Good cooking is just as much about our culture and the people we share it with as about getting nutrients into our gullets. Not only do we have food memories from our shared ethnic and regional past, but each individual family has its own list of favorites, no two alike.

The Renville County Genealogical Society celebrates our unique heritages with its popular fund-raiser, “Cooking Up ‘Apples’ From Our Family Tree.”

This cookbook includes plenty of recipes, of course, but the “frosting on the cake” is the commentary. Many submissions are accompanied by family stories that are funny, sweet and familiar; major sections are headed by interesting essays. (One memorably hilarious one discusses the horrors of being forced to clean her plate of liver and onions.)

Here is a sampling of what you’ll find ...

Treat your family to homemade chicken noodle soup with a minimum of fuss. Chunks of juicy white-meat chicken float with chunks of onion, celery and carrot in a riot of ramen noodles. I cooked up a pot with my teenage boys and got surprisingly good results. Four out of four “yums,” and a new card in my recipe box!

Oodles of Noodles Soup

Submitted by Becky Schweinfurter Kuglin and Molly Schweinfurter

3/4 pound boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cubed

2 medium carrots, sliced

1 small onion, chopped

2 celery ribs, sliced

1 garlic clove, minced

5 cups water

1/4 teaspoon pepper

2 packages (3 ounces each) chicken ramen noodles

In a large saucepan coated with nonstick cooking spray, saute the chicken, carrots, onion, celery and garlic until chicken is no longer pink. Add water, pepper and contents of seasoning packets from the noodles. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat; cover and simmer for 15 to 20 minutes or until carrots are tender. Add noodles and cook a few minutes more.

Keep the holiday spirit going with these scrumptious cheese-and-mushroom bundles that’ll make you look like a professional caterer. Gorgonzola is pretty expensive, so a good domestic blue cheese (or even feta) would be a practical and tasty substitute.

Mushroom ‘N’ Gorgonzola Bundles

Submitted by Jeanne MacRae and mother, Mary Fernkes

24 (1-inch) mushrooms

4 ounces Gorgonzola cheese

Half a package (17 1/4 ounces) of frozen puff pastry, thawed

1 egg, slightly beaten

Lightly grease baking sheets. Heat oven to 400 F. Rinse and pat mushrooms dry; twist off stems. On lightly floured surface, roll puff pastry into a rectangle approximately 10x15 inches. Cut pastry into two-and-a-half-inch squares. Fill each mushroom cap with a rounded half-teaspoon of Gorgonzola cheese.

Place one filled mushroom in the center of each pastry square. Draw all four corners up to form a small bundle. Carefully pinch center together to form a small knob. Brush each bundle lightly with egg. Bake until golden brown, about 10 minutes.

If you’re feeding a crowd, try this recipe for pork sandwiches made the old-school way. A large pork roast is first gently simmered for hours in a spice bath, then pulled apart and simmered a little longer in a sauce so savory it makes me drool just to type it. This recipe would also be good for make-ahead freezer meals.

Pork Sandwiches

Submitted by Palmer Anderson

6 pounds boneless pork loin or shoulder roast

3 medium onions, chopped

3 tablespoons pickling spice, tied in cheesecloth

2 cups water

3 cups catsup

1/3 cup cider vinegar

1/3 cup sugar

1/4 cup sharp, creamy mustard

2 cloves garlic, minced

2 green peppers, chopped

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon pepper

Hamburger buns

Cover pork with onions in Dutch oven. Add pickling spice and water. Bring to boil; reduce heat and simmer, covered, until meat is tender, about three to four hours. Remove meat, reserving cooking liquid. Cool and shred meat. Combine catsup, vinegar, sugar, mustard, garlic, peppers, salt and pepper and 3 cups cooking liquid in Dutch oven. Stir in shredded pork. Simmer uncovered for 40 to 60 minutes, stirring occasionally. May add more cooking liquid if mixture gets too thick. Serve in buns. Yields about 56 quarter-cup servings.

Perk up your winter table with a cheerful Strawberry Pop Cake that’s easy as “pie.” Many of us enjoyed this cake in our childhoods; why not let the next generation in on the goodness?

Strawberry Pop Cake

Submitted by Iverne Enestvedt

Bake and cool one white cake mix. Poke holes in cake about 1 inch apart. Pour 1 cup strawberry pop slowly over the cake. Put in refrigerator while making topping.

Topping

1 package instant vanilla pudding

1 1/2 cups milk

Mix until pudding is dissolved. Add one carton Cool Whip. Spread on cake and return to refrigerator until time to serve.

To order “Cooking Up ‘Apples’ From Our Family Tree,” send $15 plus $3 postage to: Renville County Genealogical Society, P.O. Box 331, Renville, MN 56284.