Carol Clementz has always enjoyed cooking and baking and she can usually be found in the kitchen whenever she can find some extra time.
“I especially like to cook in the winter. It warms the house and makes the house smell so good,” she said.
Carol and her daughters, Hannah, 14, and an eighth grader, and Rebecca, 9, a fourth grader, reside in rural Geneseo and she said her daughters like to try new and different recipes. “The kids like to help me look for new recipes and they’ll look through a magazine and pick out things they think look good,” she said.
With her daughter’s busy schedules it’s sometimes difficult for Carol to find the time to cook, but preparing nutritious meals for her family is a job she takes very seriously.
When she is baking or cooking, Carol said she usually follows the recipe pretty closely and uses the ingredients the recipe calls for - she doesn’t substitute ingredients.
“The only thing I omit from a recipe is salt,” she said. “I never, ever, use salt in anything, and it really doesn’t make a difference to the taste of the recipe at all. My mother never used salt since she had high blood pressure so that’s just the way I’ve always done it also. You just don’t need it.”
Carol is very conscious about the ingredients that go into the food she prepares for her family. “I try to use low sodium products and I don’t ever have salt and pepper shakers out,” she said. “I use one percent milk, no butter, no fat, no cholesterol. I don’t fry anything. I either bake or grill meat.”
Carol knows there are some things she can’t prevent her daughters from getting into their diet, but she is a label reader and is very aware, especially of the sodium content in processed and pre-packaged foods. “When I look at a new recipe. I might tweak it and make it a little healthier if I can,” she said.
Carol is employed at Carl’s Barber Shop in Geneseo and has been there 22 years. “I took three years off when the girls were small. I’m really lucky to have such a good clientele and good customers,” she said. “They are nice people. I like what I do and I like talking to the customers. After so many years you really get to know them and their families. They respect me and I respect them.”
Carol learned the basics of cooking and baking from her mother (the late Mickey VanDeRostyne). “She was an excellent cook and so was my grandmother,” she said. “My mother decorated special occasion cakes for people for probably 20 years and she did all kinds of cakes. We loved watching her cook, especially when she decorated cakes.”
Carol fondly remembers that her mother had a form that would cut the top off a cake to make it level. “So my siblings and I got the extra top part of the cake. We absolutely loved that,” she laughs.
The frosting her mother used to decorate cakes is a recipe that has stayed in the family. “She always put a little almond extract in the frosting and it is the best,” she said, noting that was the only frosting her husband, the late Gene Clementz, liked. “As soon as he had the first bite of one of Mom’s cakes, he said I had to learn how to do that frosting. He loved it.”
Carol likes to do it all when it comes to cooking. “I like to bake, but I like to do complete meals also,” she said. “I like to surprise the kids with cookies and cupcakes.”
Noting that her daughters will try just about anything, Carol said they are not picky eaters. “They like meats, vegetables and salads. Hannah is gangbusters about trying new recipes,” she said. “I do a taco bake they love, and I got a recipe from a little Amish cookbooks for Country Chicken Casserole that is a favorite.”
The chicken casserole calls for cooked egg noodles, a pound of Velveeta cheese, a cup of milk, two cups of cooked, cubed chicken, a 10 oz. pkg of frozen peas and carrots (cooked), a half cup of Miracle Whip, and a tablespoon of dried chives.
“You heat the cheese, milk and Miracle Whip and add the other ingredients, put it in a casserole and bake it at 350 degrees for 30-45 minutes,” she said. “The kids love it.”
Carol and her daughters also like to grill out. “The girls love anything on the grill. We do shrimp, hamburgers, steak, chicken and fish,” she said. “I like it because there’s a lot less cleanup.”
Cookies are a favorite item in the Clementz home. “The girls will always go for cookies over cake or pie,” their mother said. “Chocolate chip is a favorite along with oatmeal chocolate chip and a brownie cookie that I make.” Carol adds she bakes often. “When the supply of cookies starts getting low, I know it’s time to bake again,” she said.
Since she tries to plan meals and does menu planning a week at a time, Carol said she likes to keep the staples on hand, things like tomato sauce and mushrooms.
“I like to do the meal planning so the kids know and can plan on what’s for supper,” she said. “Plus I do grocery shopping for the week at one time. Then you know for a week at a time that you’ve got the supplies you need.”
Carol and her daughters live several miles from town so, she said, she relies on neighbors and family occasionally. “Especially if it’s 8:30 p.m. and you’re missing just one ingredient,” she laughs.
When she plans menus, she said, she just gets out her favorite cookbooks and looks through the recipes. “I try to have something different each night, either beef, pork, chicken or fish,” she said.
“I plan the whole menu at one time and then I go through the freezer and cupboards and make out my shopping list.”
During the Christmas season, Carol and her four sisters gather for a cookie bake. “Mom started it years ago and we have just kept the tradition going,” she said. “We always meet at my sister Mary Clair Gustafson’s house in Atkinson because she has a double oven.”
The sisters get out all their favorite recipes that have been handed down through the family and make all their favorites. “Some of the recipes are Mom’s and some are Grandma’s, those are the ones we use,” she said. “We usually stick to our favorite recipes and then we divide the cookies with our kids and grandkids.”
Some of the must-do cookies include cut out sugar cookies, thumbprints, seven-layer bars, date cookies, oatmeal ice box cookies, peanut butter blossoms and spritz cookies. “Everyone has their favorites,” Carol said. “It’s a whole day of cookie baking and we pretty much stay right at it all day long. We might order something for lunch, but we eat on the go. The only problem is finding room to let the cookies cool. We run out of counter space real quick.”
The group begins baking at about 9 a.m. and are usually done by mid-afternoon. “It’s a busy day and a full day. Sometimes the grandkids stop by and help when they can,” she said. “The hardest part is finding a day we can all come. We always do it on a weekend.”
Carol adds she is always in charge of the cut out sugar cookies and said the secret to making good sugar cookies is to refrigerate the dough overnight so the flavors can blend and the dough won’t be sticky. “And don’t be afraid to put flour on the board you’re rolling them out on,” she advises. “I do the cut out cookies for Valentines Day, Halloween and all the holidays. And every sugar cookie is frosted with Mom’s frosting - that goes on every cookie.”
Besides having collected many family recipes, Carol also gets recipes from places like www.kraft.com, magazines, cookbooks, and newspapers. “I have my great-aunt’s original Betty Crocker cookbook and I get good recipes from there. For Thanksgiving, I always do the pies and one of our favorites is pecan pie and for that I use the recipe that’s in the Better Crocker
cookbook,” she said.
Besides cooking, Carol likes to read, sit out by their swimming pool in the summer, walk the dog and “just hang out with family and friends.”
She admits at the top of her pet peeve list are sticky counters and floors. “When I go to bed, I want to make sure everything is cleaned up,” she laughs. “A messy kitchen is very irritating to me. Everything has a place and everything needs to be in its place. I just don’t like clutter.”
On their birthdays her daughters get to pick out their favorite meal and one of their favorites is a chicken and roasted vegetable dish. “I just cut up carrots, asparagus, and broccoli and put it in a baking pan, add olive oil over all the veggies, then lay chicken breasts on top,” she said. “I rub the chicken breasts with Emeril Lagasse’s chicken rub and bake it for about 45 minutes at 425 degrees.”
Her favorite part of cooking is watching her children enjoy what she has made. “When they say something like ‘This totally rocks, Mom’ that is my favorite part of cooking and the best compliment,” she said. “Or when they ask for something I’ve made before.”
Carol watches the ingredients she uses because she wants to know the food she is cooking for her family is good for them. “Hopefully this will be instilled in them as they get older and they will make good choices,” she said.
Carol Clementz shares some of her favorite recipes.
Mom’s frosting
Carol Clementz
1 C. Crisco
2 C. powdered sugar
1 t. vanilla
1/2 t. almond extract
1/4 - 1/3 C. milk
Mix Crisco until creamy. Add 1 C. powdered sugar, vanilla and almond extracts, half of the milk. Beat until mixed good.
Add rest of ingredients. Beat 2-3 minutes. Add more milk if needed.
Grandma’s Christmas cookies
Carol Clementz
3 C. flour
2 t. baking powder
1 small t. baking soda
Sift together.
1 C. butter, worked into flour as for pie crust.
1 C. sugar
2 eggs
4 T. milk
Beat together.
Add to rest of ingredients. Mix with spoon and if need be mix by hand.
Roll out on floured board and cut with cookie cutter.
Spray cookie sheets with Pam baking spray.
Bake about 10-12 minutes at 350 degrees.
Frost with Mom’s frosting and decorate.
Note: Chill dough well before rolling out. It will handle better.
Easy oven stew
Carol Clementz
1 lb. boneless beef roast, trimmed and cubed
1 T. cooking oil
4 medium unpeeled potatoes, cut into 1 inch cubes
5 medium carrots, cut into 1 inch chunks
1 celery rib cut into 1 inch chunks
1 large onion, cut into 1 inch chunks
1 can (14-1/2 oz.) or one pint chunky stewed tomatoes
3 T. quick cooking tapioca
1 t. browning sauce, optional
1/8 to 1/4 t. pepper
pinch of salt if you want
1 C. frozen peas, optional
In Dutch oven or small roaster, brown steak in oil.
Add the next eight ingredients; cover and bake at 300 degrees for 4-5 hours, stirring twice.
Add the peas during the last 30 minutes of baking.
Blueberry stuffed French toast
Carol Clementz
12 slices day old white bread, crust removed
1 pkg. (8 oz.) cream cheese
1 C. blueberries
12 eggs
2 C. milk
1/3 C. pancake syrup
Grease 9x13 inch baking pan.
Put half the bread crumb mixture on bottom of pan.
Add layer of cream cheese pieces.
Add layer of blueberries.
Mix eggs, add milk and syrup. Mix good.
Add last layer of bread.
Pour egg mixture over.
Cover and refrigerate overnight.
Remove from refrigerator 30 minutes before baking.
Bake at 350 degree for 30 minutes, covered and 30 minutes uncovered.
Pancake syrup:
1 C. sugar
1 C. water
2 T. cornstarch
1 C. blueberries
Bring to boil and boil for 2-3 minutes.
Add blueberries and boil 8 minutes.
Geneseo, Ill. —
