WHAT'S COOKIN'?

Ask Susan McClanahan what's for dinner: It could be an adventure.

She has about 1,200 cookbooks from which to draw recipes. McClanahan has read every single one. And she tries out new recipes almost weekly.

Her cookbook collection stems from a love of cooking, she said.

"I started cooking when I was very young," McClanahan said. "My mom went back to work when I was in the second grade. I was the youngest of six kids, and in the summer it was my responsibility to make lunch for my older brothers and sisters."

She added that in a large family every mealtime was also a sort of celebration.

That joy of cooking continued into high school. "I had a wonderful home ec. teacher, Mrs. Irwin, and my love for cooking grew," she said. McClanahan began collecting cookbooks while in high school.

"I would see one and buy it. On vacations I would pick them up. Then people would start finding them for me. I always get cookbooks for my birthday and Christmas."

The collection grew.

"Now I have cookbooks from all over the world," she said. "But my favorite ones are books that groups, clubs or churches put together. They have more personality."

McClanahan even subscribes to the American Regional Cookbooks magazine, a sort of catalogue of these types of cookbooks.

"I do write in all the books. If I make a recipe, I write when I made it and what it's for, like Thanksgiving, 1990," she said. "I also write if someone gave me the book or where I got them and what they mean to me. It's like a journal."

The cookbooks don't go to waste. McClanahan cooks often. In fact, when she and her husband, Scott, built their home two years ago, the kitchen was designed to Susan's taste. "I have a lot of work space," she said. And one wall is nearly filled with cookbooks.

"We love to entertain. That's when I do a lot of my cooking," she said. "That's our entertainment budget. We don't go to the movies. We don't go on vacation. We just have people over and cook.

"I do go out to eat lunch sometimes with my job, but as far as Scott and I going out to dinner, we go out about twice a year."

How does she decide what to prepare?

"I kind of go by what the grocery stores have on sale. If they have flank steak, I do have a certain little something I do with flank steak."

Sometimes her dinner guests request a favorite. "They'll ask, `Are you going to make white chocolate cheese cake?'"

And she loves to experiment.

"I cook with things I don't think everyone else uses, unusual cuts of meat and such."

But she said one recipe in a cookbook from Germany, which called for cow's udders, went too far even for her.

McClanahan has no secrets in the kitchen.

"I do love to share," she said. "Recipes are not copyrighted and are made to be shared.

"I have people call all the time asking for recipes. They need an unusual dessert or they have bought a pot roast and don't know what to do with it."

But she doesn't loan the books out. Friends are welcome to sit at her kitchen table and copy recipes all day, but the books stay at home.

"Otherwise, they tend to disappear," she said.

As might be expected, McClanahan's love of cookbooks has caused her to help publish some.

"I did my first one for our family reunion, the `Powell Family Recipe Collection,'" she said. "All my cousins and aunts and uncles all sent in their favorite recipes."

She said putting together the cookbook was harder than she expected. "Just learning how to categorize them and putting like recipes together. And what do you do with something that could be a salad or could be a dessert?"

Her cooperative extension service homemakers group also published a cookbook, which McClanahan coordinated.

Most recently she helped collect 450 recipes from members of her church, Grace United Methodist Church, for a cookbook due to be distributed in November.

"My ultimate goal is to do my own cookbook," she said. "I'll put my own favorites and those I get a lot of requests for."

Until that time, McClanahan said she will continue collecting cookbooks and testing new recipes.

She doesn't go to sleep counting sheep, but reading cookbooks. "I always read a few minutes a night before I go to sleep. I read cookbooks every night."

Here are a few of Susan McClanahan's tried and true recipes:

Stuffed Mushrooms

2 lbs. large mushrooms

2 cloves crushed garlic

c. butter

8 oz. pork sausage

c. seasoned dry bread crumbs

c. snipped parsley

salt and pepper

Remove mushroom stems and chop. Saute in garlic and butter about 5 minutes. Add seasonings and brown. Stir in remaining ingredients. Stuff mushroom caps. Brush with butter. Broil 4 inches from flame or microwave 1 minute.

Corn-Broccoli Casserole

1 box Chicken-in-Basket crackers

- stick margarine, melted

1 can corn, drained

1 can cream corn

1 small can shoe peg corn, drained

1 (10 oz.) package frozen, chopped broccoli, partially thawed.

c. Velveeta cheese, cubed

Crush crackers. Add margarine. Combine corns, broccoli and cheese. Add half of the crackers. Mix well. Place in greased casserole. Cover with remaining crackers. Bake about 30 minutes at 350 degrees or until hot and bubbly.

Marinated Flank Steak

c. oil

c. soy sauce

3 T. honey

2 T. vinegar

1 tsp. ground ginger

1 tsp. garlic powder/salt

1 T. instant minced onion

1 flank steak

Score flank steak and place in glass dish. Combine all other ingredients, shake well. Pour over steak. Cover with plastic wrap and marinate overnight.

Grill steak 8 minutes, each side, no more. Keep pink. Slice on bias and pour remaining marinate over to serve. Garnish as desired.

Pork Tenderloin Teriyaki

2 9-oz. pork tenderloins

2 T. soy sauce

2 T. sherry (I substitute lemon juice)

1 T. fine chopped ginger root

1 T. vegetable oil

1 T. brown sugar

1 clove garlic, minced

Place pork in plastic bag. Combine remaining ingredients and pour over pork. Refrigerate at least 2 hours or over night. Grill over medium hot coals for 18-25 minutes, brushing with marinade. Let stand 5 minutes. Slice diagonally into thin slices. Serves six.

(I usually double the marinate recipe because we like to pour it over the meat.)

Sweet and Sour Spaghetti

1 lb. ground beef

1 med. onion, diced

1 can tomato soup

2 T. brown sugar

2 tsp. prepared mustard

tsp. red pepper

1 c. catsup

tsp. salt

tsp. garlic salt

1 can mushrooms, drained

lb. spaghetti, cooked

Brown ground beef and onion in skillet. Drain grease from meat. Add soup, brown sugar, mustard, red pepper, catsup, salt, garlic salt and mushrooms. Cook over low heat until bubbly and thickened. Add sauce to cooked spaghetti, top with any grated cheese.

Pasta Con Broccoli

lb. shell macaroni (cavatelli)

stick margarine

2 c. half and half

1 8 oz. tomato sauce

1 pkg. frozen broccoli

lb. fresh mushrooms, sliced

1 c. grated Parmesan cheese

salt, pepper, garlic powder

Cook shells and drain. Cook broccoli and drain. Saute' mushrooms in margarine. Mix all ingredients together and simmer over low heat. Add salt, pepper and garlic powder to taste (usually requires a lot). Cook on low until mixture thickens.

Banana Crunch Coffee Cake

2/3 c. margarine

1 2/3 c. sugar

3 eggs

1 c. mashed banana

2 c. flour

1 tsp. baking powder

1 tsp. baking soda

1 tsp. salt

2/3 c. buttermilk

Topping:

c. brown sugar

c. chopped pecans

3 oz. coconut

1/3 c. margarine, softened

2 T. milk

Mix together cake ingredients. Bake in 9x13 pan at 350 degrees for 45-55 minutes. Spread topping over warm cake then broil until bubbly and golden brown. Cake freezes well. Thaw then broil.