In the fall of 2022, I began planning this project, writing my application for Concordia’s Centennial Scholars Individual Research Program Grant, and trying out a few recipes. I made my mother’s caramel cookies recipe for a holiday party, as I remembered them very fondly. They tasted great, but something didn’t work out for me because they were dry and did not stick together. They reminded me of a caramelly-nutty granola-like sprinkle topping. I’m eager to try them again, with more caramel on hand to add moisture.
Carol Kay Thoreson’s Pork Chops
One Thursday night in early January, I decided to peruse the cookbook to see if I could find something fun to do with some pork chops. I was interested in something that could go in the oven, since I also wanted to ride my Peloton while it was cooking. Carol Kay Thoreson’s recipe from the “Meat, Poultry, and Seafood” section, simply titled, “Pork Chops,” looked promising, as it called for baking the pork chops in the oven for one hour at 350 degrees. It called for two cans of cream of celery soup mixed with milk and a can of string beans. I didn’t have the beans but planned to make peas to serve on the side.
Other than the beans, I did follow the recipe. This turned out to be a mistake, as my family protested at the first bite of the pork chops. After being browned briefly on the stove, and baked for an hour, the pork chops were inedible. There is a reason that twelve years ago, in 2011, the USDA decreased the recommended temperature of pork from 160 to 145 degrees and specified the importance of using a food thermometer: https://www.usda.gov/media/blog/2011/05/25/cooking-meat-check-new-recommended-temperatures. This change creates pork different than the pork I grew up eating at my maternal grandmother’s house, where a pork roast was measured done by hours cooked, rather than temperature reached. The fear of trichinosis was galvanizing to many people in central ND. However, Carol Kay, my grandmother, and I all were able to do something else while overcooking pork.
The soup mixture did not create a pleasing gravy, as it was watery and thin, despite using whole milk. Perhaps the string beans may have helped with that, but I doubt it. This was much thinner than the consistency of a green bean casserole, despite its obvious allusion to that much-loved holiday side dish.
The plates did look nice, though! My colleagues at work thought I should have brought in samples. I assured them they did not miss anything.
The contributor, Carol Kay Thoreson, lived on a farm near Voltaire, ND. It was next to her brother-in-law’s farm, most memorable to me because of the bison living their pasture in the late 1990s, visible from the highway. Carol Kay (Pfeilschiefter) and her husband Gordon were born in the 1940s, married in 1969, had two daughters, and now reside in Velva. Carol Kay contributed three recipes to the cookbook: the pork chops, “Chocolate Goodies” (which sound good, clearly 😊) and “Broccoli Cheese Soup.” I will give the sweets a try sometime but will not make the pork chops again.
Nita Feist’s Nacho Eggs
This recipe was phenomenal! I found it in the midst of the egg bakes/casserole recipes in the “Main Dishes and Casseroles” chapter and made it one Saturday morning in late January.
It was fun to make our own tortilla chips, as the recipe asked us to cut eight corn tortillas into wedges and fry in oil until “very crisp,” before sautéing chopped onion.
While the recipe prescribes adding the onion to the pan, it was hard to do this, given the amount of tortilla chips on the bottom of the pan, so we took the chips out until the onions were done. Then we returned the tortillas to the pan, and poured the mixture of ten beaten eggs, salt, and a small can of diced green chilies over the tortillas, having been advised to “gently stir until eggs begin to set on bottom and sides.” This was tricky, again, given the tortillas blocking access to the bottom of the pan and the large amount of ingredients. We added cheese and stirred “lightly” and cooked until the cheese melted.
As indicated, we served it with sour cream, taco sauce, but added cilantro, one of my favorite ingredients (for spice and a pop of green).
It was delicious and very filling, and I look forward to making it again, as well as trying Nita Feist’s other recipes (“Popcorn Bars or Carmel Corn” and “Garlic Cheese Spread”), given this excellent precedent. It makes eight servings, and for a family of three people, that was the only drawback, as nacho dishes must be eaten in one serving to avoid soggy chips.
I did not know who Nita Feist was, but my parents explained that I did know of her sister, who became a teacher at the Velva school after I had graduated. Nita was a pediatric nurse at Trinity Hospital in Minot for thirty-five years and lives northwest of Velva with her husband, Randy Effertz.
She must be a good cook!
This post is part of an ongoing series in which I make and reflect on recipes and the people who contributed them to the 1985 Oak Valley Lutheran Church compiled cookbook, The Joy of Sharing.
