Given that one of the main features of adulting is having to figure out what to have for dinner, I ventured back into the “Main Dishes & Casseroles” section of The Joy of Sharing to look for a dish I could make with the thawed venison steak in my garage fridge. Thank goodness for a…
With my shrimp leftover from Dip Day, I tried my hand at “Shrimp Salad” contributed by Linda Hystad, found in the “Soups, Salads, & Vegetables” section. Shrimp et al. I ended up needing more shrimp to reach a full cup, and so I thawed and boiled some of the frozen shrimp in my freezer, for…
One evening I went looking for a bar recipe to share with some neighbors. I thought the batter and the cake for the Chocolate Marshmallow Squares had been interesting, and I was curious how chocolate syrup would affect a brownie recipe. I settled on Marie Saastad’s “Chocolate Syrup Brownies,” which were wonderfully straightforward and quick….
Dip Day! For several days in early June, the weather was hot, over 90 degrees Fahrenheit, and what was forecast as an “occasional thunderstorm” kept kicking us out of the pool in the late afternoons. When this happened again on a Sunday, I had chips and dips on my mind after our neighbors brought over…
In preparation for a playdate, my daughter and I once again flipped through the sections devoted to sweets and decided to make LaVina Grindberg’s recipe for “Chocolate Marshmallow Squares” (Cakes, Cookies & Candy). Once again, the reader was assumed to have basic knowledge of baking, as the first instruction was to “pour ingredients for squares…
Soon after the monster cookies, I decided to turn to another next recipe by Martha Seibel, “Wild Rice & Chicken Casserole.” Wild rice is one of my favorite foods, but Luke is less enthusiastic. When our daughter was at preschool, her favorite meal was chicken wild rice casserole; in fact, it was the favorite meal…
Rationale As my daughter was disappointed in the two previous dishes, I tried to re-engage her interest in my project at the start of the summer. I let her choose a sweet recipe to make for her grandparents to eat during the break in her busy day of dance and piano recitals in May. She…
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…
An Introduction During summer 2023, I am cooking my way through The Joy of Sharing: Oak Valley A.L.C.W. Centennial Cookbook, published in 1985 by the Oak Valley American Lutheran Church Women in Velva, North Dakota. Now a congregation of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America or the ELCA, Oak Valley Lutheran Church is the church…
First, a description of the structure and content of the The Joy of Sharing: Publishing Details The copyright page states that the cookbook has been “published and printed by Cookbooks by Morris Press” based in Kearney, Nebraska. This publisher remains an ongoing concern: https://www.morriscookbooks.com/, and the banner on its website proudly proclaims its status as…