Emily Rennie

Emily Rennie of Calhoun City lived in New Orleans for 10 years, where she enjoyed Cajun food, but didn’t learn how to cook it. She could walk any direction from her home and find Italian, Japanese, Indian, Chinese, Mexican, Thai, French food and more.

She admits to missing the variety of the close to home restaurant choices of New Orleans. Her preferred type of cooking is Mediterranean-Middle Eastern, and Asian-type, and one of her favorite New Orleans restaurants is Mona’s, at which she enjoyed Baba Ghanoush, an eggplant based dip served with pita bread. One of her first Middle-Eastern cooking and eating experiences was with a neighbor who prepared stuffed zucchini with lamb and yogurt that smelled so good cooking. She also lived in Orlando, and at Disneyworld, one of her favorite places to eat is the Norwegian bakery and restaurant (where she was “in heaven”), at which enjoyed Cauliflower Soup, a tradition there, and on her “to do” list to make.

Emily steers toward less heavy food, using fresh vegetables and ingredients, less butter, more olive oil and is learning how to cook differently. But there are no holds barred in baking, in which she spares no butter. She enjoys baking, even though she prefers savory to sweet taste. She tries to use healthier or low fat alternatives in cooking for daughter, Maggie, as they also do for the County Extension’s Kids In The Kitchen cooking program.

Maggie was exposed to the variety of food in New Orleans and she likes hummus, lamb and pita bread, like her mother. Sushi fan Emily, while not afraid to eat or cook new things, has not tried to make homemade hummus yet.

In making sweet potato fries, she recently tossed them with olive oil, fresh lime juice, and chili powder for a different taste. She enjoys trying a variety of spices when baking tilapia, and having just discovered using cumin, she decided to make her own meat pie.

After looking online for a recipe, she decided to use hamburger meat, diced potatoes, onion, garlic salt, onion salt, black pepper, cumin, and rolled pie crust. She was pleased with the result.

She says that she comes from a line of good cooks. Her grandmother, Epsya Clanton, made a butterscotch pie for the holidays that is “my memory of Thanksgiving and Christmas.” She mentioned an “indescribable” white chocolate bread pudding from The Palace Cafe on Canal Street, but said her grandmother’s butterscotch pie topped it. She did comment that she would be afraid to try to make the white chocolate bread pudding, but not a regular one.

Emily’s philosophy about food is, “Try, try, try! Because if you don’t, you’re probably gonna miss out!”–let the smell draw you in, because even if something doesn’t look appealing it might be incredible tasting.

Butterscotch Pie
(Epsya Clanton)
¾ cup brown sugar
5 tablespoons flour
½ teaspoon salt
2 cups milk
2 egg yolks, slightly beaten
2 tablespoons butter
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 baked pastry shell
Combine sugar, flour and salt, then stir in the milk slowly. Cook over boiling water until thickened, stirring constantly. Cover and cook 10 minutes longer, stirring occasionally. Add egg yolks to mixture, stirring vigorously and cook 1 minute longer. Add butter and vanilla and let it cool. Place the filling in the pie shell and serve.

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies
½ cup shortening
1 cup sugar
1 cup pumpkin puree
1 tsp. vanilla extract
2 cups flour
¼ tsp. salt
1 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. ground cinnamon
1½ cups chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350°. Grease cookie sheets. In medium bowl, cream shortening and sugar. Stir in pumpkin and vanilla. In separate bowl, stir together flour, salt, baking soda, baking powder, and cinnamon; stir into creamed mixture. Then stir in the chocolate chips. Drop dough onto cookie sheets. Bake for 10 minutes in preheated oven. Allow cookies to cool for a minute on cookie sheets before transferring to wire cooling racks.

Cream Cheese Icing
(Note: this recipe makes enough for 2 batches of cookies. Halve it, if only making one batch.)
1-8 oz. pkg. cream cheese
½ cup butter
1 lb. powdered sugar
1 tsp. vanilla
Dash of salt
Mix it all together and put some on each cookie.

Coconut Lime Banana Bread
2 cups All-purpose Flour
3/4 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 cup sugar
1/4 cup (1/2 of a stick) softened butter
2 eggs
1-1 1/2 cups smashed bananas (about 3 bananas)
1/4 cup yogurt (vanilla, plain, strawberry, whatever flavor)
3 Tbl apple juice or applesauce
1/2 tsp. vanilla
1/2 cup coconut flakes
1 Tbsp. coconut to sprinkle on top of bread
Glaze:
1/2 cup powdered sugar
The juice from two limes or 1½ tablespoons of store bought lime juice.

Pre-heat oven to 350°. Mix first three dry ingredients in small bowl (flour, baking soda, and salt) and set aside. Mash up bananas. Crack two eggs and toss in mixer. Next, add a 1/2 stick of real unsalted butter. Add sugar and beat everything on medium speed for about 1 minute. Then add the rest of the ingredients: bananas, yogurt, apple juice or applesauce, vanilla and coconut. Mix until blended. Then add dry ingredients, and mix on low speed just until moist. Spray pan with cooking spray (or rub it with butter). Pour  mixture into your pan then sprinkle the top of the bread with 1 tablespoon of coconut, and put it in a 350° oven for about an hour.

While bread is cooking, prepare glaze. Pour  lime juice into a small bowl, add 1/2 cup powdered sugar (or more if needed) and mix it up until you have a slightly runny consistency. When bread is done, take it out of pan and put on a rack. Let it cool for about 5 minutes and then drizzle glaze over the bread. Let it get in all the grooves and let it drop down the sides. (I even poke some holes in the top to allow some of the glaze to drip down inside the bread.)

Thousand Island Chicken
1 package chicken breasts
1 can of sauerkraut (drain well)
1 bottle of Thousand Island dressing
1 package of Swiss cheese
Preheat oven to 350°. Place chicken in bottom of glass dish. Layer sauerkraut on top of chicken. Pour salad dressing on top of sauerkraut. Spread cheese all over top of dressing. Bake in oven for 40-60 minutes.

California Crunch Salad
1 package cabbage slaw mix
1 green onion, chopped
3 tablespoons oil
1 cup slivered almonds
2 packages Ramen noodles (Oriental)
Dressing:
6 tablespoons rice vinegar
1/2 cup of sugar
3/4 cup oil
1/2 teaspoon salt
Mix cabbage and onion. Brown slivered almonds in oil. Mix almonds into salad. Just before serving, add crushed Ramen noodles. Fold mix with dressing.