Chef Levonne's (magic) Strawberry Jello

After high school I started working as a behavioral therapist for a little girl with Autism. Her name was Marisa and she was 4 years old. It didn't take long for her to steal my heart and get me hooked on trying to help this captivating little girl figure out how to make her way in a world that wasn't very welcoming for her.

For the next 2 years I pretty much just followed her around. I went to kindergarten with her as an instructional assistant for the classroom and then went home with her and tried to make our therapy goals match what she would need to know at school. (Usually, it was a whole lot less of the academic stuff and a whole lot more of trying to help her understand what people want when they walk up and throw a bunch of words at you.) My primary job was to help Marisa "fit in" so to speak, in a typical kindergarten classroom. I worked with all the kids, but I was sort of Marisa's "person" and pretty much served as her interpreter. Marisa and I knew each other in that sort of way where we really didn't need words to communicate most of the time, but in the "real world" people need words.

 

Most of the time Marisa loved school. She knew darn well she was a Princess in a Fairy Tale, and now she had all these other kids to play with and sing and dance with. Recess was heaven. And because she'd been in therapy since she was 2, the academics of kindergarten were a breeze. But as the year went on, more and more was expected of all the children. Marisa wasn't the only one falling behind. She knew everything any teacher ever asked her ... colors, numbers, letter sounds ... but bridging that communication gap (without me) was pretty tough. The other kids were always very accepting of Marisa. She was a really cute little girl and everyone loved her. But while Ring Around The Rosie is totally fun at the beginning of Kindergarten, after a while it's a little more fun to experiment with some games that have a few more rules ... hide and seek, freeze tag, red light/green light ... Marisa just couldn't keep up. And when she got frustrated in the classroom she screamed. Maybe I should write that differently ... she SCREAMED. That girl had some lungs on her and could hit notes that would make your hair stand on end. As the social stuff got harder and harder for Marisa to understand, it became more and more clear to everyone that Marisa just didn't "fit in."

For first grade we started a new adventure. Marisa would attend a school called Guiding Hands. I had never even heard of a school like it before. The premise was that typical children and children with just about any disability (from autism to spina bifida to cerebral palsy to childhood schizophrenia) would all learn together in the same classroom. Marisa wouldn't need me at this school. The entire staff there was familiar with working with children with autism. The public school I'd been working at loved me and wanted me to stay. But, Marisa's mom, Shirley, was terrified to send her baby to school almost an hour away without anyone there who knew her. She convinced me to apply for a job there. Even though I wouldn't be in Marisa's classroom, I would be in the same building, and if anything happened Marisa would have "family" there. It was a cut in pay, but it seemed like a really interesting opportunity to work in such a pioneering school, and I had to take it.

I worked mostly in the pre-kindergarten classroom with 4 and 5 year olds and in the preschool classroom with 2 and 3 year olds, but I also ventured down the hall to help with math in the 5th grade classroom for children up to 16 years old. There weren't many more than 100 students in the whole school, so you really got to know everyone. I think I was really fortunate to have that experience. I learned a lot. I only spent one school year there before heading off to college, but it's definitely one of those times in your life that you never forget, and you always wonder what became of those kids that snatched your heart.

Partway into the school year we got a new cafeteria lady. Not just any cafeteria lady, a real chef. She'd never been a cafeteria lady before, she was a caterer. But she came to our school with this incredible attitude. She was SO excited to get to be a part of all this. She talked to EVERYONE for ideas. She SO wanted to make nutritious meals the kids would enjoy. There was nothing "cafeteria" about her style. She made these kids food. Real food that she put a lot of thought into. It was incredible. She was magic. Overnight, lunchtime became magic.

One day she made this jello that I loved. I'm not exactly a jello sort of gal, so the fact that I loved this recipe is saying a lot. A whole lot. The funny thing is that this is not exactly an easy recipe. In fact, I've never actually made it. Whenever I pull the recipe out it just always seems like a little more work than what I had in mind at that moment. Which makes me respect Chef Levonne even more. She made trays and trays of this beautiful dessert for 100+ kids and every one of us that worked there. And it wasn't anything special. It was just a regular lunch day.



Chef Levonne's (magic) Strawberry Jello

2 6oz. Boxes of Strawberry Jello

1 Large Container Frozen Strawberries

1 Small Container Frozen Strawberries

10 Bananas

2 Cans Crushed Pineapple

1 Large Container Sour Cream

2 Cups Cold Water

2 Cups Boiling Water

Dissolve Strawberry Jello in 2 cups boiling water.

Add 2 cups cold water.

In a large bowl mash the bananas and add 2 cans of pineapple with juice.

Add both packages of strawberries (thawed).

Add Jello mixture.

Fill Pyrex dish 1/2 full.

Chill until firm.

Spread sour cream over firm jello and fill with remaining Jello mixture.

Set overnight in the refrigerator. (Must be made the day before it is needed.)

Sienipiirakka (Mushroom Pie)

During the 7 1/2 months I spent at the end of my mission serving in Franklin, North Carolina, I was fortunate enough to meet someone I will always consider one of my very best friends. Denise Kolousek.

If I could have invented a person that embodied what I wanted to be when I grew up, that was Denise. The Kolouseks were this cool sort of new-age hippie Mormon family with the cutest, neatest, smartest kids you ever met. It was rumored that their family was vegetarian, but it turned out they just ate more vegetables than most southerners were used to.

Denise bought cage-free eggs from the Winn-Dixie even though she was probably the only one in town that did because every time she got to the check out line either the clerk or another customer would wonder out loud why anyone on earth would spend $3 on a carton of eggs.

She knew about politics, the Gospel, world cultures, child development, history, and how to make bread from scratch. She home-schooled her kids and the North Carolina department of health sent her nasty letters on a regular basis because they didn't like her kids' lack of vaccinations.

She's got an amazing sense of humor - the whole family does, and when we went to their house we felt like we were at home. We could joke about the idiosyncrasies of southern culture, we could unload our frustrations of trying to help people change their lives and trying to figure out how the heck the Lord was trying to use us. They fed us GIANT, loaded baked potatoes just about every Sunday that came from their local CSA, and they were out of this world.

They lived in this old barnhouse that Matt had renovated. It was pine everywhere and their living room and kitchen were on the second story with an amazing view of those trees and hills that are Appalachia. Somehow Nora Jones was always playing in the background during dinner, and her music still reminds me of the time we got to spend with them. Denise was always positive and funny and could make someone she just met feel like they'd been friends for ages.

Denise was just the coolest.

She invited us to their family's Christmas party and she made this dish. I've only made it a few times, but it's delicious and totally worth every bit of effort it takes to make it. My boys do love mushrooms ... it may be time to make this again soon ...

Sienipiirakka (Mushroom Pie)

Filling:

2 1/2 cups chopped onions

3 Tablespoons butter

8 cups chopped mushrooms

1 teaspoon salt

lots of freshly ground pepper

8 ounces cream cheese

Crust:

2 1/2 cups unbleached white flour

2 teaspoons baking powder

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 cup butter

1 cup sour cream

flour for coating the dough and

board for rolling

Glaze:

1 egg

1 tablespoon milk

To make the filling, saute the onions in the butter in a large skillet. When the onions are soft and translucent, add the mushrooms and thyme and saute for a few more minutes until the mushrooms release their juices. Add the seasonings. Cut the cream cheese into small pieces and then stir it into the mushrooms until it melts. Remove from the heat and set aside until the crust is ready.

Preheat the oven to 400.

For the crust, combine the flour, baking powder, and salt in a large mixing bowl. Using a mixer or by hand, cut in the butter just enough to achieve an evenly textured crumbly mix. Stir in the sour cream to form a soft dough. Generously dust the dough with flour and form it into a ball.

On a heavily floured board, roll out 2/3 of the dough to fit a 10" pie plate. Trim the edges. Fill with the mushroom mixture. Roll our the remaining dough about 1/4" thick and cut into 1" strips. Weave the lattice over the filling. (or use cut out shapes for top crust.)

For the glaze, beat the egg and milk. Thoroughly brush the crust, give leftover glaze to the dog.

Bake pie for 25 to 35 minutes, until crust is puffy and golden.

Yields 8 big servings. 

Way Too Easy Lemon Cheesecake

Remember how I said I fell in love with Lemon Pie on my mission? When I came across this recipe today, I remembered whose fault that was.



Lana Garfield. She was a member in Danville, VA. She was gorgeous, had beautiful house, a handsome husband, and 3 beautiful daughters between about 10 and 16, if I remember right. The Garfields were from Utah and they'd moved to Danville for Brother Garfield's job. Virginia was quite an adventure for that little family! Brian had come out first and Lana and the girls came out later. I remember laughing SO hard when Lana told me the story of how Bryan picked her up at the airport and was excited to show her around. As they were driving he said,

"See? Don't you like it?"

And Lana, in the sweetest voice with the most bewildered look on her face said,
"Nooo ... Not even a little bit."

(Maybe that's one of those stories she has to tell to be funny. ;)

Since the culture-shock was so great for her and her girls, Lana took it upon herself to be a mom to every missionary that was ever sent to Danville. She told me once something like, "I can just imagine these boys' sweet mothers back home ... they have no idea what their babies have gotten into!"

Lana was an AMAZING cook. Her kids only ever had home-made bread. (They would actually beg her for crappy white store-bought bread for a treat!) That poor woman! Eating at her house was such a treat. Not just because the food was fantastic, but because The Garfields were so great. Even though Sister Garfield was incredibly gorgeous and there was no way you could imagine her in any way being old enough to be your mom, she just ooozed motherhood and made you feel like she would take care of you.

For my birthday she took my companion, Sister Mitchell, and I to this totally girly little restaurant attached to a store that sold things like candles and potpourri and greeting cards. After lunch she convinced me to try a slice of their White Chocolate Lemon Cheesecake. It was definitely not what I would have picked on my own, but she told me I would love it.

Holy Moly, understatement of the decade. It was PERFECT.

Fast-forward to my next area. I made another great friend in a new mom from Utah, Jen Wilkinson. She had a beautiful little family and just happened to be a great cook, too. (Guess they know how to grow 'em in Utah.)

One day when I mentioned that amazing lemon cheesecake, she said, "Oh, I think I have a recipe you might like!" She was right. I did like it. It's really not some fabulous gourmet recipe. BUT, it's just easy enough that a Sister Missionary can make it on her P-Day. And sometimes that's really all that matters. Thanks, Jen! :)

Way Too Easy Lemon Cheesecake

12 oz. Cream Cheese

1 can Sweetened Condensed Milk

1/3 cup Lemon Juice

1 Pre-made Graham Cracker Pie Crust

Mix cream cheese and milk until smooth. Slowly mix in lemon. Pour into crust. Chill overnight.

German Pancakes & Buttermilk Syrup

Thank goodness Annelie was here to help for that first week or two after Jonas was born. Nothing like new mommy hormones and the irresistible desire to sit and stare at your new little bundle of deliciousness to make you lose track of time and let every normal household routine go down the tube. Not that that's a bad thing, I'm just really thankful I had someone to think about all the things I never would have in a million years ... like breakfast. Seriously, without Annelie breakfast would have been a fend for yourself event. There's bananas in the fruit basket, cereal on the shelf, and milk in the fridge - we're all good, right? But Annelie brought some rhythm to our day by making breakfast so yummy that everyone actually voluntarily came to the table for it.

My FAVORITE thing she made was German Pancakes with that indescribably heavenly Buttermilk Syrup. I finally realized that the reason it's so perfect is that it tastes like liquid cookie dough. (Ok, I think I just made it sound gross without meaning to.) But it's totally not. It's unbelievable. And whenever I make it I immediately remember sitting on the front porch at our table in the coolish summer mornings with the sunshine warming things up, and my sweet little baby either on my lap or in his little bassinet on the porch right beside me.

Heaven.

German Pancakes

1 cup milk

4 eggs

1 cup flour

a little salt

1/2 stick butter



Lower oven rack. Melt butter in casserole dish. (I have one of those old round deep Pyrex ones that works great.) Combine in order: milk, eggs, flour, salt. Mix on high for 3 minutes in blender, food processor, or hand mixer. Pour batter into hot butter and bake at 425 20-30 minutes or until fluffy in the middle, a tad crispy around the edges, and golden brown.



Buttermilk Syrup

1 cup butter

3/4 cup sugar

1/2 cup buttermilk

1 tsp baking soda

1 tsp vanilla

Melt butter in a large saucepan. (You need a big pan because it bubbles up a lot.) Add sugar and buttermilk. Bring to boil, stirring often enough that it doesn't burn or scald. Remove from heat when full boil is reached. Stir in vanilla and baking soda and pour on just about anything to serve. Leftovers can be refrigerated and reheated in microwave. 

Blackberry Crisp

Remember that recipe for Sweet Potato Pie? Well, the topping recipe has become one of my most useful tidbits of kitchen-knowledge. It is SO great to jazz up SO many recipes! I've used it as a topping for pumpkin pie, apple pie, and my personal favorite go-to dessert: Blackberry Crisp. It's super easy, and as far as desserts go, pretty darn healthy. My mom's property is surrounded by blackberry bushes, and for about 2 weeks in July we do our best to pick as many as we can and freeze them.

Since we never know how sweet they are, sometimes I add in some peaches to this recipe, or just douse those blackberries in agave nectar. Basically the recipe is to fill the bottom of a casserole dish with fruit and agave nectar (if needed) and sprinkle it with that magic Appalachian topping.

1 cup brown sugar

1/3 cup flour

1/2 stick of butter

1 cup chopped pecans (or walnuts)

(I'm pretty sure I usually double those amounts.)

 

Bake at 400 8-10 minutes, then at 350 until no longer runny. Adding real whipped cream when serving is HIGHLY recommended. 

We recently had a chili cook off and cobbler contest at church and I was going to make my blackberry crisp but then realized it wasn't technically a cobbler, so I decided to use the official North Carolina Mission Home Peach Cobbler recipe. It was crap. I totally should have made this instead.

Oh, also, if you just cook this topping recipe in a skillet until it's crispy - it makes a GREAT ice cream topping!

Appalachian Sweet Potato Pie ... except not gross

Some missionaries have dinner appointments and have to worry about eating things like fish eye balls and fetal ducklings and monkey brains. You would think going to North Carolina you wouldn't have to worry about the food, especially since I'm not a picky eater. I think the only thing I really can't swallow is canned peas. The thing I didn't realize, though, is that the western-most regions of North Carolina are truly Appalachia. Remember the Darlings from The Andy Griffith Show? Yeah, that was my mission. (Seriously, Mayberry was in my mission boundaries.) I was a little surprised by the accent when I got there. I was expecting more of the usual southern drawl you think of, but really, most people that had been there for generations had that very stereotypical sort of accent that Hollywood uses for Hillbillies. They actually got that right! And, really, the real mountain folk don't consider hillbilly an offensive term at all (unless you're trying to be offensive.) I had no idea when I got my mission call to North Carolina that I would one day be eating fried squirrel, and I was totally bummed to find out that RIGHT after I went home, my companion got to eat bear.

 

The things that most people thought were really scary to eat (like squirrels and chitlins) I was totally fine with. It was some of the more run of the mill southern food that I had to work up the courage for. Case in point: here is part of a letter dated 26 June 2003, when I was serving in Danville, VA. One of our investigators, an 81 year old man, and his 56 year old girlfriend surprised us with a home made dinner at one of our teaching appointments.



"... at our next appointment Lawrence made us spaghetti, salad, garlic bread, and celery with cream cheese on it. (We had JUST eaten!) And y'all know how southern folks are about forcing you to eat. Southern spaghetti is like spaghetti-soup, so that wasn't a surprise, but Lawrence's stuff was BAD, bless his heart. They're not dirty people but they have this cat, Spooky, that I don't know what's wrong with it, but it's all like greasy and scabby and it's always on the table, so the table was pretty dirty with the stuff that falls off Spooky. The spaghetti was made with giant hunks of chuck roast (that wasn't all the way cooked) and italian sausage and country sausage. The salad was made with vegetables from his garden, so that was really nice, but he's old and can't see that well, and in the big salad bowl there was a bug crawlin' around.
It was one of those times where Sister Scanlan and I could NOT look at each other because we were holding in laughing the WHOLE time. Lawrence made such a big deal out of his cream cheese celery appetizers. He was SO excited for us to try them. They had brown stuff on them that looked like dirt, and I kept imagining it was stuff that fell off Spooky! Sister Scanlan took the smallest one which was ok with me because I got the one with the least brown stuff on it. Lawrence and Nancy were watching us as we took our first bite. We both bit into it at the same time, and that was it - we were stuck. We couldn't tear the bite off! The celery was so old it was like hard rubber! So now we've got this celery stickin' out of our mouths and we can't stop laughing!"

I'll take bear, squirrel, or even opossum, any day over that!



One thing that I forgot I wasn't too fond of before arriving in North Carolina was sweet potatoes. They were something I only ever had at Thanksgiving, I would always try a little, remember I didn't like them, and then not think about them again for a year. But in North Carolina sweet potatoes are a year-round dish, and one that everyone has a signature recipe for that they are very proud to serve you. (Invariably these recipes involve LOTS of brown sugar, and very often pineapple and pecans.) Instead of old fashioned boring sweet potato pie, usually they would call their sugar-filled sweet potato dishes, "Sweet Potato Fluff," and they all assumed we'd never had anything as yummy as their version of Sweet Potato Fluff.

I got used to them enough that I could eat them without having to concentrate on what my facial expressions were doing, but I never did have a Sweet Potato Fluff that was as yummy as it was reported to be.

Thanksgiving, 2005, James and I flew out to Utah to spend a few days with his newly relocated parents and brother and sister in law. Annelie happened to be in Utah visiting her sister and neices, so she stopped by for bit on Thanksgiving, too. She brought Sweet Potato Fluff. I couldn't believe it, I know I busted up laughing. But she didn't bring it as a joke, she said this was the only version she actually liked on her mission and she got the recipe from a lady in Stuart, VA. I was skeptical. I figured it would be edible, but certainly not yummy. I was wrong. It was great. The FIRST sweet potato fluff that lived up to its reputation.

I actually call it a pie because when I make it I put it in a pie shell. Usually sweet potato fluffs are crustless. I've also made some changes to the recipe that I'll note that make it not so sweet. I have NO idea why we think we need to take the sweetest vegetable ever and then add a bunch of sugar to it! If you use the full amount of sugar it's like a dessert that you'll only want a small amount of, if you reduce the sugar it has a little more street cred to make its way onto your Thanksgiving plate with all the other stuff.

Appalachian Sweet Potato Pie ... except not gross

Filling:

2 cups mashed sweet potatoes (change #1: I discovered when Sam was a baby that there are orange sweet potatoes and white sweet potatoes. The white ones are less sweet, and in my opinion MUCH tastier. I actually MAKE sweet potatoes now, something I never thought would happen!)

1 stick of butter (softenened)

2 egg yolks (reserve the whites to use in this recipe later)

1 cup brown sugar (change #2: You really don't need that much. It's good that way, but I like it better with a little less sugar.)

1/4 tsp. salt

2 tsp. pumpkin pie spice

1/2 cup milk

2 egg whites beaten stiff with 1/4 cup sugar (again, your call on the amount of sugar.)

Mix first six ingredients, add milk, then fold in beaten egg white mixture. Pour into a greased 9x13 casserole dish (for fluff) or a pie crust (for pie.)

Topping:

1 cup brown sugar

1/3 cup flour

1/2 stick of butter

1 cup chopped pecans

Mix together and sprinkle over the top.

Bake at 400 for 8-10 minutes, then at 350 until firm about 40+ minutes.

Breakfast Cookies

You know that theory about how what you eat when you're pregnant and breastfeeding affects your baby's tastes and what they'll want to eat when they have the choice. Yeah, I think that's true. (Unfortunately.)

When I was pregnant with Sam, food tasted SO wonderful. I would go to a taco cart and think, these are the BEST tacos I've ever had! I would go to McDonald's and think, Did they change their chicken nuggets? These are AMAZING! That was one of my favorite parts about being pregnant.

Then I got little Jonas. I kept waiting for those pregnancy taste buds to kick in, and I was so disappointed when they never did! With Sam I had very definite cravings. I think my biggest was milk. It HAD to be Sunnyside whole milk, and it HAD to be ice cold. (Like poured in a glass full of ice or it wasn't cold enough.) With Jonas, I definitely did have cravings, but they changed alot. I remember craving really cooked zucchini, like cooked to almost mushy. Fried zucchini was heavenly. I also almost never wanted meat. Jonas doesn't eat much meat now, either. If he does, he mostly just chews it into a big wad and then spits it out after holding it in his mouth about 20 minutes. While Sam has always been a great eater, Jonas has had a definite sweet tooth from the very beginning. It's totally my fault. He eats exactly the way I would (and sometimes do) when I don't guilt-trip myself into eating good.

One morning he came into the kitchen and said in the sweetest little voice ...

"Please have cookie, Mommee???"

"You want a cookie for breakfast?"

"Yep."

"Well ... what kind of cookie did you have in mind?"

"Big, giant cookie."

Yep, he's definitely my son.

While instant oatmeal isn't the most nutritious breakfast ever, it's acceptable enough to me. My kids aren't spending 6 hours a day at school so they don't need a few oats doused in sugar to sustain their brains and bodies that long, so I'm ok with it for now. That's why this recipe is so great to me. It's cookies. For breakfast. And since that packaged instant oatmeal already has plenty of sugar in it, they're not eating anything worse than a bowl of oatmeal. They do turn out just a tad rubbery, I'm not sure how to improve that yet. But they've never complained about them, they're convinced they're cookies, and I'm not opposed to eating them either.

Breakfast Cookies

 2 pkgs. Instant Oatmeal (any flavor - we usually use apple cinnamon)
2 Tbsp. Flour
4 Tbsp. Applesauce
1/2 tsp. Baking Powder
1/4 tsp. Vanilla
I usually sprinkle in a little extra cinnamon if we're using apple cinnamon oatmeal
Bake at 350 for 8-10 minutes.