‘The Food Court’ cookbook to raise funds for Dougherty County Law Library

ALBANY — Dougherty County Law Library Manager Laureen Kelly says that she hopes she’s found the recipe for some additional funds through a new cookbook, “The Food Court,” which debuted this spring.

It’s a project that took six years to complete. Kelly, with the help of substitute librarian Nancy Long, who does volunteer work with the library, entered 574 recipes, along with information about the Dougherty Judicial Circuit and the history of the Dougherty County Law Library, which occupies room 212 of the Albany-Dougherty Judicial Building at 225 Pine Ave.

“It took quite a while,” Kelly said, to get the project completed on the cookbooks, which sell for $17.95.

The reason for the project is library costs for materials have risen, but funding hasn’t. With the exception of substitutes when she’s sick or on vacation, Kelly, who has been librarian since 2004, is the lone paid employee in the library, which operates on about $140,000 a year.

“Our funding is set by the Georgia Legislature, and the Legislature has not given us a funding increase since 1997,” she said. “The cost of the materials here rises 11, 12 percent to 14 percent a year. The legal publishing industry is an oligopoly. They pretty much charge whatever they want to. The cost of the materials is skyrocketing, but we’ve not gotten any additional money, so I’m always looking for alternative ways to get additional funding for the library.”

Originally, law libraries were established as resources for judges and lawyers. Over time, however, their purpose has changed. With attorneys establishing their own libraries and subscribing to online legal resources like LexisNexis and Westlaw, the patronage of the law library is increasingly people who are unschooled in the law.

“Over 90 percent of our library patrons are people who cannot afford an attorney,” Kelly said. “I still have attorneys that use the law library sometimes. If they have a difficult legal research question they can’t solve on their own, they’ll ask me for help.

“But more and more people are representing themselves, and those people have become library users. And, of course, there are more lay people than there are attorneys, so the usage has gone up dramatically.”

The change has made the job more labor intensive as well. Personnel at the law libraries can’t give legal advice, but they can help patrons navigate through resources.

“The users are more in need of help,” Kelly said. “When an attorney comes in here, the attorney already knows how to do research, which they learned in law school. When a lay person comes in here, they have no idea what to do. They don’t know where to start or anything, so it takes a lot more staff time helping.

“There’s enough work here to probably keep two or three people busy full time.”

“The Food Court” is available at the law library (cash or check) during its weekday operating hours, at D.J.’s Car Wash on Stewart Avenue and at the Saturday Tift Park Community Market. Kelly says she’s hoping to get copies for sale in more places, including the Flint RiverQuarium and the Albany Convention & Visitors Bureau.

For a sample of what’s in “The Food Court,” Long compiled this menu from the recipes for an outdoor summer party. The menu: Easy Punch, Herb and Nut Cream Cheese Log, Mixed Greens with Almonds and Tangy Balsamic Vinaigrette, Grilled Margarita Chicken, Sour Cream Muffins, and Grilled Peaches with Orange Ice Cream and Raspberry Sauce. (Contributors’ names are credited at the end of each recipe.)

EASY PUNCH

1 (64-oz.) bottle white grape juice

1 (2-liter) bottle ginger ale

Mix the juice and ginger ale together and pour into punch bowl or a one-gallon pitcher. Serve over ice. If you are using a punch bowl, serve over an ice ring made of ginger ale. Yield: 1 gallon.

— Nancy Long

HERB AND NUT

CREAM CHEESE LOG

1 (8-oz.) pkg. cream cheese

1/3 c. grated Parmesan cheese

1 c. toasted chopped pecans, divided

1/3 c. chopped fresh parsley

Mix softened cream cheese with Parmesan cheese, 1/3 c. pecans and parsley. Shape into an 8” log. Roll in the remaining 2/3 c. of toasted chopped pecans. Serve with crackers.

— Jawahn Ware

MIXED GREENS WITH

ALMONDS AND TANGY

BALSAMIC VINAIGRETTE

For salad:

3 c. salad greens, preferably Mesclun

2 large Golden Delicious apples

2 carrots, shredded

1 large tomato, diced

½ red onion, thinly sliced

toasted almonds

For dressing:

½ c. olive oil

¼ c. white balsamic vinegar

¼ tsp. salt

2 T. ranch dressing mix

1 T. sugar

¼ tsp. pepper

Whisk together olive oil, vinegar, salt, ranch dressing mix, sugar and pepper. To assemble salad, toss together mixed salad greens, apples, carrots, tomato, onions and vinaigrette. Toss with dressing. Sprinkle salad with almonds before serving.

— John and Charlotte Ledford

GRILLED MARGARITA

CHICKEN

½ c. liquid non-alcoholic margarita mix

3 T. lime juice

1 clove garlic, minced

3 to 3-1/2 lb. cut-up broiler fryer chicken

1 tsp. course salt

Combine margarita mix, lime juice and garlic in a Ziploc bag. Add chicken; seal bag and turn to coat with marinade. Refrigerate, turning bag occasionally, at least one hour, but no longer than 24 hours. Remove chicken from marinade; reserve marinade. Boil reserved marinade before using to brush cooking meat. Heat coals or gas grill for direct heat. Place chicken, skin-sides up, on grill. Brush with marinade; sprinkle with ½ tsp. of the salt. Cover and grill 5-6 on medium heat for 15 minutes; turn chicken. Brush with remaining marinade; sprinkle with remaining ½ tsp. salt. Cover and grill 20 to 40 minutes longer, turning occasionally, until juice of chicken is no longer pink when centers of the thickest pieces are cut (165° with an instant-read thermometer).

— Samuel Adams

SOUR CREAM

MUFFINS

2 c. Bisquick

1 (8-oz.) carton sour cream

1 stick margarine or butter, melted

Mix all ingredients to moisten. Batter will be lumpy. Spoon into greased muffin pan or one that has been lined with cupcake liners. Bake at 450 degrees for 8 to 10 minutes or until golden brown. Makes about 12 medium-sized muffins.

— Beth Campbell

GRILLED PEACHES WITH

ORANGE ICE CREAM

AND RASPBERRY SAUCE

2 c. heavy cream

1 (14-oz.) can sweetened condensed milk

1 T. grated orange zest

1 1/2 tsp. pure vanilla extract

1 c. fresh or frozen raspberries, thawed if frozen

3 T. sugar

1 T. vegetable oil

6 peaches or nectarines

Using an electric mixer on high speed, beat the heavy cream, condensed milk, orange zest, and vanilla in a large bowl until thick, stiff peaks form, 3 to 5 minutes. Transfer the mixture to a loaf pan or freezer-safe container, cover and freeze until firm, at least 8 hours and up to 2 weeks. In a food processor or blender, purée the raspberries, any juices, and the sugar until smooth. Strain through a fine sieve. Cover and refrigerate the sauce until ready to serve or for up to 5 days. Twenty minutes before serving, heat grill to medium-high. Clean the grill, then lightly oil. Cut the peaches in half and grill until lightly charred, 1 to 2 minutes; transfer to bowls. Top with the ice cream and drizzle with the raspberry sauce.

— Kate Merker