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MARY STADNYK’S SPRINGTIME PUFFED OMELETTE


By Eleanor Stadnyk of Saskatoon, SK
December 10, 2008



MARY STADNYK’S SPRINGTIME PUFFED OMELETTE

Submitted by Eleanor Stadnyk of Saskatoon, SK, in loving remembrance of her mother, Mary, a Canadian pioneer.

Eleanor grew up on a Manitoba farm in the 1950's. Her mother, Mary, raised seven children, washed clothes with an old wringer machine, maintained a huge garden and fed everyone, from the family, farm hands and men displaced by the depression. Her husband Nick bought her first stove for $2.50 from Mr. Haney. The stove had a hole in it, which Mary patched with a cement made from ashes, salt and water. “It was a wonderful stove,” said Mary, “sure baked good bread. It baked everything.”

Nine miles from town, the family was often snowed in during the long, cold and white winters. One year, food supplies were limited to meat and that which was already in the cellar; a bin of potatoes and countless jars of canned vegetables and fruits. The cows had dried up and the chickens had stopped laying. The mandarin oranges normally eaten at Christmas had become a wistful memory of something bright and fresh.

Spring thaw brought rain and mud but little relief to the table. Money seemed tighter than ever on the farm. Eventually, the chickens began laying and the cows gave milk. Eleanor will never forget the day there was something new on the table for lunch; a puffy, golden omelette bursting with the first green shoots from the garden. What a sensation!

Eleanor's grandparents immigrated from the Ukraine in 1896.

6 whole eggs slightly beaten

5 tbsp. milk

1/4 tsp. salt

1/8 teaspoon pepper

1/2 cup or more green onions

o Preheat oven to 350 F.

o Combine all ingredients.

o Pour into buttered casserole.

o Bake for 12 to 15 minutes.

Note: Be careful not to over bake. Check to see if it's done at 12 minutes.
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