POLAND – Gladys Chapman learned how to cook from watching others. “The more you hang out in the kitchen, the more you learn,” said Chapman. Chapman’s mom was a great cook and passed the steamed brown bread recipe down to her.
“I remember that my mom always let me help her,” said Chapman. She also learned from working at the Mirimar Tea Room in Auburn. She started working there when she was 14, doing everything from waiting on tables to cooking.
Chapman, who is director of Christian education and director of the Auburn Preschool at the United Methodist Church of Auburn, also spends volunteer hours in the church kitchen. Each month, she helps to organize the Senior Citizens and Friends Luncheon. Along with a crew of 20 church volunteers, Chapman will serve more than 100 people a full meal, such as a boiled dinner or pork roast. And every Wednesday morning, she is cooking up breakfast for the Auburn Rotary Club. Furthermore, she cooks for the popular church bean suppers, where they serve casseroles, too. These take place on the third Saturday of each month.
Chapman also spent eight years cooking one week of the summer at the Pondicherry Girl Scout Camp. She did this with fellow church member and good friend of 24 years Pam MacDonald. “She is such a big part of my cooking,” said Chapman. At the camp, everyone would say that the duo “performed magic in the kitchen.”
Her time with her family includes cooking with her 3-year-old granddaughter, Alissa. “She helped me bake cinnamon buns and she was so proud.” Chapman and her husband, Maynard, have two grown daughters and “two wonderful sons-in-law too,” adds Chapman. When her son-in-law Christian was in Iraq last year, he told his wife, “When I get home from Iraq, I want your mom’s meatloaf.”
Chapman loves to try new things in the kitchen. “When the kids were growing up, I was always trying new casseroles … they would call them Mommy’s ‘concoctions.'” People don’t always have to stick to a recipe, “you need to have fun with it,” said Chapman who likes to encourage people to be creative.
Chapman said “feeding other people is therapeutic.” When Chapman isn’t cooking, she loves to shop and enjoys being part of the church choir and spending time with her family. She also keeps a “grateful diary” where she records what she’s grateful for each day.
Steamed brown bread
Ingredients:
4 cups white flour
4 teaspoons salt
4 cups cornmeal
8 teaspoons baking soda
4 cups white whole wheat flour (or graham flour)
2 cups brown sugar
3 cups molasses
7 cups soured milk (mix 1 tablespoon of vinegar per 1 cup milk, let set for at least 15 minutes before using)
2 cups raisins (optional)
Method:
Wash and dry seven 1-pound coffee cans.
Sift together white flour, salt, cornmeal and baking soda. Add and mix in white whole wheat flour and brown sugar. Stir in the molasses and sour milk until it is free of lumps. Add raisins and stir in (if you use them).
Spray the inside of each can with vegetable oil. Divide the batter into the seven well-greased coffee cans. Pound each can a few times to get rid of pockets of air. Cover the tops with aluminum foil and place on a rack in a large kettle. Add water to about two-thirds of the height of the cans. Cover and steam for three to four hours, (Usually done in three hours, if it has been steaming continuously). Do not keep looking into the pot because that interrupt the steaming process each time you do it. Shake brown bread out of cans, slice & enjoy.
Apple crisp
Ingredients:
McIntosh apples (enough slices to half fill a 9- or 11-inch pie plate)
½ cup sugar
½ cup butter or margarine (softened)
1 teaspoon cinnamon
¾ cup quick oatmeal
1 cup brown sugar
¾ cup white flour
Method:
Fill a pie tin with peeled, sliced apples to half full. Mix sugar and cinnamon, and sprinkle over the apple slices. With your hands, mix together the brown sugar, softened butter, oatmeal and flour. Press this mixture on top of the apples. Bake at 350 degrees until bubbly around the edges and a little brown, about 45 minutes. Serve warm with vanilla ice cream or whipped cream.
Swiss chicken
Ingredients:
6 boneless, skinless chicken breast halves
6 slices Swiss cheese
¼ pound fresh mushrooms, sliced (or as many as you want)
1 10-ounce can cream of chicken soup
½ cup white wine
2 cups dry Pepperidge Farm herb stuffing mix
½ cup melted butter
Method:
Place chicken in a lightly greased 9- by 13-inch glass dish. Top each piece of chicken with a slice of Swiss cheese. Scatter mushroom slices over the cheese. Mix soup and wine; pour over the breasts. Sprinkle dry stuffing mix over the sauce. Drizzle butter over the top. Bake at 350 degrees for 50 minutes.
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