• 1 pound pork chops (4 individual chops), 1 10 oz can of cream of mushroom soup, 1 cup milk, 1/2 pound of fresh mushrooms, quartered, 1 cup creamy French dressing, 1 medium onion, diced, 1/2 tsp sugar, 1/4 tsp pepper, 1/2 tsp salt, 3 cloves garlic, minced, 2 tblsp olive oil, 4 medium potatoes (yellow or red are best), cut into bite sized pieces

1. Heat oven to 350 degrees fahrenheit.
2. Heat skillet/pan hot enough to sear the pork chops on both sides, then transfer chops to a greased 9x13" pan and add cut up potatoes.
3. In the skillet/pan used to sear the chops, add olive oil and heat until fragrant.
4. Then saute mushrooms, garlic and onions until tender.
5. In a bowl, mix well the soup, milk, French dressing, sugar, and salt and pepper.
6. Then add the saute mixture, stir and pour over the chops and potatoes.
7. Cover pan with tin foil and bake for 1-1 1/2 hours or until potatoes are baked to desired tenderness.

Walter 'Wally' Frank Rauser was born August 20, 1938 to George and Elizabeth 'Lizzy' Rauser of Toston, Montana. Wally's memories and experiences provide us a glimpse of his family's foodways. Many of his favorite dishes from childhood continue to be favorites, which he and his wife of fifty-five years, Ann Etzwiler Rauser, have passed along to their children and grandchildren. Throughout Wally's childhood, procuring and preparing food was a demanding task that involved everyone in the family. The Rausers raised cattle, chickens, and hogs, which they harvested for themselves, sold locally, or took to market. The cattle provided meat in the winter and income throughout the year. In addition, they milked cows twice a day and made the milk into cream, butter, and sour cream for their own consumption. Chickens were purchased locally in the spring, and raised and eaten throughout the summer. Wally recalls the noon meal consisting of fried chicken, wilted lettuce, vinegar cucumbers, potatoes with sour cream, and pie or rice pudding every day. Wally states that during the summer, the noon meal always included fried chicken: "it never changed," and the side dishes usually did not vary. Many of Wally's favorite victuals included pork in various forms such as headcheese, blood sausage, canned pork, pickled pigs' feet, and bratwursts. Wally describes the family making these foods after they butchered "five hogs, no later than early February so that the hams would be ready in time for Easter." He remembers the hams and bacon being salted and placed in "big wooden barrels in the cellar" with brine. After an allotted time, the brine was rinsed off, and the hams and bacon were hung in the smoke house in the backyard. A smoldering fire smoked the hams and bacon for four days straight. Meanwhile, some of the meat from the pork shoulder and all the pork loins were cured with salt and stored in a barrel with brine. The remaining pork was cut up, cooked and canned, or made into bratwursts and various other sausages, which were also canned and sealed with the rendered lard from the hog carcasses. Wally and Ann recall that during the hog harvest, "you used every part of the pig but the squeal."

The Rausers grew a sizeable garden of beets, beans, cabbage, carrots, cucumbers, corn, lettuce, onions, potatoes, and winter squash. Many of these veggies were canned throughout the summer and fall to replenish foodstuffs for winter. Wally recollects that 100 quarts each of corn, beans, and carrots were canned every year, provided the garden produced a sufficient number of vegetables. In the fall, the Rausers would shred their cabbage and place it in large crocks with salt, transforming the cabbage into sauerkraut. To this day, Wally and Ann continue to grow cabbage, make their own sauerkraut, raise hogs, and make canned pork, all of which are favorite foods and treasured traditions in their family.