My favorite recipes: Cathy White

Cathy and Jim White with grandchildren Brielle, Piper, Taylor, Asher and Cody. Camden, the new grandson, is not pictured.

As Cathy White begins retirement from Colfax Schools, she looks back on a career she has loved. Born in Sunnyside, she also lived in Everett before moving to Seattle, where she graduated from Roosevelt High School. These moves were part of her father’s career advancement, and in Seattle he was Dean of the College of Education at the University of Washington. Her mother stayed at home, rearing children and carrying on the entertainment duties that went with Cathy’s father’s position.

Meanwhile, Cathy came to the East Side to earn a degree in Family and Consumer Sciences in 1970 from Washington State University. She met Jim White when his Pi Kappa Alpha fraternity hosted her Kappa Kappa Gamma sorority members.

Jim and Cathy married right after college graduation.

Cathy taught in Asotin for two years, and then traveled to Virginia where Jim was stationed with the Army at Fort Belvoir.

Jim graduated in architecture from WSU.

“I learned in college how to build things, and in the Army I learned how to blow them up.” Such is the life in an engineering battalion.

She tutored grade school students while they lived there. When Jim returned to the family farm, Cathy was hired to teach in Colfax, retiring now after 42 years in Colfax. During these years she also taught kindergarten after a levy failure, but she earned a child development supporting field when she completed her master’s degree, so she was prepared.

Although technically retired, Cathy is still working at school, since she has accumulated quite a few of her own materials in her decades of teaching, and she took students to Washington, DC, for FCCLA National Convention. She noticed that lots of chain restaurants there, such as Panera and Chipotle, had walk-up ordering with food brought to your table. Such trips and competitions have always been enjoyable for Cathy and her students.

She will advise Airelle Grimaud, Colfax High School’s state FCCLA officer, this year.

Colfax has had state officers during many of Cathy’s years advising the group. Cathy likes that FCCLA is an organization that allows students to grow in leadership and seek accomplishments in their areas of interest.

Her field of study, Family and Consumer Sciences, popularly known as home economics, has seen changes during her teaching career, moving from being exclusively home arts to being a study of career preparation, health and wellness, and some home arts skills that mesh with those areas.

For a look at how a class may focus differently, Cathy offered the contrast between her eighth grade class, which is a STEM class - science, technology, engineering and math - with her high school foods units. The eighth grade class looks at the science and math of foods and food preparation, while the high school classes focus on nutrition and cost.

Cathy has enjoyed that FACS teaching combines home arts, which she loves, with teaching, the family profession. Staying with her career allowed her to continue the relationships with students, which she loves, and allows her to keep learning. During her tenure at Colfax High School, she and Coach Mike Morgan have kept up to date on nutrition for athletes, which he shares with his players.

The Whites have four children, all graduates of Colfax High School. Jennifer and her husband, Justin Shahan, live in Colfax. She works for Schweitzer Engineering Laboratories and he is a Realtor, and they have an 18-month old daughter, Piper.

Carrie and Chris live in Bothell, parents of Cody, who is seven, and she teaches first grade.

David and Erin, a pharmacy duo, live in Spokane, with children Brielle, six-and-a-half, and Asher, three-and-a-half.

John and Allison live in Spokane, where he teaches at University High School and she is a pharmacist. Their children are Taylor, two-and-a-half, and Camden, four months.

Cathy enjoys baking, sewing and reading, and she needs to have a book going all of the time. Genealogy is an interest, researching and recording her findings for her family. She traveled to Northern Europe one summer during college and studied the literature and history of the British Isles. She just might have the time to make a return trip now.

Recipes:

Pizza Pasta

A teenager favorite

4 ounces thinly sliced pepperoni

1 medium green bell pepper, chopped

1 medium onion, chipped,

1 cup sliced mushrooms

1 package (1.5 ounces) Lawry’s Extra Rich and Thick Spaghetti Sauce Seasoning Blend

1 3/4 cups water

1 8-ounce can tomato paste

2 Tablespoons salad oil

8 ounces mostaccioli pasta, cooked and drained

1 cup (4 ounces) grated mozzarella cheese

In a large skillet, brown pepperoni; drain fat. Add green bell pepper, onion and mushrooms; sauté. Add Extra Rich and Thick Spaghetti Sauce Seasoning Blend, water, tomato paste, and oil; blend well. Bring to a boil; reduce heat and simmer uncovered for 10 minutes.

Add cooked mostaccioli; blend well. Pour into 12 x 8 x 2-inch casserole; top with cheese. Bake in 350 degree F oven for 15 minutes until cheese is melted.

Makes 6 servings. Serve with a green garden salad and break sticks.

Hint: Any similar type cooked pasta such as shell or elbow macaroni may be substituted for mostaccioli.

Quick Quiche

4 eggs

1/2 cup Bisquick

1 1/2 cups milk

1/2 cup melted butter

1/4 teaspoon salt

dash pepper

Place ingredients in blender and whirl for 5 or 6 seconds.

1 cup grated cheese

1 cup crab or shrimp

grated nutmeg

Pour Bisquick mixture into 9-inch pie pan. Add 1 cup grated cheese; push under surface with fingers. Add 1 cup crab or shrimp. Also push under the surface. Sprinkle lightly with nutmeg.

Bake at 325 degrees F for 45-50 minutes or until set. Let stand for 3-4 minutes before cutting.

Variation: Swiss cheese and bacon (7-8 slices, cooked and crumbled.)

Applesauce

Jello Salad

Cathy’s mother’s recipe

from the 1970’s

1 cup applesauce

1 package lime jello

1/2 cup orange juice

1 small bottle (7 ounces) ginger ale

Heat applesauce to simmering (be sure it’s hot!). Stir in jello until dissolved. Add orange juice. Cool to room temperature. Stir in ginger ale. Chill.

Serves 4 or 5.

Banana Nugget Cookies

Our family tradition

3/4 cup shortening

1 cup sugar

1 1/2 cups sifted flour

1 egg

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon nutmeg

3/4 teaspoon cinnamon

1 cup ripe banana, mashed

1 3/4 cups quick oats

1 package semi-sweet chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.

Cream shortening; add sugar and egg. Sift together dry ingredients; add alternately to creamed mixture with mashed banana. Stir in rolled oats and chocolate chips.

Drop by spoonfuls on lightly greased cookie sheet. Bake at 400 degrees F for 10-12 minutes.