Recipe Roundup

Goldenwest Electric Cooperative member Syndi Musland Miske loves horses (read more here), especially when she’s riding in the Badlands with family. What makes it even better? When her mom, Darlene Musland, is cooking for a camp full of hungry horse riders!

Darlene, a retired schoolteacher who serves on Dakota Valley Electric Cooperative’s Operation Round Up board of directors, is known for her cooking. She’s taught folks the art of Dutch oven cooking and cooking over fire – with a side of history, of course.

Head Cook Barbie Martin’s scratch-made recipes aren’t the only “favorites” in the Anamoose-Drake Elementary School lunchroom. The cafeteria staff is, too. Martin’s presence and the culture she has set up in the lunchroom is important for the entire school, says Superintendent Steve Heim. Read more here.

Over the years, Jason Bentz (read about him here), co-general manager of the Innovative Energy Alliance Cooperative (IEA), and his family have caught a lot of walleye – and found creative ways to keep it exciting. These walleye recipes come from Bentz’s family, particularly his sister, and will have you reaching in your freezer for walleye again and again.

I’m prioritizing holiday recipes that mean something to me. This year, those recipes mean more than ever.
I lost two important figures in my life this year. These recipes remind me of them.

Three sisters – Annie (Sproule) Gorder, Mollie (Sproule) Ficocello and Grace (Sproule) Lunski – are on a mission to revolutionize how people think about pasta. Their company, 3 Farm Daughters, offers a healthier and nutrient-packed line of pasta with only two ingredients – wheat flour and semolina – made from the crops grown on the Sproule family farm near Grand Forks. Read their story on here.

Roughrider Electric Cooperative members Mike and Sara Steier balance a busy work schedule with family life. Mike, a journeyman co-op lineworker, and Sara, a kindergarten teacher, are raising three wonderful kids – and feeding them, too!

They share favorite family recipes, including a crunchy, creamy, comforting zucchini casserole. This recipe was given to the Steiers from Sara’s aunt, Tami Ballard. The Steiers typically have an abundance of zucchini during garden season.
“It was the only thing we could keep alive!” Mike remembers of their first garden.

With schools back in session this month, families will adjust to a new school year routine. Meal planning can be daunting, and it’s not always possible to sit down at the dinner table to eat together. Find helpful tips to feed your family and save time in the kitchen from NDSU Extension here.

Plus, let us help! These sheet-pan meals are easy and quick to prepare. They also feature loads of veggies. What better way to incorporate all the garden produce readily available in North Dakota this time of year?

“What’s to eat?” our kids would say when they were younger and living at home.

Actually, they still say that when they visit.

When our son was a rapidly growing teenager, he sometimes made multiple trips to open the fridge within 30 minutes.
“The food hasn’t changed since the last time you checked,” I’d say.

When I went to retrieve some food from our basement food pantry, I’d pick up a box of crackers. My hand would fly upwards at no resistance. The box was empty.

If you’ve ever been to McIntosh County (or neighboring Emmons and Logan counties) in southcentral North Dakota, chances are you’ve heard the German-Russian phrase, “Mach’s gut!” It’s a parting phrase in the German-Russian dialect and translates to “make it good.” “Make it good” could also be used to describe how generations of Germans from Russia families have approached food and how they prepare the dishes of their cultural heritage.

Each growing season, Mor-Gran-Sou Electric Cooperative member Diane Schmidt picks more than 500 pounds of chokecherries and sells over 700 pounds of juneberries to customers in the Bismarck-Mandan area. She shares all her recipes freely – except her famous “Slippery Hots” pickles – including her chokecherry jelly and juneberry crumble.