My favorite recipes

Nov 27, 20130

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Recipe

For people who moved around quite a bit when they were young, Mary and Jerry Heitt really sank their roots in Tekoa. Mary was born in Jamestown, N.D., and her family moved to Glasgow, Mont., where she graduated from high school.

Jerry’s family was from Bonners Ferry, Idaho, and he met Mary while working as a civilian at the Glasgow Air Force Base. They married at Glasgow in November of 1959 and made several moves for work. They lived in Seattle, then Hoquiam, where Jerry worked construction at Ocean Shores when it became a vacation destination and to Spokane for a year.

The Heitts moved to Tekoa in 1961 when Jerry became the Early Dawn Dairy milkman, driving 1,000 miles a week delivering milk to Tekoa, Rosalia, Oakesdale, Garfield, Palouse and farm homes in between. Mary ran the cream station for Early Dawn, where farmers brought cream and she paid the farmers, from 1961-1966.

In 1962, the first of their five children was born. One Sunday they took the baby and went for a walk through Tekoa. As they walked by a house, a woman asked if they were looking for a house. They were surprised because the house wasn’t posted for sale, but they liked the house and purchased it in 1963.

With remodeling and redecorating and a myriad of projects, they still live there today, although they don’t need to use the upstairs unless they have guests. They have gotten decades of enjoyment from this large, beautiful house.

One Christmas, not wanting their dad to be alone delivering milk, the whole family squeezed into the milk truck and did the route with Jerry. It was probably against company policy, but it was Christmas.

After more times being stuck in snowdrifts than he enjoyed during the locally famous winter of 1968-1969, Jerry moved to Gardner-Smith Fertilizer Company in 1970. It later became Wilbur-Ellis.

Mary and Jerry had five children in five years, 1962-1968. Dean, the eldest, lives in Elko, Nev., and works as a geologist. Daniel is a carpenter and maintenance man in Helena, Mont. Janine is director of nursing at the Tekoa Care Center, and she was followed by twins Karen and Darin. Karen works for Inland Imaging and lives in Spokane, while Darin lives in Belgrade, Mont., and works in Bozeman.

Two of Mary’s sisters lived in Tekoa and reared their families nearby, making a total of 14 first cousins who enjoyed playing and going camping together.

A large family close in age produced quite a few surprises. One time when Mary and Jerry were ready to go to the JC Club for dinner, all five kids were ready for bed when the babysitter arrived. The twins didn’t come when called and were finally discovered playing in the cold ashes in the fireplace. It took quite a lot of cleaning to get them ready for bed.

They have 14 grandchildren, ages 14 through 24, and the Heitts enjoy going to their ball games and other activities. Nevada and Montana are far away, but one summer when Dean’s children were playing summer sports, they drove the RV to Elko, parked it in an RV space, and spent their days watching grandchildren play sports. When their son Darin appears in community theater in Montana, they attend.

At present, they have four grandchildren in college, one in the military, and one job-ready massage therapist who just moved to Washington.

Jerry and Mary belong to a recreational vehicle club and travel once a month with the club for six months of the year during warmer weather.

“I have fun all winter,” Mary said. She plays bunco, belongs to the local Beta Sigma Phi women’s sorority and is very involved in her church, although she said she is backing away a little so that younger people can step in.

The Heitts spearheaded the drive many years ago to build a public restroom in Tekoa for the convenience of travelers and tourists. Jerry maintains the facility four days a week, and another volunteer takes care of the other days.

Jerry, Mary says, “retired from Wilbur Ellis to the yard,” and sometimes she reminds him that he’s put in his eight hours and can quit for the day. Jerry has spent 35 years as a volunteer fireman and on the ambulance crew in Tekoa.

When they married, Mary said she couldn’t fry an egg. Then she discovered Spam, which was cheap, easy, and the right size for two people. She made Spam and pineapple, Spam sandwiches, and a myriad of other Spam recipes until Jerry put a stop to it. He has refused to eat Spam since then.

Living in a small town, Mary has held a number of part-time jobs. One that helped her cooking significantly was as a school cook at Tekoa High School.

Her supervisor was a wonderful woman who really taught her to cook. Her other jobs in Tekoa included Cash Hardware, the Senior Citizens Lunch program and others. She continues to work two days a week as a bookkeeper at Tekoa Care Center.

In 1991, Mary attended a class in Colfax after someone at Tekoa City Hall called her and said she might be interested in how to operate a bed and breakfast. She came home very excited, and they got busy updating their upstairs bedrooms. While guests at a well-known B and B in Coeur d’Alene, they searched for guest-pleasing ideas. They were both working full-time, but threw themselves into the adventure.

Touch o’ Country was their avocation for 14 years, with mainly weekend guests, and many of them in the area for Washington State University or Tekoa Slippery Gulch events. They served a large country breakfast and ate with their guests. Mary cooked while Jerry entertained and was assistant upstairs maid. The cost of insurance increased over the years and made the profits slim. They met many interesting people, so they are glad that they ran a bed and breakfast.

Recipes:

Saucy Bars

1/2 cup shortening

1 cup sugar

1 cup applesauce

2 cups flour

1 teaspoon soda

1 teaspoon nutmeg

1/2 teaspoon cloves

1 teaspoon cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon vanilla

1/2 cup chopped walnuts

1 cup raisins

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

Mix first three ingredients until smooth; add flour, soda, spices, and salt. Add vanilla, walnuts and raisins. Spread into a 10x13-inch pan.

Bake at 350 degrees F for 35-45 minutes.

Frost with powdered sugar frosting while still warm.

Chicken Divan

2 10-ounce packages frozen broccoli spears

3 chicken breasts, cooked and cut into pieces

2 Tablespoons melted butter

2 10 3/4-ounce can cream of chicken soup

3/4 cup milk

1/2 cup shredded cheese

paprika

Preheat oven.

Cook broccoli as directed. Drain; arrange stalks into a greased 7 x 11-inch baking dish. Top with chicken. Drizzle with melted butter.

In another pan, heat soup and milk; add cheese. Spoon mixture over chicken and broccoli. Bake at 350 degrees F for 25 minutes or till hot and bubbly. Sprinkle with paprika. Serves 6.

Snicker Salad

8 ounces cream cheese

1 large jar marshmallow cream

1 large carton cool whip

4-6 Granny Smith apples, chopped

3-4 Snicker bars, cut into small pieces

Cream together cream cheese and marshmallow cream. Add chopped apples, cool whip, and Snicker bar pieces. Refrigerate.

Coffee Cake

2 whole eggs

1 cup sugar

1 cup milk

4 Tablespoons canola oil