HOUSEWARMING FOR NEW NEIGHBORS
The news passed quickly around the neighborhood: Andrew Nelson was retiring from farming and had sold his farm. All the neighbors wanted to know who bought the place and when they’d be moving in. Through the neighborhood grapevine, we soon learned their names, Guy and Lena York, and that they had several boys. They were moving to the farm just across the road from what had been Charlie George’s place and was now owned by Freddy Rapp.
“Where were the Yorks from?” was a common question. No one seemed to know. Someone opined that they were from the South. I for one was looking forward to getting to know a southern family.
As was the custom in our community, the neighbors organized a housewarming party to be held at the Yorks’ farm. Everyone brought something to eat, and everyone showed up, adults and kids of various sizes and ages. My brothers and I played card games with the York boys, Arnold, Jerry, Bob, and Lyle. Dick, the baby, was too young to do anything but watch. The adults visited and got acquainted with Lena and Guy, welcoming them to the neighborhood.
As I played cards with the York boys, I listened to how they talked, hoping to pick up what someone had said would be a southern drawl. I’d never heard a southern drawl, so I didn’t know what to listen for. Finally I concluded that the York boys talked just about the same as we did. It was only later that I learned that they had come from someplace in southern Wisconsin, only 150 miles away from Wild Rose.
Eleanor would have used her own canned vegetables in this hotdish.
1 onion, chopped
1 tablespoon butter
1 pound ground beef
1 package (16 ounces) egg noodles, cooked according to directions
1 can (30 ounces) whole tomatoes
1 can (16 ounces) corn with liquid
1 can (16 ounces) peas with liquid
Crushed potato chips
½ cup shredded cheddar cheese
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Simmer onion in butter in a skillet until it begins to soften. Add the ground beef and simmer until it is browned. Add noodles, tomatoes, and corn and peas with their liquid; stir. Simmer until the ingredients are warmed through. Pour mixture into a casserole dish. Sprinkle some crushed potato chips on top. Bake for 45 minutes. Sprinkle the cheese on top and return to oven until cheese is melted, about 10 minutes.
1½ cups chopped dates
1 cup white sugar
1 cup water
1 cup brown sugar
1 cup shortening
2 eggs
2 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
2½ cups old-fashioned oats
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Combine dates, white sugar, and water in a saucepan and boil until thick. Remove from heat and cool. In a large bowl, beat together the brown sugar, shortening, and eggs until creamy. Combine the flour, baking soda, and salt and stir into brown sugar mixture. Stir in oats.
Press half of the mixture in a 9 × 13-inch pan. Spread the date filling over the oats mixture. Then cover the dates with the remaining oats mixture. Bake until lightly browned, 30 to 35 minutes. Cool and cut into squares.