Louise Smith
Louise Smith of Bruce has been cooking most of her 91 years and says she “can’t keep from cooking every day.” She has always eaten three meals a day and thinks it’s important to do so, but says she does it the easy way adding that she likes easy recipes.
“I hunt new things (recipes) on the internet,” and she enjoys making new dishes for the monthly potluck meetings of Mt. Moriah Happy Agers and Pleasant Grove Pleasant Agers.
She cooks a big meal including peas, turnip greens, cornbread and more–when her family comes to visit.
She still gardens a little–with squash, green beans, tomatoes, lettuce and peppers–and has two freezers she keeps full. She and neighbor, Wanda Longest, share a lot of food and recipes.
She said she had so many cookbooks that when her granddaughter, Kelly, married she let her go through them and take what she wanted, except the Bell’s Best (which she says is dilapidated from so much use), and one from Mennonite restaurant, her other favorite.
Her mother, Anna Kisner, let her “get in the kitchen” as a young teenager, and she also learned a lot about cooking from her grandmother, Eliza Harvey, and her mother-in-law,
Ruby Smith, who taught her to make green beans to taste good. Beef roast, ham and “all that good stuff,” were things she learned to cook from her mother.
For entertainment when she was young, she and friends, Montene Mayhan, Kathryn Hill, Nina Watson and Carolyn Bennett, would go to each other’s houses and make candy for themselves–chocolate, orange, divinity–they just found a recipe and started. “We made a mess, but had the most fun!”
Her family expects her peanut brittle, a microwave recipe, at Christmas and on their birthdays. This year she discovered the Easter salad recipe and has made it several times, and she makes a lot of the lemon cakes. Her grandchildren like the easy chicken strips, to which she likes to “add a little Tony Chachere’s to spice it up.”
Easter Fruit Salad
1-16 oz. can fruit cocktail
1-15 oz. can crushed pineapple
1 pkg. orange Jello
1 cup whipping cream or Cool Whip
1-3 oz. pkg. cream cheese, softened
3 cups colored marshmallows
Drain fruits, reserving juices. Dissolve Jello in 9×13 glass dish. Add reserved juice. Refrigerate until well thickened. Combine whipped cream and cream cheese. Mix well. Beat Jello until light and fluffy. Fold in whipped cream mixture. Add fruits and marshmallows. Refrigerate until ready to serve. Yield 12 servings.
Lemon Cake
1 box lemon supreme cake mix
1 pkg. instant lemon pudding
4 large eggs
1 cup water
1/3 cup vegetable oil
Combine cake mix, pudding mix, eggs, water and oil. Beat at medium speed with electric mixer for two minutes. Pour into greased and floured Bundt pan. Bake at 325° for 60 minutes. Meanwhile, mix 1/2 cup sugar, 3 Tbsp. butter and 2 Tbsp. water, and bring to boil. When cake is done, pour sugar mixture over while cake is still in the pan. Let stand 20 minutes before inverting pan.
Easy Chicken Strips
Fresh chicken strips
Oleo
Salt and pepper
Optional: Tony Chachere’s cajun seasoning
Crushed Ritz cracker crumbs
Wash chicken. Pat dry with paper towels. Salt and pepper to taste, and cajun seasoning if desired. Dip in melted margarine and roll in cracker crumbs. Bake in preheated oven 350° for 25-30 minutes. Can be baked and served in pyrex dish.
Microwave Peanut Brittle
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup white corn syrup
1/8 tsp. salt
1 cup raw peanuts
1 tsp. butter
1 tsp. vanilla
1 tsp. baking soda
In 1 1/2 qt. casserole, stir together sugar and syrup. Microwave on high five minutes. Take out of microwave and stir. Microwave four minutes. Add butter and vanilla to mixture. Blend well. Microwave on high one minute more. Peanuts will be lightly browned and syrup very hot. Add baking soda and stir until light and foamy. Pour mixture onto lightly greased cookie sheet. When cool, break in small pieces. Store in airtight container.
