MY FAVORITE RECIPES - Meet Mary Wiley, Diamond

Jana Mathia | Mar 25, 20100

Nicole, Katerina and mary with cookies.

The daughter of Dutch immigrants, Mary Wiley was raised with a green thumb. From an early age she helped out at the family nursery and floral shop in Oak Harbor. By the time she was 10 years old she was arranging funeral pieces.

“When it’s a family business, you grow up doing it,” she commented.

Mary continues to display her prowess with flowers at Flowers & More… in Colfax. In 2008 she volunteered to help at the shop for Valentine’s Day and has been there since.

“Being a life-long skill, it was easy to step into,” she said.

Mary grew up in the Puget Sound area where she met her husband Mike who was in the Navy stationed on Whidbey Island. After he retired, Mike decided to pursue a degree in construction management and ended up enrolling at Washington State University. With daughters Nicole and Katerina they settled down in Palouse in 2003. They also have three adult children. Mary also attended school with an emphasis in childhood education.

While in Palouse the girls joined Girl Scouts, and Mary became a Girl Scout leader. Mary noted she wanted the girls to have something outside school activities to participate in. She had been involved with Campfire and Boy Scouts before, but this was her first foray into Girl Scouts. Mary is now in her fourth year on the Palouse Area Girl Scout Day Camp Committee and is leader for Girl Scout Troop 2351. She and the girls will be busy this week through Easter selling Girl Scout cookies at Rosauers in Colfax. Mary said her favorite cookie is a toss-up between Thin Mints and Tagalongs.

An experienced pianist, Mary also became an accompanist for the Garfield-Palouse schools while they lived in Palouse. She still continues to play for the grade school and middle school choirs at concerts and special events. Recently she accompanied the choir to the Lionel Hampton Choral Jazz Festival.

“I love it,” she said.

When Mike graduated in 2007, they started looking for their own home. It was a struggle, but they finally found a property in Diamond that fit the bill. Mike was hired by Graham Construction of Spokane a week before he graduated and started the week after receiving his diploma.

“We have a 100-year-old fixer-upper,” Mary said.

She has also tried to flex her green thumbs, but has found stiff competition.

“Diamond is full of moles,” she said. Even raised garden beds with wooden bottoms do not stop the underground varmints. Mary has found heavy metal screens are effective in barring the moles, but deer eat the vegetables and her own chickens like to eat the tomatoes.

Mary has 11 laying hens in more than six varieties that follow her around.

“I hope to expand our farm,” Mary added. In the past her family has raised pygmy goats, ducks, cows, cats and dogs. There’s not fencing around the property yet, but she plans to expand so the girls can have 4H critters. Her little flock will also be growing.

“Mostly because my granddaughter wants her own chicken,” she said.

Other than Girl Scouts, Nicole, 12, and Katerina, 10, are involved in softball and their church youth groups. They attend Jennings Elementary in Colfax.

Mary coached soccer and softball in Oak Harbor, Palouse and Colfax. Mike is a girl’s softball coach in Colfax and Mary works with him as the assistant coach. Mary and Mike share a love for antique automobiles and farm equipment and are both diehard NASCAR fans.

Mary also likes to can, bake—mostly things with chocolate in them—and quilt. She learned her quilting skills from her mother who is 85 years old and blind, but still quilts by hand and donates the quilts she makes to non-profit organizations. Mary helps out by providing her with quilt pieces. Her father is also still active. At 90 years old he still works five days a week at the family’s nursery, just as he did when Mary was a girl and she first cultivated her gift with flowers.

Recipes:

Cheeseburger Soup

2 lbs. browned hamburger

3 potatoes, cubed

1 onion, chopped

4-6 carrots, chopped

8 chicken bullion cubes

1 Tbsp. garlic salt

2 whole basil leaves

4 cups flour

1 cube butter

1 cup milk

1 lg. box Velveeta, cubed

1 lb. cheddar cheese, cubed

1 cup Parmesan

Place hamburger, potatoes, onion, carrots, bullion cubes, garlic salt and basil leaves in a large stock pot with 6 qt. water. Bring to boil, then reduce and slow cook for 45 minutes.

In the meantime, melt butter in 4 qt. pan. Add flour and milk. Mix together and bring to a boil on medium heat, stirring constantly.

Remove basil leaves from stock.

Combine sauce with stock along with Velveeta, cheddar cheese and parmesan. Stir until cheeses are melted. Serve.

Southern Peanut Butter Pie

1 pkg. Girl Scout Tagalongs cookies

1 (3 1/2 oz.) pkg. vanilla pudding

1 1/2 cup milk

1/3 cup peanut butter

Cool Whip

Peanuts, crushed (optional)

Grind cookies in blender or food processor and press into 9 inch pie plate. Prepare pudding mix using 1 1/2 cup milk. Stir in peanut butter. Pour into pie shell. Refrigerate until ready to serve. Garnish with whipped topping and crushed peanuts.

Rich and Famous Brownies

1 cup evaporated milk

2 cups miniature marshmallows

1 cup semisweet chocolate chips

1/3 cup sugar

1/8 tsp. salt

1 Tbsp. vanilla extract

1 Tbsp. butter

3 cups Girl Scout Thin Mint cookies, crushed into crumbs

1/2 cup nuts, chopped

Mix together milk, marshmallows, chocolate chips, sugar and salt in microwave safe bowl. Bring to a boil in microwave. Stir well and cook in microwave an additional two minutes at medium high heat. Remove from microwave. Add butter, vanilla and chopped nuts. Break Thin Mint cookies into crumbs and add to mixture. Pack into a 9-inch square pan. Refrigerate until hard. Cut into two-inch squares.

Stamppot Van Boerekool Met Worst

Kale With Potatoes And Sausage

4 pounds KALE- strip, wash and boil for 1 hour. Drain and mince very fine.

4 pounds POTATOES- wash, peel (if desired), quarter and place in big stock pot.

Add water to cover 1/2 of the POTATOES.

Place KALE on top and 1tsp SALT (3TBSP FAT optional) then simmer.

If necessary, add small amounts of liquid so the POTATOES don’t go dry.

The result, after about 1/2 hour, must be rather dry but well cooked.

Mash POTATOES and KALE thoroughly.

1 pound SAUSAGE, cook and grind. Add to mash. Mix and serve.

NOTE: Our family tradition has been for the mash to be served in heaping mounds which are to be made into a volcano shape (using our fingers, of course!) then we fill the volcano with BROWN GRAVY. The meal is eaten from the inside of the volcano out, taking care to not let it overflow!

CLARIFICATION: The cinnamon roll recipe in the March 11 column featuring Ami Kramer of Palouse unintentionally omitted the eggs in the ingredient list. The recipe calls for two eggs.