By Pinkie.
When I was in the convent as a postulant we were in charge of cooking. The kitchen sister would tell us the menu for the day and then we had to execute it. As a result, I learned many new recipes that I hadn’t ever encountered before. Some sounded strange initially but ended up being surprisingly delicious. We also had many special desserts for feast days and holidays that were truly amazing. And then of course kitchen accidents or sisters trying to make due with limited resources resulted in some interesting creations. I though it might be fun to share recipes that we experienced in the convent. Here are a few of mine to get us started:
“Dominican” Dog Salad
When this was described to me I am sure I wrinkled my nose. Um, cut up hot dogs mixed with cabbage? No thanks. But then when you eat it – yum! Here’s a recipe I found on-line that I think is really close to the convent version:
http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/rachael-ray/chicago-dog-salad-recipe.html
Sr. Katie’s Saltine Dessert
We needed dessert and the baking cupboards were bare. An industrious classmate of mine pulled this together using what was available and everyone enjoyed it! Lay out saltines on a cookie tray, (over wax paper makes it easier to get dessert out and to clean.) Pour homemade caramel, (1 cup butter and 1 cup brown sugar, boiled until thick and bubbly,) on top of saltines. Sprinkle with chocolate chips and melt in the oven. Spread the chocolate evenly over the top and then harden in the freezer. Break into little squares.
Please share your favorite recipes and cooking stories below!
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During part of my formation, I lived at a retreat center where we often had leftovers from the groups that came, so it was up to the designated cooks of the days after the retreats to make the best of leftovers.
One way to jazz up the chicken patties was to make “Chicken Parmesan” with them by reheating them with a little pasta sauce and shredded cheese on top.
Another trick that seemed to go over well was slicing thinly or cubing up left over meat and putting it in a taco shell with some shredded cheese and reheating it as a quesadilla.
To the surprise of our superiors, us folks in formation would request to use dinner’s leftovers for breakfast, since culturally speaking, many in my group had not grown up on the typical American continental breakfast. Once this was discovered, the superiors were more than happy to let us make use of the leftovers since they were often quite abundant!
The best cooking story I ever heard was when one of our Sisters (a known prankster) served our general superior, who was visiting from abroad, a creme puff which had a tissue as filling! The superior appreciated the joke and quickly asked for another creme puff in order to play the same trick on another unsuspecting Sister!