L’Observateur / April 21, 2000

LAPLACE – Julie Reine of LaPlace first started cooking at about 18, when she moved out on her own. She then started cooking easy things on her own.When she was ready to move on to bigger projects, she would call her mother, Miriam Marks, for advice. Julie says she learned just abouteverything from her mother.

As a small child, Reine spent a lot of time in her grandmother, Martha St.

Martin’s kitchen. She picked up on a lot of the basics of Cajun cooking there.She said her grandmother could take anything out of her cabinet and create something wonderful.

Julie’s favorite things to make are appetizers. Sometimes, she will makeseveral different appetizers for her family in place of a traditional dinner.

Some of her appetizers include spinach dip, shrimp dip, chili rolls, Mexican fiesta dips, cheese logs and broccoli dip. Her shrimp mold is very much indemand by friends and family between Thanksgiving and New Year’s. Sheusually makes about nine or 10 shrimp molds by request during the holiday season.

Julie’s daughter Rachel loves her spinach and artichoke dip. Her husbandSteve’s favorite is her chicken spaghetti, and her stepson Jason likes anything she cooks, especially her barbecue.

When in season, she often prepares pepper jelly and blackberry jelly. She alsouses some of the berries to make blackberry cobbler for her father because he likes it so much.

Julie grew up in a large family and was used to contributing to the dinner menu because there was so many people to feed. Because of this, she alwaysbrings something to contribute when she is invited to someone’s home for dinner.

Bell pepper, garlic, celery, onion, garlic are all used regularly in her cooking.

She also likes to try many other spices when experimenting in the kitchen.

She likes to create new recipes as she goes. Julie says she often takes twoor three similar recipes for the same dish and takes a little from each to create her own recipe to her liking. She will substitute ingredients she likesfor ingredients she doesn’t like.

Sometimes even experienced cooks like Julie have an off day. Recently, shewas preparing several different things at one time and was rushing through each one. One of the things she was making was a meatloaf, which she hasprepared on numerous occasions. When her meatloaf was done it lookedbeautiful. Her husband sat down at the dinner table and took a bite. He said”Honey I can’t eat this.” She asked why not, took a bite and discovered ittasted funny and threw it out.

She learned a valuable lesson that day – don’t rush, take time and do one thing at time.

Here are a few of her favorite recipes she would like to share;

SPINACH DIP 2 boxes spinach, chopped 1 stick butter 3/4 cup parmesan cheese 1 can artichokes, chopped 1 onion, chopped 1 pkg. cream cheese1 dash sour cream Cook spinach and drain. Add onion and butter. Cook for five minutes. Add allother ingredients and cook for an additional 10 minutes. Pour into a pyrexdish and top with parmesan and mozzarella cheeses. Bake at 350 degreesfor 10 minutes.

SHRIMP MOLD 2 lbs. shrimp, boiled and chopped1 pkgs. Knox gelatin (dissolve in water)8 ozs. cream cheese1 cup mayonnaise 3/4 cup celery, chopped 3/4 cup fresh shallots (or 1/4 cup dried) dash Tabasco sauce 1 can tomato soup 1/4 cup water Heat soup and add cream cheese until smooth. Let cool. Add gelatin whichhas been dissolved in water. Mix thoroughly then add all other ingredients.Pour into mold and chill for four hours or overnight. Serve with crackers.

BEST MANICOTTI 1 lb. ground beef1 pkg. manicotti noodles1 onion, chopped 1 garlic 1 cup cottage cheese 4 ozs. mozzarella cheese1/2 tsp. salt1/2 cup mayonnaise 1 jar Ragu of Prego spaghetti sauce 1/2 tsp. oreganoparmesan cheese, to taste Cook noodles according to package directions. Brown meat with onion; drainoff fat. In a bowl, add all other ingredients except spaghetti sauce. Add meatto the combined ingredients and mix well. Pour half of the sauce in a 9x13baking pan. Stuff each manicotti, place in the baking pan and top with layerof sauce. Sprinkle each with parmesan cheese. Bake at 350 degrees for 20-25 minutes.

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