Cabbage

I wanted something bright, fresh and crisp for the upcoming summer season, and this salad hit the mark. It has a nice crispness, delightful flavor and delicious crunch.   Try a variety of your favorite apples and mix up the sharpness of cheddar if you wish. The sky is the limit, so mix up this delightful summer dish and enjoy. — Scott C. Anderson is associate food service director and chef with Shepherd University dining services in Shepherdstown, W.Va., and Chef Ambassador to the Wisconsin Milk Marketing Board.

1 head cabbage (about 3 pounds) Large pot of boiling water 1 large can sauerkraut 2 pounds ground chuck 1/2 cup warm water 1 beaten egg 1/2 medium onion, finely diced 1 cup uncooked rice Salt and pepper, to taste 1 cup tomato sauce 1 cup ketchup Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Cut cabbage deeply around core to loosen leaves. Remove core. Boil cabbage for about five minutes. Take leaves apart and set aside to cool. Remove about 1 inch of rib from the cabbage leaves.

Rough guess, I would say that we've spent $200 on toys for the bouvier de Flandres named Opie. Off the top of my head, I recall the $18 croaking frog we call Ribbit, the $13 squeaking hedgehog, the $15 Mr. Squirrel and a $17 Mr. Beaver. And that's not to mention various assorted balls and bones and chews. So what are his favorite toys? In no particular order, they are a limb from a cedar tree, a plastic snow shovel handle, a chunk of a broken ceramic lawn ornament and a cabbage.

For the chicken: 2 tablespoons soy sauce 1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar 1 clove garlic, thinly sliced Coarsely ground black pepper, to taste 1 1/2 pounds boneless, skinless chicken thighs 2 tablespoons sunflower or vegetable oil Fresh basil leaves, for garnish For the sauted cabbage: 1 tablespoon sunflower or vegetable oil 1 tablespoon butter 4 cups roughly chopped green cabbage Salt and...

Potted cucumber Hyliene Tusing, 96, a resident of Somerford Assited Living, grew this cucumber in a hanging plant pot, along with tomatoes and onions. She also grows herbs. The cucumber is 13 inches long. Thumbs up Branden Lewis, 4, grew this large cucumber in the garden he and his mother, Michele (Lewis) Brantner, grew this year. Big cabbage Ashley Keedy, 12, holds a cabbage that weighed in at 11 pounds, 4 ounces. It was grown in the family's garden in Rohrersville.

Barbecue Sauce 1/2 cup brown sugar 1/3 cup apple cider vinegar 1/2 cup Worcestershire sauce 1 cup strong coffee 1 1/2 cups catsup 1/2 cup corn oil In a medium saucepan, off the heat, mix brown sugar, cider vinegar Worcestershire sauce and coffee to dissolve the sugar. Whisk in the catsup and corn oil Bring sauce to a boil, and simmer uncovered for 5 minutes to blend flavors. Cool. The sauce will keep indefinitely refrigerated. Heat sauce before using to baste grilled food.

Oct. 13 - Oct. 19 The Washington County Commission on Aging offers noon lunches to anyone over 60 years old at seven locations - Hancock, Smithsburg, Keedysville, Williamsport and three in Hagerstown. A two-day reservation notice is required and a donation is asked per meal. For information, call 301-790-0275. Weekly menu Wednesday - Lasagna with meat sauce, tossed salad, school made roll, pears and milk. Thursday - Boiled ham, potatoes and cabbage, whole grain bread, yellow cake with chocolate icing, pineapple and milk.

Whoever said, "Everybody's Irish on Saint Patrick's Day," might have been at the Hagerstown home of Bob and Dolores Vidoni for a Saint Patrick's Day dinner, when just about the only thing Irish in the house is the corned beef and cabbage. There's also the Rev. Chris Moore, the only one of Irish heritage among the handful of guests at the yearly dinner party. Moore is a priest at Saint Joseph Catholic Church in Hagerstown. He said the Vidonis' Saint Patrick's Day dinner is the only time he eats Irish cooking all year.

Irish Soda Bread 5 cups all-purpose flour 2 tablespoons baking powder 1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda 1 1/2 teaspoons salt 1/2 stick butter 18 fluid ounces buttermilk 1 cup raisins or currants Mix dry ingredients with paddle attachments in mixing bowl to distribute soda, baking powder and salt. Cut up slightly softened butter and add to dry ingredients. Mix at medium speed approximately two minutes.

Julia Brugh of Hagers-town has canned with her mother and sister for many years. "I refer to our endeavors as the Wildcat Growers Cooperative, after a fictional island called Wildcat Island our father used to tell us stories about when he was alive," Brugh said. This is an old recipe the Wildcat Growers Cooperative used this year that my mother, Peggy Stinson, learned from her father. Her grandfather grew up in Harpers Ferry, W.Va., and lived there before it became a national historical park.

Hagerstown resident Julia Brugh gets together with her mother and sisters every year to harvest and can produce. They call themselves the Wildcat Growers Cooperative. Brugh said the idea behind the End of the Garden Pickle is to take anything that is left from your garden and use it in the relish. "The End of the Garden pickle was produced on Columbus Day every year," Brugh said. "Mom took all the leftover vegetables that there was not enough to do with individually, and she made this pickle.

Julia Brugh of Hagers-town has canned with her mother and sister for many years. "I refer to our endeavors as the Wildcat Growers Cooperative, after a fictional island called Wildcat Island our father used to tell us stories about when he was alive," Brugh said. This is an old recipe the Wildcat Growers Cooperative used this year that my mother, Peggy Stinson, learned from her father. Her grandfather grew up in Harpers Ferry, W.Va., and lived there before it became a national historical park.

I wanted something bright, fresh and crisp for the upcoming summer season, and this salad hit the mark. It has a nice crispness, delightful flavor and delicious crunch.   Try a variety of your favorite apples and mix up the sharpness of cheddar if you wish. The sky is the limit, so mix up this delightful summer dish and enjoy. — Scott C. Anderson is associate food service director and chef with Shepherd University dining services in Shepherdstown, W.Va., and Chef Ambassador to the Wisconsin Milk Marketing Board.

My grandmother on my mother's side was also a wonderful cook and baker. Many recipes were not written down; she cooked by look and feel. This coleslaw recipe falls into that category. She never measured anything, just put the ingredients together until they looked, felt and tasted right. Along the way, with passing the ingredients for the coleslaw recipe around, our family has attached measurements so that this recipe can be shared more easily. The interesting thing about Grandma Dudrow's coleslaw is the Cool Whip topping and cherries.

Dear Lynne: The people in my building hang out and cook together. Me, the almost-non-cook, gets away with contributing wine and fruit. Until now. We're doing a party and cooking competition. We drew lots for dishes. I got "Best Coleslaw" and "Best Boozeless Drink. " Have you got some easy recipes? -- Hoping in New Haven Dear Hoping: This slaw recipe will let you hold your head high, and the tart and spicy citrus fizz cools down guests without sticky sweetness. The one out-of-the-way ingredient you will need is Spanish smoked sweet paprika.

I miss the old roses terribly. They are growing few and far between because these old species don't often fit into yards, and their bloom season is but a few weeks in late spring. I miss them because they are fragrant. I miss their cabbage-shaped blossoms. And when I do come upon them I am transported back to Queen Victoria and the gardens of her realm when horticulture was all the rage. I suspect the English fellow, David Austin, was similarly afflicted long ago. This longing drove a life spent re-creating a nostalgic flower that once nearly disappeared from gardens.

Potted cucumber Hyliene Tusing, 96, a resident of Somerford Assited Living, grew this cucumber in a hanging plant pot, along with tomatoes and onions. She also grows herbs. The cucumber is 13 inches long. Thumbs up Branden Lewis, 4, grew this large cucumber in the garden he and his mother, Michele (Lewis) Brantner, grew this year. Big cabbage Ashley Keedy, 12, holds a cabbage that weighed in at 11 pounds, 4 ounces. It was grown in the family's garden in Rohrersville.

Rough guess, I would say that we've spent $200 on toys for the bouvier de Flandres named Opie. Off the top of my head, I recall the $18 croaking frog we call Ribbit, the $13 squeaking hedgehog, the $15 Mr. Squirrel and a $17 Mr. Beaver. And that's not to mention various assorted balls and bones and chews. So what are his favorite toys? In no particular order, they are a limb from a cedar tree, a plastic snow shovel handle, a chunk of a broken ceramic lawn ornament and a cabbage.

For the chicken: 2 tablespoons soy sauce 1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar 1 clove garlic, thinly sliced Coarsely ground black pepper, to taste 1 1/2 pounds boneless, skinless chicken thighs 2 tablespoons sunflower or vegetable oil Fresh basil leaves, for garnish For the sauted cabbage: 1 tablespoon sunflower or vegetable oil 1 tablespoon butter 4 cups roughly chopped green cabbage Salt and...

Ryan Angles, 4, of Hagerstown gets a peek and a sniff of a dyed Easter egg Sunday at Washington County Rural Heritage Museum. The museum featured a program on dyeing eggs with blueberries, red and yellow onion skins, and red cabbage. Vinegar and water were the other ingredients.