced

3 ribs celery, diced

1/2 cup melted butter

1 tablespoon dried sage

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon pepper

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Coat two 13-by-9-inch baking pans with cooking spray. Combine broth and turkey pieces; cook over medium heat until neck and giblets are cooked through and liquid is reduced.

Remove neck and giblets from pan; chop meat and discard bones. Combine reduced broth and chopped meat with remaining ingredients and mix well. Spoon into pans and cover.  Bake 1 hour, uncovering during last 15 minutes.

“Czech-me-out” Sweet and Sour Green Beans

Melissa Mantl, Festus

1 (15-ounce) can French cut green beans, drained and diced

1 tablespoon bacon grease

1/4 cup apple cider vinegar

1/4 cup sugar

1 tablespoon salt

1/4 teaspoon caraway seeds (optional)

In a large skillet on medium heat, saute green beans in bacon grease. In a small saucepan, combine vinegar, sugar, salt, and caraway seed; heat on medium heat until sugar is completely dissolved, about 4-6 minutes. Pour vinegar mixture over heated green beans and toss to coat. Serve warm.

Mrs. Beckler’s dumplings

Karen Emerson, Florida, formerly of Hillsboro

I have so many memories of Mom rolling these out on the kitchen table. She got the recipe from Mrs. Beckler. The old Beckler farmhouse where my mom and dad once rented an apartment is still there on Hwy. BB in rural Hillsboro. While you can use shortening, the chicken fat is the best. It takes two days to make this recipe since the chicken is cooked on the first day.

Chicken

2 cups flour

1 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1 egg

3 tablespoons shortening or chicken fat

Boil the chicken on a low simmer the day before and separate the broth from the meat and bones. Chop the chicken and refrigerate it.

Also refrigerate the broth. The next day the chicken fat will have settled on the top of the broth. Skim it off and reserve it. Reserve the broth, too.

Combine the flour, salt, baking powder, egg and chicken fat or shortening. Roll the dough out on a floured table, counter or other flat surface. Slice the dough into strips and let them sit for at least two hours, until they’re dried out a little.

Heat broth to boiling and drop noodles in, along with the chopped chicken.