Jessica Adams

From the time she was little, Jessica Adams of Bruce has been prepping food. Her grandfather, the late Henry Stahli, who was head chef and menu designer for TWA and Saudi Arabia airlines, later ran a catering business in Phoenix with his daughter, Suzie Ellington, so Jessica frequently helped with that.

Anything she can prep ahead of time and freeze, she does so because she does menu planning by the month, and also a lot of crockpot cooking. “I always ate good growing up!” she said. Her great grandmother, Evelyn Williams from Pine Valley, made biscuits and good Southern food.

Her goal is to try at least one new recipe a week and some stay on her permanent rotation, while others don’t. For new recipes, Jessica looks on the internet, where she reads a lot of food blogs, and is “addicted to Pinterest.”

She looks for recipes that are real food, not “fru fru” food. She says she was taught to cook by taste, so even though she uses recipes, she’s not one for measuring.
Earlier this year her family made two long trips for rodeo events and she planned all the meals ahead of time and took most of them with them, including their snacks.

She and husband, Jeff, have three sons–Josh 10, Jared 12, Jason 15. Jason likes to grill. Josh likes to help do anything. Jared, their picky eater, cooks occasionally, and Jeff, not at all, she says.

The boys enjoy horses, showing goats, shooting clays, and hunting anything, so they occasionally have deer and duck to eat.
Jessica is BUES TOPPS president, and for school events, her cheesecake cookies are a favorite.

At family parties, her Tres Leches cake is what people ask for. Brisket and gravy, which she still makes, was a popular item for the catering business, along with lots of salads.

Layered dip, Buffalo chicken dip, brisket or something grilled is the usual menu for a birthday dinner for the kids. Her family enjoys the brisket, along with ham, most every Christmas.

The simmered sirloin is also a family favorite. She sometimes makes crepes from her grandfather’s recipe, but commented that they are very time consuming, and she also likes to bake, and mentioned her chocolate cupcake cake, which is really rich.

Cheesecake Cookies
1 box of butter cake mix
1 brick cream cheese, softened
Confectioners’ sugar
1 stick butter, softened
1 egg
Combine all ingredients in a mixer. Chill in refrigerator about two hours. Roll into 1-inch balls, then roll in powdered sugar. Bake on parchment paper for about 7-9 minutes at 350°. You do not want these brown, they will be puffed up and look finished not doughy. Watch them carefully because they will overcook quickly.

Simmered Sirloin White Wine Reduction
Cube steak
Seasonings
2 cans Beef Consomme
Vegetable oil
Flour
Worcestershire
3/4 cup dry cooking wine
Season, flour, and brown cube steaks. Remove from grease, to a paper towel lined plate. Continue cooking with remaining pieces of meat. Once meat is cooked, add Beef Consomme and wine to skillet, scrape the drippings off of the bottom of pan.
Add some seasonings, and Worcestershire then put meat back in. Turn down to low, cover and simmer about 20 minutes. Serve over mashed potatoes. Reduction creates a wonderful gravy.

Tres Leches Cake
1 cup all-purpose flour
1/4 tsp. salt
1 cup sugar, divided
1/3 cup milk
1 can sweetened, condensed milk
1 1/2 tsp. baking powder
5 whole eggs
1 tsp. vanilla
1 can evaporated milk
1/4 cup heavy cream
For the icing:
1 pint heavy cream, for whipping
3 Tbsp. sugar

Preheat oven to 350°. Spray a 9×13” pan liberally until coated. Combine flour, baking powder, and salt in a large bowl. Separate eggs. Beat egg yolks with 3/4 cup sugar on high speed until yolks are pale yellow.
Stir in milk and vanilla. Pour egg yolk mixture over the flour mixture and stir very gently until combined. Beat egg whites on high speed until soft peaks form. With the mixer on, pour in remaining 1/4 cup sugar and beat until egg whites are stiff but not dry. Fold egg white mixture into the batter very gently until just combined. Pour into prepared pan and spread to even out the surface.

Bake for 35-45 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. Turn cake out onto a rimmed platter and allow to cool. Combine condensed milk, evaporated milk, and heavy cream in a small pitcher. When cake is cool, pierce the surface with a fork several times.
Slowly drizzle all but about one cup of the milk mixture–try to get as much around the edges of the cake as you can. Allow the cake to absorb the milk mixture for 30 minutes. To ice the cake, whip one pint heavy cream with three tablespoons of sugar until thick and spreadable. Spread over the surface of the cake. Decorate cake with whole or chopped maraschino cherries. Cut into squares and serve.