Ellen Shaw and Paula Jeffery

Bruce Fine Arts Club members, mother and daughter, Paula Jeffery and Ellen Jeffery Shaw, enjoy their turns as hostesses for club meetings. Paula has been a member for going on 30 years, and Ellen, for more than 15. They agree it’s a good opportunity to try out new recipes, and they serve a lot of new things for club.

Food preparation is something both enjoy, and Ellen says they love the presentation part of cooking and making something look pretty and appetizing.

They both like looking through magazines for new ideas, and Paula says Ellen is good at coming up with a menu for meals or events.  The two have also helped with food for showers and weddings for most of the girls who formerly worked at Jeffery’s.

Both enjoy cooking for their families, and Paula especially enjoys making Sunday lunch. She says her grandchildren like to have fried okra every Sunday. Paula loves to try new Paula Deen recipes “because they are all good.”

Her grandmother, the late Roxie Box, was “a cook and a half,” and she learned from grandmother and her mother, the late Floy Ruth Parker. Paula also got some of the basics from home ec teacher Maudine Baldwin.

Ellen learned to cook from Paula, and Ellen’s daughter, Emmie, is learning from the both of them. She is interested in learning to cook, and they have also started teaching her things like how to set the table.

The Caramel Pecan Cheesecake was a recipe given to Ellen in a collection of handwritten recipes from Fine Arts Club members as a wedding gift, and Paula has been making the strawberry dessert for years, a recipe she got from a magazine, saying it’s good and it looks pretty.

Strawberry Whipped Sensation
4 cups fresh strawberries, divided
1 can (14 oz.) Eagle Brand sweetened condensed milk
1/4 cup lemon juice
1 tub (8 oz.) Cool Whip whipped topping, thawed, divided
8 Oreo sandwich cookies, finely chopped
1 Tbsp. butter, melted
Line 8×4” loaf pan with foil Mash two cups strawberries in large bowl. Stir in condensed milk, juice and two cups Cool Whip. Pour into pan. Top with combined chopped cookies and butter. Press into mixture. Cover. Freeze at least six hours. To serve, invert onto place. Remove foil. Frost with remaining Cool Whip. Top with remaining strawberries, sliced. Makes 12 servings.

Blueberry Pinwheel Cobbler
2 cups sugar
2 cups water
1 tsp. vanilla
1/2 tsp. lemon juice
1/2 cup butter flavored shortening
1 1/2 cups self-rising flour
1/3 cup milk
2 cups fresh or frozen blueberries
1/2 cup butter or margarine
Vanilla ice cream or Cool Whip topping
Combine sugar and water in saucepan. Stir well. Cook over medium heat, stirring constantly until sugar is dissolved. Stir in vanilla and lemon juice. Set aside. Cut shortening into flour until mixture resembles coarse meal. Add milk, stirring just until dry ingredients are moistened. Turn dough out onto a lightly floured surface, and knead lightly 4-5 times. Roll dough a 12×9” rectangle. Spread blueberries over dough. Roll up jellyroll fashion, beginning with the long side. Set aside. Melt butter in a 13x9x3” baking dish. Cut roll into 12-1” slices. place slices in butter. Pour sugar syrup around slices. Bake at 350° for 55-60 minutes or until golden. Serve warm with vanilla ice cream or whipped topping. Yield: 8-10 servings.

Paula Deen’s Chicken Nuggets
2 cups crushed sour cream and onion flavored potato chips
1 egg
2 Tbsp. milk
6 chicken breast fillets, cut into 1 1/2” cubes
1/3 cup butter, melted
Honey Mustard (recipe follows)
Preheat oven to 350°. Spread crushed potato chips in shallow dish. Beat together egg and milk in shallow bowl. Dip chicken cubes into egg mixture, then dredge them in the chips. Place chicken nuggets on baking sheet and drizzle with melted butter. Bake 15-18 minutes, or until golden brown. The nuggets can be frozen after baking. Serve with your favorite sauce, such as honey mustard or ranch dressing.
Honey Mustard:
3/4 cup mayonnaise
3 Tbsp. honey
2 Tbsp. yellow mustard
1 Tbsp. lemon juice or juice from 1/2 lemon
Horseradish to taste
2 Tbsp. orange juice (more or less as needed)
Combine with all ingredients except orange juice; stir well. Thin to pouring consistency for dressing or dipping consistency for dips with orange juice. Cover and chill 2-3 hours. Yield: 1 1/4 cups.

Caramel Pecan Cheesecake
Mix 2-8 oz. pkgs. softened cream cheese
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 tsp. vanilla
Add two eggs and mix all together. Pour half of container of Marzetti Caramel Dip into a Graham Cracker pie crust. Sprinkle 1/2 cup chopped pecans over caramel. Pour cream cheese mixture on top of pecans. Bake at 350° for 40 minutes or until center is set. Refrigerate three hours before serving.

French Toast Custard
Linda Ward
8-10 slices day-old French bread (1” thick)
4 eggs
5 Tbsp. butter or oleo, melted
2 egg yolks
3 cups milk
1 cup whipping cream
1/2 cup sugar
1 tsp. vanilla
1/4 tsp. nutmeg
Confectioner’s sugar, optional
Brush both sides of bread with butter. Place in a greased 13x9x2 baking dish. In large bowl, beat eggs and yolks. Add milk, cream, sugar, vanilla, and nutmeg. Mix well. Pour over bread. Cover and chill overnight. Remove from fridge 30 minutes before baking. Bake, uncovered, at 350° for 55-60 minutes or until a knife inserted near the center comes out clean. Cool 10 minutes before serving. Dust with confectioners sugar if desired. Yield: 8-10 servings.
Corn Pudding
2 sticks butter, melted
1 Jiffy cornbread mix
1- 8 oz. sour cream
1 can cream corn
1 can whole kernel corn, drained
Mix and pour in buttered dish. Bake at 350° for 45 minutes.