My favorite recipes

Stacy Aune grew up on a farm near Othello where her family grew potatoes and onions and raised race horses on irrigated land. Her family home was on land much flatter than the family farm near LaCrosse where she and Leonard and their children live.

Her grandparents moved from the Idaho Falls area to Prosser, then later to the Othello area when irrigation water became available. Stacy’s grandfather is still involved in farming at the age of 88, driving his Escalade SUV through the fields to keep up with operations. Her brother and father operate the family farm, and her sister-in-law is a labor contractor in the Basin.

Stacy’s younger sister lives in the Tri-Cities, where she is a school counselor. She and her husband are expecting their first baby. This sister is 14 years younger than Stacy, and her baby will be 15 years younger than the Aune’s daughter, Ashtynn.

Harvest at Othello was a very different experience for the children in the family, as it occurred well after school started.

At LaCrosse, the crew starts cutting grain in July, so the kids who can help have about a month of harvest right before they go back to school.

Leonard’s crew likes hot sandwiches and pie for lunch, so she is always looking for interesting sandwich ideas. The crew’s fruit pie baker for many years was Lila Kneale, a well-known local cook. Last year Jeanne Joost filled in for her mother, and this year Stacy is planning how to get the pies made without Lila or Jeanne.

Stacy graduated from Othello High School in 1988 and went on to Washington State University where she graduated in elementary education with majors in language arts and Spanish. The Spanish was especially useful in the Columbia Basin. She began teaching in Prosser, where she had cousins, and earned her master’s degree in language arts.

Leonard and Stacy met at WSU, but they didn’t date while in college. After college, they met again at Kim and Shane Berquist’s wedding. They were married in November of 1996. She began teaching language arts that fall at LaCrosse Junior and Senior High School. When Krista Boyd left, she assumed the school counselor duties.

Their daughter Ashtynn was born in June of 1998. Her father-in-law looked at all of the baby gear and concluded that it was time to trade houses. In four weeks, they traded homes with Gene and Lola Aune when Ashtynn was seven weeks old.

Life was busy while teaching with children, so when her third child was one year old, she resigned. She now teaches as a substitute and is the state assessment coordinator for LaCrosse schools. Farm bookkeeping is also in her job description. Their four children are Ashtynn, 15, Gunnar, who is named for his great-grandfather Aune, 12, Abree, 9, and Gage, 5.

Stacy loves being a stay-at-home mom, and finds that she does lots of driving so that her children can participate in the activities that they love. Right now that includes volleyball and basketball camps, junior golf in Pullman, and Hoopfest.

Sunday School students up to sixth grade at Selbu Lutheran Church have Mrs. Aune for their teacher. Activities for multi-age groups that have older students helping younger ones makes the class engaging.

The Aune kids show steers at the Spokane Junior Livestock Show and Palouse Empire Fair in 4H and FFA. Stacy leads LaCrosse All-Purpose 4H, which is made easy by all of the leaders who lead different segments of the program.

In the past year, Stacy and Abree spent lots of quality time driving to Spokane for vision training. Abree had been struggling with reading and was terribly tired at the end of the school day. A specialist carefully questioned her to discover that she was seeing double, and that words and numbers bounced on the page, which was probably related to a head injury she incurred at two years of age. After vision training, she can read without struggling. Her teacher copies all of her work onto blue paper, which really aids her vision. For the child struggling with reading, the Aunes recommend testing to see if the child can be helped as Abree was.

For the week of July Fourth, Stacy and family went to Twin Lakes on the Colville Reservation where they have been gathering since Stacy was one year old. All of her family gets together to enjoy the summer weather and each other’s company.

Recipes:

Spicy Chicken Panini

Chicken:

1/2 teaspoon paprika

1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper

1/4 teaspoon dried thyme

1/8 teaspoon onion powder

1/8 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon ground cumin

1/8 teaspoon ground pepper

2 skinless, boneless chicken breasts

Mix together the seasonings. Oil the chicken breasts with cooking spray on both sides, then coat the chicken breasts evenly with the spice mixture. Blacken the chicken breasts, or my preference, put them on the Traeger for 20 minutes.

Chili Pepper Aioli:

2 garlic cloves

1/3 cup mayonnaise

1/2 cup roasted bell peppers, drained, patted dry

2 Tablespoons olive oil

salt and freshly ground pepper

Finely chop the garlic in a food processor. Add the peppers and blend until almost smooth. Blend in the mayonnaise. With the machine running, blend in the oil. Season the aioli, to taste, with salt and pepper. Transfer the aioli to a smaller bowl. (The aioli can be made 2 days ahead. Cover and refrigerate.)

Sandwich:

Carmelized onions

Chili pepper aioli

pepper jack cheese

red bell peppers, roasted

avocado slices

blackened chicken

bread

Spread the chili pepper aioli on the bread of choice; I prefer Ciabatta. Add onions, red peppers, avocado, chicken, and cover with pepper jack cheese. Place it on panini grill for 3-5 minutes, until cheese is melted.

Frosted Banana Bars

1/2 cup butter or margarine, softened

2 cups sugar

3 eggs

1 1/2 cups mashed ripe bananas, about 3 medium

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

2 cups flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

pinch salt

Frosting:

1/2 cup butter or margarine, softened

1 package (8 ounces) cream cheese, softened

4 cups confectioners’ sugar

2 teaspoons vanilla

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. In a mixing bowl, cream butter and sugar. Beat in eggs, bananas, and vanilla. Combine the flour, baking soda, and salt. Add to creamed mixture and mix well. Pour into greased 15 x 10-inch baking pan. Bake for 25 minutes. Cool before frosting.

Cream butter or margarine and cream cheese in a bowl. Gradually add confectioners’ sugar and vanilla. Beat well and spread over bars.

Grammy’s Doughdogs

1 box of Pillsbury Roll Mix

1 new packet of yeast (Grammy never trusted the age of the yeast in the box.)

a pinch of sugar to sweeten

Follow the directions on the package. Let rise twice.

Heat lard or oil on high in skillet. Make sure skillet is half full of hot oil. Grab a small pinch of dough and stretch it with the palm of your hand. Your want it evenly stretched. Place a doughdog in the hot oil and poke with a fork. Turn over and brown until golden brown.

These are best when served hot with butter, jam and/or peanut butter.