My Favorite Recipes: Meet Nancy Ross, Diamond

Mike and Nancy Ross of Diamond with Nancy’s sons Justin, left, and Charles Hoskins.

After years away living in Portland and Spokane, moving to Whitman County was coming full circle for Nancy Ross.

“Living on the farm was like coming home to me,” she said.

Nancy grew up and graduated from Washtucna. Her father was a wheat farmer. About age 10 she started to help her mother cook meals for the harvest crew of around 10 people.

“That's where I learned part of my cooking skills.” With that many people to cook for, serving breakfast, lunch and dinner, it meant being in the kitchen all day long. At first, Nancy made the breads and desserts. Her favorite was making pies, a skill she has perfected over the years. Pies have become her dessert offering of choice.

“I'd rather make a pie (than a cake) any day,” she said.

By the time she was 14, Nancy was moved out of the kitchen into the fields where she drove truck. At that point, with the aid of machinery, the harvest crew was down to four, so making the meals wasn't as momentous of a task.

After she graduated from high school, Nancy moved to Spokane. In 1979 she moved to Portland where her culinary skills expanded thanks to the influence of her boyfriend's mother.

“She taught me a whole different bunch of things to cook,” Nancy noted. After growing up on farm cuisine, her boyfriend's mother introduced Nancy to a new variety of food. She learned things such as lasagna, stroganoff and marinated water chestnuts. This new look on cooking stayed with Nancy, and after she left Portland she started buying cookbooks. Nancy doesn't go off recipes much anymore. Now she looks at a recipe to get ideas and then tweaks the recipes to suit her tastes.

Another skill she has become adept at is master of mish-mash mixing to create casseroles.

“I've been told I'm the queen of casseroles,” she said. Nancy can take whatever she has, throw it together and it turns out good. She added when you experiment long enough, you figure out what goes together. This talent came in very useful when she was working 10-hour days. It enabled her to come home, throw something together for dinner and focus on other accomplishments while the casserole was cooking.

Nancy moved back to Spokane in 1984 and was living there when she met Whitman County farmer Michael Ross. A mutual friend brought him to the Eagles in Spokane where he met Nancy.

“We just hit it off really well,” Nancy said. They were married in 2010, and she moved to the farm near Diamond.

One of the things Nancy and Mike share is something Nancy started about the same time she started cooking for harvest: motorcycles. She started riding when she was 10 and continued to ride until her first son was born. Now she rides behind Mike on their Harley-Davidson Ultra Classic.

While they do motorcycle trips all over, they usually make a base camp in Missoula, Mont.

“It's beautiful,” she said of the area. They ride all around from the Missoula area. Lolo Pass is one of their favorite routes to take because of the beautiful scenery. Nancy recalled her favorite trip was a couple years ago when they went to Missoula for the Fourth of July then went down into Idaho and came back up.

After moving to Whitman County, Nancy worked for Wheatland Inn, Pearson Farm and Fence and then did temp work for Express Personnel. In June of this year she was hired to fill the bookkeeper position at the Whitman County Gazette. She was going around to Colfax businesses handing out her résumé. Of the Gazette position, she said she walked in and got lucky. She was interviewed twice and was granted the position, which she has enjoyed doing. Her co-workers have enjoyed it as well as Nancy shares her culinary skills with them. One of her recent offerings, a rhubarb pie which is her favorite as well, was met with rave reviews.

“Learning to make good pie crust is a skill,” Nancy said, noting that her sister still prefers making cakes. Nancy's secret is to be careful not to over-work the crust, even when rolling out the dough. She also uses a fork to stir the water in.

Nancy tries to cook everything from scratch as much as possible.

“Which I think is a dying art,” she added. Working long hours made that difficult, but she persevered by making casseroles. Having to only cook for two limits the size and scale of meals she has to make anymore. In addition to baking for her co-workers, Nancy also cooks for potlucks at her church and is on the list for when members of their church family need a meal.

“I really like making lasagna,” Nancy said. That one meal, however, is when the time consumption of cooking from scratch really becomes apparent. When Nancy makes a lasagna from scratch, it is an all-day process as she makes everything, including noodles and sauce, from scratch. But, she admitted, as she has gotten older she has started buying noodles instead of making them-although if she had a noodle maker that may not be the case. While lasagna was a dish learned after leaving home, Nancy received her noodle-making education from her mother when she made German dumplings for dad.

Nancy has two sons. Justin lives in Reardan where he works for Reardan Grain Growers. He is set to get married next year. Charles lives in Pendleton where he is finishing his last year of college in an ag-related field.

Recipes:

Rhubarb

Crumble Pie

Makes a 8 or 9 inch pie

Filling:

2 eggs

1 or ¾ cup sugar, separate

2 Tbsp. flour

½ tsp. salt

1 Tbsp. very soft butter

1 pkg (1 lb.) frozen, undrained rhubarb or 2 cups fresh rhubarb

Beat eggs until light and fluffy. Gradually add ¾ cup sugar for frozen rhubarb or 1 cup for fresh rhubarb, flour and salt. Beat until very thick. Add butter and rhubarb. Turn into pie crust.

Topping:

¾ cup sifted flour

½ cup sugar

¼ cup soft butter

¼ tsp. Salt

Combine ingredients. Blend well, sprinkle over filling.

Bake at 375 degrees for 35 to 40 minutes.

Marinated Water Chestnuts

1 cup whole water chestnuts

¼ cup soy sauce

¼ cup sugar

Bacon strips

Marinate water chestnuts in soy sauce and sugar mixture for 4 hours. Cut bacon into fourths lengthwise. Wrap chestnut in bacon, secure with a wooden pick. Place on a rack in a shallow baking pan.

Bake uncovered in 400 degree oven for about 20 minutes or until bacon is crisp. Drain on paper towels. Serve warm.

Taco Salad

1 med. head lettuce, chopped

1 lb. hamburger

8 oz. cheddar cheese, grated

1 can kidney beans, rinsed

1 med. onion, chopped

4 med. tomatoes, diced

1 pkg. nacho flavored chips

1 pkg. taco seasoning

Dressing:

8 oz. thousand island dressing

1/ cup sugar

1 Tbsp. taco seasoning

1 Tbsp. taco sauce

Brown hamburger; drain. Add taco seasoning (reserve 1 Tbsp for dressing). Use large bowl and layer salad ingredients, starting with lettuce and end with cheese. Cover and refrigerate. Just before serving mix salad with dressing and chips.