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Show Omtf 7 ttmd 9 PAGE 8 TUESDAY, JUNE 24 2008 EDITOR I Elyssa Andrus eandmsheraldextra.com 344-255- 3 Karen Hoag Easy Does It V I J 7 0 o 'I HATE TO COOK' COOKING ago, when Orem Renstrom was Years Jodyabout color cod- V .V' ; k '..' '!:".:'''.: 'V: , - . ;r- ing and wardrobes in a Provo class, a principal challenged her to teach a cooking class. "Well, I could teach an 'I Hate to Cook Class,' "she quipped. He took her up on it, and Jody's cooking classes filled right up with "the curious and those who didn't like to cook." These were the days before the microwave, she added. i i n r- "They were 15- - to recipes that we still use in our family," said Jody, who along with her husband, Keith, owns the Valley Center Playhouse te in Lindon. The well-know- green bean casserole recipe with green beans, onion rings and mushroom soup is still a favorite of her 17 grandchildren, but her six adult children are "getting tired of it." "It's the easiest recipe in the whole wide world to make and-it- 's one way to get kids to eat vegetables," Jody said. "Uove quick things. We were so busy then, our family was so big. It was in the days of '100 ways to use hamburger.' " Family is important to Jody and Keith. "We get together once a month on Sunday in one of our homes," she said. "The grandchildren are best friends. They all get along really well" The Renstroms have been directing and producing plays at their theater for 33 years. Although Jody doesn't read music, she writes musicals. She's writ- of ten 15 plays and two-thirthem are musicals. "I've just got music in my bones," she said One family recipe that's addicting to all who eat it originated with Keith when he was serving Saint mission in Haa Latter-da- y waii "It was right after World War II, and they had a shipping strike," she said. "They couldn't get much meat. But they had plenty of Spam, they had plenty of cabbage and they had plenty of rice." As a missionary, Keith concocted a recipe using those ingredients that's withstood time. "It's so easy and tasty," Jody said, "We've cooked it all our married life. Our kids have cooked if for their families. Everyone who has eaten it wants the recipe and cooks it!" A young man staying in the Renstrom home for a short time was so taken with the dish that after eating it, he went out the next day and purchased two heads of cabbage and four cans of Spam. He came home and proudly said, "Look what I have!" He was excited to have it well-use- d coofe ". .. J- a. Tribune Photos by BILL HOQANChicago a small notebook will help you remember where to find them so you can make them again. This "Classic Cook" journal is from Coco Press. Recording recipes and menus in i r An Vi 1 You've put it off; but it's time to organize all those recipes you've got floating around Renee Enna CHICAGO TRIBUNE your mother's poundcake recipe. favorite potato salad that cookbook by guy. The cousin's sangria recipe she was kind enough to share, in handwriting that only a doctor could read. Not to mention the hundreds more recipes scattered about the house, in the recipe box, the bedroom, and testing the power of the magnets that cling for dear life on your refrigerator. That doesn't count the ones battling for supremacy on your computer hard drive. Welcome to Recipe Savers Anonymous. It's an addiction akin to gluttony, minus the calories. As the piles grow, so does the guilt. You think about tossing some out, but ... hmram, that banana rum cream pie sounds so good. Let's move on ... to all the cookbooks you own, some of which contain recipes you have made ... and want to make again if only you could remember the name of the dish, and what book it came from. Oh, and all those family recipes you've inherited, which you've been meaning to organize. If only there was time. But there's not time. Because you've got more recipes to There's clip! , At this point, can we agree that we have a problem? Marilyn Paul knows your pain. Paul is an organization consultant and author of "It's Hard to Make a Difference When You Cant Find Your Keys: The Seven-Ste- p Path to Becoming Truly Organized." She loves to cook, and she loves to save recipes. But in her case, x A - again. binder, pretty or plain, is one of the best ways to collect and organize three-rin- g favorite recipes. she said, the passion had become a curse. "I was overwhelmed by recipes that I wasn't going to use," Paul said. "I was wasting my time and energy and creating a mess." OK, nobody's going to tell you to quit clipping. (Certainly not a staff member of the Good Eating section.) But maybe it's time to apply some method to the culinary madness. The first step is to lose the guilt. Your intentions are honorable. "Clipping recipes means you want to cook at home, and it means you want to find the time," Paul said. Behavior psychologist Christoph Leonhard, a professor at the Chicago School of Professional Psychology, agrees. "There's nothing wrong with being a collector," he said. "It's quite enjoyable to look and fantasize." But what good are 500 recipes and that just sit there, for weeks and months and years? "The piles are demoralizing," Paul said. "My strategy now is to become aware that the things I do unconsciously in Time A, like clipping several recipes a week, make my life miserable in Time counting B." Because clipping a recipe is so much easier than cooking a recipe, there's the danger of using the former as a vicarious substitute for the latter. Leonhard suggested reexamining your priorities and being realistic about your schedule. It takes a little discipline. Paul, a self avowed recipe clipper, recommended creating parameters for yourself. In her case, she is currently clipping only spicy main dishes she can prep the night before. (Next month, it See ORGANIZE, 87 Jody murmured to herself, "Oh my goodness, are we ready for this again?" They usually prepare it once a month in their family, not day after day! The dish is appropriately dubbed "Missionary Dinner." Missionary Dinner 2 cups rice 4 cups water 1 3 tablespoons butter 1 1 can Spam, diced 1 of head ) cabbage, cleaned, diced I lA cup water 1 I salt and pepper to taste Cook rice in water (follow directions on package) while you prepare the cabbage combi-natio- a Melt butter in large stew pot. Add Spam, cabbage, VI cup water and seasonings. Put lid on pot and steam 20 minutes. Stir occasionally to prevent scorching. To serve: Spoon rice on plates, add cabbage combo and eat! "We hardly ever have anything with it," said Jody. "We treat it like a soup or stew." il ii I'll Kiii 1 mwvi tl |