Irene Printup of Napoli began her love of cooking at a former Randolph restaurant and even though she no longer works away from home, she continues to create delicious dishes daily.

“When I first started cooking, I was waitressing at The Cottage Restaurant. A lovely lady named Lois Harrington introduced me to the deep fryers. I learned French fries, seafoods for the platters-shrimp, scallops, fish,” she says. “I never forgot those chicken wings. There were four fryers. I could go through 2 quarts of lemonade like that. I learned to do prime rib, too.”

“When I got tired of doing nights and weekends, I went to The Ellicottville Inn and worked days. I made the crust for the steak and kidney pies,” she adds. “I used to do ten pies when the manager would have the backers (of the business) at his house.”

She enjoys all baking, but pies are her forte and can’t bake just one. Her family and friends are aware of this and stop by with anticipation of what the flavor of the day might be.

“My Mom’s mom taught me to do pie crust. When we were growing up I used lard. I’m now a Crisco girl, but it was hard switching from one to the other. You can follow a recipe (for pie crust), but I go by the way it looks. I can whip up pies faster than I can cookies,” she says. “The last place I made pies was the Randolph Manor. I only made them because the residents loved them. My uncle was a resident and loved banana cream pie. He would go to the store if I didn’t have bananas. One lady would collect bananas from the residents to be sure there were bananas for the pies.”

“We all baked when we were kids. There were eight kids, so when Mom decided we were old enough to be cooking, she’d have the recipe ready when we came home from school.”

She likes to serve Johnny Cake with the Sausage with Pork and Beans dish from her childhood.

“On Saturdays we cleaned out the refrigerator and ate leftovers for lunch. If there wasn’t enough food to go around we had Sausage with Pork and Beans.”

She has prepared several tea parties for Red Hatters and was introduced to White Lily Flour through a tea magazine, Southern Lady Magazine. It has become her favorite flour to use in biscuits, because “it’s a finer flour and makes biscuits higher.” It can be purchased at Wegman’s.

“My grandmother taught me to pat my biscuit dough, not roll it.”

Her Custard Pie is silky-smooth and perfectly blended with no hint of congealed egg pieces, because she whips them separately, then again after the sugar has been added. The Cherry-Rhubarb Coffee Cake is a church favorite and the Chicken and Herbed Dumplings is one of her family’s favorites.

“The Chocolate Bars recipe was on an index card. I’m not sure where it came from.”

She uses the Summer Squash recipe as a side dish or a complete meal, depending on what else needs to be used up in the refrigerator.

“The Summer Squash recipe is very adaptable.”

Mrs. Printup is a member of Napoli United Methodist Church, where she is in charge of the kitchen. Each year she oversees the day shift at her church’s ice cream booth at the Cattaraugus County Fair. She collects cookbooks and has three long shelves full of them. Reading is another interest and she has read several of Danielle Steele’s and Norah Roberts’ books. Recently she has been reading biographies and books written by various authors about the Amish. She has a passion for several types of needlework, including embroidering, crocheting and knitting. She crochets baby afghans and hats and knits scarves, hats and afghans. Her grandmother taught her how to embroider.

“My grandmother started me on poodle pillowcases when I was ten and taught me how to keep them from being messy on the back.”

She learned to sew from her mother, grandmother and in school. She alters her grandchildren’s clothing.

“There were five girls in our family and my mother and grandmother made our dresses when we were kids. The first skirt I made was at school without a pattern. She (the teacher) showed us how to rip the material without using scissors. It had a gathered waist with just a hook and eye.”

“I’ve made a couple of quilts. My cousin keeps saying she’s going to make a quilter out of me yet.”

She enjoys caring for her chickens.

Her husband Jon and she have five children. Jennifer lives in Tampa, Florida; Rick in Chicago, Illinois; Jon Jr. and William in Napoli; and Jay in Buffalo. They have eleven grandchildren and a Jack Russell Terrier named Rufus.

After looking through her favorite recipes, she chose the following to share today.

Chocolate Bars

2 c flour

1 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

2 squares chocolate

1/4 c sugar

1/3 c water

3/4 c shortening

1/2 c sugar

1 c packed brown sugar

3 eggs

1 tsp vanilla

Sift together flour, baking powder and salt. Set aside. Melt together chocolate, sugar and hot water. Set aside to cool. Cream shortening, 1/2 cup sugar and brown sugar. Add eggs and vanilla. Blend in dry ingredients. (May add 1 cup shredded coconut.) Spread batter in well-greased 10×15-inch shallow pan. Use teaspoon to draw lines in batter. Pour chocolate mixture in indentations. Bake for 25-35 minutes at 375 degrees.

Summer Squash

1 T butter or coconut oil

1-2 small green or yellow squash or combination

Onion

Sweet peppers, any color

Mushrooms

Tomatoes, fresh or canned

Sweet or hot Italian or Polish sausage

Pepper herb and garlic

Parmesan cheese

Slice or dice squash, onion and peppers. Fry in butter or coconut oil. Add seasonings. Top with Parmesan cheese. Two or more servings.

Sausage with Pork and Beans

6-8 breakfast sausage

1-11 oz Pork and Beans

Small-medium onion, diced

Cook sausage with onion. Drain. Add beans and heat until hot.

Berry Pie

5 c berries, blackberries, blueberries, raspberries or cherries or any combination

1 c sugar

1/4 c 1 T cornstarch

Pinch cinnamon

9-10 pastry crust

Combine dry ingredients. Stir in berries. Transfer to a pastry-lined pie pan. Top filling with pastry or crumb topping. Bake for 45 minutes to an hour at 400 degrees.

Blueberry Crisp

4 generous cups blueberries

1/2 c sugar

1/4 c flour

1/4 tsp salt

2 tsp lemon juice

Topping

1 1/2 c flour

1/4 tsp salt

1/2 c sugar

10 T butter, melted

1 c walnuts or pecans, chopped

Grease and flour a 9-inch pan. Put blueberries in pan. Mix sugar, flour, salt and lemon juice together. Sprinkle mixture over berries. In medium-sized mixing bowl, stir together topping ingredients. Sprinkle over fruit. Bake at 350 degrees for 45-50 minutes or until the top is golden and filling is bubbly. Cool slightly. Serve warm with ice cream or whipped cream.

Kelley’s Fruit Salad

1 c orzo pasta

1 large can crushed pineapple

1 can mandarin oranges

2 eggs, slightly beaten

2 T flour

3/4 c sugar

8-12 oz whipped topping

Cook pasta according to directions on box. Drain fruit, reserving juice. Refrigerate fruit. Combine juice with eggs, flour and sugar in a medium saucepan. Cook, stirring, over medium heat until thick. Combine with pasta. Refrigerate overnight. Add fruit and whipped topping. Serve.

Banana Drop Cookies

2/3 c shortening

1 c sugar

2 eggs

1 c mashed, ripe bananas

1 tsp vanilla

2 1/2 c flour

2 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp soda

3/4 tsp salt

1 tsp cinnamon

Cream shortening and sugar. Beat in eggs, banana and vanilla. Sift dry ingredients and combine with wet ingredients. Drop cookie dough from teaspoon onto greased baking sheet. Bake at 350 degrees for 12 minutes or until golden brown. Frost with white frosting. Yield four dozen.

Banana-Nut Cake

2 1/2 c flour

1 2/3 c sugar

1 1/4 tsp baking powder

1 1/4 soda

1 tsp salt

2/3 c soft shortening

2/3 c buttermilk

1 1/4 c mashed, ripe banana (about 3)

3 eggs

2/3 c finely chopped nuts

Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees. Grease and flour two, 9-inch or one, 13×9-inch pan. Blend flour, sugar, baking powder, soda and salt. Add shortening, half of buttermilk and bananas. Beat 2 minutes at medium speed or vigorously by hand. Add eggs and the rest of buttermilk. Beat 2 more minutes. Fold in nuts. Pour into pans. Bake layers about 35 minutes, 45-50 for 13×9-inch. Cool. Frost.

White Biscuits

2 c flour (I prefer White Lily brand, which can be purchased at Wegman’s)

1 T baking powder

1 tsp salt

1/4 shortening, chilled

2/3-3/4 c buttermilk or milk

Preheat oven to 500 degrees. Spray baking sheet with non-stick spray. Combine flour, baking powder and salt in a medium bowl. Cut in shortening with a pastry blender or two knives until crumbs the size of peas form. Blend in just enough milk with fork until dough leaves sides of bowl. Turn dough onto lightly floured surface. Knead gently two to three times. Roll dough to -inch thickness. Cut using floured biscuit cutter or a glass. Place on prepared baking sheet 1-inch apart for crisp sides or almost touching for soft sides. Bake 8-10 minutes or until golden brown. Makes 12 biscuits.

Custard Pie

Line 9-inch pie pan with pastry, building up high-fluted edge.

4 eggs or 8 yolks

2/3 c sugar

1/2 tsp salt

1/4 tsp nutmeg

2 2/3 c scalding hot milk

1 tsp vanilla

Preheat oven to 450 degrees. Beat eggs slightly with beater. Then beat in rest of ingredients. Pour into pie pan. Bake 15 minutes, then reduce heat to 350 and bake 10-15 minutes more, just until knife inserted 1″ from side of filling comes out clean. Center may still look a bit soft but it will set as it cools. If baked too long the custard will become watery. Can be served slightly warm or cold.

Cherry Rhubarb Coffee Cake

Filling

4 c chopped fresh or frozen rhubarb

2 T lemon juice

1 c sugar

1/3 c cornstarch

1-20 oz can cherry pie filling

Cake

3 c flour

1 c sugar

1 tsp baking powder

1 tsp soda

1/2 tsp salt

1 c cold butter

1 c buttermilk

2 eggs, slightly beaten

1 tsp vanilla

Crumb Topping

1 1/2 c sugar

1 c flour

1/2 c cold butter

Filling – In a saucepan, cook rhubarb and lemon juice over medium-low heat for 5 minutes, stirring often to prevent burning. Combine sugar and cornstarch; whisk into rhubarb mixture. Cook and stir 5 minutes longer or until thickened and bubbly. Stir in pie filling. Set aside to cool.

Cake – Combine flour, sugar baking powder, soda and salt in a large bowl. Cut in butter until mixture resembles fine crumbs. In a mixing bowl beat the buttermilk, eggs and vanilla. Add to flour mixture, stirring just until moistened. Spread a little more than half the batter into a greased 13×9-inch pan. Spread cooled filling over batter. Drop remaining batter by teaspoonfuls onto filling.

Topping – Combine sugar and flour. Cut in butter until mixture forms coarse crumbs. Sprinkle over batter. Bake at 350 degrees for 40-45 minutes or until a toothpick cooks out clean. Cool on wire rack. 16-20 servings

Chicken and Herbed Dumplings

1 whole chicken (3 1/2-4 lb)

2 stalks celery, chopped

2 carrots, sliced

1 parsnip, cubed

1 onion, chopped

3 cloves garlic, minced

1 bay leaf

2 tsp salt

1 tsp thyme

1 bunch fresh parsley

1/2 tsp freshly ground pepper

Dumplings

1 c flour

1/2 tsp thyme

1/2 tsp marjoram

1 1/2 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

3 T butter, softened

1/4 c fresh parsley, chopped

1/3 c milk

Remove and reserve giblets and neck from chicken. Rinse chicken and pat dry. Arrange chicken, breast side up, in large pot. Add celery, carrots, parsnip, onion, garlic, bay leaf, salt and pepper and enough water to cover chicken.

Bring water to boil over high heat. Reduce to medium-low, cover and simmer about 50 minutes or until chicken is no longer pink in center. Remove and discard parsley and bay leaf.

In medium bowl, combine flour, thyme, marjoram, baking powder and salt; mix well. With fork, blend butter into flour mixture. Add chopped parsley. With fork, stir in milk to make firm dough. Divide into 10 parts; shape each into dumpling.

Transfer chicken to platter. Remove skin; carve into serving pieces and place in deep serving bowl. With slotted spoon, transfer vegetables to chicken. Cover with foil to keep warm.

Bring broth in pot to a boil; skim off any foam. With large spoon, lower dumplings into boiling broth. Cover and cook 10-15 minutes or until dumplings puff and interiors are uniformly set. To test, cut into center of one dumpling. Spoon dumplings over chicken and vegetables; pour broth over dumplings. Serve in soup bowls.