Since May 1, 2002, I’ve written and published more than 750 From the Farm columns, including those that are preserved in my three “From the Farm” cookbooks, published in 2004, 2007 and 2010.
The shared success of this column feature, and a celebration of its 15th anniversary, takes center stage at a special two-hour From the Farm Cooking Show at 2:30 p.m. April 2 at the Center for Visual and Performing Arts, 1040 Ridge Road, Munster. The live stage show, which is co-sponsored by the Post-Tribune, will feature yours truly and the family members and friends you read about in my weekly columns as we whip up a seven-course feast, highlighting one recipe from each of the seven book chapters from my third cookbook “Further From the Farm” published in 2010. There also will also be more than $1,000 in prizes given away during the show.
“Further From the Farm: Family Recipes and Memories of a Lifetime” is a favorite fit for this time for Easter preparations. It includes family stories and photos of Easter, a church basket blessing, egg decorating and many other treasured traditions, along with all the accompanying recipes.
The last time I performed on stage for a full-scale From the Farm Cooking Show was in May 2010 at Star Plaza Theatre. I’ll be recreating the atmosphere of our family farm on stage with set design that features a 1938 kitchen stove that I’ll be cooking with, which looks like the one that Ralphie’s mom cooked with in the holiday classic film “A Christmas Story,” which was based on author Jean Shepherd’s recollections while growing up in Hammond. The show stage also will feature other special touches, including a large Boston fern, which is more than 35 years old and a favorite focal point from the back porch of our family farm.
Here is the cooking show menu: for blueberry muffins (made from a century-old recipe), beef borscht soup, singer Cher’s pasta Shell salad, a carved turkey main dish, Morning Brunch Fruit Punch, Easy Chocolate Peanut Clusters and Date Drop Cookies.
Tickets to the cooking show are $25 and available at the theater box office by calling 219-836-3255 or at www.TheatreAtTheCenter.com.
In addition to my mom Peggy’s recipes, I have my dad’s sisters, who have helped me preserve so many of the heirloom family recipes I share in my columns and books, to thank for their many country culinary contributions.
Auntie Judy, who died in December 2005, especially was helpful with carefully recording and recreating the wonderful Polish recipes from Grandma Potempa’s farm kitchen. Auntie Judy would have turned 95 this month. On Tuesday, one of my dad’s other sisters, my Auntie Wanda, celebrates her 92nd birthday.
Enjoy cooking this simple Sunday dinner favorite from Auntie Judy’s recipe file, which also is featured in my 2004 “From the Farm” cookbook.
Philip Potempa has published three cookbooks and is the director of marketing at Theatre at the Center. Mail your questions to From the Farm, P.O. Box 68, San Pierre, IN 46374.
Auntie Judy’s Easy Baked Chicken and Rice
Makes 6 servings.
1 cup uncooked rice
1 (15-ounce) can cream of mushroom soup
1 (15-ounce) can cream of celery soup
2 stalks celery, finely diced
1/2 envelope of dry instant onion soup mix
1/2 cup milk
6 chicken breasts (or chicken portions of choice, with bone or boneless)
Salt and pepper
1. In large bowl, mix together rice with both cans of undiluted cream soups. Wash and dice celery and add to rice mixture.
2. In measuring cup, fork-blend instant soup mix with milk and add to rice mixture.
3. Use cooking spray to coat an 8-inch by 12-inch baking pan. Spread rice mixture evenly in the pan. Lightly salt and pepper chicken breast and arrange them over rice in pan, skin side up.
4. Bake in 350-degree oven for 90 minutes.
