My Favorite Recipes: Meet Judy Moore, Colfax

Front row, from left: Gary Moore, Lane Moore, Taylor Peterson, Hannah Baerlocher, Trevor Peterson and Judy Moore. Backrow, from left: Luke Moore, Chase Baerlocher, Tanner Peterson and Cole Baerlocher.

Judy Moore has enjoyed living in Whitman County since she was born. After graduating from Colfax High School, she traveled to Pullman and completed her degree at WSU. She and her spouse were in the same first grade class, so they did grow up together. Judy feels that many potential family and cultural unknowns that many young couples face were not unknown to them.

Always aware that she wanted to teach, Judy also knew that she wanted to marry, have a family and be home with her children when they were little. For her first three years after graduating from Washington State, Judy taught in LaCrosse and Endicott. Then she stayed home until her eldest, Tricia, went to high school.

Judy was among a group of Whitman County teachers who earned their Master’s degrees in education when Gonzaga University brought the program here. With no children at home, friends with whom to study and at the top of the salary schedule unless she got a masters, the timing was excellent. Classes were taught in Pullman and Colfax, which was a huge convenience.

The Moores are now retired and enjoying following their grandchildren’s activities. Gary worked at Old National Bank, then managed a fertilizer plant in Diamond, followed by an opportunity to farm. Judy taught in Colfax from 1984 to 2012, including some half-time years. She still enjoys substitute teaching in Colfax and Steptoe. She has chaperoned the older Steptoe Elementary School students on their trip to Washington, DC.

Judy and Barb McIntosh were sixth grade teachers who partnered on a comprehensive project that their former students remember fondly, the marionette plays. Students formed groups, chose a fairy tale and wrote a parody of it. For many, this was their introduction to the term “parody.” The cooperative work and the writing of a script together were valuable language arts experiences.

In the meanwhile, students made marionettes of their characters in the plays. They formed the heads, added hair and facial features, had help from parents who brought their sewing machines to create costumes and on a very important day, added the strings to control the marionettes.

Learning lines and learning to control the marionettes came next, and then the presentation of the plays to parents, teachers and students. There were academic goals and social skills, and the quiet artist and class clown all had outlets. Barb and Judy loved watching their students learn and work together on a long-term project.

Their daughter Tricia married Tim Peterson from Rosalia, and he is now principal at Connell High School, where she teaches English. Their son Trevor is attending Corban College, where he met his fiancée, and they will be married in June. She is a Nike model and is continuing her education through Western Governors’ University.

The Moores’ son Nathan and his wife Jessica are both agriculture teachers in Colton and Pullman. They have two sons. Lane is studying agriculture at Oklahoma State, and Luke is a state FFA officer. Luke will study agriculture at a state university next fall. Palouse Empire Fair time is extremely busy at their home!

The Moores' daughter, Melissa Baerlocher, is a nurse at Whitman Hospital and Medical Center, and her husband, Corey, teaches at Steptoe and coaches girls basketball in Colfax. Their two sons attend Colfax High School while daughter Hannah is in grade school at Steptoe.

Judy learned to cook by watching her mother, who was a fantastic cook in the farm tradition. Gary’s mother was a wonderful cook, too.

“When we were growing up, everyone’s mother was a great cook. Farm wives cooked for lots of hired help and company, and there weren’t many convenience foods.” Now Judy cooks less because they have no children at home and they eat less. They are at the stage, Judy said, where they split dinners in restaurants.

With grandchildren going off to college, the Moores are still busy following the activities of the younger ones. They surprised Lane by going to Oklahoma to take him out to breakfast for his birthday.

Recipes:

Chicken

Pasta Salad

2 12-ounce packages pasta

1 12.5-ounce can of chicken

1 jar artichoke hearts

1 Tablespoon Italian seasoning

1 teaspoon garlic powder

1 cup shredded parmesan cheese

1 can black olives, sliced

salt and pepper to taste

Boil the pasta in salted water. (Do not overcook). Rinse and place in a “Fix and Mix” bowl. Add a jar of artichokes, diced, and the liquid from the jar; add the garlic powder and Italian seasoning. Refrigerate overnight.

Later, add the chilled chicken and sliced olives and refrigerate. When the salad is cold, add the cheese and toss to mix ingredients with the salad dressing.

Dressing

1/2 jar mayonnaise

1/2 bottle Italian dressing

Add enough dressing so the salad is neither dry nor too runny.

Easy Oven Pancake

1 cup milk

1 cup flour

2 Tablespoons sugar

1/2 teaspoon salt

2 eggs

2 Tablespoons butter, melted

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Blend the first five ingredients with electric mixer. Pour butter into a preheated glass 9-inch pie plate. Pour mixture into hot pan. Bake for 25 minutes at 400 degrees.

Chocolate

Sheet Cake

2 cups flour

2 cups sugar

1 teaspoon salt

1 cup butter

3 Tablespoons Hershey’s cocoa powder

1 cup water

2 eggs

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/3 cup buttermilk

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Combine flour, sugar and salt. Melt butter; add cocoa and water. Mix butter mixture with dry ingredients.

Add the eggs, soda and buttermilk to the flour and cocoa mixture. Pour into a rimmed cookie sheet (jelly roll pan) and bake for 20 minutes at 350 degrees F.

Icing

1/2 cup butter, softened

3 Tablespoons Hershey’s cocoa powder

3 Tablespoons half and half

1 box powdered sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla

Mix ingredients together. Important: have frosting prepared and frost the cake when you remove it from the oven.

Judy’s Butter horns

1 cup butter (I use butter, not margarine.)

4 cups flour

2 Tablespoons yeast

3 eggs, beaten

1/2 cup sugar

1 cup milk, warmed to baby bottle temperature

1/2 teaspoon salt

Stir ingredients together until well blended. Turn dough out onto a generously floured board and knead until you can handle it. Don’t overwork the dough.

Pat the dough out until it is rectangular, about 3/4 to one inch thick and about seven inches wide. Then cut the dough into strips about one inch wide. Pick up each strip and twist it gently and form a butter horn shape. Tuck the ends underneath and place on a cookie sheet–I bake them on parchment paper.

Let them rise about 20-30 minutes and bake at 375 degrees F for 10 to 12 minutes. Do not over bake–just barely brown.

When cool, frost with Butter horn Frosting

1 pound powdered sugar

1/2 cube softened butter

1/2 teaspoon vanilla

small amount of half and half or sour cream or cream cheese–not all 3! (Cream cheese makes stiffer icing).

Chopped nuts (not all peanuts)

Using an electric mixer, beat the above ingredients until smooth. Frost butter horns and then dip into the mixed nuts.