My Favorite Recipes By Linda Marler

Meet Corriene Liotta and Beth Condon

Corriene Liotta and her daughter, Beth Condon, have agreed to share some heritage recipes from the talented cooks in their family. Corriene is the daughter of Lue and Anna Harter Hofer, and her older siblings were Irene Morton, a dietitian, and Charles Hofer, a local farmer who loved to cook.

Corriene grew up on the Hofer farm east of Colfax, and she attended Washington State College for three years in home economics. She married Robert Thompson in February of 1947, whom she met through her sister and husband, Irene and Jack Morton. Robert and Corriene spent most of their married life in Follansbee, W.V., and Steubenville, Ohio. While working full-time and raising a family, Robert finished his electrical engineering degree.

Corriene and Robert had six children—Beth, Cathy, Joe, Irene, John and Jeannie. All of Corriene’s home economics education was put to use with her family, as she was an expert at cooking, baking, canning and sewing. Some of the children took music lessons, and they lived in a neighborhood with many children.

Robert died before Jeannie started grade school. Several years later, Corriene moved from Ohio back to Colfax, and John and Jeannie finished school here. Now all of her daughters live in Oregon, Joe lives in Moscow and John near Colfax. All of the children finished college and several, plus a number of their spouses, earned advanced degrees.

Beth graduated from the College of Steubenville and completed her medical technology training at a hospital in New Haven, Conn. Her husband went to college in Steubenville for his bachelor’s degree, and they met while she was visiting her family in Ohio. Steve completed his master’s degree at Youngstown State University, and they moved to Colfax in 1974 for Steve to go to graduate school at WSU. He earned his PhD in counseling psychology. While they were living in Colfax, their son, David, was born in 1976 at Whitman Community Hospital.

Steve graduated in 1977, and they eventually settled in Pendleton, Ore., an easy drive to visit family in Colfax. Steve has a private practice as a counseling psychologist in Pendleton and has practiced at the state mental hospital and taught college classes. Beth is a medical technologist at Yellowhawk Tribal Health on the Umatilla Indian Reservation.

Along the way, they added Robert, Eddie and Paul to the family. All four sons are young men on their own now, and David and Paul are married. The older three boys live in Oregon, and Paul is in graduate school in the Northeast.

Corriene learned to cook with her sister Irene and her mother, using a wood stove until the house on the farm was electrified in the 1940s. They had an icebox and picked up ice in town once a week. Beginning as a young woman, Corriene collected a large number of cookbooks and a huge recipe box.

For many years, Irene hosted Easter dinner, Corriene had Thanksgiving, and Charles hosted Christmas and the Fourth of July celebration. Many county residents were guests at Charles’ July Fourth dinners, complete with children’s games, volleyball, softball and horse shoes.

After Corriene married a widower with children, Al Liotta, she hosted the Byrd-Liotta-Thompson crew for many meals plus Thanksgiving and Easter. Al’s children Maria, Anna, and Charles were still living at home when they married, and Al’s Joanne and Corriene’s Jeannie were freshmen at the University of Idaho.

Beth has one of Anna Hofer’s cookbooks, a real treasure once owned by Charles Hofer. In her home, she has two kitchen shelves stocked with cookbooks. Her favorite is a book Corriene hand wrote of Beth and Steve’s favorite dishes. Steve credits Beth with being the great cook. He grills, and in a pinch, can make a pie, thanks to his mom. However, Beth does the majority of the cooking. Steve’s creative outlet is the sewing, and he has made lovely clothing for Beth and other friends and family members.

A friend in Pendleton from Iraq introduced them to Middle Eastern food and shared recipes. They’ve had great fun making dishes from the Iraqi cookbook, which their friend enjoyed eating, as he did not cook.

Corriene and Beth searched the family treasury of recipes and shared these favorites.

Recipes:

Corriene’s Cranberry Salad

1 pound fresh cranberries

3 cups sugar

1 large package strawberry jello dissolved in 1 cup boiling water

1 can crushed pineapple, drain and reserve liquid

1 cup chopped nuts

2 cups diced apples

Wash, sort, and grind cranberries (or chop coarsely in a food processor). Mix with sugar and let stand overnight.

Let jello dissolved in boiling water cool. Then add drained pineapple, chopped nuts, sugared cranberries, and apples to mixture. Pour into 9x13 inch dish and refrigerate.

Dressing

1/3 cup flour

1/2 cup sugar

2 eggs

1 teaspoon lemon juice

2 cups pineapple juice

9 marshmallows

1/2 pint whipping cream

Combine first six ingredients. Cook in double boiler until dissolved. When cool, add the whipping cream. Serve as topping on the cranberry salad.

Irene’s Frosty Cranberry Mold

1 can crushed pineapple, drained and liquid reserved

1 can whole berry cranberry sauce

1 large or 2 small packages raspberry gelatin

1 8-ounce package cream cheese

2 Tablespoons salad dressing (Miracle whip)

1 cup heavy cream

1 cup walnuts, coarsely chopped

Drain fruit, reserving liquid; add water to make 2 cups of liquid. Bring liquid to a boil and dissolve gelatin in it. Chill to set.

Beat softened cream cheese and dressing. Beat in chilled gelatin and cranberry sauce. Whip cream. Fold whipped cream into first mixture. Add drained fruit, and nuts into cheese mixture. Chill.

Corriene’s Carmels

2 pounds brown sugar

1 small bottle white Karo syrup

2 cans Eagle brand milk

1 pound butter

1 teaspoon vanilla

Put sugar, syrup, milk and butter in large kettle; stir.

Let stand three hours in warm place; stir. Place on stove and boil 20 minutes, stirring constantly. Remove from heat. Add 1 teaspoon vanilla. Pour on greased cookie sheet; let cool, and then cut and wrap in pieces of waxed paper.

Irene Morton’s Sweet and Sour Baked Beans

8 slices bacon, fried crisp and crumbled

1 or 2 packages little smokies, cut in pieces, optional

4 large onions, peeled and cut into rings

1/2 cup brown sugar

1 teaspoon dry mustard

1/2 teaspoon garlic powder

1 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup cider vinegar

2 15-ounce cans lima beans, drained

1 16-ounce can green lima beans, drained

1 16-ounce can dark red kidney beans, drained

1 16-ounce can New England style baked beans

1 16-ounce can garbanzo beans, drained, if desired

After frying bacon, place onions in skillet and add sugar, mustard, garlic powder, salt and vinegar. Cook 10 to 15 minutes.

Add onion mixture to beans; add bacon and little smokies (if desired). Pour into large casserole. Bake at 350 degrees F about one hour. If dish begins to look dry, add some liquid from draining beans. Serves 12 or more.

Charles Hofer’s Turkey Stuffing

2 large bags of stuffing bread

giblets and neck from large turkey

2 cups chopped onions

2 cups finely sliced celery

2 sticks butter

1 pound ground beef

2 teaspoons salt

1 teaspoon pepper or more

2 teaspoons sage

1 teaspoon poultry seasoning or

1/2 teaspoon savory plus 1/2 teaspoon dried thyme

Chicken stock

Simmer giblets and turkey neck in water until very tender. Cool, reserve liquid. Strip meat from neck. In food processor, chop neck meat and giblets until fine but not purreed.

Brown ground beef and set aside. Melt butter in large saute pan. When hot, saute onions and celery. In a large bowl, mix the bread pieces with meats, seasonings, reserved liquid, and onions and celery in butter. Stir gently, lifting and turning over bread pieces. Add chicken stock, continuing to lift and turn over dressing until desired moistness is reached. Check and adjust the seasonings.

If making in advance, refrigerate stuffing. Stuff turkey just before roasting, or bake stuffing in a casserole for one hour before serving.