Franceen's Kitchen

🏆 Franceen's Blue-Ribbon Rhubarb Preserves

The recipe that beat Marjorie Plunkett three years running.

• 6 cups chopped rhubarb (from MY garden, not the store)
• 4 cups sugar (do not skimp, this is not the time)
• 1 small box strawberry gelatin
• 1 squeeze of lemon & a "feeling"

Combine rhubarb and sugar, let sit overnight. Boil 15 minutes, stir constant or it WILL scorch and you'll be sorry. Stir in the gelatin, pour into clean jars. Makes about 6 jars. Secret: there is no secret, Marjorie, it's just patience, which you've never had.

🍪 Herbert's Favorite Oatmeal Cookies

My late husband would have eaten a dozen of these standing over the sink.

• 1 cup butter (real butter — margarine is for cowards)
• 1 cup brown sugar, ¾ cup white sugar
• 2 eggs, 1 tsp vanilla
• 3 cups old-fashioned oats, 1½ cups flour, 1 tsp each soda & cinnamon
• 1 cup raisins (or chocolate chips if the grandchildren are visiting)

Cream butter and sugars. Add eggs and vanilla. Mix in dry, then oats and raisins. Drop on a greased sheet, bake 350° for 11 minutes. Do NOT overbake. A hard cookie is a tragedy.

🥘 The Funeral Potatoes (a Casserole Brigade Classic)

For when a neighbor is grieving, moving, or simply Tuesday.

• 1 bag frozen hash browns
• 2 cans cream of chicken soup (the magic ingredient of my generation)
• 2 cups sour cream, 2 cups shredded cheddar
• 1 stick melted butter + crushed corn flakes on top

Mix everything but the corn flakes, spread in a 9×13, top with buttery flakes. Bake 350° for 45 minutes. Deliver in a dish you don't mind never seeing again.

🍋 Lemonade for Company

• The juice of 6 lemons, 1 cup sugar, 1 pitcher cold water
• A sprig of mint to look fancy

Stir. Serve on the porch. Gossip responsibly.