My Favorite Recipes: Meet Meet Carmen Hall, Colfax

Carmen Hall of Colfax with son Jayden. Hall has played sports all her life and graduated with the Colfax High School class of 2010.

Having grown up with her family in Colfax, Carmen Hall recently moved home after attending a four-year college in Nampa, Idaho, to raise her son in her hometown.

“It's great. Colfax was a great place to grow up,” said Carmen. “It's a very supportive community, and everyone knows everyone.”

A daughter of Dean and Carla Hall, Carmen is a 2010 graduate of Colfax High School, where she was a three-sport athlete.

Carmen played on the volleyball, basketball and softball teams for Colfax, and by the time she was a senior, the volleyball team had won six state championships, and the basketball team had won five state championships. Carmen was on the varsity team for both volleyball and basketball during her senior year, and she played on the varsity softball team all four years of high school. During those four years, the softball team went to state each year, but they did not take home a championship.

After graduating high school, Carmen moved to Nampa to attend Northwest Nazarene College where she studied kineseology.

“Having grown up playing sports all my life, I wanted to continue that in my career,” she said. “Sports and anatomy go hand-in-hand.”

Carmen also played college softball. While in Nampa, Carmen gave birth to her son Jayden, now three years old. They recently moved back to Colfax and are now living closer to Carmen's family.

“He loves seeing his papa and mimi, and he gets to see his uncles as well,” she said.

Carmen has two brothers and one sister. Her sister recently graduated from the Northwest Nazarene.

Carmen is now working at Sport Town and Fit in Colfax. She had never worked in retail previously, though her education background does come in handy when she needs to help a customer pick which shoe works best for certain sports. She is also working on her personal training certification so she can work in the fitness center more.

Her eventual plan is to go into athletic training.

“And hopefully work my way up to the pros,” she said.

Buffalo

Chicken Dip

2 cups cooked shredded chicken

1 cup ranch

½ cup Frank's red hot sauce

8 ounces softened cream cheese

1½ cups cheese

Cook and shred the chicken. Set aside for later. Pre-heat the oven to 350.

Add the ranch, cream cheese and the Frank's red hot sauce to a mixing bowl and mix together. Pour in the bottom of a glass pan, either 9x9 or 9x13. Put shredded chicken on top of the sauce. Add drops of the red hot sauce to the top of the chicken, and sprinkle cheese on top. Carmen said she prefers to use monterrey cheese, but any cheese would work in the recipe.

Bake for 20-25 minutes.

Apricot Chicken

Chicken breasts

1 cup Apricot jam or preserves

Garlic or oregano

Butterfly cut the chicken breasts to allow them to cook fast. Rub chicken in either garlic or oregano, or spice of choice. Bake for approximately 25 minutes at 400 degrees.

Pull chicken out of oven, and add one cup of apricot jam or preserves to top of chicken. Return to oven for 15-20 minutes.

Carmen likes to serve this recipe with either pasta or chicken, or sautéd green or red peppers. She said if serving with peppers, it makes for a “sweet and savory” dish.

Carmen also noted the apricot sauce on the chicken carmelizes, and she likes to take the sauce and add it to the top of rice or pasta to serve with the chicken.

Microwave Brownie in a Mug

2 TBSP butter, melted

2 TBSP water

½ tsp vanilla extract

Dash of salt

4 TBSP sugar

2 TBSP cocoa powder

4 TBSP flour

Add ingredients to a large mug. Microwave for 60-90 seconds. Enjoy!