My favorite recipes

Sherri Kammerzell truly enjoys life in the country near Farmington. Jerry and Sherri’s home is surrounded by fields which will soon be green, their perennial gardens are ready to grow, and pots and flower beds are ready for annuals.

For a safe place to walk, she drives into Farmington, parks the car and walks to the cemetery and back. Just the other day, she found a large spot of buttercups blooming near the old church. On a cool spring day, nothing is as good as one of Sherri’s morning glory muffins and a cup of one of her favorite teas.

A native of Valleyford, Sherri moved to the Colfax area in March of 1968, moving as a freshman from Freeman High School to Colfax High School. Sherri was the middle child of nine, which included six girls and three boys. She moved away for a while, but returned to Colfax in 1978 with her 18-month-old son, Tim. While she worked in several businesses in Colfax, she found her niche at Pete’s, formally known as the Colfax Coffee Shop. Tim graduated from Colfax High School and now works for Avista in Spokane.

During her 24-year tenure at Pete’s, Sherri has many fond memories of her customers, which included Charles Hofer taking the St. Patrick Church pastor to dinner every Wednesday night. She remembers Fr. Breznikar and Fr. Lorge. Gordon Forgey was another regular customer. To better remember them, she had customers sign her book and she has kept the books in a little trunk for years.

In fact, Sherri has many Charles Hofer stories. He brought cousins in for dinner at Pete’s and most of them were speaking German. They ate the fortune cookies with fortunes inside, so she brought another bowl and someone demonstrated how to open them to retrieve the fortunes.

Sherri credits the generosity of her customers over the years with her ability to buy her own home in Colfax. She and Jerry flew to San Francisco to deliver the final check to the owner, who then hosted them at the Cliff House for a celebratory dinner.

Growing up in a large family, Sherri never got the whole lesson in canning. Kids would be assigned to pick the vegetables or fruit, wash the jars and so on, but she did not learn the whole process. Rosina Gunn was her tutor when she was an adult. One year Rosina was ready to let go of raising a vegetable garden, so Sherri volunteered to help in exchange for canning instruction. Every Monday, Sherri went to Rosina’s and worked in the garden. When it was time to harvest the produce, Rosina taught canning and how to make apple butter.

Rosina, commented Sherri, taught her how to be family. When Sherri and Jerry married, Rosina was her matron of honor, and she gave Sherri advice about not being bossy or nagging her husband. In addition to having a big garden, Sherri cans dill and sweet pickles, pickled beets, green beans, tomatoes, potatoes and peach salsa. The peach salsa, she noted, needs more mint and jalapenos.

Since she and Jerry married, she has perfected her yeast breads and finally “got” her mother’s noodles. She also makes all kinds of rolls. With peas planted around the house this spring, they will have fresh peas in season.

Jerry and Sherri knew each other for 15 years. He usually came to Pete’s before his bowling league met. They have been married for almost 10 years now.

Thanks to Jerry’s daughter, they have granddaughter Ally to know and enjoy. Ally loves picking peas, and she likes to eat fresh veggies. When she visits them for a week this summer, Ally will help cook and can.

Sherri wrote a book for Ally, “Frog in the Basement,” illustrated by Bob Krikac, Colfax. Freddy the frog is a tree frog with a booming voice who visits their basement each spring. Cougar Graphics printed and bound the book and found Bob Krikac to illustrate it.

Drawing is another hobby, and Sherri likes the way drawing forces you to really pay attention to something. Working mainly in pencil, she is ready to try colored pencils or pastels. Ally and Sherri read, write and draw together. Ally makes homemade cards for Sherri, who makes cards in return.

Making lap quilts is another hobby. Sherri hand cuts and sews all of her quilts and after making quilts for people and dogs, she said that the next one will be for her. Sewing quilts during the snowy season is a perfect hobby. She makes one quilt a year for Hospice.

Jerry and Sherri travel as often as possible to their granddaughter’s events on the coast. They have marveled as they have watched Ally’s basketball coaches turn a bunch of giggly little girls with short attention spans into a team.

Sherri enjoys cooking for family and for church events in Farmington.

Recipes:

Black-Eyed Pea Casserole

2 packages (6 ounces each) long-grain and wild rice

2 pounds ground beef

2 medium onions, chopped

2 small green peppers, chopped

4 cans (15 1/2 ounces each) black-eyed peas, drained

1 can (4 ounces) diced green chiles

2 cans (10 3/4 ounces) cream of mushroom soup

1 1/2 cups or more shredded cheddar cheese

In a large saucepan with lid, cook rice according to the package directions.

In a large skillet, cook beef, onion, and green peppers over medium heat until meat is cooked - drain fat.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

In a very large bowl, add all ingredients with meat mixture. Transfer to two 9x13-inch greased pans. Cover and bake 20-25 minutes. Uncover, sprinkle with cheese and bake 5 minutes longer.

I freeze one uncooked without cheese for a day when I don’t feel like cooking.

Serve with a green salad.

Special Fried Rice

1 box Rice-a-Roni fried rice mix

12 cooked prawns—if frozen, thaw under cold water first

1 bunch green onions, chopped

4 or 5 slices of bacon, cooked and drained

1 rib celery, diced

1 carrot, peeled and diced

5 or 6 fresh mushrooms, sliced

Cook rice using directions on the box.

While rice is cooking, dice celery and carrots, and saute in a little olive oil until tender.

When rice is done cooking, add vegetables to the rice. Saute mushrooms and add to rice with torn-up pieces of bacon. Warm prawns in a little olive oil and add to rice.

Just before serving, add green onions.

Cherry Bars

1 cup butter, softened

2 cups sugar

1 teaspoon salt

4 eggs

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1/4 teaspoon almond extract

3 cups flour

2 cans (21 ounces each) cherry pie filling

Glaze:

1 cup confectioner’s sugar

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

1/2 teaspoon almond extract

2 to 3 Tablespoons milk

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

In a large bowl, cream butter, sugar, and salt until light and fluffy. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well. Beat in extracts. Gradually add flour.

Spread three cups batter into greased 15 x 10 x 1-inch baking pan. Spread pie filling over the batter. Drop remaining batter on top by teaspoonfuls over cherry filling.

Bake 30-35 minutes. In a small bowl, mix glaze ingredients to desired consistency. Drizzle over the top of cooling bars. Cut when cool.