89-year-old cook blended work, family
Born on Nov. 2, 1917, 89-year-old Kay Schovanec was a pioneer for her time and place.
A small-town Illinois girl from Campbell Hill, 30 miles north of Carbondale, she earned a scholarship and a teaching degree from Southern Illinois University and later retrained as a physical therapist at the University of Iowa at a time when women did not combine family and careers.
After she got married and had two daughters Kay continued to work part time, prepare hot meals every night for dinner and manage her Mount Prospect home.
She balanced work and family long before it became fashionable, and did it well.
"It was part of her values as a mother and wife," says her daughter, Linda Newhauser of Buffalo Grove. "We thought of her as a pioneer. She stepped away from family … during a time when women weren't really moving toward careers and working outside the home."
Though she knew very little about cooking when she got married, Kay dove into that challenge the way she seems to have tackled everything. Early on she learned from her mother-in-law how to prepare many of husband Al's favorite Bohemian dishes and breads.
"I always cooked from scratch," says Kay, who allowed cake mixes and prepared pie crusts in her kitchen only recently. "That was the way my mother cooked; I hardly knew any other way."
Highly motivated even at a young age Kay begged her parents to let her enter kindergarten when she was 4 years old. Expecting her to tire of the routine, the teacher allowed it; Kay stuck with it.
At 16 Kay entered SIU and later graduated with a degree in secondary education. She taught physical education and history to high school students for seven years.
Feeling burned out she enrolled at the University of Iowa for physical therapy and worked at Hines VA Hospital near Cicero and then Holy Family Hospital in Des Plaines until 1979.
With her 90th birthday just around the corner Kay still loves to cook, eat and learn.
"The first thing I do when I come down in the morning is put on an apron and go into the kitchen," she says.
Pancakes, waffles or bacon and eggs might be on the menu. Lunches are simple soup-and-sandwich affairs, but dinners are still hearty, ethnic fare. Kay enjoys feeding her sweet tooth, too, with cookies and simple desserts like Lemon Torte.
"I keep us in cookies all the time," she says.
Cookbooks are an addiction. "I just can't help," laughs Kay.
Kay's cooking style hasn't changed much over the years. She still relies on old favorites from her mother-in-law like today's recipe for beef with dill gravy and dumplings -- "almost to-die-for."
"I like to eat," says Kay, "that's probably the main reason I cook."
Bohemian Beef With Dill Gravy
3- to 4-pound rump roast or sirloin tip roast
3 cans (15 ounces each) beef broth, or more to cover meat
Small onion, chopped
2 ribs celery, chopped
¾ cup corn starch
1½ cups sour cream
1 egg, beaten
1 sprig fresh dill, chopped, or more to taste
In a large pot, simmer roast in broth with onion and celery about 2 hours or until fork tender. Remove meat to a plate, let cool and slice. Discard vegetables.
For gravy: Heat broth in pan to simmer.
In a medium bowl, combine corn starch and sour cream and add to broth slowly, stirring until mixture reaches desired thickness (you may not need all of it). Add egg and dill, stirring well. Season with salt and pepper.
Return meat to pan and heat through. Serve over homemade or store-bought dumplings.
Serves nine to 12.
Nutrition values per serving: 400 calories, 17 g fat (8 g saturated), 10 g carbohydrates, 0 fiber, 47 g protein, 170 mg cholesterol, 290 mg sodium.
Lemon Torte
Crust
½ cup (1 stick) butter
40 club crackers, crushed
4 egg whites (reserve 3 egg yolks for filling, below)
1 cup sugar
Filling
¾ cup sugar
2 tablespoons cornstarch
3 egg yolks, slightly beaten
¾ cup water
2 tablespoons butter
3 tablespoons lemon juice
Dash salt
8 ounces nondairy whipped topping
For the crust: Heat oven to 350 degrees.
Melt butter in oven in 9-by-13-inch pan. Pat cracker crumbs evenly on top of butter.
In a medium bowl, beat egg whites until sift; beat in sugar gradually. Spread on top of crackers and bake 20 minutes. Allow to cool.
For filling: In saucepan combine sugar, cornstarch, egg yolks, water, butter, lemon juice and salt. Bring to boil over medium heat, stirring often. Reduce heat and simmer 1 minute or until thick. Spread on top of crust mixture. Spread whipped topping over all and refrigerate.
Serves 12 to 15.
Cook's note: May make one day ahead. Sprinkle with chopped nuts if desired.
Nutrition values per serving: calories, g fat ( g saturated), g carbohydrates, g fiber, g protein, mg cholesterol, mg sodium.
Yeast Dumplings
4 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon salt
2 eggs
1 envelope (.25 ounces) rapid rise dry yeast
1½ cups whole milk
2 slices white bread, cubed
In large bowl mix flour, salt and eggs. Add yeast to flour mixture, stirring well. Add milk and cubed bread and combine.
Place on floured bread board and knead just enough to firm up dough. Put in large bowl, cover with plastic and put in warm place to rise until double in size, about 1 hour. Dough is ready when it holds an imprint when pressed with a finger.
Turn out on floured bread board, knead lightly and divide into 3 pieces about 3 inches wide and 6- to 8-inches long, rounded on top like a loaf. Cook in large pot of boiling water 10 minutes on each side.
Remove one at a time, place on bread board and slice ½-inch thick. You should get about 40 dumplings. Work quickly or dumplings will be heavy.
Serves 10 to 12.
Nutrition values per serving: 200 calories, 2.5 g fat (1 g saturated), 36 g carbohydrates, 1 g fiber, 7 g protein, 40 mg cholesterol, 240 mg sodium.
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