From Relative Obscurity To A Great American Tradition, Cabot® Creamery Cooperative Puts A Modern-Day Twist On Father's Day

CABOT, Vt., June 9, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- Looking back at the history of Father's Day, one can't help but think it's the "Rodney Dangerfield" of national holidays.  For the longest time, it simply didn't get the respect it deserved.  Most historians credit Sonora Smart Dodd with founding the holiday.  Dodd, who was born in Arkansas and moved to Spokane, Washington, established the day with a celebration at the Spokane YMCA on June 19, 1910.  Her father, William Jackson Smart, was a Civil War Veteran and a single parent who raised six children in Spokane.  After hearing a church sermon about Mother's Day, Dodd told her pastor that fathers should also be honored in similar fashion.  She suggested her father's birthday, June 5^th, but the pastor did not have time to prepare a sermon so the celebration was pushed back to the third Sunday in June.

Americans resisted the holiday for nearly six decades. Several bills in Congress to make it a national holiday failed. In 1957, Maine Senator Margaret Chase Smith accused Congress of ignoring fathers for more than 40 years while honoring mothers.  In 1966, President Lyndon B. Johnson issued the first presidential proclamation honoring fathers, designating the third Sunday in June as Father's Day. President Richard Nixon signed it into law in 1972.

Today, Dad is front and center on Father's Day and one of the best ways to celebrate Dads all across the land is with great food and quality time with the family.  And no one is looking forward to this Father's Day more than Cabot Creamery Cooperative farmer Shane Nolan, who along with his mother Donna, his father Michael, and his brother Curtis, own Kenyon Hill Farm in Cambridge, New York.  Nine months ago, Shane's wife Jocelyn gave birth to their first child, Graham, and Shane is looking forward to celebrating his very first Father's Day with a special family dinner.

"We've always been a close-knit family," says Shane. "Kenyon Hill Farm is named after my father's first farm, located on Kenyon Hill Road, which he purchased in 1980. In 1990, we bought Kenyon Hill Farm (at it's current location) and we've been increasing our herd size ever since," he said.  "Today, my mother, father, brother Curtis and I are all partners and owners, and my brother Ryan also works on the farm.  It's a real family affair." 

As one of 1,200 farm families located throughout New England and upstate New York that own Cabot Creamery Cooperative, the milk from Kenyon Hill Farms goes into making award-winning Cabot Cheese.

So what does Shane envision for his first Father's Day?  "Great food and some quality time with my wife and son, and the rest of my family," he says cheerfully.  "The Nolan family farms more than 1,000 acres, including 600 acres of corn for silage, 300 acres of haylage and 100 acres of dry hay, all of which goes to feeding and taking care of their herd of 350 milking Holsteins and 350 young stock. We're up before dawn, and by 3:30AM, we're milking the herd and tending to the fields and equipment.  We work till lunch and then we're back at it until 7 p.m., and then we're ready to have a good hot meal."

So what's on the menu for Shane's first Father's Day?  "I'm a meat and potatoes kind of guy," he says, "so I'm hoping my wife will serve an assortment of Cabot Cheddars with crackers and jam as an appetizer, and for the main course, one of my favorite recipes, Cabot's Smothered Pork Chops with Mashed Cheddar Buttercup Squash. I'd like to follow that up with Cabot's Apple-Cheddar Bread Pudding with Cabot Sharp Light Cheddar – it's tasty but easy on the waistline," he laughs.

No matter what your Father's Day holds in store, Cabot has a host of easy-to-make, healthy recipes that are sure to make this Father's Day special.  Shane can vouch for that.

More great recipes perfect for Father's Day can be found online at cabotcheese.coop/recipes.

SMOTHERED PORK CHOPS WITH MASHED CHEDDAR BUTTERCUP SQUASH
Makes 4 servings

Ingredients:
Pork Chops: 4 boneless center-cut pork chops, at least 1" thick (about 3 pounds)
Salt and ground black pepper to taste
2 teaspoons olive oil
1 1/2 cups sliced onions
1 tablespoon minced garlic
1/8 teaspoon allspice
1 cup canned diced tomatoes with juice
1/2 cup chicken broth
1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar
1 1/2 teaspoons dried thyme leaves
6 ounces button mushrooms, cleaned and quartered (about 2 cups)
Squash: 1 buttercup squash (about 2 1/2 pounds)
4 ounces grated Cabot Extra Sharp Cheddar (about 1 cup)
1/4 cup Cabot Light Sour Cream, Cabot Regular Sour Cream or Cabot Plain Greek-Style Yogurt
1/2 teaspoon salt and 1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper

Directions:
To make pork chops:
1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees F.
2. Pat pork chops dry with paper towel (discard) and season both sides with salt and pepper.
3. Heat oil in large ovenproof pot over medium-high heat. Add chops and cook (in two batches if necessary) until well browned on both sides, 2 to 3 minutes per side.
4. Transfer pork chops to plate. Reduce heat to medium and add onions and garlic; cook, stirring, until softened and browned, about 5 minutes. Stir in allspice and stir until fragrant, about 30 seconds longer.
5. Add tomatoes with juice, chicken broth, vinegar and thyme. Add chops and any juices to tomato mixture and bring to simmer, spooning some of sauce over each.
6. Cover pot tightly with lid or foil. Bake until pork chops are fork-tender, about 1 1/2 hours. (Add small amount of water if sauce becomes too thick.)
7. Transfer chops to plate. Skim visible fat from top of sauce and discard.
8. Add mushrooms to sauce in pot and place over medium-low heat. Bring to simmer and cook, stirring, for several minutes until mushrooms are tender. Season with additional salt or pepper if needed.


To make squash:
1. Line baking sheet with foil; oil lightly or coat with nonstick cooking spray.
2. Cut squash in half from stem end to base and scoop out seeds from each half. Place halves cut-side-down on prepared baking sheet and press second sheet of foil down over squash.
3. Bake until very tender, about 1 hour.
4. Let cool slightly, then scoop flesh into large bowl. Add cheese, sour cream or yogurt, salt and pepper; blend with whisk until well combined.

APPLE-CHEDDAR BREAD PUDDING WITH CABOT SHARP LIGHT CHEDDAR
Makes 6 Servings

Ingredients:
Nonstick cooking spray
5 slices whole-wheat bread
1/4 cup brown sugar
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
4 ounces Cabot Sharp Light Cheddar, grated (about 1 cup)
2 apples, cored, peeled and diced
2 large eggs
2 large egg whites
1/3 cup granulated white sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 (12-ounce) can non-fat evaporated milk

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees F. Coat 9-by-9-inch or other 2-quart baking dish with nonstick cooking spray. (Alternatively, use six individual ramekins.)
2. Trim crusts from bread and cut each slice into 9 squares. Arrange bread over bottom of dish. Coat top of bread with nonstick cooking spray, then sprinkle with brown sugar and cinnamon. Scatter cheese over bread and top with apples.
3. In small bowl, whisk together eggs, egg whites, granulated white sugar and vanilla until well blended. Whisk in evaporated milk. Pour mixture evenly over other ingredients in dish.
4. Bake for 50 to 55 minutes, or until knife inserted in center comes out clean.

DO YOU VOLUNTEER FOR A NON-PROFIT OR KNOW SOMEONE WHO DOES?
Learn how you and fellow volunteers can do more for your non-profit and win great prizes and cash for the organizations your serve by joining Cabot's Reward Volunteers, the free mobile app and web widget that lets you track and log your volunteer time and win great prizes for you and your non-profit.

ABOUT CABOT CREAMERY COOPERATIVE
Cabot Creamery Cooperative has been in continuous operation in Vermont since 1919, and makes a full line of cheeses, yogurt, sour cream, cottage cheese and butter. Widely known as makers of "The World's Best Cheddar," Cabot is owned by the 1200 dairy farm families of Agri-Mark, the Northeast's premier dairy cooperative, with farms located throughout New England and upstate New York. For more information on Cabot, visit: http://www.cabotcheese.coop.

Cabot Creamery Cooperative is the world's first cheese maker and dairy cooperative to achieve B Corporation Certification, a validation of its attention to environmental and social impacts on stakeholders.

Contact: Bob Schiers
(888) 214-9444 or [email protected]

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SOURCE Cabot Creamery Cooperative