Tavern

3 pounds ground beef, cooked and drained
1 cup ketchup
2 tsp salt
1 small onion
2 Tbsp vinegar
2 Tbsp brown sugar
2 Tbsp mustard

Combine all ingredients and simmer. "Fills 25 to 30 buns."

Reformed Church Women's Ministries recipe from New Life Reformed Church, Sioux Center, Iowa

Sunday School Picnic Taverns

30 pounds hamburger
2 gallons ketchup
2 cups brown sugar
2 cups vinegar
Onions or onion flakes, to taste
Salt, to taste

Brown hamburger. Add onion and salt. Drain.
Add ketchup, brown sugar, vinegar.

Makes a roaster-full. Simmer for several hours.

Recipe courtesy of Carole Kleyer, who is one of the best darned cooks at Carmel Reformed Church.

Bing Bars

2 cups sugar
2/3 cup evaporated milk
dash salt
12 large marshmallows
1/2 cup butter
6-7 oz cherry chips
1 tsp vanilla
12 oz chocolate chips
3/4 cup peanut butter
1 bag salted peanuts 


Combine and boil sugar, evaporated milk, salt, marshmallows, and butter for five minutes on medium heat, stirring constantly. Remove from heat, add cherry chips and vanilla. Stir until smooth and pour into a buttered 9 x 13 pan. Chill.


Melt chocolate chips and peanut butter, add peanuts. Pour over cooled first layer and chill.

Apple Puff Pancake

1/3 cup butter
1 cup flour
4 eggs
1 cup milk
dash salt
1 can apple or peach pie filling
toasted walnuts, optional

Place butter in a 10-inch oven proof skillet. Place in a 425 degree oven just until melted. In a large bowl beat the flour eggs, milk and salt until smooth. Leaving 1 tablespoon melted butter in the skillet, stir in the remaining butter into the batter.

Pour batter into hot skillet. Bake for 15-20 minutes or until edges are golden brown.

Meanwhile, in a small pan, warm pie filing over low heat until heated through. Pour into center of puff pancake. Sprinkle with walnuts if desired. Serve immediately. Yield: 4 servings.

Morning Glory Muffins

1 cup all-purpose flour
1 cup whole wheat flour
3/4 cup ground flaxseed
3/4 cup sugar
2 3/4 tsp baking powder
2 tsp cinnamon
3/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp baking soda
4 egg whites
1 egg
1/2 cup unsweetened applesauce
1/3 cup orange juice
1/4 cup canola oil
2 tsp vanilla
2 cups grated carrots
1/2 cup chopped pecans
1/2 cup flaked coconut
1/2 cup raisins
1 medium tart apple, peeled and shredded

In a large bowl, combine the first 8 ingredients. In another bowl, beat the egg whites, egg, applesauce, OJ, oil, and vanilla. Stir into dry ingredients, just until moistened. Fold in carrots, pecans, coconut, raisins, apple.
Coat muffin cups with cupcake liners or cooking spray. Fill muffin cups 3/4 full. Bake at 350 for 15-18 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the muffin comes out clean. Cool for five minutes before removing from pans to wire rack.

Makes 18 muffins.
1 muffin: 203 calories, 9 g fat, 2 g saturated fat, 12 mg cholesterol, 207 mg sodium, 29 g carbohydrates, 4 g fiber, 5 g protein.

Wild Rice Chowder

This is a chowder that I never really use a recipe for, so keep that in mind with the measurements! None of the measurements are exact - you can make changes as you like.  

If you haven't ever made a white sauce before, you may want to find better instructions somewhere than those I am leaving. Here's one example at about.com

How to Make a White Sauce

 (You don't have to use sharp cheddar cheese, I just like sharp better than mild.) Makes a large batch - depending on how many vegetables, how much broth you decide to use.

RICE:

1 cup wild rice, dry

water to cook rice

VEGGIES IN STOCK:

Chicken stock or bouillon - 6 cups (enough to cover vegetables in pan)

5 carrots, diced

3 onions, diced

5 potatoes, diced

WHITE SAUCE:

butter, 1/2 cup

4 cups milk

3-4 Tbsp flour

2 Tbsp water

3 cups cheddar cheese, sharp

salt and pepper

(bacon or ham - optional)

INSTRUCTIONS:

Cook wild rice according to instructions.

While wild rice is cooking, chop vegetables into bite-sized pieces (use any combination and amount of vegetable you want to). Add the vegetables to a stock pan, and put in chicken stock - enough to cover vegetables completely. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat, simmer for approximately 10-15 minutes or until veggies are tender.

While veggies are cooking, make a white sauce as follows. Melt butter in a saucepan. Add 2 Tbsp water to flour in a small cup or bowl. Stir or whisk to try to remove all lumps. Add more water as needed. You can use more or less as desired. Like I said, I don't measure. You do want a thick white sauce because you're using quite a bit of water in cooking the veggies.

Usually with a white sauce, you're going to "cook" the flour with the butter for a minute or two. You may need to add a little of the milk to the butter first, before you add the flour. Whisk the flour/water mixture into the butter. Cook for 2 minutes, stirring constantly. Slowly add the milk (either add very slowly or you can actually HEAT the milk before adding). Stir constantly over low heat until thick, 5-10 minutes. Add salt and pepper to taste. Add 3 cups sharp cheddar cheese. Stir until cheese is completely melted.

When all of the components (wild rice, veggies, white sauce) have completed cooking, combine them.

Makes a very large batch of soup.

IngenuiTea Teapot

Susan introduced me to this amazing teapot - the brand is IngenuiTea. She found them at Gong Fu Tea in Des Moines (very nice tea shop).

You put the looseleaf tea in, put water in, steep. Put the teapot on a cup, which strains the tea. The leaves are then left in the pot. Dishwasher safe (top rack).

Video of How It Works

My personal faves from Gong Fu tea are Kikucha and Genmaimatcha. Both really good green teas.