 |
|
|
June 2008 Cook’s Profile
A new take on ‘fast food’
Electric appliances are Shirley’s key
to great food for on-the-go cooks
 Three days out of the week, Shirley Phend is literally on the move at Warsaw’s YMCA, working out on the treadmill and exercising with her water aerobics group. At her home on Big Tippecanoe Lake, she stays active with summertime chores like cutting the grass. Accompanying her husband to various medical appointments is also part of Shirley’s routine. He had a liver transplant 20 years ago and is scheduled for hip replacement surgery early this month.
With Shirley’s on-the-go lifestyle, fast food is a necessity.
But, hold the burgers and fries. For Shirley, a diabetic, fast food doesn’t mean unhealthy meals from a drive-through. Instead, thanks to some preplanning, a crockpot or pressure cooker and simple recipes with minimal ingredients, she’s redefined “meals in a hurry.” With her process, she can cook dinner the no fuss, no muss way. “I like things that are quick and easy ... that way I can enjoy the day,” she said.
The Kosciusko REMC member from Leesburg believes cooking needn’t be complicated to produce tasty results. That’s why Shirley wanted to be profiled in Electric Consumer. “I wanted to share my recipes with others.”
Her Country Ribs with Kraut, she said, not only appeals to those who love sauerkraut, but those who normally wouldn’t touch the stuff. She credits the brown sugar and apple in the recipe for taming from the kraut’s pungency. Since everything is dumped into a crockpot to cook all day, dinner can be ready on time even when you’re on the go.
Shirley’s Italian Sausage recipe is husband Donald’s favorite. Potatoes are an unusual ingredient in her recipe. By placing all the ingredients in the skillet so they touch, the potatoes take on the flavor on the green peppers. Proper placement is the key to success in this dish, she notes.
The Phends were married in 1956 after a whirlwind courtship. Shirley, who then worked in the classified advertising department of Oak Leaves, a newspaper in Oak Park, Ill., began writing to Donald, a Marine, in March of that year. He got out of the service in June and in August, the couple married. They had two children: a daughter, Pamela, who now lives in northern Illinois, and a son, Jeffrey, who was killed in a car accident 24 years ago.
Shirley said she didn’t have a lot of experience in the kitchen when she got married. “It was a necessity,” she said of her early cooking experiences. “I had to make a meal everyday.” As a newlywed, she remembered, dinnertime staples included Chicken a la King or fish sticks.
Donald’s penchant for meat and potatoes led her to perfect her skills with time-saving appliances. It wasn’t long until she developed a core group of recipes that won rave reviews and were simple to prepare. During the six years Shirley worked at the local J.C. Penney store she would bring her Tasty Rump Roast, a two-ingredient main dish, to work to simmer in her crock pot. “When I worked, our lunch room always smelled good.”
Now retired, the grandmother of three, who will be a great-grandmother this summer, has been a member of “Women in Action,” the YMCA’s late morning water aerobics class for seven years. Comprised of 22 women at various stages of life, the group is more than a workout class — it is a support network and a social group.
“I come here for me,” Shirley said after a recent class. “Everybody is so great. The girls all know each other. It has changed my life.” Through post-class gab sessions in the lockerroom, she’s gathered advice from the other ladies on healthy living and staying positive. Her “Women in Action” friends helped her select a doctor, dentist and hairdresser: the three people every woman needs to visit on a regular basis, Shirley pointed out with a smile.
“All of us like to cook,” Shirley said of her water aerobics friends. “We have a picnic every August.” The class, which has even compiled a booklet of favorite recipes, has bonded over meals and other social activities. Shirley has especially fond memories of a group outing to Chicago where the women dined on gourmet food on the Odyssey cruise ship at Navy Pier.
About half of the class members, Shirley guessed, are REMC members who enjoy Electric Consumer’s Food Focus section. Regularly, they try out the recipes featured in our food section and after class they talk about what they particularly enjoyed. This month, the ladies can rest assured that all of Shirley’s recipes are the tops! — Emily Schilling, editor, Electric Consumer
Shirley’s tips
• Shirley adds curry powder to scrambled eggs. Curry contains turmeric, a spice with anti-inflammatory benefits. It relieves stomach ailments and rheumatoid arthritis. It also aids sufferers of Alzheimer’s disease, cancer and liver disorders.
• If your cake recipe calls for oil use vegetable oil, not canola oil. Canola oil gives cakes a denser texture.
• Shirley likes foods with a sweet and sour tang. So it’s no surprise that when making Deviled Eggs she adds sugar and mustard to the egg filling.
• Looking for an easy and tasty salad dressing recipe? Combine 1⁄4 cup apple cider vinegar, 1⁄4 cup oil, 2 T. celery seed or flakes, 2 t. powdered garlic and 1 cup sugar. Mix together well with 1 whole head lettuce, torn into pieces; green pepper; celery; and cucumbers.
(The powdered garlic was overlooked when the recipe was originally published.)
• Shirley’s “can’t live without” cooking ingredients are apple cider vinegar, Italian seasoning, olive oil and garlic. Green peppers and Vidalia onions show up in many of her recipes, too. She loves their distinctive flavors.
 Featured cook, Shirley Phend (above) takes the pressure off her active lifestyle by preparing meals with a crock pot. Many times, she will serve mashed potatoes with her Country Ribs with Kraut (right). But boiled red skin potatoes are another simple accompaniment to this flavorful dish which even non-sauerkraut lovers enjoy.
Ribs prepared by Emily Schilling/Photos by Richard G. Biever
Shirley’s recipes
Good Dip
8 oz. softened cream cheese
16 oz. sour cream
1 envelope onion soup mix dissolved in a little hot water
Mix ingredients together and let sit for several hours before serving.
Country Ribs with Kraut
2 lbs. (or more) pork country ribs
1 jar (32 oz.) sauerkraut
1 cup chopped, unpeeled apple
1 cup shredded carrots
11⁄2 cups tomato juice
2 T. brown sugar
2 t. caraway seeds
Cut ribs into 2-inch pieces and brown in a little oil. In a bowl, combine sauerkraut with juice and the rest of the ingredients. Put half of the sauerkraut mixture in a crock pot. Next, put the meat in the crock pot. Finally, top the meat with the remainder of the sauerkraut mixture. Cook all day on LOW. Ribs will be done when you can separate the meat with a fork, about 6 hours.
Swiss Steak in Crock Pot
2 lbs. 2-inch thick round steak
2 cans (103⁄4 oz. each) cream of mushroom soup, undiluted
1 can (4 oz.) mushrooms (stems and pieces) with juice
1 envelope onion soup mix
Cut steak into 2-by-2-inch pieces and brown in oil. Put all ingredients into a crock pot set on HIGH in the morning. After one hour, reduce heat to LOW and cook all day.
Tasty Rump Roast
21⁄2-3 lb. rump roast
1 jar (16 oz.) pepperonconi or mild pepper rings
Place rump roast in a crock pot. Take caps off pepperoncini and take out seeds. Be sure to avoid touching your eyes while doing this. Pour pepper juice and peppers over roast. Start the crock pot on low at 7 p.m. and cook all night. In the morning, flake the roast with a fork and let it cook another half hour. Very good on buns with mustard.
Rye Dip
1 round loaf rye bread (unsliced)
1 cup mayonnaise
1 cup sour cream
Dill weed to taste
Few shakes of MSG
Slice off the top of the bread about 1⁄2 inch thick. Scoop out or cut out the center of the bread. Cube it for dipping. Leave about 1⁄2 inch around the edge. Mix remainder of the ingredients. Fill the center of the bread with the dip. Cover the bread “bowl” with the top of the bread. Put bread cubes into a plastic bag until ready to serve.
Sloppy Joes
1 lb. ground round
1 large green pepper, chopped
1 onion, chopped
1 cup ketchup
1 T. apple cider vinegar
2-3 T. sugar
Brown meat and drain. Add rest of ingredients. Simmer 10 minutes covered and 10 minutes uncovered.
Italian Sausage
3 large sausage links
3 white potatoes, quartered
1 large green pepper, sliced into 1⁄2 inch pieces
1 large onion, chopped
Black pepper to taste
2 cups water
Brown sausage links. Between each link, place potatoes, green pepper slices and onion pieces. Sprinkle with pepper. Add water. Simmer, covered, until potatoes are done, about 10 minutes.
Written By: eceditor
Date Posted: 5/29/2008
Number of Views: 386
Return
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|