My favorite recipes - Meet Cinnamon Brown, Pullman

Jana Mathia | Apr 29, 20100

When Cinnamon Brown was attending Washington State University for a degree in biology with a secondary teaching certificate, she thought she would use them to teach biology in school. She still gets to educate people, but as an environmental specialist for the Whitman County Environmental Health Department.

Cinnamon grew up in Spanaway. She met her husband, Mike, in band and they started dating in 10th grade—back in the day of Smurfs and basketball games, as Cinnamon put it.

They were in pep band and marching band together; now they do a lot on computers.

“We’re both geeks,” Cinnamon said with a smile.

Mike is an computer specialist for Whitman County and helps others with their computers in his spare time. He is also a reserve sheriff’s deputy,

When not working or chasing their daughter, Lillian, Cinnamon reads and blogs.

“It’s kind of dorky,” she said of her blog. “I review books.”

Their family used to have a blog that they only used occasionally. Cinnamon enjoys reading, but thought it seemed silly to read a book and then put it back on the shelf. She started her blog, ajourneyofbook.halfzero.net, in April 2009 as a way to get the thoughts she had on the books she was reading out of her head.

Recently she had been reviewing mostly young adult books. Since she started her blog, publishers have been sending her books to review. Young adult fiction is where the market is now, Cinnamon noted. Included in the review are ratings on books based on passion of writing, her interest, pace and other factors. Depending on her motivation, she can get through a book in two to three days.

Cinnamon is enrolled in University of Phoenix and does on-line classes to get an masters degree in business with an emphasis in accounting.

“Some day I’ll actually be done with school,” she said.

Cinnamon did get to teach as a substitute for about a year before and just after Lily was born in 2007. The following spring she started working in the environmental health department. As part of her job Cinnamon does health inspections, teaches food handler classes, handles animal bites, solid waste and some food-borne illness investigations.

Doing health inspections gets Cinnamon to all the temporary events that go on all around the county.

“Those get pretty interesting,” she said. It is fun to see what is going on in the different towns when they have their festivals, she added. She and Mike make it a family event; he and Lily get to take in the sites while Cinnamon checks all the food vendors. Lily loves animals, so they try to take her places that have animals for her to see.

Working for environmental health, Cinnamon likes to know she is making a difference. She likes to talk to people and educate them about the different topics.

“It’s a really interesting topic,” she said of public health.

Recipes:

Buffalo Chicken Dip

4 boneless skinless chicken breast halves, boiled and shredded

1 12 ounce bottle of hot sauce (I use Frank’s Red Hot Sauce)

2 8 ounce packages of cream cheese

1 16 ounce bottle Ranch dressing

1/2 cup chopped celery

8 ounces Monterey Jack cheese or Cheddar cheese, grated

In a 13x9x2 inch baking pan, combine the shredded chicken meat with the entire bottle of hot sauce, spreading to make an even layer.

In a saucepan, combine the cream cheese and ranch dressing over medium heat until smooth.

Pour this mixture evenly over the chicken. Sprinkle with chopped celery and then shredded cheese.

Bake uncovered at 350 degrees (F) for 30-40 minutes or until bubbly. Watch that the top doesn’t brown.

Let stand 10 minutes and then serve hot or warm with Doritos “Scoops” (or any sturdy chip) or celery sticks.

***You can also use canned chicken in place of cooking and shredding your own chicken. The taste is fairly similar but the texture is slightly different***

Pizza Sauce

1 (15 ounce) can tomato sauce

1 (6 ounce) can tomato paste

1 tablespoon ground oregano

1 1/2 teaspoons dried minced garlic

1 teaspoon ground paprika

1/2 Tbs basil

1/4 tsp sugar

1/2 tsp onion salt

Mix together in a bowl or in the blender.

Will make enough for about four pizzas or so.

Can also be used as pasta sauce.

Rice patties - makes a good snack

2 cups of cooked white rice

2 eggs

Mix eggs and rice. Roll into 2 inch diameter balls and form patties. Fry in a pan coated with cooking spray under brown on both sides. Salt and enjoy.

Golden Tuna cakes

1 (6 oz.) can tuna, drained

1 egg, beaten

8-16 Saltines

1 Tbsp. parsley

1/2 tsp. onion salt

Add milk and lemon juice (more lemon than milk) until mixture reaches a sticky consistency. Shape into balls, and form patties. Fry in a mixture of 1 Tbsp oil and 1 Tbsp. butter until brown on both sides.