Connie Rogers

In 2009 Connie Rogers of Bruce started herself a cookbook of recipes “for exactly what I like to cook. If I cook something that I know I will cook again, it goes in that book,” she said.
Connie likes “hand-me-down” recipes–ones that she knows where they came from, people she knows. She has a “million” cookbooks, but her favorites are the old church cookbooks that have the “tried and true recipes from the little old women.”
She has a separate cookbook for candy recipes of her aunt, Martha Rogers, who is helping her learn to make them. Her biggest project is the Christmas candy, and this time she said her orange slice candy was a success.

“It took me the longest to learn. You have to work with it,” she said. She also got the peanut butter balls like she likes them. She also made Corn Flake candy, peanut clusters with white chocolate, Snicker fudge, Rolo candy melts and Oreo balls. She likes to make and give away the candy. Her biggest ambition is to get all the candy mastered.

Growing up, Connie didn’t have much interest in cooking. She did the canning and freezing of the vegetables, but didn’t cook them until she was older. That started when Chickenbone Fire Department formed their cooking team. The ladies always make  the desserts when they have a chicken cooking.

As far as desserts for Chickenbone, she says she could make banana pudding with her eyes closed.  Once a month she cooks for the fire department members on drill night, and one of their favorites is in January when she makes breakfast food.
She always cooks the family’s traditional Thanksgiving meal and can make her mother, Bennie’s, dressing. And she has “made sweet potato casserole out her ears” for the fire department cookings, that they always have, too. She said she also mastered homemade cranberry sauce to accompany their Thanksgiving meal. She cooks a full Thanksgiving meal each year for the fire department members, too.

Connie says she cooks plain, and will try stuff from Pinterest every once in a while. She watches Food Network religiously and calls herself a Food Network junkie. Pioneer Woman is her favorite to watch.
She likes to make tomato pie, and usually does it as a casserole, without the crust. The sweet potato bread recipe was her mother’s sister’s recipe.

Finger foods are also something she loves to make–pimento cheese with hot crackers, cheese logs–and she likes to make dips, especially with salsa, and has topped some of her dips with peach preserves, but added, “anything chocolate” is her favorite food.
Macaroni Casserole
(Bennie Rogers)
1 box macaroni and cheese
1 small jar pimento
1 cream of mushroom soup
1 cup mayonnaise
1 small onion, chopped
1 sleeve Ritz crackers, crushed
1 Tbsp. butter
Mix macaroni and cheese as directed on box. Then add pimento, cream of mushroom soup, mayonnaise and onions. Melt butter and add crackers to make topping. Sprinkle over top and bake at 350° for 20-25 minutes or until bubbly.

Orange Slice Candy
(Martha Rogers)
1 lb. orange slice candy, finely chopped
1 can (14 oz.) Eagle Brand milk
1 cup chopped nuts
1/2 cup sweetened flaked coconut
1 tsp. orange extract
2 cups powdered sugar
Combine chopped orange slice candy, Eagle Brand milk, pecans, coconut and extract. Spoon in baking dish. Bake 30 minutes or until mixture bubbles on 250°. Stir in powdered sugar. When smooth, drop by teaspoon on waxed paper. Let stand until firm.

Cranberry Sauce
1-12 oz. bag cranberries, cleaned
1 3/4 cups sugar
1 Granny Smith apple, chopped, peeled and cored
Grate zest, and juice one orange
Grate zest, and juice one lemon
Cook cranberries, sugar and one cup of water in saucepan over low heat for about five minutes or until skins pop open. Add apples, zest and juice, and cook for 15 minutes. Remove from heat and let cool. Serve chilled.

Sweet Potato Bread
(Aunt Evelyn Earp)
1-1/2 cups sugar
1/3 cup cooking oil
1 cup sweet potatoes
2 eggs
1/2 tsp. vanilla
1 3/4 cups flour
1/4 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. cinnamon
1/2 tsp. nutmeg
1/2 tsp. allspice
1/2 cup raisins
1 cup chopped nuts
1/2 tsp. soda
Mix first five ingredients well. Then add dry ingredients. Put equal amounts in two greased one pound coffee cans. Cook at 350° for one hour. When cool, slice in rounds.

Blackberry Wine Cake
1 white cake mix
2 eggs
1/2 cup oil
1 1/3 cups blackberry wine
1 box black cherry Jell-o
Mix well and bake in three round or one 9×13 pan. Bake at 350° until done.

Icing:
2 Tbsp. margarine
Blackberry wine
Powdered sugar
Mix well and ice cake.

Tomato Pie
(Donna Weeks)
1-9” frozen unbaked deep-dish pie crust
(To make without pie crust, grease pie pan well, and proceed.)
3-4 medium tomatoes, sliced, drained and patted dry
Salt and pepper to taste
8 slices bacon, cooked crisp and crumbled
3 Tbsp. snipped fresh basil or 1 Tbsp. dried basil, crushed
1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese
1/4 cup mayonnaise
1/4 cup crushed rich round crackers
Preheat oven to 350°. Thaw frozen pie crust 10 minutes at room temperature. Arrange some of the tomato slices in the crust to form a single layer. Lightly season tomatoes with salt and pepper. Sprinkle with some of the bacon and basil. Repeat layering, using remaining tomato slices, salt, pepper, bacon and basil. Combine Parmesan cheese and mayonnaise; spread over tomatoes. Sprinkle with crushed crackers. Bake for 30 minutes or until crumbs begin to brown.