SABATTUS – “Sometimes I wish we could go back to life the way it was when we grew up,” says Jeannette St. Armand of Sabbattus. “Today’s life is so crazy, and the food we eat just is not the same. I believe in natural and homemade cooking.”
St. Armand certainly knows what busy means. As the mother of 11 children, she always worked to put a good meal on the table. “I got married 53 years ago at the age of 15. I learned to cook everything from scratch from my mother and my aunt. I would just look and watch them in the kitchen as I was growing up,” she says. “It wasn’t easy, but we just did it. It was different times back then.”
St. Armand’s husband, Roland, enjoys teasing her about her early days of cooking. “We used to joke that she couldn’t even boil water,” he says with a smile. “Well, I learned quickly,” she responds. “Raising your own family does that to a person.”
Today, as the grandmother of 25 and the great-grandmother of 16 (with No. 17 due in September), St. Armand’s expanding family still loves her cooking. Even though the family is spread out, “somehow our kitchen still fills up on Sunday,” she says. “It’s not as easy as it used to be, though.”
Family members, many of whom also cook now, often tell her that family meals are a tradition they need to keep. They surprised St. Armand a couple of weeks ago with a birthday party. “You should have seen the spread,” she says. “And I didn’t have to cook any of it.” But, she confesses, she usually winds up in the kitchen when she visits family. “Otherwise, I get a little bored.”
St. Armand has cooked at Knights of Columbus bean suppers for 20 years, and she and her husband are the only two cooks left who know the “secret sauce” recipe for the grilled chicken served at the annual Moxie Festival. Some of her most popular recipes are blueberry cake, buckwheat pancakes and Chinese pie.
When she’s not cooking for family or community events, St. Armand enjoys crocheting and knitting, traveling with her husband to Aroostook County, working in her garden and collecting porcelain dolls.
Chili
Ingredients:
1½-2 pounds ground beef
2 onions, chopped
1 green pepper, chopped
1 envelope of chili mix (dry), any brand
1 teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon garlic powder
2 large cans (about 14 ounces) whole tomatoes
1 6-ounce can tomato paste
1 or 2 16-ounce can(s) of kidney beans (depending on how much you like beans)
1 small can (4-6 ounces) mushrooms (in water)
Method
Fry ground beef, onions and peppers in pan until meat is cooked. Add chili mix, salt mushrooms and garlic powder. Stir and cook for a couple of minutes. Add tomatoes, tomato paste and beans. Stir well and cover. If you make chili on the stove, simmer for 2 to 3 hours. If you make it in a crockpot, you can simmer on low for most of the day. Makes 4-6 servings.
Sabbattus town dump cake
Ingredients:
1 15.75-ounce can cherry pie filling
1 4-ounce can crushed pineapple, with juice
1 box yellow cake mix (Add this dry. Do not prepare according to box directions.)
1 cup melted butter
1 cup grated coconut
1 cup chopped walnuts
Method
In a 9- by 13-inch pan, layer all the ingredients, in the order listed above, starting with cherry pie filling. DO NOT STIR. Bake at 350 degrees for 1 hour. Serve warm or cold with whipped cream.
Easy chicken pot pie
Ingredients:
1 6-ounce package of chicken-flavored Stove Top stuffing (or other dry stuffing mix)
½ teaspoon dried thyme leaves (optional)
4 tablespoons butter or margarine, melted
1½ cups hot water
2 cups cooked chicken, cubed
1 10-ounce package frozen mixed vegetables, thawed and drained
1 12-ounce jar chicken gravy
1 medium potato, cooked and cut up (optional)
Method:
Heat oven to 350 degrees. In a bowl, combine stuffing mix, ½ teaspoon thyme, melted butter/margarine, 1½ cups water. Mix well. In 2-quart casserole dish, mix cooked chicken, thawed vegetables (and potato, if you choose). Add gravy on top of vegetable layer. Top with stuffing mixture. Bake for 45 minutes or until hot and bubbly. Makes 6 servings.
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