Lorna Reifers

Lorna Reifers of Vardaman doesn’t have a secret to making creamed potatoes, but that’s what all the nieces and nephews want at their family gatherings. They are also on the menu of the favorite meal of her six grandchildren, along with fried pork chops, green beans and Mexican cornbread.

After cooking the potatoes, she says she beats them, then just adds salt, pepper, butter, and milk. She has been cooking forever for her family, who she loves to cook for, and they have family get-togethers often.

Cornbread was probably the first thing she learned to cook, and her mother, the late Nora Parker, taught her, but also insisted that she attend 4-H Club to get more experience.

Her mother always had a dessert made, and Lorna has tried to make her mother’s caramel pie several times. She did learn to make her grandmother, Minnie Edington’s old-timey fruit cake before her mother passed away, and said it was special for her to know how.

Lorna has not always liked sweet potatoes, but says muffin tops are her favorite from the Sweet Potato Sweets shop in Vardaman. She loves oysters and always eats them when she and husband, Charlie, go to New Orleans.

Another favorite is turnip greens, which she says she can eat by themselves. Breakfast casserole is a dish she takes to tailgate at MSU. The spoon burger recipe was her Aunt Lillian Vanlandingham’s, and the Chess Pie recipe came from Barbara Fleming. She says the baked spaghetti is delicious, and easy, which is what she likes, so she has time for her favorite hobby of working outside.

Spoon Burgers
1 1/2 lbs. ground chuck
1/4 cup onion
Brown meat and onion until done. Add one can drained chicken gumbo soup, one Tbsp. mustard, 3 Tbsp. catsup. Let simmer 20 minutes. Serve on toasted buns.

Breakfast Sausage Sour Dough Bread
Loaf of sour dough French bread
Package of thin sliced ham sandwich meat (I use Bryan honey ham)
1 lb. sausage
1 onion
1/2 cup bell pepper
16 oz. Mexican shredded cheese
Brown sausage, onion and bell pepper. Drain. Slice bread in half and hollow out inside of each side. Leave bread on each side so you can pack sausage mixture and bake. Layer ham on each side of bread. Pack sausage, onion, bell pepper and cheese on top and wrap ham around mixture to bake. Close bread and wrap with foil and bake for 30 minutes. Open foil and brown bread a little.

Baked Spaghetti
12 oz. spaghetti, cooked
4 lbs. ground chuck
1 onion
1 large bell pepper
1 large can mushrooms
Parmesan cheese
Granulated garlic
3 Italian flavored stewed tomatoes
1 can black olives
12 oz. mozzarella cheese
12 oz. cheddar cheese
2 cans cream of mushroom soup
Nature seasoning
Pam spray
Cook spaghetti according to directions. Saute ground chuck, onion, bell pepper, mushrooms and olives. Drain and add Italian tomatoes to meat mixture. Season meat with Nature seasoning, garlic and so forth and so on. Spray a 13″x9″ dish with Pam. Layer 1/2 of the noodles then half of the meat mixture. They layer half of the mozzarella and half of the cheddar cheese. Repeat layers. Top with cream of mushroom soup diluted with 1/2 can water. Top with heavy layer of Parmesan. Bake at 350° until bubbly. Let set 20-30 minutes before serving.

Chocolate Chess Pie
3/4 cup melted butter
2 1/4 cup sugar
4 1/2 Tbsp. cocoa
3 eggs
1 cup Pet milk
1 1/2 tsp. vanilla
Beat eggs with fork. Mix sugar and cocoa together and all ingredients and mix good with fork. Bake 35-45 minutes at 325° degrees.

Hot Peas and Cornbread
1-16 oz. can black-eye peas
2 lbs. ground chuck (browned)
1 tsp. salt
1 1/2 cups shredded sharp cheese
1-16 oz. can stewed tomatoes (drained)
1 medium onion
1/2 tsp. pepper
1 pkg. cornbread mix
Mix peas, tomatoes, browned ground chuck, onion, salt and pepper together in mixing bowl. Pour into a 2 qt. baking dish. Sprinkle with shredded cheese. Mix cornbread mix according to package directions in separate bowl. Pour over cheese and bake at 350° for 30 minutes.

Strawberry (Raspberry) Delight
1-9×13 pan or 2 pie crusts
2-10 oz. pkgs. frozen berries in syrup
1 cup water
2 tsp. lemon juice
1/4 cup cold water
1 cup whole milk
1 1/4 cup graham cracker crumbs
1/2 cup melted butter
1/2 cup sugar
4 Tbsp. cornstarch
55 large marshmallows
2 cups whipping cream
1/4 cup chopped pecans
Heat berries, one cup water, sugar and lemon juice. Dissolve cornstarch in 1/4 cup cold water. Stir into berry mixture. Cook until thickened and
clear. Cool. Melt marshmallows in milk over hot water. Cool. Whip cream, fold into marshmallow mixture. Mix crumbs, nuts and butter. Press firmly into 9×13 pan. Bake 10 minutes. Spread marshmallow over cooked crumb mixture. Top with berry mixture. Refrigerate until firm. If using bought graham cracker pie crusts, chop pecans (do not use butter) toast a few minutes. Put in bottom of pie crust, then follow directions for filling as above.