HPJ cookbook dessert category winner named

The dessert winner for High Plains Journal’s Homemade in the High Plains cookbook is Vicki Krehbiel, with her honeybun cinnamon cake. Krehbiel lives in Holcomb, Kansas. She grew up on a farm and after getting married, the couple started a cow-calf operation and later began farming. Since she was child, Krehbiel said she has only spent one year away from the farm. She said she feels a calling from the farm. Krehbiel helps on the family operation with her husband, son and daughter-in-law and often gets help from her six grandkids whether she is in the kitchen or working outside. Krehbiel can often be found on the combine during harvest, working cattle, doing the book or fixing fence when she’s not canning vegetables or preserves in the summer or whipping up a homecooked meal for her family.

“The term farm wife has a different concept for me, because I’m not just a farm wife,” she said. “I’m equal to my husband and my son as farmers. Nobody has a more important role than anyone else. We’re all equal. I hope there continue to be farm wives that participate and work alongside their husbands and realize how important of a role that they can play. Just because you’re a woman, doesn’t mean the farm means any less to you.”

But just because she spends much of her time driving machinery and taking care of cattle does not mean she neglects her duties in the kitchen.

“I have been cooking since I was old enough to tie my shoes,” she said. “We had anywhere from five to seven hired men in the summertime when I was growing up and my mom would always prepare a big noon meal for all the hired men and I always helped.”

Krehbiel said her favorite part of harvest is the evening meal they call “supper.”

“We sit outside on the bed of a flatbed pickup and take some time to eat a meal together on the farm. It’s nice to take a minute every day to thank God and appreciate everything he has given you because we couldn’t do everything that we do without God and Mother Nature.”

As for her honeybun cinnamon cake, Krehbiel said she submitted the recipe because it is her son-in-law’s favorite cake.

“I’ve been making it for 20 years. It’s easy to make, you can eat it hot or cold and it can be a breakfast or a dessert,” she said.

Krehbiel said her harvest feeding advice is to take time to thank everyone working in the fields for their hard work and let them know you appreciate them.

“In that busy season, we work long hours and everybody gets stressed out,” she said. “Try to be a little bit of sunshine when you hand out a homecooked meal.”

HPJ cookbooks can be purchased at hpjsubscribe.com/product/homemade-in-the-high-plains-cookbook/.

Lacey Vilhauer can be reached at 620-227-1871 or [email protected].