I must admit that I just couldn’t find anything in the Marcus News about just who was going to be doing the presentation. I wasn’t the only one! It was the night before the Cooking School that I mentioned this to Zachary who said, “Oh, it was all on social media—where have you been?” Because I am not into this (and so were those that were also inquiring), this was news! I went to check on this and found it was going to be Dave Nicks from Remsen. I had heard of him as he is MMCRU head baseball assistant coach. There was an interview with him with some of the following information:
He was born and raised around Hinton, graduating in 1997 and joined the Iowa National Guard from Le Mars when he was 17 as a Food Service Specialist. He met Michelle Scholten in 2004 and have lived together since 2005. They have 5 kids. The oldest 4 (Ally, Madison, Andrew, and KC) are all MMCRU grads and the youngest, Brea, will be a freshman this fall. The family is looking forward to welcoming their first grandchild soon from their daughter, Madison and son-in-law, Kordell.
He retired from the Iowa National Guard in 2018 with 20 years of combined service. He did 2 deployments to Afghanistan, one in 2004-05 for 18 months and another in 2020-11 for 12 months. After 2015, he has been the Western Regional Salesman for Hog/Georgia Poultry and works with poultry customers west of the Mississippi. He just finished his 5th and final season as the Assistant Head Coach/JV Coach for MMCRU’s baseball team. When he has spare time, he likes to golf, bowl, mow his lawn, spend time with his family and—COOK! He is a member of the Remsen Legion and a Hospice volunteer in their Vet-to-Vet program.
He has always loved cooking thanks to his grandmother. He lived across the street from his grandmother who ran a nursing home kitchen, was the go-to-neighbor cook and gardener extraordinaire. When he found out the Army would PAY him to cook, he went for it! He spent 9 weeks getting trained by the Army in Fort Lee, VA. to be a Food Service Specialist. After finishing #2 in hid class, he was able to get a few extra weeks at the Culinary Arts School at Fort Lee, VA. He was also lucky enough to have been able for a short time to work with World Renown Chefs Rick Moonen and Rick Tramonto—both of them were on the Iron Chef America RV Show.
His favorite thing to cook is what people like to eat—Comfort Foods like casseroles, meat loaf, soups, and anything with mashed potatoes and gravy. These are the foods that remind him of home and growing up.
He doesn’t always use a recipe when cooking except for the first time as he wants to know just what he is cooking is supposed to taste like! After that, he adjusts the recipe to the taste he/his family like. Adding or subtracting certain ingredients can really change the recipe! There will be a couple of recipes in the Fair Cookbook that include things he has randomly thrown in!
His most requested recipe (if it is from Michelle) is Chicken Stir-Fry with Chicken Fried Rice. Everyone also loves it. But, if you ask his kids, they would say they like his Buffalo Chicken Pasta or his Jambalaya. He admits he is the better cook but it is because Michelle doesn’t like to cook much. She is the best baker he has ever known! Her specialties are cakes, buttermilk brownies, cookies, bars, and breads.
The best cook he has known would be hard to say, but probably at would be his grandmother. His first boss in the Army, SGT Bottjen, showed him how to make a meal/recipe my own and to take pride in his field. He was lucky enough to be part of the first team to win the Iowa Army National Guard Culinary Excellence Award as the best Food Service Team in the State of Iowa. That team went on to win the Regional Competition and shortly after he retired, won the Philip A. Connelly award as the best cooking team there is and we/they have trophies and awards to prove it.
His best advice when it comes to cooking is to never stop learning or asking questions.
Okay, it is now 12:00 noon and we are at the Cooking School with a good amount pf people attending. We have picked up the recipe book, “Cooking for an Army”, that were provided by DETAILS custom print studio at 310 N Main, Marcus and 222 W Main at Cherokee, gotten our ticket and found a place to sit. Gina Rassel is usually the person who welcomes us and also picks the ticket numbers for the many prizes that our community businesses have given to support the Cooking School, however, she is sick today and Robin Jenness is taking her place. Usually there is a stove and refrigerator on stage but this year there was only a grill. In the background is a long table with ingredients on it. Down the ramp and hidden from audience view are the workers that get samples ready for audience tasting.
These helpers are Carrie Lux, Kim Hicks, Rhonda Carver, Ginelle Wetter, and Christina Wilkens. Absent because of taking their boys to school were Lisa Alesch and Shelly Pick as well as Gina. (Hope I didn’t forget anyone.)
There were two long tables full of prizes waiting to find a home. Ila O’Brien was sitting on one side of me and won a nice assortment of gifts. On the other side of me was Steve who win a food scale and an apron “Cooking for an Army” like what Dave Nicks was wearing. The grand prize was a grill. If your ticket number wasn’t called for the other prizes, then you had a chance of the big prize.
Dave Nicks was introduced and he in turn introduced his youngest daughter, Brea, who was going to help him. Tacked on the front of the stage was a long banner of names of those who support the Cooking School, but before I could get their names, the banner cane loose and was taken down. But, whoever those names were—THANK YOU!
Dave had been busy preparing Buffalo Chicken Pasta for us to sample. You would need 2 cups (8 oz.) Uncooked Penne Pasta, 1-8 oz. Package Cream Cheese, Softened; a ¾ cup of Ranch Dressing; 1/3 cup Frank’s Red Hot Sauce; 2 Cups Cooked, Shredded Chicken, 1 ½ Cups Shredded Mozzarella Cheese; ½ Cup Shredded Cheddar Cheese; and Green Onions for Garnish.
Preheat oven to 375 Degrees. Spray casserole dish w/nonstick spray. Cook pasta noodles, according to directions on package. Drain and drizzle w/a little bit of olive oil to keep from sticking. Stir together cream cheese, ranch, and hot sauce until creamy. Add chicken, ½ cup mozzarella cheese, and cooked pasta noodles to the cream cheese mixture and stir to combine. Spoon into your prepared dish. Combine the remaining two cheeses and sprinkle over top of the pasta. Bake for 20 minutes or until top is melted. Remove and serve immediately w/green onions, hot sauce, and ranch drizzles. Serves 6. TIP: Sometimes I add bacon crumbles and change the type of cheese I use. I always double or triple this recipe as I have teenagers in the house and they LOVE this meal for leftovers.
If I was having this dish, I would leave out the hot sauce! Otherwise it would be okay.
He also prepared Chicken Fried Rice recipe. We also had a small Rice Krispie Bar to sample.
At the end of his presentation, he was preparing Philly Cheese Patty Melts that we did not get to sample.
Other recipes in the book were Classic Meatloaf, Bacon Wrapped Jalapeno Poppers, Lasagna Bake, World’s Best Cheeseburger Soup, and Great-Grandmother’s Apple Crisp, just to mention a few.
Were you anxious waiting to see if you were going to win the grill? The winner of the grill was Paula Nelson. Congratulations, Paula! With that last ticket drawn, that wound up the 20 23 Cooking School. See you next year!