In 1925 Earl May began broadcasting KMA Radio-960 from Shenandoah, Iowa, to boost his fledgling seed business. The station aired practical information designed to help with the day-to-day activity in midwestern farmhouse kitchens. Before long KMA was a trusted friend throughout the wide listening area, offering inspiration, companionship, and all manners of domestic counsel. Hosting the daily radio programs—Home Hour, the Stitch and Chat Club, and the KMA Party Line—and the live cooking demonstrations that drew thousands to the KMA auditorium was a changing roster of personable, lively women who quickly became known as the KMA Radio Homemakers.
Now, in Neighboring on the Air, we can hear the voices of the KMA homemakers and sample their philosophy and—best of all—cooking. Through recipes, biographies, and household advice we get to know such enduring women as "The Little Minister," the Reverend Edythe Stirlen, and Leanna Driftmier and the whole Kitchen-Klatter family, part of the longest-running homemaker program in the history of radio. Learn how to make Sour Cream Apple Pie from "The Farmer's Wife," Florence Falk; Varnished Chicken from the first long-term KMA Radio Homemaker, Jessie Young; and E.E.E. Missouri Dessert (nobody can remember what the "E.E.E." stands for) from the indomitable host of the Edith Hansen Kitchen Club. This endearing scrapbook of people, places, and foods charts the continuing adventure of the KMA homemakers as they broadcast into the 1990s. Neighboring on the Air is an enchanting piece of Americana. Anyone interested in cooking, cultural history, or the Midwest will want to own and use this book.
"If there is an poet laureate of radio homemaking, it is Evelyn."—Jane and Michael Stern in the New Yorker
"…a sentimental family album…that rewards the reader with a warm sense of heartland America at its friendliest. The recipes are just what you'd want in such a book: folksy, easy-to-make, utterly without pomp or formality."—Jane and Michael Stern
Preface and Acknowledgments
The Adventure Begins
The KMA Homemakers
Jessie Young
Bernice Currier
Doris Murphy
Leanna Driftmier and the Kitchen-Klatter Family
Edith Hansen
Martha Bohlsen
Adella Shoemaker
Men in the Kitchen
Evelyn Birkby
Florence Falk
Mary Williams
Billie Oakley
Joni Baillon
Jo Freed
Brenda Kay McConahay
Colleen Ketcham
Marilyn Lee and Sue Jones
Verlene Looker
The Adventure Continues
Postscript
Index
Leanna's Plain Good Meat Loaf
1/2 pound ground pork
1 pound ground beef
1/2 cup soft bread crumbs or oatmeal
1 egg beaten
1 cup milk or tomato sauce
2 tablespoons green pepper, chopped (optional)
1/2 cup onion, chopped
1 teaspoon salt
Dash of pepper
Combine all ingredients and mix thoroughly. Form into a loaf, place in a shallow pan, and bake about 45 minutes at 350 degrees. Leanna felt this quick and easy meat loaf not only tastes downright good but also has the virtues of holding its shape and slicing neatly.
Martha's Popovers
3 eggs
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup milk
1 cup flour
Heat 8 custard cups. Oil them and put into oven when you start your batter. Mix batter in a 1-quart measure. Beat eggs and salt thoroughly. Add milk. Stir in flour with a fork; then beat with mixer 2 minutes. Pour cups 1/2 full of batter. Bake in 425-degree oven for 30 minutes. Remove from oven, puncture center of each popover so steam will escape, and return to oven for 2 more minutes. Serve immediately.
Blueberry Bars
1 3/4 cups sugar
1 cup butter
4 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
3 cups flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 21-ounce can blueberry pie filling
Little ground nutmeg
Cream sugar and butter till fluffy. Add eggs and vanilla and beat well. Sift dry ingredients together. Add to creamed mixture. Stir till blended, using spoon. Spread half of dough on ungreased 15 X 10 jelly roll pan. Spread with blueberry pie filling, using spoon. Sprinkle with nutmeg. Drop remaining dough evenly over top. Bake in 350-degree oven for 45 minutes. Frost while warm with Lemon Frosting. Variation: Omit frosting and make a sugar, water, cornstarch mixture to spoon over individual servings as a dessert.
Lemon frosting
1 1/2 cups powdered sugar
2 tablespoons lemon juice
1 tablespoon butter, softened
Stir ingredients together and add milk to make a spreading consistency.
