Your neighbor's recipe: Not too busy for home cookin'

During Alisa Sweazy’s years at Crothersville High School, she knew her way around the basketball and volleyball court as well as the track.

Not long after that, she picked up cooking and learned her way around the kitchen.

Sweazy, a lifelong Crothersville resident, is now involved with many things in the community that keep her busy, but she still finds time to cook a good meal.

Some of her featured plates include goulash, individual mini meatloaves and stuffed chicken breast. She said these are quick meals to prepare.

“What I like about the mini meatloaves is you can fix them four different ways,” she said, which includes Italian, fiesta, Mediterranean and barbecue.

Sweazy knows how difficult it can be to please everyone’s taste. She recalled her mom, Rita Riley, making goulash.

“On the goulash, my mom made that when I was young,” she said. “I was a finicky eater, so I would always want to eat on a (plate) with individual compartments. I’m not like that anymore, but (her son Patrick) is like that now. I think the older you get you acquire different tastes.”

But Patrick and Sweazy’s husband of 29 years, Ric Sweazy, seemed to enjoy the three things she cooked up Tuesday night.

Sweazy said while growing up with two brothers, Guy Riley and Larry Riley, their mother had to try to fix something for everyone. When the eldest brother, Guy, went into the Navy, Sweazy helped with the cooking as well. Goulash was the perfect solution to please the palate, as Sweazy said it can be made three ways: in the oven, in a pressure cooker or in a crock pot or slow cooker.

Sweazy prefers to make it in a pressure cooker because “it’s a quick meal for as busy as I am. In 20 minutes, it’s complete.”

And busy she is. She began working at age 18 at the shirt factory in Crothersville. After 10 years, those jobs were sent overseas. So she then got a job at the shoe factory in Crothersville. After 10 years there, those jobs were sent overseas as well.

But as an incentive, the factory offered to send its workers to school. Sweazy began taking classes at Ivy Tech, but

before she finished, the deputy clerk-treasurer’s position came open at the town hall in Crothersville. Eleven years later, she’s still at that job.

“What I like about work (as deputy clerk-treasurer) is it’s sometimes challenging with the software and constantly having to learn the program and the changes,” Sweazy said.

Besides that, she’s involved with the Phi Beta Psi sorority, Crothersville Athletic Boosters, Crothersville Cares, Red White & Blue Festival committee member and she is the Web director for the First Baptist Church of Crothersville’s Web site, crothersvillefbc.org.

“I really enjoy that,” she said of working with the Web site. “My all-time favorite thing after cooking is the computer.”

So when she makes time to cook, she said she gets her recipes “from friends

and magazines and I try to make it like I like it and enchance it.”

Of the three recipes she shared, she said goulash is her favorite, while the stuffed chicken comes in

second. With the chicken, she said that’s something her mother now makes. Sweazy’s bunco group also likes the chicken.

“Everybody likes chicken,” Sweazy said. “Everybody that has tried (the stuffed chicken) loved it and complimented it. It’s a

quick and simple recipe, too. You can probably prepare it in five minutes and bake it for 30.”

Mixing things up has been one of Sweazy’s preferences when it comes to cooking.

“I always wanted to be a cook at a restaurant

and try different recipes with customers,” Sweazy said. She said she doesn’t see that happening any time soon. But she does cook breakfasts for the Enter His Courts basketball program at First Baptist and she cooks at home, so she still gets to spend time in the

kitchen.

During the cold winter months, she likes to cook up chili, soup and even deer stew.

“It’s just a wintertime thing,” Sweazy said of the stew. “It doesn’t taste as good in the summer.”

But when summer rolls around, she said, “I’m

Mrs. Outside. I’m grilling on the grill. I’m using the stove and oven recipes and adjusting them to work on the grill outside.”

For the time being, Sweazy stays busy taking her son to school, working, going to town meetings and attending the Crothersville ball games.

“I just love sports,” she said. “If I’m not at a game, I’m watching it on TV or listening to it on the radio.”

Being a three-sport athlete at Crothersville High School, and co-recipient of the senior athlete award in 1978, she’s continued her support by being involved in the boosters for about 10 years.

“When I was an athlete, your parents and grandparents would come to the game and it made you feel appreciated, seeing family and friends,” Sweazy said. “I think we still need to do that today and try to be there for the kids because that’s our future. We respected the uniform and it was an honor to wear the uniform and represent the school and community. I hope all athletes today have some feelings of respect to the school and community.”

Goulash

8-10 potatoes

2 lbs. hamburger

1-2 cans diced tomatoes

1-2 onion(s)

salt

pepper

oregano

Peal and slice potatoes. Dice onion. In a pressure cooker, layer potatoes, hamburger, tomatoes and onion until the cooker is full. Sprinkle each layer with salt, pepper and oregano. Add 1 cup of water. Cook on stovetop under 15 lbs. of pressure for 10 minutes or until potatoes are tender. Release pressure, cool and serve. This dish can be made two other ways. The ingredients can be layered in a slow cooker. Cook until potatoes are tender and the hamburger loses its pink color. Also, it can be layered in a 9 X 11 cake pan. Cover, bake at 350 degrees for 1 hour, or until the potatoes are tender.

Individual Mini Meatloaves

1 lb. hamburger

1 package Stove Top stuffing mix

1 cup water

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Mix stuffing mix and 1 cup water. Add 1 lb. hamburger and optional seasoning below. Mix until well blended.

Italian: 1 tsp. Italian seasoning, 3/4 cup spaghetti sauce, 3/4 cup shredded mozzarella cheese

Fiesta: 2 tsp. chili powder seasoning, 3/4 cup chunky salsa, 3/4 cup shredded Mexican style cheese

Mediterranean: 1 tsp. dried oregano leaves seasoning, 3/4 cup chopped roasted red peppers, 3/4 cup crumbled feta cheese

Barbecue: 1 tsp. garlic powder seasoning, 3/4 cup barbecue sauce, 3/4 cup shredded cheddar cheese

Press into 12 muffin cups sprayed with cooking spray. Make an indentation in the center of each with a spoon. Sppon in add-ins into the center of each meatloaf. Bake for 30 minutes or until meatloaves are cook through. Top with cheese choice listed above and continue baking for 5 minutes or until cheese is melted. Makes 6 servings.

Stuffed Chicken Breast

1 package fresh or frozen chicken breasts

1 box Stove Top stuffing mix

1 can diced tomatoes

1 1/2 cup shredded mozzarella cheese

1/2 to 1 cup zesty Italian salad dressing

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Thaw frozen chicken breasts. Cut into 2-inch long, 1-inch thick strips. Combine stuffing mix and diced tomatoes together in a bowl. Add 1 cup mozzarella to stuffing mixture. Mix well. Roll a spoonful of stuffing mixture into a ball. Wrap a strip of chicken breast around the stuffing ball. Spray a 9 X 11 baking pan with cooking spray and place wrapped end down in the baking pan. Continue wrapping the chicken breast around the stuffing mixture until the pan is full. Drizzle the chicken in the pan with the Italian dressing. Cover and bake for 30 minutes. Remove from oven, uncover and sprinkle 1/2 cup mozzarella cheese on top of chicken. Bake additional 5 minutes, uncovered or until cheese is melted.