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Cook du Jour

Jane Weirick of Ojai figures she’s made her popular Chocolate Sheet Cake hundreds of times for various functions, including recent fundraising for Libbey Bowl reconstruction.

Photo by Joseph A. Garcia, Joseph A. Garcia / Star staff


Jane Weirick of Ojai figures she’s made her popular Chocolate Sheet Cake hundreds of times for various functions, including recent fundraising for Libbey Bowl reconstruction.

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  • Rob Varela/The Star Cook du Jour Gary Lumas shows off his shrimp Stuffed Mirliton (Chayote Squash) dish. "People think that Louisiana cooking is all hot," Lumas said. "It's not all hot, just well seasoned."
  • JOSEPH A. GARCIA/THE STAR Cook du Jour T.W. Lumas, a sergeant in the Oxnard Police Department, shows off his Red Beans and Rice recipe. Lumas said the recipe contains ham, sausage, onion, bell peppers, garlic, bay leaves and small red beans.
  • Rob Varela/The Star Cook du Jour Vivianne Twigg holds a plate of her marinated tri-tip. "I like good food," she said. "I love to cook because it's a good way to get to know people."
  • Ann Scanlin of Ojai displays her carrot souffle. "I try to cook things that I don't prepare every night," she said. "It's fun to cook healthy meals." Ray Meese/The Star
  • Mary Hintz of Ventura, the Ventura County Star's Cook du jour, presents her Minnesota Wild Rice soup with tiny pieces of Canadian bacon. "Nutrition and fresh ingredients are important," she says. Karen Quincy Loberg/The Star
  • Joseph A. Garcia/The Star Cook du Jour Juanita Suarez shows her Noodle Kugel, which she said can be used as a side dish or a dessert. "Just don't go too cheap with the ingredients," she said.
  • Gary Orozco, 5, enjoys the freshly made churros made by his godmother, Teresa Escamilla, the Ventura County Star's Cook du Jour. Karen Quincy Loberg/Star staff
  • Chuck Kirman /The Star Cook du Jour Danielle Roberts displays her California Grilled Cheese. "Cooking is my love language," she said. "That's the way I show everyone that I love them."
  • Joseph A. Garcia/The Star Cook du Jour Diane Mautner, Oxnard, shows her Apricot Strudel, which she said she has been making for more than 30 years.
  • PHOTO BY JOSEPH GARICA/STAR STAFF Maison Ens of Camarillo, The Star's Cook du Jour this week, shows off her vanilla cupcakes. "Baking from scratch doesn't take that much longer, but tastes so much better," she said.
  • PHOTOP BY JUAN CARLO Rebecca Stuebing of Camarillo shows off one of her specialties — French Toast Casserole.
  • Katie Anderson of Westlake Village with her wedding apron brings her Superbowl BLT Sandwich.
  • A Bundt cake is a yearly tradition for Lois Grooms, who learned from her grandmother.
  • “It looks hard, but it’s so easy,” says Cathi Goldberg of her Chicken Parmesan.
  • Rania Haddad displays a batch of her mnazalah, a Jordanian beef and eggplant dish.
  • With an assist from her granddaughter, Angie Smith displays her linguini with clams.
  • Denise Bernd displays her Chicken Parmigiana, so good you’ll want extra for sandwiches.
  • Her former mother-in-law, from Scotland, taught Lois Neil to make Shortbread Cookies.
  • Steeler fan Dan Diggs’ friends get to feast on his Game Day Meatloaf and cream puffs.
  • Cindy Kemp’s Chicken Matilija features rosemary-roasted chicken and cannellini beans. Kemp’s father was a professional chef and her mother was “a fabulous cook.”
  • Ellyn Mosbarger’s meatloaf recipe also works well shaped into individual meatballs.
  • Portability is a plus for Diane Zusman’s tasty Lemon Souffle Tart.
  • Cook du jour Shannon Perry displays a batch of her Summer Orzo Salad.
  • Cook du jour Peggy McLaughlin displays her Marilyn’s Special Cake creation.
  • Cook du jour Cassie Witherspoon displays her Cornish Hens with Wild Rice.
  • Cook du jour Darryl Sobelman holds his Chicken Acapulco topped with orange slices.
  • Longtime Somis resident Barbara Fulkerson likes to make Toffee and give it as gifts. Cook du Jour Barbara Fulkerson with her toffee.
  • Cook du jour Blanca Burneo of Oxnard holds a bowl and crock filled with Aguadito de Pollo (Green Chicken Soup), a Peruvian dish that her husband and grandchildren enjoy.
  • Joy Whipple holds a cupcake version of her teatime treat, Carrot Cake.
  • Cook du jour Peggy McLaughlin displays her Marilyn’s Special Cake creation.
  • Margaret Adams displays her Chocolate Cheesecake, a favorite of husband Douglas.
  • “I love to cook because I love different ingredients. Everything I do is experimental,” Jim Keppler says.
  • “I love people and making something special,” Betty Cochran says of her Cheese Bites.
  • Jean Maher of Camarillo won County Fair honors for her Three-layer Carrot Cake.
  • Jean Seder of Ventura displays her White Sea Bass Dijon in Puff Pastry.
  • Mary Anne Allen of Camarillo blows a kiss to her Chocolate Fudge Cake made with unsweetened chocolate, brown sugar and sour cream, among other ingredients.
  • Jane Weirick of Ojai figures she’s made her popular Chocolate Sheet Cake hundreds of times for various functions, including recent fundraising for Libbey Bowl reconstruction.
  • JOSEPH A. GARCIA/STAR STAFF Cook du jour Freddie Contarino displays her Chicken Enchildas dish.
  • JOSEPH A. GARCIA/THE STAR Cook du jour Lynne Moore, Oxnard, shows her Brownie Trifle recipe, which includes six layers of brownies, a chocolate pudding mix, whipped cream and topped with chocolate candy.
  • Cook du Jour Liz Nichol poses with her stuffed mushrooms. "Some of my friends make their own vanilla extract, so when I use store-bought items, of course it looks like I'm cheating and cutting corners," she said. "I'm just being smart with my time."
  • Cook du Jour Kay Rich with her meatloaf. "If there's leftovers you can make meatloaf sandwiches," she said. "This comfort food is the kind of thing a grandmother would make."
  • Angela Fajardo presents her Albondigas soup made from an old family recipe. "Everybody loves my soup," she said.
  • Jean Farley, Ventura, displays her chile relleno quiche dish. "I've made this recipe thousands of times," she said, "and everybody always raves about it."
  • Barbara D'Incau displays her Pasta Di Giorno. "It's easy, and has become one of our favorites," she said.
  • Cook du Jour Terry Diggs of Camarillo displays her Wheat Germ Zucchini Bread that she learned to make when she was in dental assistant school and which she has been making ever since, for 31 years.
  • Cook du Jour Lynn Wan poses with her shortbread cookies. "I usually have a short time window," she said, "and that's why I love cookies, because I can make them in about an hour."
  • Cook du Jour Tim Evrist poses with his stuffed shells. "I'm just a paint contractor by profession, a cook by fun," he said.
  • Cook du Jour Leslie McGarrahan poses with her carrot cake. "By eating a lot of healthy, low-sodium food, we can squeeze in our desserts and not feel bad about it," she said.
  • Cook du jour Sandy Fuller holds a jar of her homemade vanilla extract."I am always experimenting with new dishes," she said.
  • Cook du Jour Linsey Mead of Simi Valley is liberal with spices in preparing her Spicy Barbecue Chicken Salad. "I enjoy putting things together," she said. "Cooking is very relaxing for me."
  • Cook du Jour Ken Hamilton, 36, poses with his Shabbat fish stew. "If you want to eat good food, you have to do it yourself," he said.
  • Cook du Jour Heather Harrison poses with a bowl of salmon pasta salad. "Cooking is a passion of mine," she noted, "but it only comes out when I have the time."
  • Joel Reznick of Thousand Oaks displays his Burger Margarita — a hamburger patty mixed with heirloom-tomato sauce and then topped with mozzarella, basil and a slice of heirloom tomato, served on focaccia bread with a side of fresh mozzarella and sliced tomato.
  • Cook ju Jour Marie Perry displays AJ's Favorite Lemon Muffins. "For his birthday A.J. can choose any dessert and he chose my muffins," she said of her 9-year-old son.
  • Cook du Jour Jennifer Lyons poses with her green rice. She said the rice is "quick, easy and good."
  • Marsha Anderson of Ventura displays her Nova Scotia-based kimbly or "groaning cake." The sweet loaf, which features a rich blend of molasses and eggs, is offered to new mothers after a birth or christening of a child.
  • JOSEPH A. GARCIA/THE STAR Cook du jour Lani Laskowski displays her Strawberry, Rhubarb, Jalapeno Spread. "When you have fresh fruit that you've picked yourself and canned, there is a pride of ownership," she said.
  • Cook du jour Jessica Gesell displays her Morning Glory breakfast sandwich featuring egg, cheese, bacon and hot Italian sausage. Gesell said she came up with the idea all by herself and shares that on her food blog at http://www.mommybistro.com/category/breakfast.
  • Cook du Jour Jim Partaker poses with his smoked pulled pork shoulder sandwich and his son Lucas."I love the intricacies of cooking," Partaker said.
  • Rolland Petrello of Thousand Oaks presents his Gruyere-stuffed, Bacon-wrapped Dates with Fennel Pollen recipe. "In my family, you showed how you cared by cooking big meals for your loved ones," Petrello said.
  • Cook du Jour Michael Michaelis of Simi Valley shows his sweet and spicy pulled pork barbecue. "No one has ever complained about my food, only that they ate too much."
  • Cook du Jour Lisa Engel poses with her paleo chicken bites. The dish "may appear difficult, but it's really simple. And best of all, it makes you feel good," she said.
  • Cook du Jour Terry Merricks of Oxnard displays her peach cobbler. "If you put love into it, it will come out good," she notes. "If you're just doing it to get it done, it just doesn't taste good."
  • Cook du Jour Malia Brooks displays her Alla Carbonara Romana. "This is the one we enjoy most as a family," she said.
  • Lisa Greenlinger of Thousand Oaks eyes the cheesecake, made from her grandmother's recipe, that she warmly calls "Nana's Cheesecake." "Baking is a way of giving to others," Greenlinger said.
  • Cook du Jour Monica Varah of Agoura Hills shows her gluten-free, dairy-free pumpkin pie. "This pie is healthy enough to be eaten for breakfast the day after Thanksgiving," she said.
  • Eunice Page presents her Sour Cream Pound Cake made from her mother's southern recipe. Nominate a cook
  • Cook du Jour Sue Ianiro of Thousand Oaks shares her grandmother's Easy Red Clam Sauce recipe.
  • Cook du Jour Traci Adcock takes a bite of one of her homemade Oreo cookies. "Homemade Oreos are the simplest recipe ever," she said.
  • Cook du Jour Jane Taschereau shares her Cioppino recipe. Taschereau's specialty is cooking for a crowd.
  • Cook du Jour Jeri Miller of Simi Valley shows results of her Petit Fours Tres Bien recipe, which she said is included in the "Friendship Tea at Strathearn Park" tea recipe collection. The book is being sold as a fundraiser for the Simi Valley Historical Society. Friendship Tea is an annual event at Strathearn Historical Park and Museum.
  • Cook du jour Kim Tausch poses with her Tex Mex Brunch Strata. "Brunch is the best way to entertain," she said.
  • Cook du jour Betty McFarlin shares her chicken and dumplings recipe. "When someone hands me a recipe, I look at it and make it my own." McFarlin said.
  • Christine Lapointe holds her Baja Shrimp Stuffed Poblano Pepper. "I was inspired to create this recipe because I go to Baja once a year, and I love the flavors and seafood used in their cooking," she said.
  • TROY HARVEY/THE STAR Jennifer Chastain holds her Vidalia onion dip. "It's one of those things that are rich and yummy, and I can only make it for big occasions," she noted.
  • Cook du jour Jen Ringler, along with her daughter Berkley, displays her grandma's sugar cookies. "The sugar cookies are very small, thin, but when you put them in your mouth, they just melt," Ringler said.
  • Suze McClellan of Ojai introduces her endive boat with homemade jalapeno jelly, capers, goat cheese and sesame seeds.
  • Cook du Jour Joan Mayer of Ventura shares her Tea Time Tassies. In 2008, Mayer came away with eight blue ribbons at the Ventura County Fair.
  • Charlotte Johnson of Ventura shares her cinnamon rolls. She and her husband bake more than 600 cinnamon rolls each year.
  • Cook du Jour Suz Montgomery shares her corn and edamame salad. "You eat with your eyes," she said. "If it doesn't appear attractive, you're not going to eat it."
  • Cook du Jour Rose Topliss of Agoura Hills poses with a batch of her Swedish Meatballs. "No matter which profession you go into, you'll never go hungry if you know how to cook," she said.
  • Liam Besand, 7, and his mother, Maureen Durkin, with her roasted beet salad made with oranges, greens, candied pecans, goat cheese and beets.
  • Cook du Jour Candy Gooding shows her Wicked Spanish Rice dish. "I cook from scratch for my family because that's the way mom cooked," she said.
  • Cook du Jour Lou Cunningham shows off his barbecue ribs. "I like a good rub that soaks into the meat," he said.
  • Audrey Kelley shows her praline dish. "I have a cookbook that says, 'To Audrey from Julia Child,' " Kelley says.
  • Cook du Jour Peter Maccarrone of Thousand Oaks poses with a dish of chicken with broccoli and white beans."The more color you can add, the more we want to eat it," Maccarrone said. "We eat with our eyes."
  • Sandra Benintende shows off her shrimp with lemon pepper pasta and jalapeño cream sauce. "I love cooking," she said. "It's my passion."
  • Cook du Jour Cynthia Schneider shares her Heatwave Chili recipe. "Life is complicated enough," Schneider says. "No need to make cooking complicated."
  • Cook du Jour Melissa Weis of Ojai displays her quick and easy risotto dish. "I like to cook because I enjoy food," she said.
  • Cook Eloise Maitland shows off her Belgian waffles. The dish is "perfect for special occasions," she said.
  • Adam Casillas of Oxnard presents his baby back ribs topped with his spicy sauce. "Grilling is my area," he says. "That's what I like to do."
  • Cook du jour Modestine Tardif displays her chicken and Swiss cheese dish. "I make my first version of a recipe exactly the way it's written,' she said. "Then I change it up by using spices, because I know my herbs and spices — and how they work well."
  • Cook du Jour Paul Campbell of Westlake Village shows off his Brunswick stew dish at the Ventura County Star studio. "I'm attached to the results," he said about his cooking. "It's just a great tool to get your friends together."
  • Cook du Jour Jennifer Malella poses with her rum pineapple upside down cake. "You have to understand what's happening in the bowl that you're baking," Malella said.
  • Cook du Jour Sandy Rankin of Oxnard shares her recipe for lemon meringue pie, a Ventura County Fair winner.
  • Cook du Jour Sylvia Gabrie of Oxnard displays her baklava dish. "The love and time we put into cooking is a reflection of the love we have for our families," Gabrie said.
  • Cook Du Jour Allison Costa of Ventura shares a dish of roasted potatoes and Brussels sprouts with bacon. "I like taking all these ingredients and turning them into something, then having a tangible product that I can share," she said.
  • Cook du Jour Kathy Powell displays her quiche dish. "Cooking is like art," she said. "It's like how artists build. It's my loving gift to cook for these people."
  • Cook du Jour Irene Brennick displays her three-hour pasta. Requiring one hour of preparation and two hours of baking, the pasta dish is "simply heaven" with her dinner guests.
  • Cook du Jour Carolee Feltch displays her lemon bar dish. "It's always a pleasure to see a smile on someone's face with a simple little treat," she said.
  • Vicki Willis shows off her halftime chili, which was a hit at her Super Bowl party.
  • Yolanda Escamilla of Oxnard has made improvements on a Pistachio Cake recipe she received from her aunt and cousin.
  • Cook du Jour Yvonne Parker of Camarillo proudly displays a dish from her recipe featuring such items as beans, red lentils and broccoli. "We can keep ourselves healthy by eating healthy food," Parker said. "But it's important to make healthy food taste good."
  • Cook du Jour Sue Manion displays her brownies, a favorite of friends and family. "Now I make them so everyone can love them," she said.
  • Rick Dominguez displays his dish of shrimp and napoles. "I just like to cook," he said. "It's something to do, and everyone seems to like it."
  • Vickie Mahan plucks a raspberry off her cheesecake as she presents it for her Cook Du Jour creation. The dish placed third in the dessert category at the recent Ventura County Fair. "It was a thrill to receive a great big ribbon," she said.
  • Jennifer Dobbie of Ventura presents her ultimate veggie pizza with summer squash, kale, tomatoes, onions and garlic all locally organically grown from her Community Supported Agriculture box. "Pizza is one of the best things to have for dinner, lunch and breakfast," she explains. "Mine is a healthier version that's a flavor explosion in your mouth."
  • Teri O'Connor of Newbury Park proudly holds up a batch of her oatmeal apricot cookies."I can bake a batch of cookies, then completely clean the kitchen within an hour. Practice makes perfect," she said.
  • Erynn Smith of Ojai does a Groucho Marx imitation with her parsley pesto dish and homegrown vegetables.
  • Susan Garcia of Camarillo shows off her award-winning Blue Ribbon Banana Cake. She got the recipe from her mother. Her cake won first place at the Ventura County Fair.
  • Juan Carlo/The Star Cook du Jour Tami Osborn of Thousand Oaks displays her bacon-wrapped shrimp. "Cooking is cathartic and artistic," she said. "And hopefully the food is good, too."
  • Andrea Lunde and her son Nicholas present her banana kale smoothie. "It's important to embrace healthy eating," Lunde said.
  • Cook du Jour Lorie Davis of Newbury Park displays her green lasagna dish that she said she learned to make while living in Munich, Germany.
  • Cook du jour John Edwards takes a bite of his peanut butter pie. Edwards received his greatest honor from a restaurant owner, who was so enamored with his pie that he asked for the recipe and then prepared it at his eatery.
  • Cook du jour Pam Inoshita poses with her lemon cookies. "I think I've come to the point where I like how they taste," Inoshita said.
  • Cook du Jour Rae-Anne Tran (right) of Oxnard and son Kai, age 5, display her Crock-Pot lasagna dish. "I only have a few hours when I get home for homework and bath time, but I want my family to have healthy meals, so it's important to use the Crock-Pot," she said.

To nominate an amateur cook from Ventura County to be Cook du Jour, send an e-mail to mblackwell@vcstar.com.
To read all Cook du Jour recipes and articles, view them here: http://www.vcstar.com/news/lifestyles/columnists/eve-smythe/

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