8 — THE BAKER COUNTY PRESS FRIDAY, AUGUST 12, 2016 Local Back to school cooking Grease 12 muf- fin cups. Mix diced ham with onions and pep- pers and fill each muffin cup with the mixture. Top with shredded cheese. Mix eggs, milk, baking powder, oil and Homemade Goodness salt & pepper in a bowl. Pour By Eileen Driver over ingredients in muffin cups to While we are still enjoy- about 4/5 full. ing the beautiful sunny Bake 20-25 minutes, take summer days and the spe- out of oven and let rest five cial time we are spending minutes before serving or with our kids, in the back of our minds is the realiza- storing. These will last about tion that school starts soon. five days in the fridge, and We look forward to this warm to eat as needed or with mixed feelings. It you can freeze them and gives us more time to get microwave about two min- things done, but also gives utes before serving. us more to do. You can also mix any That morning rush when of your favorite omelet we are trying to get every- ingredients for these and one ready to go as well as have different flavors of fix them a good breakfast omelets ready anytime. I and lunch, can be very like sausage and mush- stressful. Here are some fix it now, rooms or bacon and frozen hash browns or totally veg- freeze it and warm it in etarian with lots of diced two minutes ideas to help vegetables. make school days a little For lunch along with calmer. So get out your a fruit cup and a carton cupcake and muffin pans of milk, this next recipe and take a day to stock up would do the trick. on some great do ahead Taco Cupcakes meals. 1 pound ground beef Muffin Tin Omelets 1 pkg or 1 ¼ ounces taco 8 eggs 36 wonton wrappers ½ cup milk 1 can or homemade 1 teaspoon baking refried beans powder 36 tortilla chips 1 teaspoon oil 2 cups shredded cheddar Salt & pepper shredded cheddar cheese cheese Optional topping: Diced ham Diced tomato, onion, Chopped onion sour cream, salsa, guaca- Chopped bell pepper mole Preheat oven to 375 Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Fry up onion and degrees. bell pepper til soft. Spray 18 muffin cups with cooking spray. Brown ground beef, drain off grease, add taco seasoning and required amount of water, then sim- mer 45 minutes. Set aside. Place one wonton wrap- per in bottom of each muf- fin cup. Layer about one tablespoon refried beans on top of wrapper. Crush one tortilla chip on top of beans. Top with one tablespoon of taco meat and 1 table- spoon of cheese. Repeat layers again starting with wonton wrapper and end- ing with cheese. Bake 15-18 minutes or until golden brown. Top with your favorite optional toppings. If Italian is more your preference this next one is super easy and just as delicious. It tastes like a mini Italian meatball sub, throw in a small salad with a packet of ranch dressing and you’re all set. Meatball Cups 2 cans crescent rolls 11, 1/2 cups shredded jack or mozzarella cheese 16 frozen meatballs ½ spaghetti sauce 1 tablespoon finely chopped fresh parsley Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Prepare 16 muffin cups with nonstick cooking spray. On lightly floured sur- face unroll and pull apart crescent dough triangles. Press one triangles into each muffin cup so bottom and sides are covered. Sprinkle bottom of each cup with about 1 teaspoon of cheese. Place meatball on top of cheese, lightly pressing into dough. Bake for 10 minutes and remove from oven. Top with 1 teaspoon of sauce and an additional teaspoon of cheese. Return to oven and bake 10 minutes or until dough is golden and cheese is bub- bly. Serve with sprinkle of parsley. If something a little sweeter is what you crave this next recipe would work for breakfast, dessert for lunch or a great after- school snack. Of course if you need an energy booster while their in school that’s okay too. Peanut Butter Choco- late Chip Muffins 2 cups all purpose flour 1 ½ teaspoons salt 1 tablespoon baking powder 1 cup milk 2 large eggs ⅔ cup granulated sugar 1 cup peanut butter ⅓ cup vegetable oil 1 cup chocolate chips Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Spray 18 muffin cup with nonstick cooking spray. Stir together flour, salt, baking powder and choco- late chips in a large bowl. Combine milk, eggs, sugar, peanut butter and vegeta- ble oil in separate bowl. Mix ingredients from both bowls until dry ingre- dients are just moistened. Do not over beat. Fill muffin cups and top with additional chocolate chips. Bake for 14 minutes. These are a good project to make together with your kids, as they are fun to cook and it will give them bragging rights at school when lunch time rolls around and they get to say, “I made it myself.” Baker Fire Department CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1 He laughed and said he would like to get his wife in to volunteer more now that this is his full-time commitment. Yerrick says stepping into a full-time position versus a volunteer position is “way different.” He said, “I am not going to pretend I was the best volunteer. I wasn’t always available to be here as much as I wish I could’ve been. I had been through the fire fighter level 1 course in January 2015, then the EMT basic course through BMCC. That class was a joint affair be- tween four different departments—I believe it was Baker City, La Grande, Pendleton and Hermiston. We made up a class last fall and spring quarters.” Yerrick said that at that point most his experience was a lot of bookwork but the Blue Mountain Community College (BMCC) classes did offer simulated situations although very controlled. Upon his hire he explained, “The pace has been so much faster and the expectations, responsibilities and the learning curve is much greater.” The staff at the BCFD is well seasoned—most have been there several years. It’s not often that they hire. The rise in volume of calls being answered prompted the addi- tion of the position. According to Yerrick, “They (his fellow firefighters) make the job look very simple and easy, but truth is it is very complex. You have the community that really relies on this department for EMS-related calls, and there is a high percentage of them. That is a major component of this department as well as firefighting.” Jeremy feels his customer service experience from Blue Mountain Oil helps him deal with community members he comes into contact with, most commonly in highly stressful situations. He says he feels this type of service is gratifying on a different level than in his previous position, although he acknowledges calls for oil in winter were important, calls for life support are just different. Jeremy is originally from Washington—his wife Ashlee is originally from Indiana. Before moving to Baker City approximately two years ago they lived in Washington. The two enjoy the out- door opportunities available in the area and Jeremy said although he is not a master hunter, he’s learning. He said, “I did not have any luck last archery season.” He sees potential with some of the others in the depart- ment coaching him. Yerrick said he does “really like the outdoors. Anthony lakes is a great area.” He and Ashlee love to hike and both ski during the winter months. The couple don’t have any children but do have one dog. City Council CONTINUED FROM PAGE 7 Justice Court Update A quarterly report, as re- quired by the Interagency Governmental Agreement between the City and Justice Court allowing the court to serve as the City’s municipal court, Michael Finney, Court Adminis- trator addressed council. Finney advised that he did not have any “earth shat- tering cases” in the quarter for which he was reporting. He noted that City writ- ten offenses were down from the previous quarter, although not significantly. He also gave statistics of those citations with only a handful needing to go into a collection process of the court that would ultimately result in suspension of the driver’s license. Finney also advised that the revenue turned over to the city of collected fines for the quarter was $9,600 up from last year’s $8,900. Finney advised Council that the Court has entered into an indigent defense contract with local attorney Ken Bardizian, allowing the Court to hear criminal matters which they’ve not been hearing for several years. Finney stated, “we have yet to appoint him (Bardizian) to any cases. Unfortunately, we don’t dictate what cases do come to us, that’s up to the District Attorney. We are anticipating more with Hunting season coming up.” Historically hunting misdemeanors have filed in Justice Court. Councilor Lowe asked, “Are there any changes or trends in the offenses that are happening?” Gina K. Swartz / The Baker County Press SEE CITY COUNCIL PAGE 9 Michael Finney, Justice Court Administrator and Judge Don Williams addressing Council.