My favorite recipes

Patty Cammack jokes that she still is a comparative newcomer to Colfax despite moving here in 1993.

Patty, who grew up in a small town near Salt Lake City, is familiar with small towns. Her father was a pharmacist and her mother a school teacher, and she graduated in a high school class of 21 students.

Patty earned a bachelor of science in nutrition from Brigham Young University, did a dietician internship and then earned a master of science in nutrition. She met Cary Cammack in Denver during her internship, and they married in 1981. They lived in Grand Junction, Colo., for eight years where Cary taught music and two years in Downy, Idaho, near Pocatello. Patty’s dietician career was put to good use creating healthful meals for their family.

They moved to Potlach, Idaho, for two years when Cary first taught music part-time in Colfax. They lived on a Cammack family farm and could manage the part-time salary that way. In 1993, Cary received a full-time contract, and they moved to Colfax.

The Cammacks have five grown children. Aubrey and her husband live in Ecuador and have two children, Nathan and Isabel. Aubrey works in office management, and her children are growing up bilingual. Elise and her husband live in Utah and have a little girl, Ada. Michael is working for Boeing in Everett. He has a masters degree in aeronautical engineering. He and his wife have two boys, Ethan and Asher.

Brenton and Heather Cammack live in Colfax, and both have business degrees from EWU, being put to good use at Almota Elevator and Events on Main. Their children are Avery and Liam. Joseph and his wife live in Rexburg, Idaho, and are finishing college at BYU-Idaho. They were married in October.

With the children out on their own, Patty remains busy. She works part time for Whitman County Library cataloguing new and donated materials and managing the Rural History Project. This is a state-level project, and the small rural libraries were invited to join in 2007. During the first three years, grants from the state and county provided funding. With those grants completed, Patty said that the library does what they have time and money for. Whitman County Library has applied for grant funding again for the Rural Heritage Project.

The amount of photos that have come to the library over the past few years is amazing. The goal of the project is to preserve these bits of history. So often photos are not kept in optimal conditions, and they are often not labeled. When people pass away, heirs often do not know what to do with priceless pieces of history, and they are often discarded.

Patty digitizes photos and uploads information to the state library. As the years pass, the state library can update records as technologies advance. Once photos are online, people viewing them can contact the library and supply names and contact families. For those who are technologically literate, the photos are saved as TIFF files, and posted on the website as JPEG files. Originals are preserved at the state site.

The Whitman County Library has had contacts from as far away as France and Germany. Because the photos are online, someone from Iowa had photos for a Whitman County resident and made contact through the library.

There are 3,000 photos online now. At first library personnel had to ask people, singly or in groups, to share their photos with the project, but now people are volunteering to bring photos to be added. At present, the Pine City Historical Society is adding their photos to the collection. Patty credits library volunteer Wanda Alderman with fantastic outreach to Whitman County residents to solicit photos. An engineering firm for the flood control project has donated photos of the project.

Patty has started another large project that is sure to catch the interest of generations of people interested in the high school musicals that have been produced in Colfax over the last 50 years. She is digitizing musical cast photos and posters going back 25 years or more.

K. David Coe, who was the vocal music teacher before Cary, is in contact, and he is helping gather information. They plan to contact previous cast members to help celebrate 50 years of Colfax High School musicals, and Patty hopes to establish a music scholarship. Fifty years of musicals will coincide with Cary directing CHS musicals for 25 years in 2016.

There will soon be a Facebook page for the 2016 celebration. Cast members and shows will be listed for both fun and history. If you have information and photos for either the Rural History Project or the 50 years of Colfax High School musicals, contact Patty at the library.

Patty remarked that Skype makes keeping in contact with children and grandchildren easier, and she loves being a grandmother and playing with her grandchildren. She enjoys quilting and counted cross stitch.

Church activities at the LDS Church occupy her energy, too. She is secretary of the young women’s group, with members up to age 18. They have activities on Wednesday evenings, and special activities with nearby wards monthly. The LDS youth will have a pioneer experience in Wyoming in May, so that they can see what it was like to come West using handcarts. They will probably appreciate modern transportation and travel after reliving the Mormon Pioneers’ experience.

Recipes:

Easy Chicken Dressing Casserole

Chicken breasts (cut in 3-4 pieces)

Swiss cheese slices

Cream of chicken soup

Stuffing mix

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Place cut-up chicken breasts in baking pan. Cover with cheese slices. Mix 1/2 can water with soup and pour over chicken and cheese. Prepare stuffing mix without butter/margarine and spread on top of chicken and cheese. Bake for 30-45 minutes at 350 degrees (until chicken is completely cooked).

Potato Chowder

(Nicknamed Pig Soup for the sausage links)

2 pounds sausage links

3/4 cup chopped onion

3/4 cup chopped celery

4 medium potatoes, pared and diced

3 cups water

3 cans cream of celery soup

1 1/2 cups grated cheddar cheese

Brown sausage until completely cooked, then remove and drain on paper towel.

Saute onions and celery until tender (can use some sausage drippings if desired). Add diced potatoes and water. Simmer 20 minutes or until potatoes are tender.

Slice sausage into penny-size pieces. Add sausage and soup to vegetable mixture. Then add grated cheese and heat until melted and serve.

Herbed Oatmeal Pan Bread

1 1/2 cups boiling water

1 cup old-fashioned oats

2 packages active dry yeast (1/4 ounce size)

1/2 cup warm water

1/4 cup sugar

3 Tablespoons butter or margarine

2 teaspoons salt

1 egg, slightly beaten

4 to 4 3/4 cups flour

Topping:

1/4 cup butter or margarine, melted

2 Tablespoons grated Parmesan cheese

1 teaspoon dried basil

1/2 teaspoon dried oregano

1/2 teaspoon garlic powder

In a small bowl, combine boiling water and oats; cool to 110-115 degrees F. In mixing bowl, dissolve yeast in warm water. Add sugar, butter, salt, egg, oat mixture, and 2 cups of the flour. Beat until smooth. Add enough remaining flour to make a soft dough; knead until smooth and elastic. Place in greased bowl, turning once to grease top.

Cover and let rise in a warm place until doubled, about 30 minutes. Punch dough down and press evenly into a 13 x 9 baking pan. Using a sharp knife or pizza cutter, cut diagonal lines 1 1/2 inches apart through dough. Repeat in opposite direction, creating a diamond pattern. Brush with melted butter and sprinkle with cheese-herb mixture. Let rise until doubled. Bake at 375 degrees F for 20-25 minutes. Serve warm.

Chocolate Chip Cake

1/2 cup shortening

1 cup sugar

2 eggs

1/4 cup cocoa

1 teaspoon vanilla

1/2 cup water

1 3/4 cup flour

1 teaspoon soda

dash salt

Topping:

1 package of chocolate chips

1/2 cup nuts

1/2 cup sugar

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.

Cream together shortening and sugar, add egg, then cocoa and vanilla. Add water, flour, soda, and salt.

Place batter in greased pan and spread one package of chocolate chips over the top, followed by 1/2 cup nuts and 1/2 cup sugar. Bake in 375 degree F oven for 30 minutes.

Perfect for taking on a picnic!