Dairy Love

  • By Daphne Ross
  • June 1, 2011
  • 295
                        
While nutritionists have reshaped the food groups into a pyramid style chart, each of these food group distinctions, when ready-to-eat, require one food group when brought to the table, and that is the dairy group. Important as they all are, the dairy group stands out; the cow stands tall as does the proud farmer standing next to her. Who doesn’t pour milk over the dry grains in their cereal bowl? Who likes to spread butter over their toast, melt cheese on their breakfast sandwich, and have an ice cold glass of milk to wash it all down? Just as dairy farms are thinking milk first thing in the morning, wouldn’t you know milk products are an important part of that first meal of the day. Dairy products are needed ingredients in food preparation, as well as accompaniments with certain foods such as mom’s strawberry shortcake, corn flakes and bananas, and apple dumplings and as a beverage next to your plate. Grab a recipe card from the file, randomly open a page of your favorite cookbook, is dairy an ingredient important to nearly each of those recipes? You won’t go wrong by saying yes before you flip through the pages or sort through the cards. Dairy is it. Our love for dairy foods begins with the bottle, moves on to spoon tip introductions of ice cream to a lip smacking infant, and then to the easy grab and go of an American cheese slice, or a Mozzarella cheese stick. In the summer, the familiar jingle tune of an ice cream truck echoes through the neighborhoods. Even down a country mile, barefoot kids run from their backyards to the roadside walk-up window. As a kid on Grandpa Miller’s farm the ice cream truck drove a musical mile down Egypt Rd., the driver he knew where to find us. He gave us time to run out of the barn, climb out of the shade tree, or jump off the tire swing. Cities were smaller back then, the towns were a village setting; more ice cream would be sold if the farm kids were not ignored. But even if the truck did not get back into the townships or cloud dust back the dirt roads, our grandparents kept a wide variety of frozen dairy in the deep freeze; ice cream bars, creamsicles, ice cream sandwiches, and drumsticks and what was in the center of them all; dairy. And what did Grandma Miller always, always mix up for any summer family event, homemade ice cream; you can’t get more dairy then that. The love of dairy has even been part to the bloom of romance, when my dad a young dairy driver used to take broken ice cream bars from his delivery route to my mom during their courtship. Oh how sweet it is, I just love dairy. What dish do you bring to the red checkered cloth? Share your picnic favorites with Country Cupboard, 5973 Blachleyville Rd., Wooster, OH, 44691. Emails are always welcome; thewritecook@sssnet.com Cream Cheese Pineapple Pie 1 unbaked pastry shell (9 inches) 1 package (8 ounces) cream cheese, softened 1 carton (16 ounces) vanilla yogurt 1 cup pineapple preserves Line unpricked pastry shell with a double thickness of heavy duty foil. Bake at 450 degrees for 8 minutes. Remove foil; bake 5 minutes longer. Cool on a wire rack. In a mixing bowl, beat cream cheese until smooth. Add the yogurt and preserves; pour into crust. Cover and freeze for 8 hours or overnight. Remove from the freezer 30 minutes before cutting. Yields: 6 to 8 servings. Three-Cheese Spirals (Deb Collette) 1 package (16 ounces) spiral pasta 1 egg 1 1/2 cups (12 ounces) sour cream 1 1/2 cups (12 ounces) small-curd cottage cheese 1 pound process American cheese, cubed 2 cups (8 ounces) shredded cheddar cheese Cook pasta according to package directions. Meanwhile, in a blender, combine the egg, sour cream and cottage cheese; cover and process until smooth. Transfer to a large bowl; add American and cheddar cheeses. Drain pasta; stir into cheese mixture until evenly coated. Transfer to a greased shallow 3-quart baking dish. Bake, uncovered, at 350 degrees for 15 minutes; stir. Bake 15 to 20 minutes longer or until bubbly and edges begin to brown. Yield: 8 to 10 servings. Orange Yogurt Scones (Holly Chapman) 2 cups all-purpose flour 1/3 cup plus 2 teaspoons sugar, divided 2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder 1/4 teaspoon baking soda 1/4 teaspoon salt 3 tablespoons cold butter or margarine 1 carton (6 ounces) orange yogurt 1/4 cup orange juice 2 teaspoons grated orange peel In a bowl, combine the flour, 1/3 cup sugar, baking powder, baking soda and salt; cut in butter until crumbly. In another bowl, whisk the yogurt, orange juice and peel; stir into dry ingredients just until moistened. Turn onto a floured surface; knead 10 times. Transfer dough to a greased baking sheet. Pat into an 8 inch circle. Cut into 8 wedges, but do not spate. Sprinkle with remaining sugar. Bake at 400 degrees for 15 to 20 minutes or until golden brown. Serve warm. Yield: 8 servings. Homemade Cookies ‘n Cream (Heather Sigler) 1 (14 ounce) can sweetened condensed milk 3 egg yolks 12 Oreo cookies, crushed 1 pint whipping cream 2 teaspoons vanilla IN a large bowl, beat together the milk, egg yolks and vanilla. Fold in crushed Oreo cookies and whipped cream. Pour into containers, cover and freeze for 6 hours or until firm. Before serving, let stand 5 minutes to thaw. (Note: The Ohio State Extension office does not recommend consuming uncooked egg product.) Lo-Cal Cheese Dip (Joyce Montague) 1 carton (16 ounces) 2% cottage cheese 1 tablespoon reduced-sodium beef bouillon granules 1 tablespoon dried minced onion 2 teaspoons lemon juice Raw vegetables or crackers In a blender, combine cottage cheese, bouillon, onion and lemon juice; cover and process until smooth. Cover and chill for at least 1 hour. Serve with veggies, cracker or pretzel sticks. Orange Peach Smoothies (Kara Cook) 2 cups frozen unsweetened peach slices, thawed 1 cup milk 1 can (6 ounces) frozen orange juice concentrate, thawed 1/4 teaspoon almond extract 1 pint vanilla ice cream or frozen yogurt 3 drops each red and yellow food coloring, optional IN a blender, combine the peaches, milk, orange juice concentrate and extract. Add ice cream, cover and process until smooth. Add food coloring if desired. Pour into glasses; serve immediately. Yields: 4 servings. Parmesan Fondue (Gwyne Fleener) 1 1/2 to 2 cups milk 2 packages (8 ounces) each cream cheese, cubed 1 1/2 cups grated Parmesan cheese 1/2 teaspoon garlic salt 1 loaf (1 pound) French bread, cubed In a large saucepan, cook and stir the milk and cream cheese over low heat until cheese is melted. Stir in Parmesan cheese and garlic salt; cook and stir until heated through. Transfer to a fondue pot or mini-slow cooker, keep warm. Serve with bread cubes. Yields: about 3 1/2 cups. Vanilla Ice Cream (Edna Mairs) 4 eggs 2 1/2 cups sugar 6 cups milk 4 cups light cream 2 tablespoons vanilla 1/2 teaspoon salt Beat eggs until light. Add sugar gradually, beating until mixture thickens. Add remaining ingredients. Mix thoroughly. Freeze in ice cream freezer. (Note: The Ohio State Extension office does not recommend consuming uncooked egg product.)


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