By Karin Glendenning
Community News Writer
Red Bank resident Ellen Geeslin said she and her husband, Mike, as well as their two children, John Michael, 17 and Sarah, 15, all love to cook. “I don’t remember not cooking,” she said, adding that her mother and grandmother always let her help out in the kitchen.
“My kids have been helping since they were big enough to stand on something,” she added.
Mr. Geeslin, who is a systems analyst and a volunteer firefighter and Emergency Medical Technician with the Red Bank Fire Department, grills two or three nights a week. “He makes wonderful ribs, as well as hamburgers, hot dogs and chicken,” his wife said. “He also likes to bake and makes an orange liqueur cake with Triple Sec and a raspberry liqueur cake that are delicious.”
“And he makes a great apple pie,” said Sarah Geeslin.
Mrs. Geeslin, who is a paramedic and an RN, teaches the EMT program at Chattanooga State from August to May. She also volunteers with the RBFD.
A cookbook collector, she said she has more than 200 cookbooks and subscribes to Bon Appetit. “I like to look at the way people put things together,” she said.
Mrs. Geeslin said she makes goodie boxes each year to give as Christmas gifts. “I start looking in October through my cookbooks to find things that are new,” she said. Her lucky recipients get to sample treats such as sugar cookies, gumdrop cookies, shortbread, peanut butter cookies, fudge, gingerbread men and chocolate-covered pretzels.
Every year the Geeslins host a Christmas party where they serve a huge feast to their friends and co-workers. “It started as a party for the fire department, and over the years has grown,” Mrs. Geeslin said.
“We cook all the things we like,” she explained. Her menu includes hot dogs in barbecue sauce, hot wings, sausage balls, meatballs in sauce, lasagna, sandwich fixings, and all kinds of cookies, fruits, chips and cheeses. “We fix about 75 different items, a little bit of everything,” she said. The chocolate covered pretzels are particularly popular, she added. “The firemen will kill for them.”
Mrs. Geeslin said she always prepares a big meal for Thanksgiving and Christmas dinners, fixing traditional dishes such as turkey and dressing.
She has perfected the art of making beautiful as well as tasty sugar cookies, which she cuts out using her collection of cookie cutters and then frosts and decorates with Royal Icing. Once she volunteered to make cookies for her children’s school and ended up having to make 400.
Mrs. Geeslin said she always cooks from scratch. “I’d die before I’d buy a piecrust,” she said.
The recipes she shares with readers today are ones she and her family especially like.
ANNIE’S ROLLS
(“This recipe was given to my mother by Annie Frierson, one of her co-workers at the Girl Scout Council in the 1970s. It’s great to have on hand in the refrigerator for last minute yeast rolls and can be made into cinnamon rolls, too,” said Mrs. Geeslin.)
1 cup shortening
1 cup sugar
1/2 tablespoon salt
1 cup boiling water
2 packages dry yeast
1 cup warm water
2 eggs
6 cups plain flour
Pour boiling water over shortening and sugar in bowl and let sit for 30 minutes until bowl is cool to touch. Add 2 packages dry yeast and 1 cup warm water. Add 2 eggs and 6 cups plain flour. Mix well, then cover tightly and refrigerate. When ready to use, take out amount needed and roll out on a floured surface. Cut out desired number of rolls. Let rise in a warm spot for 2 hours. Bake at 450 for about 15 minutes or until browned.
WHIPPING CREAM BISCUITS
2 cups Martha White Self-Rising flour
1 cup heavy whipping cream
Make a hollow in the flour in the mixing bowl and pour in whipping cream. Mix well with a spoon until all flour is moistened. (You may need extra cream.) Place on a floured surface and roll out to about 1/2-inch thick. Cut out with a biscuit cutter, place on an ungreased cookie sheet and bake for about 15 minutes or until browned. Remove from oven and immediately brush tops with melted butter. Serve with ham, sausage, bacon or plain. Makes about 12 to 15 2-inch biscuits, depending on thickness.
CRANBERRY SALAD
(Mrs. Geelsin said this is very good made ahead for busy holiday meals.)
2/3 cup sugar
1 cup ground raw frozen cranberries
3-ounce package red Jello (She uses cherry.)
1 cup boiling water
1 cup pineapple juice
1 cup drained crushed pineapple
1/2 cup chopped nuts
1 cup chopped celery and/or apple
Combine cranberries and sugar and set aside. Dissolve Jello in boiling water; add pineapple juice. Chill until almost set. Add cranberry mixture, pineapple, nuts, celery and apples. Chill overnight.
DR. PIERCE’S GRANOLA
(“Dr. David Pierce was my bacteriology professor at Middle Tennessee State University in the 1970s, and he made the most wonderful granola,” Mrs. Geeslin said. “A large group of us would go hiking and backpacking, and he always brought this granola. He had to hide some so we would have some to eat when we got to our destination!”)
3 cups oatmeal
1 cup wheat germ
1 cup unsweetened coconut
1 cup raisins
1 cup sesame seeds
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 cup honey
1/4 cup oil
1 cup chopped pecans
Mix oatmeal, wheat germ, sesame seeds, coconut and pecans in a large roasting pan. Mix the honey, oil and vanilla and drizzle over the dry mix, stirring with a fork. Bake at 350, stirring every 5 minutes, for 30 minutes until toasted. Cool completely, add raisins or other dried fruit and store in covered container.
IRISH BEEF STEW
(Mrs. Geeslin said this recipe comes from Beth Close, one of her roommates in college and a fellow Girl Scout camp counselor at Camp Adahi.)
2 pounds lean stew beef
Salt and pepper to taste
2 tablespoons flour
2 tablespoons bacon fat
2 cups beef broth
1 teaspoon Accent
1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
1/4 teaspoon thyme
1 small clove garlic
1 bell pepper, chopped
12 small whole potatoes
12 small whole carrots
10 small whole onions
2 tablespoons parsley
1 tablespoon Kitchen Bouquet
1 tablespoon cornstarch
Cut beef into 2-inch cubes and sprinkle with salt, pepper and flour. Brown beef in hot bacon fat. Add broth and cover and simmer for 2 hours. Add vegetables and seasonings, except for Kitchen Bouquet and cornstarch. Continue cooking until done, adding more broth and water. When meat and vegetables are done, stir in Kitchen Bouquet and thicken with cornstarch.
PORK CHOPS AND RICE
(Mrs. Geeslin said that Sue Sanders, a neighbor of her mother’s, gave her this recipe. “It’s a great one-dish meal,” she said.)
4 pork chops
1/2 cup long grain rice
1 small onion, chopped
2 tablespoons soy sauce
1 can beef consomme
1 cup water
Salt and pepper to taste
2 tablespoons cooking oil
4 pork chops
Brown pork chops in oil. Remove chops from pan and brown the rice and onion in the oil. Add beef consomme, water, soy sauce, salt and pepper and pork chops. Cook 45 minutes on low heat.
SUGAR COOKIES
(Mrs. Geeslin said this is the best sugar cookie recipe she’s ever tasted.)
1 cup softened butter (not margarine)
1 and 1/2 cups confectioners’ sugar
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 teaspoon almond extract
2 and 1/2 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
Mix thoroughly butter, sugar, egg, vanilla and almond extract. Blend in flour and baking soda. Cover and chill 2 to 3 hours. Heat oven to 375. Divide dough in half and roll out 1/4-inch thick on a lightly floured surface. Cut with cookie cutters and place on parchment paper-lined cookie sheets. Bake 7 to 8 minutes until lightly browned on edges. Repeat until all dough is used. Cool and decorate with Royal Icing.
ROYAL ICING
4 cups sifted confectioners’ sugar
3 tablespoons meringue powder
6 tablespoons hot water
Mix all ingredients well with an electric mixer until desired consistency. Color with paste food coloring and use to decorate cookies. Keep unused icing covered to keep it from hardening while decorating.
CHRISTMAS FUDGE
(Mrs. Geeslin said she got this recipe from her aunt, Jeneane Payne, who made it every year for Christmas. Now she makes it to give away for the holiday.)
3 cups sugar
3/4 cup butter
2/3 cup evaporated milk
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 7-ounce jar marshmallow cream
1 cup chopped nuts
1 12-ounce package semi-sweet chocolate chips
Combine sugar, butter and milk in a heavy 2 and 1/2 quart saucepan and bring to a full, rolling boil. Stirring constantly, continue boiling for 5 minutes over medium heat, or until temperature reaches 234 on a candy thermometer. Remove from heat and immediately stir in chocolate chips until melted. Add marshmallow cream, nuts and vanilla. Beat well until all ingredients are well blended. Pour into greased 13- by 9-inch pan. Cool and cut.
EXQUISITE PARTY PUNCH
(“This recipe came to me as ‘party punch.’ I made it for a class party at Alpine Crest Elementary School, and Jimmy Brown pronounced it ‘exquisite,’ and thus, it has been ever since,” said Mrs. Geeslin.)
1 small package Kool-Aid tropical punch
1 3-ounce package cherry Jello
1 cup sugar
2 quarts cold water
46-ounce can pineapple juice
2-liter bottle chilled ginger ale
1 cup boiling water
Combine Kool-Aid, Jello and sugar in a large bowl. Add 1 cup boiling water and stir until sugar is dissolved. Stir in pineapple juice and 2 quarts cold water. Freeze. Remove from freezer 1 to 2 hours before serving or until mixture can be broken into chunks. Add ginger ale; stir until slushy. You can also add slices of fruit to the mix before you freeze it, if desired.
E-mail Karin Glendenning at kglendenning@tfpcommunitynews.com
