My Favorite Recipes

Residents of Colfax for 27 years, Peg Moore and her husband, the Rev. Don Moore, have lived in their home for 13 years. Like most homeowners, they still have projects, but they love what they have created. Their 1938 home was built by banker H.A. Michaelson, and they credit him with building a quality, solid structure.

After they bought it, Peg tackled the wallpaper removal and painting inside. Don, who loves working outdoors, painted, removed old shrubs and redid the backyard. Both were successful. Their home has a charming period interior, and the gardens are bursting with flowers. They have a rock wall, rock tiers and a waterfall, their favorite feature. Their son helped get it going.

Peg was born near Kansas City, Kan., out in the country. She lived there until time for college. She has an older brother and a twin sister who is 10 minutes older. They are mirror-image twins, with Peg being right-handed and her twin left-handed. The whorls in their hair grow in opposite directions.

Don grew up in Atlanta, Texas, and the two met at Southern Nazarene University in Oklahoma. Peg had been bitten by a cat, and the law in Oklahoma mandated a two-week series of rabies injections at a clinic far from campus. A friend knew a nice guy who might drive her there for her shots. Don was that “nice guy.”

Peg was a freshman physical education major, and Don was a junior majoring in religious studies. When Don proposed, she insisted on praying over getting married, so they went from the dining hall each evening to the student chapel to pray. She was concerned about being the wife of someone called to the ministry. One evening, she just knew that marrying him was the right thing, and they were married after he graduated.

By then, Peg had decided that she did not want to teach physical education, so she began working while Don went to seminary in Kansas City, Mo., for two years. At that point, they were called to Roseburg, Ore., where Don became the associate pastor.

From Roseburg, Don was called to start a new Nazarene Church in Silverton, Ore., where they stayed two years. Their call to Lincoln City, Ore., was next, and they enjoyed 11 years there. They had the feeling that God wanted them in Colfax, so they have stayed here. Because they had moved several times, her parents moved to Oklahoma to live near her twin sister.

At Colfax in the Nazarene Church, Don and Peg feel comfortable, love the people and love the town of Colfax.

Peg worked full-time until they had children, including at a factory in Kansas City to save money for college, on-campus jobs at Southern Nazarene University, an animal vaccine lab, a pharmacy clerk and a pharmacy technician, a greeting card sales representative and an assistant at Dr. Jerry Binder’s office.

When her father was ill, she said good-bye to the dental office where she worked for 16 years and went to Oklahoma to spend time with her father and family.

For 10 years, she has been busy with her own cleaning business. She enjoys cleaning houses and businesses and visiting her clients. Claiming to spend 40 hours a week with 30 hours cleaning and 10 hours visiting, she notes she does not charge for the visiting.

“I have the neatest clients. It is very fulfilling,” she noted.

Soon Peg will be going to Oklahoma for two weeks and will celebrate her mother’s 90th birthday while she is there.

The Moores have two grown children, Randee and Chris. Daughter Randee and her husband Chris enjoy his five-year old son and are moving soon to Fields, Ore., to take over his family’s cattle ranch, which is 21 miles from the Nevada border. From the main highway, the ranch is a two-and-a-half hour drive on gravel roads. Randee loves the ranch, and she will continue her career as an insurance underwriter from home. Chris is also a farrier.

Son Chris and Lori have four children ages 12, 10, 6 and 4 years. The youngest is the only granddaughter. They live in Meridian, Idaho, where he works in landscaping and she is an ultrasound technician at an obstetrical-gynecological clinic.

The Moores enjoy camping and had one splendid 45th anniversary camping trip with their children and grandchildren at Ponderosa State Park at McCall, Idaho. Fishing and being in or on the water are favorite activities, and Peg has enjoyed zip-lining.

Peg learned to cook by helping her mother. She noted that she is from Kansas and grew up cooking and eating lots of fried food, which she has had to “tone down.” Last summer, though, she caught a five-pound channel catfish. Skinned and soaked overnight in salt water, the fish was fried and served with fried potatoes and hot-water cornbread. This was a dinner from their youth.

As a pastor’s wife, Peg feels blessed that Don encourages her to be who she is, placing no “pastor’s wife” demands or expectations on her. She has been able to be herself and develop her own strengths and not stress about doing what does not come naturally. Peg is quite busy with church activities, but she does not play piano or sing, and she does not feel she has the gift of leading Bible study, which some congregations expect.

However, she enjoys playing in the bell choir with the small color-coded bells. It has had people from the ages of four to 84 playing. Managing Mobile Meals for the Nazarene Church’s month, greeting people at worship and serving on Missionary Council are ways in which Peg serves her church.

Don and Peg are nearing retirement, and they plan to retire from the Nazarene Church here.

Recipes:

Ramen Noodle Salad

Dressing: Make 1 day ahead.

1 cup salad oil

1/3 cup white vinegar

3/4 cup sugar

2 packages chicken flavoring from noodles

Mix well.

Salad:

1 pound coleslaw

1 bunch green onions, chopped

1 cup slivered almonds

1 cup sunflower seeds

1 package chicken ramen noodles, crushed

Combine all ingredients; mix in dressing just before serving. Be sure to stir dressing just before adding to salad.

You can add chopped chicken, if desired.

Hot Water Cornbread

This is “fried” cornbread.

Mix together:

1/2 cup cornmeal (Peg prefers “white” cornmeal.)

1/4 cup flour

salt to taste

Boil about 2 cups water. Water must be boiling. Add a little of the cornmeal mixture at a time and mix until it forms a thick mush.

Use a soup spoon to scoop up and another spoon to push out the mush into a skillet with hot grease. Pat with the spoon to form a small patty. Fry on one side until golden brown, then turn over and do the same. Place cooked cornbread patties on a plate with a paper towel.

This goes well with black-eyed peas, pinto beans, etc.

Southern Cornbread Dressing.

1 large (sheetcake) pan sugarless cornbread. Peg uses white cornmeal and follows the recipe on the box for cornbread, omitting sugar. If the recipe is for an 8-inch pan, just double it.

1 dozen boiled eggs–10 for dressing and 2 for gravy

2 large onions, chopped and cooked

15 slices of white bread, torn in pieces

1 stick margarine or butter, cut in pieces

1 dozen raw eggs

salt and pepper to taste

4 cans chicken broth–2 for dressing and 2 for gravy

In a large pan (Peg uses an aluminum foil pan large enough for a turkey), crumble cornbread and add torn white bread. Add cut-up butter or margarine and raw eggs. Pour about two cans chicken broth over all and mix. Add onions along with onion broth and cut-up boiled eggs. Salt and pepper to taste. Mixture should be the consistency of very thick soup. Cook in middle of oven at 400 degrees F for 40-60 minutes.

Gravy

2 cans chicken broth

2 boiled eggs, cut up

salt and pepper to taste.

1 cup milk

3 Tablespoons flour

Mix chicken broth, cut-up eggs, salt and pepper; bring to a boil. Add flour to milk, then stir into broth mixture and cook to thicken.

Dressing is good with or without gravy. Dressing recipe can easily be cut in half.