Daughter can go to college now
While most new college students were shopping, packing and stalling in the last few weeks before heading to the dorms, Miranda Geranios was making sure her family would be fed after she left for college.
The daughter of busy working parents and big sister to three hungry brothers, the 18-year-old had taken over the cooking duties at her house in the past few years. The family quickly realized they’d be in dire straits when she left.
“We’re doomed,” says her father Nick Geranios, a writer for the Associated Press in Spokane. “It’s been kind of a growing interest of hers. In the last few years, she has taken on all the planning of meals, the shopping for ingredients, and the cooking. The one thing she does not at all is the dishes.”
To keep her family from starving, Miranda spent the summer typing her tried-and-true recipes. She planned to give the results to her mom, Ann Joyce, who also works for The Associated Press. But as friends and family got wind of the project,they requested copies of the recipes as well.
Before long, Miranda’s intended three-ring-binder of family favorites turned into a full-fledged cookbook. One of her last stops before flying out to Colby College in Waterville, Maine, was at the Costco printing shop.
“I had a really great time doing up the cookbook because I really just enjoyed the actual design aspect of it,” Miranda said. She filled the book with 50 of her recipes and pictures she’s taken of her cooking.
“Ever since I can remember I have had a passion for food; the way a single bite can transform an otherwise bland day into something extraordinary and memorable,” Miranda wrote in the introduction to the book. “There is nothing more rewarding that sharing a great meal with the people closest to you.”
Miranda’s kitchen apprenticeship began by giving her mom a hand with dinner, especially on busy days. “It started out really just moderately. I would help my mom out in the kitchen. She’d be coming home late and I’d say, ‘Can I put on the water for the spaghetti?’ or something like that,” she said. “My mom taught me everything I know, and then I just expanded.”
Time-pressed cooks will appreciate the superstreamlined recipes. She compiled them with inspiration from family favorites, cookbooks, trial-and-error in the kitchen and the Food Network. There is pasta e fagioli soup, spanikopita, enchiladas, pasties, tuna noodle casserole, artichoke roasted potatoes, roasted red pepper dip, watermelon salad, cookies, fudge, and Peanut Butter Cheesecake Minis among the offerings.
“Probably my very favorite is the linguine with clam sauce,” she said. “I actually like it because the presentation is gorgeous … so when you serve it up, you feel like a master chef.”
Miranda said she’ll have access to small, shared kitchens at her dorm, but her biggest fear about heading to college is giving up her cooking. She’s hoping to make friends with students who have apartments so she can stay close to the stove. “No one will turn down a home-cooked meal,” she said.
She’s plans to study economics or business with an emphasis on restaurant management.
It must be in her blood, said Nick Geranios. His family owned a Greek restaurant in Montana for 40 years. But the kitchen gene seems to have skipped a generation.
While his wife Ann helped Miranda get settled at Colby, Nick and the kids went out to eat.
“The first day she was gone I took the boys to Applebee’s for all-you-can-eat riblets… and we looked pathetic enough they let us take some home.”
Brothers Kon, 16, Tom, 11, and Eli, 9 are missing their sister already.
The cookbooks are $15. If Miranda sells enough copies to make a profit, the money will pay for college costs.
” ‘Help starving college students’ – that’s my bookselling motto,” she said.
The cookbook is available at the Swordsman Yogurt and Ice Cream, 2910 E. 57th Ave., or by calling the Geranios family at 443-9431. Leave a message, and they will be in contact about a book.
Here are two of Miranda’s recipes she shared.
Linguine with Clam Sauce
This dish evokes a fancy and elegant feel of a swanky Italian restaurant without the effort or expense. Serve with plenty of crusty bread to absorb the succulent sauce.
3 tablespoons olive oil
3 cloves garlic, minced
4 green onions, chopped
20 mushrooms, sliced
1/2 cup white wine
1/2 teaspoon basil
1/2 teaspoon oregano
1/3 cup lemon juice
3 (6 1/2 -ounce) cans minced clams
1/4 cup chopped fresh parsley
Salt and black pepper, to taste
1 pound linguine noodles
Heat olive oil in a large non-stick skillet. Add garlic and green onion. Sauté until onions begin to get soft. Add mushrooms and sauté until mushrooms begin to give off juice, about 15 minutes. Add wine, seasonings and lemon juice.
Bring to a simmer. Boil water for linguine and cook according to package instructions. When noodles are added to the water, it’s time to add clams and parsley to sauce. Drain noodles and combine with sauce. Sprinkle with Parmesan cheese.
Yield: 5 servings
Approximate nutrition per serving: 532 calories, 12.5 grams fat (1.6 grams saturated, 21 percent fat calories), 40 grams protein, 64 grams carbohydrate, 74 milligrams cholesterol, 4.3 grams dietary fiber, 411 milligrams sodium.
Nanaimo Bars
From Miranda Geranios
1/2 cup butter
1 cup graham cracker crumbs (about 8 crackers)
1 cup walnut halves, chopped
1 bag semisweet chocolate chips
1 cup sweetened flaked coconut
1 (14-ounce) can sweetened, condensed milk
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Place butter in 8-inch square baking pan. Put pan in oven until butter melts. Sprinkle graham cracker crumbs evenly over melted butter, then pat crumbs into an even layer. Sprinkle walnuts over crumb layer.
Cover with chocolate chips; sprinkle coconut over chips and cover completely with sweetened, condensed milk. Bake until medium golden brown, about 25 minutes.
Allow to cool before cutting, store in refrigerator.
Yield: 18 bars
Approximate nutrition per serving: 307 calories, 18 grams fat (9.6 grams saturated, 51 percent fat calories), 4.5 grams protein, 35 grams carbohydrate, 24 milligrams cholesterol, 1.6 grams dietary fiber, 143 milligrams sodium.