Charlotte Stephen

“To be a devoted cook you have to have the passion and the patience,” said Charlotte Stephen of Bruce, “It’s all about the presentation to me. You have to take pride in your work, and take your time.”

This is what she tells people about cooking, especially the young girls at church who ask about how she makes something look so good. Charlotte has been on the kitchen committee at Zion Springs Church for years. “The dessert table is mostly my thing,” she said, but she also usually takes potato salad. She has cooked at Bruce Elementary School Cafeteria for almost 12 years, where she is now assistant manager.

The kids “love, love, love pizza, bacon cheeseburgers and chicken nuggets,” and for breakfast, sausage and biscuits.

“My all-time favorite food is my mother’s chicken dressing,” she said. “She taught me well.”  Her mother is Almarie Williams, also of Bruce.

A Food Network fan, she has a bookshelf full of cookbooks and loves her them, but she always makes changes to a recipe. The 7Up cake, pound cake, pot roast and taco pasta recipes are “tried and true” she said. Her family’s favorites are the pasta and roast. Nephew Jotavius Jones loves the roast served with candied yams. She makes homemade macaroni and cheese, pound cake and tea for her family’s get-togethers.

“I love to cook,” she said,“And I have a passion for baking,” especially scratch pound cakes, and “the cafeteria ladies love those.”

She likes to “add and try stuff” when making things like tuna and chicken salad. To her tuna she might put in apples, onion, sweet pickles, a dash of sugar, and chopped walnuts and sunflower seeds in her chicken salad. Her children, Shekerria Stephen “cooks little stuff” and DeKendrick Yates “likes to cook. He takes after my mother, and his grandfather, Clay Stephen.” Both of them have always liked their mom’s homemade macaroni and cheese. Charlotte also likes crockpot cooking–Christmas candy, 2×4 soup and the pot roast, and, “I’m going to get me an air fryer,” she said.

One-Pot Cheesy Taco Pasta

1 lb. ground beef

1 pkg. taco seasoning

2 cups water

1-15 oz. can diced tomatoes

1-15 oz. can tomato sauce

1-15 oz. can whole kernel corn

2 cups uncooked macaroni shells

1 bell pepper, chopped (optional)

Salt & pepper

Tortilla chips (optional)

Shredded cheese

Brown beef in large quart pot over medium/high heat. Drain fat and return beef to pot. (If adding bell pepper, saute it first, then throw in beef to cook.) Add taco seasoning, water, tomatoes, tomato sauce and corn. Bring to boil. Add uncooked macaroni and reduce heat to low. Cover and simmer 10-15 minutes (until pasta is cooked through.) Stir occasionally. Remove from heat. Sprinkle cheese on top and cover. Serve once cheese is melted. Can eat with tortilla chips.

7 Up Cake

Cake: 3 cups white sugar

1 1/2 cups butter, softened

5 eggs

3 cups all-purpose flour, sifted

2 Tbsp. lemon extract

1 cup lemon-lime carbonated beverage such as 7Up

Glaze: 1 cup sifted confectioners’ sugar

1/4 cup milk (can substitute with 7Up)

1/2 tsp. vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 325°. Generously grease fluted tube or bundt pan. Beat white sugar and butter together in bowl using electric mixer until creamy and smooth. Add eggs, one at a time, mixing well after each addition. Stir flour, one cup at a time, blending well after each addition until batter is smooth. Stir in lemon extract. Mix lemon-lime beverage into batter and pour into prepared pan. Bake in preheated oven until toothpick inserted in center of cake comes out clean, about 1 hour 15 minutes. Remove cake from pan immediately. Beat confectioners’ sugar, milk and vanilla extract together in a bowl using electric mixer on medium until glaze is smooth. Pour glaze over warm cake.

Slow Cooker Pot Roast

3-4 lb. chuck pot roast

1 tsp. salt

1/4 tsp. pepper

3-4 medium potatoes, quartered

3-4 carrots, cut into 2” pieces

2 medium onions, quartered

1/2 cup beef broth

Sprinkle roast with salt and pepper. Place half of vegetables in bottom of slow cooker. Top with roast, then add remaining vegetables and liquid. Cover and cook five hours on high or eight hours on low.

Moist Whipping Cream Pound Cake

3 sticks (1 1/2 cups) unsalted butter, softened

3 cups white sugar

6 eggs, room temperature

3 cups cake flour, sifted

1 cup heavy whipping cream

1 Tbsp. vanilla extract

1/2-1 tsp. almond extract

1/2 tsp. lemon extract

In large bowl, cream butter with sugar until well combined, about 5 minutes. Add eggs one at a time and mix completely after each egg. Alternate adding flour and heavy whipping cream, mixing thoroughly after each addition. Stir in extracts. Grease and flour 9.5” bundt pan. Spoon batter into pan and jiggle pan to even out batter. Place in cold oven on middle rack. Turn oven to to 325°. Bake one hour and 20-30 minutes or until toothpick inserted into center comes out clean. Let cake cool in pan a few minutes before removing to finish cooking on cooling rack.