By Lynn Taylor Rick

Journal staff

When we bought our house about eight years ago, my husband and I were thrilled to discover that raspberries and blackberries grew in the backyard.

I may be a farmer’s daughter, but I seem to be challenged in the growing things department. House plants generally shudder in my presence. They shudder right up until the moment they die. Thank goodness for my husband and his green thumb. 

Anyway, back to the raspberries. Since I’m not good at planting food and keeping it alive, I was excited to see a food source that didn’t seem to need any work. Along the fence in our garden, the previous owners had managed a hefty crop of raspberries. And the first summer we picked and ate the little morsels without breaking a sweat. 

Then, things dried up and the raspberries did, too. For far too many summers, we had measely crops with a few raspberries here and there. I had almost forgotten how wonderful raspberries were until this year. After a soggy spring, we are living large in the raspberry arena.

Finally, we have enough to do more than just pick and eat them. Sure, most of the raspberries still go directly from the branch to a child’s mouth, but this year we have enough to drop a handful of raspberries into a bowl of ice cream or cereal.

But what about the extras? There must be others out there with raspberry bushes brimming with fruit. What do you do with your raspberries? What’s your favorite way to enjoy them? Do you have a favorite raspberry recipe?

By Deanna Darr

A tomato pie is just the dish to make when your garden gives you lots of tomatoes. A friend brought one to our monthly poker night last weekend, and the flaky crust, savory filling and cheesy topping brought raves. It’s similar to a pie that I’ve made for years; it wouldn’t be August without it. Sue’s recipe features a homemade, prebaked pie crust made with 3 cups flour, 1 teaspoon salt, 1-1/4 cups shortening, 1 teaspoon vinegar, 5 tablespoons water and 1 egg. The recipe makes enough for 3 pie crusts. I didn’t get many good hands that night, but I did bring home a good recipe, and I’m eager to try it.

 

Here’s my take on the tomato pie. In addition to the homemade crust, Sue’s recipe uses green onions instead of regular onions, and a mixture of cheddar and Parmesan cheese. Feel free to experiment. Fresh basil is best, of course!

 

Tomato-Cheese Pie

1 tube biscuit dough

1 large green pepper or 2 small ones

1 large onion or 2 small onions

3 to 4 tomatoes

Salt, pepper and sweet basil to taste

1 8-ounce package Monterey Jack cheese, shredded

Mayonnaise

 

Grease a 9-inch pie pan and spread the biscuit dough over bottom and up sides, pressing together to form a crust. Thinly slice the pepper and onions and sauté them over medium heat in butter until limp. Do not brown. Slice the tomatoes and sprinkle with salt; drain. Place half of the tomato slices over the biscuit dough. Add the pepper-onion mixture, basil and pepper to taste. Place another layer of tomatoes over the pepper-onion mixture. Mix cheese with mayonnaise (about 1 cup) to form a meringue-like mixture. Spread over the top of the pie. Bake at 350 degrees for 55 minutes. Remove from oven and let set for 5 minutes. Makes 6 to 8 servings.

 

By Jomay Steen
Last week, I and my old college pal, Zonya, went to the neighborhood grocery to pick up some items for bread pudding. As usual, the accident-prone Zonya was almost killed.
We were standing in the Express Lane of 15 Items or Less, which was only express in Superman’s Bizarre-O World where anything that is supposed to quick, i.e. expess, was painstakingly slow. There was only one express aisle open and about 25 people had lined up behind us as we watched the clerk count the eggs inside each container by touching them.
As we crawled along to the slow-motion action at the register, a workman began tacking up plastic sheeting for the store’s renovation project of painting the ceiling.
The workman was standing on a motorized elevator platform and had the platform floor above the checkout shelves to attach the plastic to the ceiling. To move the motorized vehicle further down the aisle, packed tight with balloons, chips and other snack items, he started to lower the platform. He wasn’t able to see the corner of the platform floor snag the Express Lane sign, which was attached to the ceiling’s metal framing with (I’d guess) 30-pound fishing line. He kept lowering the elevator until the lines pulled the overhead ceiling frames apart.
Ceiling tiles, express sign and a network of metal frames crashed toward the floor with a fair amount of dust and dirt. The metal rails swung down in an arc, falling straight for Zonya in arrow-like precision.
“Look out, Zonya. It’s going to hit you,” I shrieked while pushing my unsuspecting friend and her shopping cart into the people in front of us. Luckily, the metal frame zipping toward us in def-bomb fashion caught on a gossip magazine rack, bent its tip and narrowly missed us. Yet, it was nearly Zonya-on-a-stick.
To celebrate the near-miss, she created this tasty bread pudding.

Leftover Hot Dog or Hamburger Bun Bread Pudding
–Zonya Franklin
5 cups hot dog or hamburger buns
3 tablespoons butter, melted
2-1/2 cups whipping cream
1/2 cup milk
4 eggs
1 cup sugar
1-1/2 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon or to taste
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
1 teaspoon orange zest, finely grated (optional)
1/8 teaspoon salt
Powered sugar (optional)
Heat oven to 350 degrees.
Butter a deep casserole, baking dish or 9X13 inch cake pan and filled with torn bread buns. Drizzle melted butter over bread cubes. Set aside. In a medium mixing bowl, whisk together milk, cream, eggs, sugar, vanilla, cinnamon, nutmeg, orange zest and salt until well blended. Pour over bread. Place baking dish in a larger pan and place in oven. Fill larger pan with hot water until it reaches halfway up the sides of the baking dish. Bake for 45 to 50 minutes or until knife inserted in center comes out clean. Before serving, sprinkle with powdered sugar. Serve warm or chilled.
For best pudding, break bread up the night before making pudding to allow it to dry. One hamburger bun equals 1 cup; and you can substitute 3 cups of Half and Half for the milk and whipping cre

by Tanya Manus

Good food and good books. A recent entry about delicious reading made me think of the books that, to me, might be the ultimate combination of food and literature - Laura Ingalls Wilder’s “Little House on the Prairie” series.

Laura takes us through foodie adventures few modern children will ever experience. Pig slaughtering, and watching Ma made head cheese. Dyeing butter and decorating it with wooden stamps. Grinding flour to stave off starvation during the Long Winter. Making wedding cake. Dining on roasted prairie chicken, and rabbit. Celebrating maple sugar time. Gathering blackbirds the cat killed, and making them into pie for dinner.

And some of the foods Laura describes simply sound intriguing, like vanity cakes and birds’-nest pudding and green pumpkin pie.

I was about 7 when I started reading the series, and I remember asking my mother about cornmeal mush, which Laura and Mary often ate for breakfast. So she made it for me for breakfast one day - and I hated it. Nevertheless, years later, I was delighted to discover the wonderful “The Little House Cookbook: Frontier Foods from Laura Ingalls Wilder’s Classic Stories.” Its author, Barbara M. Walker, is a mother whose children wanted to try some of the foods Laura Ingalls Wilder writes about - so Walker researched every food in every book and found a recipe for it.

If you want a culinary adventure - especially if you’re planning a trip to DeSmet this summer to the Laura Ingalls Wilder pageant - read Walker’s book and let your mouth water. There are a lot of delectable-sounding recipes that will give you a new appreciation how hard the pioneers worked and how great it is to have a microwave.

Try this pioneer-era thirst quencher, Ginger Water, that Ma made for Pa when he was out working in the fields. According to cookbook author Walker, it could be considered a predecessor to modern sports drinks for athletes.

Ginger Water
1/2 to 3/4 cup brown sugar, packed
1 tsp. powdered ginger
1/2 cup cider vinegar
2-quart jug, with funnel, or other half-gallon container

Dissolve brown sugar and ginger in vinegar by shaking or stirring. Add 1 quart of cold water; mix and serve. Makes six servings.

By Crystal Hohenthaner
Journal staff

To a certain extent I have already admitted to our blog readers that I love sauces. But it is big confession time here: my sauce issues go far deeper than love. I wouldn’t exactly call it obsession, but the truth is I often eat food just for the sauce that is on it.

For example, I had sushi for the first time this week and even though all the rolls were rather silmilar I wanted the roll with the mango sauce on it. Honestly, I just wanted the mango sauce. And about hot fudge sundaes…really why bother with the ice cream? I have been known to eat the fudge sauce all by itself right out of the jar.

I like steak because of the Worchestershire sauce I slather it in. I like waffles (and sausage links) because they can hold so much strawberry syrup. I crave french-fries when I want ketchup. I only like salad because of the ranch dressing. And honestly, when chips and dip are around I basically use the chip as an edible spoon to deliver as much dip to my mouth as possible.

I found some recipes for dipping sauces that are meant to accompany chicken fingers this week. So, since I’m feelin’ saucy, I thought I’d share.

Chicken Fingers With Dipping Sauces
1 cup low-fat plain yogurt
1 pound chicken tenders, all visible fat discarded
Vegetable oil spray

Coating Mixture
1/2 cup cornmeal
1/3 cup dry bread crumbs
2 tablespoons flour
1 tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon shredded or grated Parmesan cheese
1 teaspoon paprika
1/2 teaspoon dried basil
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
1/4 teaspoon salt

Honey Mustard Sauce
1/4 cup light sour cream
1 tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
1 tablespoon honey

Blackberry Dipping Sauce
1/4 cup all-fruit seedless blackberry spread
2 tablespoons fat-free or light mayonnaise
1/8 teaspoon ground cinnamon

Put yogurt in medium bowl. Add chicken, stirring to coat. Set aside.
Preheat oven to 375°F. Lightly spray baking sheet with vegetable oil spray. In another medium bowl, stir together coating mixture ingredients.

Dip one piece of chicken at a time in the coating mixture, turning gently to coat. Arrange chicken in a single layer on the baking sheet. Lightly spray chicken with vegetable oil spray.

Bake for 20 minutes, until chicken is no longer pink in the center and coating crisp.
Meanwhile, in small bowl, whisk together ingredients for desired sauce. Serve chicken with sauce on the side.

By Jomay Steen

Have you ever noticed that food makes good literature?
Recently I found “Kitchen Confidential: Adventures of the Culinary Underbelly” by Anthony Bourdain and “Julie and Julia” by Julie Powell on the nightstand.
While I’m still working away on Bourdain’s insightful behind-the-kitchen door menagerie of characters manning the stoves in New York City’s best and worst restaurants, Bourdain offers some strong advice about eating.
He says the unwashed may laden their plates with a fish frittata at Sunday brunches or wolf down that discount sushi for the Monday lunch special but he won’t—enough said.
I thoroughly enjoyed Powell’s tribute to Julia Child. Taking place in the Big Apple, Powell recounts how she conquered 524 recipes in Child’s 1961 classic “Mastering the Art of French Cooking” in 365 days.
It’s almost a double-dog dare to try this with my own Betty Crocker or Better Homes and Gardens cookbooks. What recipe book would you take on as a year-long project?
If you think recipes and cooking show up only in light and frothy books or memoirs, watch out. Author Thomas Harris used “The Joy of Cooking” as a complicated code book for Hannibal Lecter, a man of over-the-top cuisine to say the least, to direct a series of homicides in “Red Dragon.” Would you like little more Chianti with those fava beans and liver? Nope, me either.
Other books with a chocolate theme no less include: “Dying for Chocolate” by Diane Mott Davidson, “Chocolat” by Joanne Harris—DVD for those wanting brilliant candy scenes and Johnny Depp; and “Like Water for Chocolate” by Laura Esquival. All filled with chocolate, recipes, remedies and to a certain extent, romance.
All books mentioned here are available at the Rapid City Public Library.
But there are plenty of great reads out there that revolve around cooking, grilling and cuisine doubling as literature. Have you read any good food books lately?

By Tanya Manus

A co-worker of mine, who says she comes from a long line of good potluck cooks, knew exactly what to bring when I invited her to my Fourth of July party - Pretzel Jell-O Salad.

Well, OK, her recipe calls it salad. I call it dessert. With a crust made of butter, sugar and pretzels, topped with a cream cheese layer and fruit and Jell-O, it’s too decadent to be salad. I know I had heard of this recipe before but I’d never tried it. But one bite of this crunchy, sweet, salty, creamy treat and I was hooked.

This dessert is light and refreshing, perfect for summer. The next time you need to take a dish to a barbecue or a potluck, try this. You’ll get lots of compliments! 

Pretzel Jell-O Dessert

Step 1:

1-1/2 to 2 cups crushed pretzels
1 stick of butter, melted
1/2 cup sugar

½ tsp. cinnamon (optional)
Mix together and press into bottom of 13×9 pan. Bake at 325 degrees for 6 minutes. Allow to cool.

Step 2:
8 ounces cream cheese, softened

8 ounces Cool Whip, thawed
1/2 cup sugar
Whip together ingredients and spread on top of pretzel mixture. Put in refrigerator until completely set (at least an hour).

Step 3:
Large package fruit flavored Jell-O (your choice - 6 oz box)
10 ounces (approximately) FROZEN fruit, same flavor as Jell-O (strawberries or raspberries are best)
2 cups boiling water
Dissolve Jell-O in boiling water. Put frozen fruit into bowl and allow to thicken. Once thick, pour on top of cream cheese/pretzel combination. Refrigerate until set. (You want the Jell-O to thicken first so the fruit doesn’t all float to the top - but it’s still good, even if it does).