OxfordPress.com

Cook of the Week: Kathy Banks

NAME: Kathy Banks

HOME: Collinsville

WORK: fourth-grade teacher at Seven Mile Elementary School, in Edgewood City Schools.

HOW LONG COOKING: She can?t remember not helping her mom cook; been cooking or helping in the kitchen since a toddler.

HOW OFTEN SHE COOKS: Cooks five nights a week, but makes 2 large entrees a week, then reinvents new dishes using the leftovers.

COOKING MENTORS: Her mom, Phoebe Bolser, of Somerville, and late grandmother, Marian Eiler.

COOKING STYLE: Country cooking, and making casseroles and soups using leftovers.

FAVORITE COOKBOOK: a loose-leaf notebook that contains all of her favorite recipes, mostly from the JournalNews. Knows her standard recipes by heart.

FAVORITE RESTAURANT: La Rosa?s.

SPECIAL INTERESTS: Baking, flower gardening.

TWO FAVORITE SIDE DISHES: Carmen?s spinach and rice salad; Erin?s Ramen noodle salad.

Carmen's spinach & rice salad

1/2 pound fresh spinach

about 1/2-pound fried and crumbled bacon, or to taste

1 (6-ounce) package long grain wild rice, cooked and cooled

1 package Good Season Italian dressing

11/2 tablespoons soy sauce

2 tablespoons sugar

Make Good Season Italian dressing according to directions on the package. Add soy sauce and sugar to dressing mixture and shake. Just before serving, put spinach in a large bowl; then put bacon and rice over spinach. Mix in dressing and serve immediately. (NOTE: Whether it's for a holiday dinner or a spur-of-the-moment dinner, she makes this recipe a lot because the ingredients are easy to keep on hand.) Yield: 10 to 12 servings.

Erin's Ramen noodle salad

SALAD:

6 cups shredded cabbage

4 chopped scallions or green onions

1/2 cup sunflower seeds

1/2 cup sliced almonds

Chinese/Oriental Ramen noodles, broken into pieces (dry and uncooked)

In a large bowl, add cabbage, scallions, sunflower seeds, almonds, and Ramen noodles. Mix gently until combined. Make dressing. Pour dressing over cabbage mixture just before serving.

Yield: 8 to 10 servings.

DRESSING:

1/2 cup vegetable oil

2 tablespoons vinegar

2 tablespoons sugar

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon pepper

seasoning packet from the Ramen noodle package

In a small bowl, mix together vegetable oil, vinegar, sugar, salt, pepper, and seasoning packet from the Ramen noodles.