My favorite recipes

Aug 26, 20150

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Recipe 35

Liz Appel and son, John Paul

Elizabeth Philipp was born in Houston, Texas, and grew up there, with four years spent living in Utah from age five to nine. After high school, she took a year off and volunteered through the Catholic Church, working with youth leadership programs and conducting retreats. Liz’s older brother and sister also volunteered.

Liz graduated from Notre Dame University with a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree, and she also ran on the track and cross country teams. In track she ran middle distances and the steeplechase, which challenges runners with obstacles and impediments strewn through the course. After playing all sports while she was growing up, she found steeplechase was natural.

During college, she studied abroad one summer at Notre Dame University in England right next to the National Gallery. They spent five days in Amsterdam to view the works of Van Gogh, Reisdel, Rembrandt, Vermeer and other Dutch masters. Her favorite media are oil paint and ceramics.

After college, Liz went to Florida and started an internship with Children’s Home Society, staying with her newly widowed grandfather the first summer. While she liked the work, she knew the burn-out rate and looked for a more permanent position.

She began teaching art at her grandfather’s parish school, All Saints Catholic School in Jupiter, Fla. All Saints is a pre-Kindergarten through eighth grade school with about 450 students. It was a last-minute opening, so she started with a temporary certificate and quickly completed a standard certificate. During her time in Florida, she felt she was on vacation.

At the start of her first year, the first day was Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday were no school “hurricane days,” and she got paid at work on Friday. Students didn’t have art the first day, so she worked one day her first week of teaching. Jupiter normally has heavy storms when hurricanes are near, with high winds, torrential rains and flooding. Hurricane days are built into the school schedules.

Two summers during her teaching years, Liz worked at a horse-powered, organic farm, with hand-milked cows and fresh meats. She talked her little sister Laura into doing it with her both summers.

While teaching art at All Saints, Liz met Neil Appel, which was definitely a long distance relationship. She notes that they really clicked, and it was easy for them to talk. When they became serious, she moved to Washington and lived with Steve and Sandy Kopczynski in order to get better acquainted with Neil and Colfax.

Neil and Liz were married in Jupiter, Fla., with many members of their large families making the trek for their wedding. Now they live near Dusty and have a son, John Paul.

Besides the usual cooking, cleaning and laundry, she has also learned to drive a combine and tractor. Her big garden is doing well, and she is surrounded by a family of master gardeners. Freezing food, making applesauce and pesto is easy to do with the help of her friend Google. Experimenters like Google, she said.

“If I grow it, I’ll eat it,” and trying out purple potatoes and purple carrots with orange inside is just fun. The older Appel kids love them, too. If they want a snack, they can help themselves to anything edible in the garden.

Since moving here, Liz has painted for a beach apparel store in Florida, including paintings of surfboards, other scenes, signage and logos. In Florida, she painted murals on walls of children’s rooms. She worked with art projects during Vacation Bible School at St. Patrick Church, with lots of baby-sitting help for John Paul from the students.

When Liz married Neil, her sea glass and shells came with her to Dusty. Her artistic talent is in use painting their home, adding cabinets to the kitchen and painting them and learning to weld. She has made some animals out of Neil’s used metal parts. Liz also makes jewelry for fun and for gifts.

Recipes:

Goat Cheese Chicken

6 chicken breasts

8 ounces goat cheese

1/4 cup sun dried tomatoes in olive oil

1 sliced shallot

1 Tablespoon bread crumbs

1 Tablespoon Italian seasoning

salt and pepper to taste

Butterfly cut the chicken breasts.

In a small bowl, combine sun-dried tomatoes, shallot, bread crumbs and seasonings.

Divide goat cheese among chicken breasts and spread over the middle of each chicken breast.

Do the same with the tomato-seasonings mixture.

Close up chicken and bake for about 45 minutes at 350 degrees F. Time may vary because of thickness of chicken.

Stromboli

Dough:

3 cups flour

3-1/2 Tablespoons sugar

2 Tablespoons powdered milk

3 Tablespoons butter

1/2 teaspoon salt

2-1/2 teaspoons yeast

3/4 cup + 3 Tablespoons lukewarm water

Mix yeast and water together. Let set for 10 minutes. Add to dry ingredients. Knead together on a lightly floured surface until smooth. Cover and let rise 40-60 minutes.

Ingredients:

Italian seasoning

Parmesan cheese

about 2 cups shredded cheddar cheese

about 2 cups shredded mozzarella cheese

1-1/4 pounds sliced ham

pepperoni

Roll out dough into a rectangular shape. Sprinkle seasonings and Parmesan over dough - the amount you desire. Spread the mozzarella and cheddar evenly over the dough. Add pepperoni, as you would put it on for pizza. Cover the entire surface with ham slices.

Roll up dough so you end up with a long cylinder shape. Pinch ends together and place on a cookie sheet. Bake at 350 degrees for about 45 minutes.

Lemon Ice

Cream Pie

Crust:

6 cups crushed corn flakes

1/2 cup melted butter

1/4 cup sugar

Mix ingredients together and pat down into 9-inch pie pan.

Filling:

6-ounce can frozen lemonade

1/2 gallon slightly softened vanilla ice cream

Stir lemonade and ice cream together. Put filling into crust and freeze until firm.