What’s Cookin’ at Immaculate Conception

We’re going way back to the 70s and selecting from the “What’s Cookin’ at Immaculate Conception Parish” cookbook this week. We picked up the cookbook at a Virginia thrift shop recently, and its origins remain a bit of a mystery, though there is an Immaculate Conception Church in Hibbing. Anyway, let’s revisit the days when the ingredients were basic, church ladies went by their husband’s names, and the cookbooks began with a selection of table prayers.

Chocolate Sauce for Ice Cream
The cook is: Mrs. Alfred Illgen
• 1 cup boiling water
• ½ cup sugar
• Pinch of salt
• 1 square baking chocolate
• 1 tsp. vanilla extract
Combine first four ingredients, stir until blended. Continue to boil until sauce reaches desired consistency. Add vanilla, cool slightly.

Tags: dessert, chocolate

Aunt Manda’s Apple Bars
The cook is: Mike Mortaloni
For crust:
• 2 ½ cups flour
• 1 Tbsp. sugar, heaping
• 1 tsp. salt
• 1 egg, separated
• Scant 2/3 cup milk

Apple mixture:
• 12 large apples, peeled, cored, and sliced or grated
• 1 ½ cups sugar
• 1 tsp. cinnamon
• 3 Tbsp. flour
• Approx. 4 cups Wheaties cereal

Sift together the flour, sugar and salt for crust in a large bowl. Place egg yolk in a measuring cup and add enough milk to make 2/3 cup of liquid. Add liquid to dry ingredients, mix like pie crust. Divide in half and set aside. For the apple mixture, mix sugar, cinnamon, and flour together, dust over apples and mix well. Roll out half of reserved dough in a greased jelly roll pan or on a cookie sheet. Cover bottom crust with Wheaties. Add apple mix, spread evenly over cereal. Roll out remaining dough, place on top of apples. Pinch sides of crust together, brush with beaten egg white. Slit top. Bake at 375 degrees for one hour. Let cool, drizzle with powdered sugar frosting. Tags: desserts, bars, apples

Brandy Slush
The cooks are: Eleanor Statz
and Sister Virgine

• 9 cups water
• 2 cups sugar
• 4 green tea bags
• 12 oz. container frozen orange juice concentrate
• 12 oz. container frozen lemonade concentrate
• 2 cups brandy

Boil sugar and 7 cups water together. Add tea bags to two cups water, steep for 20 minutes, then boil until dark. Mix two liquid mixtures together, cool. Add juice concen- trates and brandy, mix well, and freeze. Stir mixture several times during the freezing process. Let stand several days. To serve: put two scoops of slush in a glass, and fill remainder of glass with 7-Up or ginger ale. Tags: drinks, brandy, slush

Bunwiches
The cook is: Mrs. Gerald Kocian

• 1 7-oz. can of tuna or chicken, drained
• 3 hard-boiled eggs, chopped
• 3 Tbsp. chopped dill pickles
• ¼ lb. American cheese, chopped
• 2 Tbsp. onion, chopped
• ½ cup mayonnaise, more or less to taste
• 6 buns

Combine all ingredients except buns. Mix lightly. Split buns and fill each with mixture. Wrap buns individually in aluminum foil. Cook at about 250 degrees for 30 minutes, or until filling is heated through and cheese melts. Serve hot. These can be made earlier in the day and refrigerated until ready to heat. Tags: sandwich, tuna

Savory Meatballs
The cook is: Mrs. Donald Sneen

• 1 egg
• 1 lb. hamburger
• ½ cup onion, minced
• 1 tsp. dry mustard
• 1 tsp. salt
• ¼ tsp. pepper
• ¼ tsp. poultry seasoning
• ½ cup oatmeal
• ½ cup milk
• 4 Tbsp. flour
• 2 Tbsp. oil
• 1 ½ cups well-seasoned tomato juice

Beat egg slightly; add meat, onion and other ingredients except 2 tablespoons flour. Shape into 16 balls. Roll in flour, brown in hot oil, rolling meatballs so they brown on all sides. Place meatballs in a shallow casserole dish, sprinkle with remaining 2 Tbsp. flour. Pour tomato juice in casserole, bake in a 350 degree oven for 45 minutes. Tags: meatballs

Kitchen-themed Table Prayers

Select one of the following, recite before enjoying a meal with your family. Repeat as often as you like:

“Lord, bless with Your presence this kitchen where I do my daily work, as you blessed the kitchen of Your Mother Mary. May Your gifts of food prepared here bring my family nourishment and health. May the long and sometimes lonely hours spent here bring me patience and perseverance for my family’s good. And may the duties done for them here serve each day to bring us closer in Your love.”

“O God, who makes a thousand flowers to blow, Who makes both grains and fruits to grow, Hear our prayer: Bless this food and bring us peace.”

“We gather for this meal and together we pray: Thank you, God, for those who have made it ready for us. Dear God, make us all part of Your great family.”

“O God, make us able for all that’s on the table.”

Amen