September 2, 2012 - Jackie and Wooly, Lincoln, Nebraska

Thank goodness for good friends who love to cook.  We joined Jackie and Wooly at the 2nd Annual Applegrass Bluegrass festival at Ditmar's Orchard in Council Bluffs.  They were vending henna tatoos and gem stones and enjoying the music.  They spent the night with us and in the not-so-early Sunday morning, Wooly was the cook for amazing breakfast.  He made pancakes, Harvest Valley Farms sausage from our our local CSA farm on Platteview Road in Sarpy County, Nebraska, and eggs from my sister Liz's chickens on the Never Sweat Ranch in Blaine County, Nebraska, and Rick's Vermont maple syrup.

Hajime Tachikawa, April 14, 2012 - Ina, Japan

I met Hajime in Philadelphia at the Chamanoux Mansion Hostel in March when I was there for the Public Library Association conference. He had been in English school in Calgary, Canada, and was starting his two months of traveling by Discovery Pass on the bus all over the United States. I invited him to stay with us when he came through. He arrived on Saturday morning, kind of rainy, but we walked around downtown Omaha, saw the huge First National Bank Pioneers Progress sculpture for several blocks with buffalo and flying geese, went through the Old Market, ate at Hiro 88, the first Japanese food he's had on his trip. Drove down to the Missouri River's Lewis and Clark Landing, up to the River City Queen, and to the Malcolm X Birthsite. We went to the Asian Market and he bought food to make us a supper of sushi and OkonomiYaki, then we went to the Omaha Symphony to see the Wizard of Oz, out to Cold Stone Cremery for ice cream. He left early the next morning to go to Rapid City to see Mount Rushmore, and to Salt Lake City and back. He will go with us to Heidi and Dakota's wedding and then continue his travels. It has been fun having him as our guest!

November 20, 2011 Judy Eacker, Broken Bow, Nebraska

My cousin Judy Eacker and her husband Tom came down for a State Community Playhouse meeting in Manley on Saturday. That evening we ate supper and went to the Omaha Community Playhouse to see "Flyin' West" a play by Pearl Clege about the Black Exodusters who settled in Nicodemius, Kansas. The next morning, as usual, for the 7th time, Judy was our guest chef and made a delicious breakfast for us! Thanks, Judy, for the good company and the good eats!

Canadian Bacon & Cheddar Quiche
1 pie crust, 1 C shredded cheddar cheese, 1 T flour, 2 C Egg substitute (or 7 eggs), 1 C half & half, 1 t cayenne pepper sauce, 5 oz Canadian bacon chopped, 2 T chopped green onion, a small can mushrooms, handful of Spinich chopped. Combine and pour into unbaked crust. Bake at 350 for 40-45 minutes.

Low-Fat Dried Cherry Muffins
1 C dried cherries, pitted (soak in buttermilk 30 min), 1 C low-fat buttermilk, 1 ¾ cups flour, 2 t baking powder, 1 t baking soda, 1/8 t salt, ¾ c sugar, ½ C egg substitute (or 2 eggs), ½ C applesauce, ½ t almond extract. Fill cups 2/3 full. Bake 350 for 18-20 minutes. (Judy made her own buttermilk with ½ and vinegar).

August 10, 2011 Marc Dissell

Mark Dissell and kids Henry and Willa from Minnesota and their exchange student from Sweden, Emma Kjellon, were our guests August 10 and 11. The Dissell's are Servas hosts in Minnesota and were on their way back from Kansas City visiting his sister's family. They hadn't had a chance to visit the Omaha area so requested a Servas host stay. Mark put the Never Sweat Ranch grass-fed beef burgers on the grill for supper and we had sweet corn and cucumbers to go with it. Emma is a good artist so she and the kids had a fun time with drawing. We took a walk about sunset down to the lake. The next day the I made the Cottage Cheese Country Cornmeal Pecan Waffles for breakfast topped by fruit (recipe below). They went into Omaha to explore the Joslyn Art Museum, the Hot Shops, Bemis and the Old Market. That evening they came to the juvie lockin the Charles B. Washington Branch Library to join us for supper and fun with Jeff Quinn's Magic Show and Rainbow Trout and Bubbles face painting and balloon animals, bounce house and Wii and Backpack giveaway. Thanks to Mark and Emma who helped at the bounce house. I'm sure it was a long day but they all had a good night's sleep and were off this morning in the rain to head back north. Thanks for being such good Servas guests!

Cottage Cheese Country Cornmeal Pecan Waffles

1 1/2 cups yellow cornmeal, 2 1/4 cups flour, 1/2 cup sugar, 3 T baking powder, 2 t salt, 1/2 cup chopped pecans

1/2 cup cottage cheese, 6 eggs, 1 stick melted butter (1/4 pound), 2 1/2 cups milk

Mix dry ingredients except pecans, mix wet ingredients, combine by hand, add pecans, let sit 15-30 minutes to allow cornmeal and flour to absorb moisture. Heat waffle iron, spray with Pam, and cook until done.

August 1, 2011 Cathron Cole O'Connor, Lincoln, Nebraska

Cathy and I first became friends in the fall of 1973 when I started my sophmore year at the new "Sandhills High School-District 71" then being held in Halsey. (OMG-almost 40 years!) She got a steady boyfriend early on in high school so we didn't spend much time together after that but always kept in touch through the years. She has three beautiful daughters who I've watched grow up which has been fun. In the early 1990s she moved to Lincoln and she shared my studio apartment until she moved into the apartment next door:we shared the porch, her cat, and my phone. She has always been a reader, a learner, up on pop culture, and able to connect the dots and make funny comments about every situation under the sun. She loves politics, history, geography, the American Civil War, genealogy and is working hard to finish a Master of Arts in Historical Studies so she can better engage her students. She is one of the friends I can laugh with until I cry and in fact I did so while she was here. She told me about taking her husband, Tom, on a Sandhills adventure to try to retrace her Dad's mail route and showed me pictures - one of them of a mailbox on a wheel. She learned to drive on that route, part of it the dirt road between Dunning and Stapleton. Cathy is a master storyteller! She looked through my Blaine County History book which jogged memories - and told me the story that Katie Heller told her about teaching school at the Hardscrabble country school and having to take the boys bigger than she was by the collar and standing them up against the wall to get them to behave- something no teacher would dare do today. No, today Cathy said that teachers teach the kids how to take tests! I told Cathy about the recipe that was in my Aunt Virgie Cox's recipe box for an Apple Sauce Cake from Maree Lewis, who married George Sawyer, a Blaine County official, who was accused of raping the Barton girl.

I was so happy Cathy was able to come to visit right at the time when her grandkids were in Lincoln and getting ready to head back to Pittsburgh. One of the first things I ever remember Cathy making for me to eat was nacho chips, covered with cheese and green chilis and baked in the oven at her Mother's house. When she arrived , she pulled her bag of Open Harvest Chicken Herb out of her purse and announced she was going to take part in our guest chef program! I was glad she was so gung-ho to feed us! Yippee! We went shopping to buy the chicken and then spent an hour in the neighbor's pool while the chicken marinated. She had it on the stove cooking and it and the rice were ready by the time Rick got home from work. I put together a Spinich Salad with tomatoes from the Papillion Farmer's Market to go with it and Sarah Watson's Mint Tea.



Thanks for being here Cathy - (and remember to return "The Cattlemen").....




Here are the recipes:

Cathy's Herb Chicken for Three
Marinate chicken in 1/3 cup olive oil, juice of 1 lemon, 3 garlic cloves crushed, & fresh herbs of rosemary, basil, cilantro, parsley for at least 30 minutes to several hours. Cook in a covered skillet until done about 15 minutes. Good served with Near East brand Pecan and Garlic Rice.
Enjoy with friends.







Sarah Watson's Mint Tea





10 C Boiling Water


1 & 1/2 - 2 C Sugar


Juice of 4 lemons - 1 Cup


7-9 Sprigs of mint







8 C Boiling Water


10 tsp loose tea


5-7 sprigs mint






Strain both into one pot. Cool. Serve over ice.






Maree Lewis's Apple Sauce Cake





1 1/2 C Apple Sauce


1 C White Sugar


1/2 C Butter


1 1/2 C raisins


2 C flour


2 tsp Soda


1 tsp Vanilla


1/2 tsp Salt


1 tsp Cloves


1 tsp Nutmeg


1 T cinnamon


1 C nut meats (optional)






This is a great cake! There are no directions for baking but put in 9x13 greased pan, 350 degrees for 30-40 minutes to start until straw from broom comes out clean!

May 21, 2011 Liz Ferguson, Brewster, Nebraska

Reebopabeebop

Rhubarb Crisp

My sister Liz ran her own cafe, Katz Korner, in Taylor, Nebraska, serving her own hormone free grass fed beef for a couple of years. She has cooked for Uncle Buck's Lodge and Grandpa's at the Calamus near Burwell. When she and mom visited us in May she brought some rhubarb and made a delicious rhubarb crisp. She shook the cut rhubarb in strawberry jello, dusting it before topping with 1 c oatmeal mixed with 1/2 c. butter & 1/2 c brown sugar - baking 350 for about 1/2 hour. Thanks, Liz for being a great cook and an even GREATER sister!

May 26, 2011, Chelsea Porter, Ericson, Nebraska

About 6:30 on May 26 I was driving home from work and got a text message that said "dinner will be ready when you get home." My first thougth was "Rick?" and then my second thought was, "No, probably not!" - and then I saw it was from Chelsea Porter. She and her mother Shari Dubry came to spend the night before visiting the doctors at UNMC. Chelsea made a DiGiorno pizza, bread sticks and chocolate chip cookies for us. I had no idea you could get all of that in one box! The cookies went fast as did the pizza and bread sticks. It really hit the spot! Thanks, Chelsea, for supper!