Kitchens of the Great Midwest

by J. Ryan Stradal

Mom’s Chicken Wild Rice Casserole (recipe below) 1 small package wild rice 2 cups cooked chicken (diced) 1 can cream of mushroom soup ½ can milk Salt and pepper ¼ cup green pepper, chopped Heat the oven to 350°F. Cook the rice according to the directions. Mix the rice, chicken, cream of mushroom soup, milk, salt and pepper, and green pepper. Place in a greased 2-quart casserole pan. Bake for 30 minutes.

Once or twice, she had overheard people calling her parents “white trash,” and she had quickly figured out that no one protects or stands up for white trash, and no one on the outside ever would. To be called white trash is to be told that you’re on your own.

2½ cups crushed graham cracker crumbs 1 cup melted Grade A butter 1 cup peanut butter 2½ cups powdered sugar 1 cup milk chocolate chips with 1 teaspoon Grade A butter Mix together the graham cracker crumbs, melted butter, peanut butter, and sugar. Pat into a greased 9-by-13-inch pan. Melt the chips and butter and spread them on top of the bars. Set in the refrigerator until firm. Cut into bars. • • •

She’d had decades of luxury travel, on her own and with her second and third husbands, and it didn’t matter how expensive or opulent the room was, checkout was still always at eleven, and when she walked out the hotel doors, she was still herself, and the thread count and concierge service and private pools were no longer real; they were borrowed like bodies in a dream.