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About Cottage Grove sentinel. (Cottage Grove, Or.) 1909-current | View Entire Issue (July 23, 2020)
COTTAGE GROVE SENTINEL Cookbook memories from Maryana Vollstedt Betty Kaiser O ne of my activities during this coro- virus 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 part- ing with kitchen stuff. I won’t bore you with all the no-longer-used gad- gets 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, hard- back, quality cookbooks and too many recipe booklets to count. And that doesn’t include old magazine clippings. It is all really Chuck’s fault. He built me a beauti- ful maple bookcase and I filled it up with cook- books. But it wasn’t big enough! Still homeless are several recipe boxes and a couple of draw- ers filled with folders of must keep magazine rec- ipes for Cook’s Corner. Last month, I brave- ly waded in to weed out what I no longer use. I began with the book- case. I now only have left 75 nice, unused qual- ity cookbooks neatly stacked. Hmm. That means Crab Brunch Casserole 3 Tablespoons butter 12 ounces medium mushrooms, sliced 6 green onions, includ- ing some tender green tops, sliced 8 large eggs 2 cups small curd cot- tage cheese 2 cups sour cream 1 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese ½ cup flour ½ teaspoon salt Dash of white pepper 3 cups grated Monte- rey Jack cheese 12 ounces crab meat, flaked Preheat oven to 350° F. 1 teaspoon vanilla Sugar nut filling (reci- pe follows) Preheat oven to 30° F. In a large mixer, beat together butter and sug- ar until fluffy. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. In another bowl, com- bine flour, baking pow- der and baking soda. Add to butter and sugar mixture, alternating with sour cream, starting and ending with dry ingredi- ents. Beat well. Stir in vanil- la. Lightly spray a 9x13- inch glass baking dish. Pour half the batter into the baking dish. Sprinkle half the filling mixture over batter. Pour remain- ing batter over filling and sprinkle remaining fill- ing evenly on the top. Bake 30-35 minunt- es 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.) In a medium skillet over medium heat, melt butter. Add mushrooms and green onions and sauté until tender, about 5 minutes, then set aside In a food processor or blender, blend eggs, cot- tage 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 Sugar-Nut Filling puffed up and gold-en, 1/3 cup packed brown about 45 min. Let stand sugar 10 min. ¼ cup sugar Cut into squares to 1 cup chopped walnuts serve 8. 1 teaspoon cinnam ¼ teaspoon nutmeg 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 In a small bowl, mix together all ingredients. Use in above recipe. Makes about 1 ½ cups. Contact Betty Kaiser’s Cook’s Corner at 942-1317 or email bchatty@bettykaiser. com. LORANE NEWS Contributed by Lil Thompson for The Sentinel • Lorane Grange met Thursday, July 16, with distancing and masks. Members decided to do potluck snacks through the September meeting. Discussion of dinner and bingo was tabled until things improve with the COVID-19 virus. The next meeting is Thursday, Aug. 6, begin- ning at 7 p.m. The Grange 6-day weather forecast FRIDAY SATURDAY 80° | 51° 80° | 53° Sunny Sunny SUNDAY MONDAY 89° | 58° 94° | 60° Sunny Sunny TUESDAY WEDNESDAY 91° | 57° Sunny (541) 942-0555 Stoney Point. Workers paved the bad section, but construction workers are still busy working near the road and trucks may be coming and going. Also, a request to stay in your own lane. There have been numerous reports of near accidents as people drive over the yellow line and cutting corners. • Thank you to all wear- ing their masks. There has been a definite change since the governor’s man- date. Let’s all remain safe wearing our masks and keeping that 6-foot dis- tance. We can do this. SOUTH LANE COUNTY FIRE & RESCUE SAVE MONEY. SAVE LIVES. 89° | 57° Sunny Get your weekend back. Let us shop your insurance. will see how things are and decide on the dinner and bingo for fall. • CAL School Board hopes to make a decision on the 2020-2021 school year in August. There are many factors to consid- er and they will make the best decision for everyone. • Lorane Christian Church continues their drive in services, enjoy- ing sunny Sundays for all. This will continue until things turn around. Remember: All are wel- come to attend. • Please continue to slow down and drive safely over Ground Ambulance Memberships $65 per year Ground Ambulance & Air Membership $124 per year Call 541-942-4493 for info. FOR EMERGENCY DIAL 911 Serving South Lane County. JULY 23, 2020 | 5A Pet Tips ‘n’ Tales Betty Kaiser: Cook’s Corner that they almost all fit in there along with the reci- pe filling boxes. The oth- ers are in a box marked “garage sale.” My cookbook collec- tion started out with a Betty Crocker loose leaf cook-book 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 oth- ers (Pillsbury, etc.) that I like but none can beat Betty for basics. There are also some other cookbooks that I won’t part with includ- ing “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 nurs- ery that grew into a large retail complex with great food in Eugene. I knew her as a freelance food columnist for The Reg- ister Guard, including a “Kid’s Cook column.” I literally gobbled up all of her columns. Sim- ple and tasty. She also self-published 15 cook- books. I only bought two books, “What’s for Din- ner” 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 yum- my. Enjoy! | By Mary Ellen “Angel Scribe” Surviving against all odds Renee with family members Mimsy and Kooteni. Y ears ago, Renee’s family traveled to a summer cabin 500 miles from their home. After the long drive she and her teen daughters where thrilled when three fluffy kittens rushed up and welcomed them. That night there was a loud thunderstorm, so the girls ran out to the shed (where the fluffs had found refuge along with their feral mother) to “save” the kit- tens from being scared and sleep with them. In the morning, the well-rested kittens’ worried and wet mother was calling for her babies. Renee and her daughters immediately fed the starving mother cat. After she ate, the supposable ‘wild feral cat’ fell asleep in a teen’s lap. Then the ladies spent hours knocking on cabin doors to find the cats’ owners. “The cats have a sad history,” said Renee. “The mother cat’s family moved away prior to winter set- ting in and left her behind. She became pregnant and had kittens. Unbelievably, they all survived tempera- tures of 40-below. The camp sites were empty, so no one was there to feed them. It is a miracle that they survived against all odds and not starved or frozen to death. “Yet, this dedicated mother cat had raised three healthy kittens.” Renee knew she could not abandon the cats and have them starve or breed relentlessly over the next winter. Cats and dogs can become pregnant at four months of age, and then produce offspring every two months. Her family was not looking to add a cat, as they had Kooteni, a Shepherd mix. “So we drove the cat family to the local animal shelter and had a tearful ‘goodbye’,” said Renee. The shelter estimated the mother cat was nine months old and her kittens were three months old. If you add on two months for gestation, the cat had conceived her kittens at four months of age. It is hard to understand that anyone would abandon a kitten in the woods with a hard winter approaching to sur- vive on its own. The kittens were quickly adopted, but their exhausted mother developed a respiratory infec- tion and was labeled unadoptable. “Before leaving the shelter, us mothers had locked eyes, and I promised this brave cat that everything would by okay,” said Renee. “Now her future looked bleak, so I phoned my father, he picked her up, and drove 500 miles to deliver her to us and our large dog. “We named her in honor of her brave spirit, Mimsy, Greek for ‘little mother.’” Renee said Mimsy has grown into a beautiful, strong and confident pet. She fast became best friends with Kooteni and they bear an uncanny resemblance; both have long-tortoiseshell fur coats that camouflage into the family’s living room chair. Mimsy acts like a dog. When her family calls her, she comes running. When the doorbell rings, she runs to the door insisting on being vigorously petted along with Kooteni. “The funniest behavior between our pets,” said Re- nee, “is that Mimsy enjoys being groomed by Kooteni. The dog holds Mimsy down, with her big front paw, and then licks her all over. The first time we saw this we jumped to Mimsy’s defense and told Kooteni to ‘Stop!’ But Mimsy nuzzled in to Kooteni, rolled over onto her back, and insisted that Kooteni continue, which she did and does to this day. Mimsy loves be- ing ‘mothered’ by Kooteni.” Renee said her family admires Mimsy because she is a survivor, a strong-dedicated mother and a trust- ing-friendly feline. “She blended easily into our family and found her way into our hearts.” TIPS: As the pandemic spreads it is best to be prepared. We never know who the illness will attack, so put an envelope on your fridge marked “In Case of Emer- gency.” In this envelope include contact information of the person who will care for your pets, pets diet, veterinarian’s name, and their favorite toys and blan- kets etc. Share your fur-avorite pet memory or adventure at angelscribe@msn.com. Visit Pet Tips ‘n’ Tales on Facebook at/www.facebook.com/PetTipsandTales
