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THURSDAY | AUGUST 13, 2020
Betty Kaiser: Cook’s Corner
Pet Tips
‘n’ Tales
FLASHBACK: Peach canning in full swing
Betty Kaiser
(This column originally
ran Aug. 7, 2018)
L
ast week I was
out at Deter-
ing Orchards in
Harrisburg to pick up
some peaches for can-
ning. Just one box of
peaches and a few ears
of corn for dinner.
The lady being
checked out ahead of
me was a different story.
She had big boxes and
bags of berries, green
beans, peaches, plums
and everything else that
wasn’t nailed down. It
took two shopping carts
to get her inventory to
the car.
Obviously, she was a
serious canner.
I am a selectively lazy
canner. Canning is hard
work and I do as little as
possible. Pioneer wom-
en were amazing. There
were no grocery stores
to run to for a can of
pears if you didn’t put
them up the previous
summer
They were smart,
thrifty and tired after
working together to
process hundreds of
cans of meat, fruit and
vegetables.
We are so blessed.
I learned to can (in
jars) back in the late
1970s thanks to my
neighbor Sallie in Ven-
tura, Calif. She and Jim
were married at the
turn of 20th century
and lived for awhile in
a sod hut in Texas. Talk
about pioneers! Later,
they moved to different
cities because of Jim’s
job as an engineer with
Kaiser Gypsum plants.
But everywhere they
moved, Sallie canned.
And when they got to
Calif. she taught me
how to “put up” toma-
toes, apricots, apples,
peaches, green beans
and more.
Fortunately, my hus-
band Chuck has always
been willing to help. At
the end of a long day at
our restaurant, we were
pooped so we began
canning together.
Ventura was sur-
rounded with fields and
orchards so produce was
readily available. Some-
how, Chuck always
found time to grow to-
matoes and I purchased
fruit and veggies from
local stands.
My first canning
project was a disas-
ter. Deep in a nearby
canyon was a U-pick
apricot orchard. One
hot summer day after
work, we picked several
bags of dead-ripe apri-
cots. By the time, we
got home they smelled
wonderful. Inside the
bags, they were hot,
squished together and
unusable.
Note to self: Do not
pick dead-ripe fruit!
So far this summer
I have put up frozen
strawberry jam, blue-
berries, peaches and
green beans. There’s
only two of us eating
at home most of the
time, so my inventory
is small. I seldom put
up more than 36 jars of
anything. Still, it’s work.
This year I decided to
not wait for the free-
stone peaches but to
go with the semi-cling
suncrest peaches.
Note to self: next
year go with the free-
stone.
Now, if you’re not a
canner. Do not despair.
I freeze my blueber-
ries and sometimes a
few peaches. They keep
well. The following rec-
ipes are for pies that I
picked up from Deter-
ing’s years ago.
Mr. and Mrs. Deter-
ing are gone now, but
the family carries on the
business and her recipes
are timeless. I especially
like her suggestions on
how to combine peach-
es with other fruits.
Be sure and check
out the easy turnover
recipe.
Enjoy!
Maries’ Everyday
Fresh Peach Pie
• 5 cups sliced fresh
peaches (about 8 medi-
um size)
• ¾ cup sugar
• 2 tablespoons tap-
ioca
• 1 tablespoon lemon
juice
• 1/8 teaspoon cin-
namon
• Dash of salt
• 1 tablespoon butter,
cut into bits
•
Pastry
for
two=crust 9-inch pie
• 1 teaspoon sugar
(to top pie crust)
Preheat oven to 400°
F.
Mix first 7 ingredi-
ents.
Line 9-inch pie pan
with pastry. Pour in
peach mixture. Cov-
er with top crust. Seal,
flute, prick with fork.
Brush lightly with
cold water.
Sprinkle with sugar.
Bake on lowest rack in
oven for 40-50 minutes.
• Peach Dark Berry
Pie: Use 3 cups sliced
fresh peaches and 2
cups blueberries or
black berries.
• Peach Apple Pie:
Use 3 cups sliced fresh
peaches and 2 cups ap-
ples.
• Peach Pear Pie:
Use 3 cups sliced fresh
peaches ad 2 cups sliced
pears.
for The Sentinel
• Sadly Lorane has lost
another long-time res-
ident. Marilyn Cooper
passed away last Satur-
day evening (Aug. 8).
Our love and sympa-
thies go out to her family.
• CAL School District
met on Thursday, Aug.
6, and made some deci-
sions about the upcom-
ing school year.
Applegate Elementa-
(Recipe as written)
Preheat oven to 425°
F.
Filling:
• 3 cups sliced
peaches with the juice
drained off
• 1/3 cup sugar
• 1 tablespoon flour
• 1/4 teaspoon cin-
namon
• Mix sugar, flour
and cinnamon together.
Pour over peaches, gen-
tly mix all together and
set aside.
Crust:
Sift together:
• 2 cups flour, 2 tea-
spoons baking powder,
1 teaspoon salt
• Mix well and stir
into flour mixture:
• 3/4 cup shortening,
1 egg yolk and 1/2 cup
hot water
Cut crust into 5-inch
squares ¼ inch thick.
Put on pan and add as
much filling as needed.
Fold crust to a triangle;
press edges together.
Bake 40 minutes.
After cooked you
may pour icing over
them.
Makes 7-9 turnovers.
Peach Pie Variations
• Peach Strawberry
Pie: Use 3 cups sliced
fresh peaches and 2
cups fresh strawberries,
halved. Use ¼ teaspoon
almond extract instead
of cinnamon.
Keep it simple and
keep it seasonal with
Betty Kaiser’s Cook’s
Corner. Contact Betty
Kaiser’s Chatterbox
at 942-1317 or email
bchatty@bettykaiser.com
ry will begin full time
in-person classes Sept.
14 for kindergarten and
grades 1-3.
Grades 4-12 will begin
distance learning at the
same time. This delay
in starting allows school
staff to meet with every
K-12 student in a par-
ent-teacher type meet-
ing.
Vi s i t C r ow - Ap p l e -
gate-Lorane School
District
at
https://
www.cal.k12.or.us/arti-
cle/28i3066?org=cal to
get all the information.
Be sure to read it all.
If you read this, please
share with other parents
and teachers. Remember,
we are a small district
and the administration
and staff can make this
work.
• Lorane Grange meets
next on Sept. 3 at 7 p.m.
At this time there will be
no dinner and bingo in
September.
• All attending Lorane
Christian Church on
Sundays are still enjoy-
ing the beautiful drive in
services.
• Wishing good luck to
the Wilson Family; Karl,
Lanita, Donald and Mar-
key as they travel to Lou-
isiana.
They have always lived
in Lorane, so this will be
a big change for them.
Yard of the Week
brought to you by:
Cottage Grove Sentinel
116 N. 6th • (541) 942-3325
Week of August13th Winner is: 1419 Clark Avenue.
Yards will be selected each week by nominations.
To nominate a yard you can call City Hall (942-5501)
or Chamber of Commerce (942-2411)
Ben’s Toy Box
Diane’s Fresh Peach
Turnovers
LORANE COUNTRY NEWS
Contributed by
Lil Thompson
By Mary Ellen
“Angel Scribe”
Sonja no longer trips over her dog Ben’s toys with his
multi-purr-pose solution.
(This column was first published Aug. 28, 2019)
T
ired of tripping over your pet’s toys? Sonja
solved the problem by paw-chasing a child’s
bench toy box and tossed in her dog Ben’s
toys into its 31” by 15 ½” by 16” container. She was
tired of diving under fur-niture in search of color-
ful chewies, so the legless box also eliminated a new
hoarding spot for his plastic and rubber treasures.
His treasure chest also doubles as a window seat for
such emergencies as overseeing the mailman’s arriv-
al, important squirrel watching or naps.
Sonja is a senior, so when the Crew toy chest ar-
rived in one piece, with no assembly required, it was
an added benefit! Could it get any better? The child-
sized hand-hold notch paw-fectly fits a dog’s nose.
Ben can open his toy box with a gentle nudge and
he’s trained to retrieve and put his toys away. (For a
small fee, he’ll teach your children.) The chest’s safety
hinge prevents its lid from coming down on his head.
“He also closes the box,” said Sonja. “He jumps
over its open lid, and slams it closed with his ‘tail
end’ for a clear view of who is knocking on our door.
He loves his toy chest and so do I. It matches my de-
cor and I sit on it while putting on my shoes.”
The chest is both fun and useful. Sonja instructs
her dog to “stay” in another room or outside, then
hides a treat for a game of “search” to keep his sens-
es keen. When she reopens the door she says, “Find
your treat!” and he systematically investigates their
home and eventually finds a treat inside his toy chest.
When her grown son Rocky visits, he and Ben play
hide-and-seek; Rocky puts Ben outside and then
hides. Sonja lets an eager Ben in with the cue, “Find
Rocky!”
On Rocky’s last visit, he hid in the closet beside her
front door and across the threshold from Ben’s toy
chest.
“I let Ben in and told him, ‘Find Rocky,’” said Son-
ja. “Ben searched three bedrooms, the office, both
bathrooms, the kitchen, et cetera.”
Twice Rocky whistled for Ben, who would come
running back to recheck the living room, but no
Rocky. “I could see his doggy wheels turning. Ben
could smell his play partner was close by. He excited-
ly ran to his toy chest and opened it up,” said Sonja.
“He was sure Rocky was in there. But no! So, Ben
continued searching. Three times he went back to
the toy chest, nosed it open, peered in fully expect-
ing to see Rocky. The stunned look on his face was
hilarious.”
Finally, Rocky revealed his whereabouts to Ben
when he burst out laughing. “It is a great family
memory and we still chuckle about it to this day,”
Sonja said.
Although Ben was unable to find Rocky, he at-
tunes himself to our environment and has become a
hunting dog in other areas. “I routinely set my phone
timer on a “Quack-Quack” ring to alert me to the
running water sprinklers, laundry, mail arrival, bak-
ing cookies, et cetera. Ben quickly picked up on what
the ring meant. So, when the phone starts quacking,
he comes to me which is doubly handy. If I can’t find
my phone, he helps me track it down. He is so smart
that sometimes I forget he is, well, a dog.”
TIPS:
• Tracie, a Pet Tips ‘n’ Tales fan said, “I place mint
plants around the house. They make great insect re-
pellents. We plant catnip in the cats’ sleeping garden
areas to ward off fleas.”
• “To help keep bugs out, we place drops of pep-
permint in the vents and a few drops under doorway
entrances,” said Carli. “We make sure our pets can’t
lick or walk through the drops.”
Share your fur-avorite pet memory or adventure at
angelscribe@msn.com. Visit Pet Tips ‘n’ Tales on Face-
book at/www.facebook.com/PetTipsandTales