Veach pie
chef’s table
was maple flavoring rather than vanilla,” he admits. The frosting turned out to be the perfect accompaniment to his coffee cake, and John received compliments from fellow bakers saying he had upped the ante for future competitions. A competitive spirit seems to run in the family. In 1981, one of Dorothy’s fancy yeast breads was selected as the sweepstakes winner for the Abilene Reflector-Chronicle cooking contest. In 1998, Dorothy’s dinner rolls took second place in the Kansas Wheat Commission’s Kansas Festival of Breads Bake-Off. In 2002, her glazed almond coffee cake won second place in the bread and roll division in the Salina Journal Holiday Cookbook competition. And in 2014, Dorothy’s braided pineapple coffee cake won second place in the adult breads division of Memorial Health System’s Volunteer Corps Gold Medal Baking Contest. During that same contest, Sarah won first place in the youth cake and pie division. In keeping with a “groovy” theme, she divided vanilla cake batter into small bowls, added different food colors to each and then spooned the colored batters into cupcake tins. The tie-dye effect earned Overall Theme Winner. John, however—remember that competitive streak?—points out that the judges’ written remarks mentioned that they were impressed with the frosting, the same maple frosting he used on his winning coffee cake. While some kitchen mishaps win prizes, others just make for memorable stories. John reminds Sarah of the cookies she once served the family. “I used salt instead of sugar, and after one bite knew they were terrible,” Sarah confesses. Instead of throwing them out, she sandwiched frosting between two of them and served her creation to the family. “I was so young that they pretended to like them, at least for awhile,” she says. Sarah, in turn, prods her dad to tell about his chocolate chip cookies. “This was a recipe that I’d made over and over, but all of a sudden every time I made them they just turned into goop as they baked,” John recalls. Determined to try one more time, he had the ingredients assembled when his wife, Molly, walked through the kitchen. She took one look and asked why he was using powdered sugar instead of flour. As the trio joke about kitchen mishaps, Sarah points out everyone is destined to make a few. “I’ve learned you just accept them and then strive to do better.” Her grandmother adds, “Practice is essential. You can’t always expect to have perfect results the first few times you try.” There are, however, few if any mistakes when the entire family gathers to share tried-and-true favorites. Everyone in the family, including John and Molly’s younger son, Ben, enjoys bowls of Dorothy’s potato or taco soup, or her chicken or beef noodle dinners. Other times, John throws together a stew that is just as popular with Sarah’s teenage friends as it is with his family. And, with three bakers in the family, chances are good that most meals will end with dessert.
Sunflower living winter 2015
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