MY FAVORITE RECIPES By Mary Collins: Meet Linda Marler

Linda and Martin Marler of Colfax.

Linda Marler grew up on an irrigated row crop farm near Caldwell, Idaho, and graduated from Vallivue High School. She then went to the University of Idaho and earned a BS in home economics education. Her first teaching assignment was in LaCrosse. She taught there for nine years and returned to the U of I each of the first four summers to complete her master's degree in home economics. With the birth of her daughter, Allison, she left full-time teaching, but continued to substitute for seven years while Allison was little, then returned to teaching part-time at the junior high level at St. John. The next year she began teaching at All Saints School in Spokane in the Middle School.

Linda returned to the Palouse when she married Martin Marler, who farms south of Colfax. With the move back to the Palouse, she worked as a substitute teacher in both Pullman and Colfax, including some long-term and one-year leave replacement positions. She finished teaching with three years as a paraprofessional, working with small groups in the reading room at Jennings Elementary.

Linda loves to garden, read and does a little quilting. She and Martin are sports fans and attend some high school and college football games and Colfax High School basketball games, with an occasional baseball game after spring crops are in.

Linda and Martin are both involved in community service. Martin serves as a commissioner on the board of Whitman Hospital and Medical Center. Linda likes fundraising for the Whitman Community Hospital Foundation. Their major fundraiser is coming soon--a gala dinner and auction at Hill-Ray Plaza on Jan. 27. She finds planning and working on events like this enjoyable. She is also coordinator of religious education at St. Patrick Church, and teaches seventh and eighth grade Sunday school. Martin serves on the parish finance council, Linda is a lector and both are eucharistic ministers. Linda also belongs to Athenaeum Club, Beta Sigma Phi and PEO in Colfax.

The Marlers are also great travelers. They feel blessed to have had Linda’s daughter, Allison, her husband, Sam, and their kids, Sydney and Braden, live in the UK for six of the last 16 years. Linda and Martin have made several visits to the UK, where Allison and family hosted them and acted as tour guides. The most recent visit included a road trip to Scotland for seven, ages 69 years to 18 months. The two older kids kept the toddler (Linda’s great-niece) occupied, and the adults got to relax some. Allison and family are now back in the U.S., living in Virginia, which opens up a whole new realm of exploration.

Linda was the Gazette’s “My Favorite Recipes” columnist for about four years. She said she met many interesting and talented people while doing that work. Now she shares some of her own favorite recipes.

Recipes

Chicken and Wild Rice Soup

2 quarts (8 cups) chicken stock

1 box long grain and wild rice mix

1/2 cup each (or more) finely chopped onion, celery and carrot

1/2 cup butter or margarine

1/2 cup flour

2 cups milk

1-1/2 cups cubed chicken or turkey, cooked (Costco's canned chicken works well)

1/2 tsp. salt

1/8 tsp. pepper

Fried, crumbled bacon or bacon bits

Sauté onions, carrots and celery in butter for one to two minutes. Stir in flour; add chicken stock. Stir in wild rice mix and chicken pieces. Season with salt and pepper. Simmer until rice is tender, stirring occasionally. Add bacon bits. Serve hot.

Ginger Glazed Salmon

1 pound salmon fillet

salt and pepper to taste

seasoning salt (your preference - I like Johnny's)

1 knob fresh ginger

1 stick butter

1 cup dark brown sugar

1/2 cup lemon juice

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Season salmon with salt, pepper and seasoning salt. Place in oven for approximately 30 minutes. If you cook on a barbecue grill, it will probably take less time.

Peel the skin off the ginger with a sharp paring knife. One the stove, melt one stick of butter in a medium sauce pan. Add brown sugar and, while whisking, add lemon juice. Mixture should become syrupy, not caramely. If it looks too much like caramel (too thick,) add more lemon juice. Grate peeled ginger into mixer with a microplane or very fine grater.

Spoon some of the mixture over salmon and return to oven for five minutes. Remove from oven and serve with sauce on the side. Salmon is done when it flakes easily with a fork.

Scottish Shortbread

3 cups all-purpose flour

3/4 cup sugar

1/2 tsp. salt

1 cup unsalted butter, chilled (omit salt if using regular butter)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

In the bowl of a food processor, combine flour, sugar and salt. Pulse a few times to blend.

Cut butter into large chunks and add to food processor. Process for about one minute, until dough is very sandy and starts to clump together.

Pour into a nine-inch square pan and spread into an even layer. If you want a round shortbread, use a 10-inch diameter pie plate or springform pan. Press down the dough firmly with a flat-bottomed glass, creating as smooth a surface as possible. Score dough lightly with a knife marking squares in the 9-inch pan, and pie shapes in the 10-inch round pan.

Bake for 30-35 minutes, until shortbread is lightly browned all over. Do not over bake. While the dough is still hot, use a sharp knife to cut the shortbread all the way through the lines scored prior to baking. Allow shortbread to cool completely once it has been cut.

When cool, shortbread pieces should break apart very easily. Store in an airtight container.