Day-care delights
Staff writer
If you were a visitor to Mary Rogers' kitchen you couldn't just assume that every recipe you might find would be edible.
That's because some of Mary's recipes are meant to be played with rather than eaten.
Mary, a resident of Marion for five years, is in the day-care business. And although most of her kitchen cookbooks contain edible food, some of her favorite recipes contain ingredients one wouldn't expect to see in everyday cooking. For instance, a recipe for "Shake, Rattle, and Roll Paint," contains liquid starch and golf balls.
Golf balls?
"It's one of those things that will keep the kids occupied," Mary laughs. "During the day, we're more likely to make inedible things in my kitchen than cook food."
Mary said she started her day-care when she was unable to find day-care for her own daughters, Hannah 13, and Emily 12.
"I've found it's nice to be able to work at home and be here when the girls come home from school," she said.
Today, Mary keeps six kids full time including one infant and has several part-timers who attend in the summer, or after school.
When it comes to feeding kids at a day-care, Mary says she must follow the guidelines set out by the state.
"I'm on a state food program," Mary explained. "They provide the menus which might include fish sticks to meat meals. There's a wide variety of items.
"A lot of times the kids won't eat all of them — things like broccoli and cauliflower," she added.
The state food program covers the cost of the children's meals and day-care providers can expect to be inspected three times a year.
"They check to make sure your records are up-to-date," she noted.
A native of Clifton, Mary said she and her ex-husband Billy Rogers, were living "all over" when they decided to return to Marion County, Billy's home.
"We had been living in Wyoming, Arizona, Colorado, Oklahoma, and other parts of Kansas when we decided to settle here. Billy had gone to Centre schools and was from that area so we decided to move," she said.
"It's a nice, safe place to raise a family," she said.
Beside Hannah and Emily who are still at home, Mary has two grown children, daughter Becky Kindel of Concordia, and son Kyle Derousseau, who is stationed in the Army at Ft. Knox, Ky.
"And I have one grandchild on the way this summer," Mary added with a smile, noting Becky was going to be a first-time mom.
After the day-care children have gone home and Mary cooks for herself and her daughters, the meals are "simple."
"The girls like lasagna and in the summer we like to grill chicken, hamburgers, hotdogs — whatever the kids like," Mary said.
Now, Mary is getting help in the kitchen as daughter Hannah learns to cook.
"She made a Mexican meal for us recently," Mary said.
The "simple" meal philosophy carries over into the day-care too. Mary said she makes lunches or snacks the kids can help with.
"I really don't like to cook on the stove with the kids around," she said. "It's almost scary."
So, lunches consist of quick, easy foods like mini-hamburger pizzas.
"I'll let the kids put the toppings on," she said. "I've found with kids, the simpler — the better."
Or for a snack, Mary might prepare cupcakes or cookies ahead of time and let the kids frost and decorate their own with sprinkles.
"They do as much eating as they do decorating," she said laughing.
