Lakyn Ledbetter

Cornbread was probably the first thing Lakyn Ledbetter of Bruce ever made, and she still makes it pretty much every meal.

She does a lot of country cooking like her grandmother, the late Dorothy Ledbetter. She also learned about cooking from her mother, Sherrie Winter Ledbetter, who learned from her grandmother, the late Maudie (Big Mama)?Winter. And when Lakyn was old enough, she would start supper when she got home from school.

She and her brother, the late Justin Ledbetter, used to sit on the counter on the weekends and watch their grandmother make biscuits. “She never measured anything,” Lakyn said, “she just threw it all together and it came out good.”

Lakyn loved her water gravy (made by just using water, flour and grease.) She says she can finally make gravy (with milk) although her first looked like pudding, but it tasted good. And Lakyn says as much as she watched, she cannot get the hang of homemade biscuits.

Justin and Lakyn cooked together a lot when they were growing up, just whatever they wanted. For Christmas they would make candy like oreo balls and peanut butter balls, and peanut butter cookies (nabs dipped in chocolate) while their mom was cooking the meal.

And when it comes to the Christmas meal, Lakyn mentioned her mother’s dressing, which she wants to learn to make soon, and her sweet potato pie, which she can make.
She also mentioned Mrs. Dorothy’s pecan pie and coconut pie following their traditional Christmas dinner.

Lakyn likes all food, from sweets to fried food, and she likes to cook meals, but is not as big on cooking sweets. Nineteen month old daughter Elizabeth eats of lot of green salad and spaghetti, and she likes her cornbread Mexican.

Lakyn and her mother put up peas, tomatoes  and jelly every year. She likes to make vegetable soup and saves her leftover vegetables likes peas and green beans to freeze and add to it.

Egg Pie
Big Mama
4 eggs
1 cup milk
1 cup sugar
Vanilla
Mix together. Pour in unbaked pie shell. Bake at 350°.

Scratch Brownies
Justin Ledbetter
4 eggs
2 cups sugar
1 cup oil
1/4 cup cocoa
1 1/2 cups flour
2 tsp. vanilla extract
Beat four eggs, 2 cups sugar, 1 cup oil, 1/4 cocoa, then add 1 1/2 cups flour, vanilla. Grease cake pan and pour in brownie mix. Drop pan on counter to get air bubbles out. Cook at 350° 35-40 minutes. Cool before adding icing!

Scratch Chocolate Icing
Justin Ledbetter
4 Tbsp. butter
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
2 Tbsp. milk
1 1/2 cups confectioner sugar
1 Tbsp. cocoa
1 tsp. vanilla
In pan, melt butter and pour brown sugar over medium heat until dissolved. Add milk. Bring to a boil and remove from heat. Sift together cocoa and powdered sugar. Blend into butter mixture. Add vanilla. If too stiff, add more milk. Spread over brownies or cake.

Hash Brown Casserole
Sherrie Ledbetter
2 lbs. frozen hash browns
Salt, pepper
10 oz. cheddar cheese
2 cans cream of chicken soup
1 pint sour cream
1/2 cup chopped onion
Thaw potatoes. Combine all ingredients in bowl. Put in casserole dish. Bake at 350° for 1 1/2 hours.

Steak Casserole
Sherrie Ledbetter
6 Tbsp. flour
6 Tbsp. oil
1 large round steak
3 1/2 cups water
1 large onion sliced
Salt, pepper, seasoned salt to taste
Cut meat in six pieces. Flour, salt, and brown quickly in four Tbsp. oil. Remove and add to casserole dish. Add rest of oil and 6 Tbsp. flour to skillet to make thin paste. Add water to thicken gravy. Add seasoned salt to taste. Spread onion over meat. Pour gravy over all. Cover and bake at 350° for 1 1/2 hours.