A Toronto doctor once offered his patients some brilliant advice on how to improve your general health.
He suggested taking a cookbook to bed. Not just any cookbook though. A very special cookbook: Edna Staebler’s Food That Really Schmecks.
He told his patients they should pick out a recipe they really liked to try the next day and invite a friend over to share the meal. He said the experience would be better for them than any medication he could possibly prescribe.
That story came to mind when reading a tiny one-paragraph note in The Toronto Star last week that announced that, at the age of 100, Edna Staebler had died after a stroke in a Waterloo nursing home.
Although she had a long and distinguished career as a journalist and creative non-fiction writer, the Order of Canada recipient was justifiably known best for her cookbooks, Food That Really Schmecks, More Food That Really Schmecks and Pies and Tarts With Schmecks Appeal.
I found a copy, autographed no less, of More Schmecks in the Mississauga Library sell-off section a few years ago and we have enjoyed many meals from it since.
Staebler’s folksy, down-to-earth style is as inviting as the aromas that will waft from your oven when you start trying the recipes, many of which come from the Mennonite community.
Her Speedy Pat-in Pastry recipe was a godsend when the doctor said there was a cholesterol issue to deal with and the taste buds refused to give up peach, or strawberry-rhubarb or lemon meringue pies.
Edna’s books are full of little yarns that precede the recipes like this one for ginger raisin muffins. “One day when four friends were coming to my cottage, I didn’t have an egg to put in my muffins so I had to invent some without eggs. The man of the company ate four, the ladies two apiece and they were the fat ones (I mean the muffins.) The ladies at Marnie’s ate quite a few of these too but they were smaller (again I mean the muffins.)”
The Muffins in Half an Hour section is my favourite of More Schmecks. This one is particularly nice and happened to be the favourite of Staebler’s sister Ruby.
Date and Orange Muffins
1 whole orange 1 1/2 cups flour
1/2 cup orange juice 1 teaspoon soda
1 cup chopped dates 1 teaspoon baking powder
1 egg 2/3 cups white sugar
1/2 cup butter or margarine 1 teaspoon salt
Cut whole orange into pieces to remove seeds. Drop pieces into a blender with the orange juice and whirl until peel is finely chopped. Drop in dates, egg and butter or margarine and give blender very short whirl. Into a bowl, sift the flour, soda, baking powder, sugar and salt. Pour orange mixture over the dry, stir lightly, just to moisten. Drop spoonfuls into buttered muffin tins and bake at 400 F for about 15 minutes. They are super.