Featured Recipes by Ruth Ishee, Laurel, MS, Cook of the Week

The Laurel Leader Call featured Ruth as the Cook of the Week September 18, 2003.

Cook of the Week: Remembers cooking all her life

Ruth Gregg Ishee, retired daycare operator, now resides in Shady Grove. She and her family attend Trinity Baptist Church; where she helps with the Wednesday night suppers provided by the Circle of Friends. She also serves on the Church Food Ministry Committee.

Ruth enjoys cooking and entering cooking contests with her family. Bill, her husband of fifty years, and Eddy, their son, have enjoyed the excitement of competition. They have placed in contests, including the annual Main Street Festival Low-Fat Cooking Contest and Pie Baking Contest sponsored by the Heart Care Center, the Girl Scout Cookie Contest at Sawmill Square Mall, Rudy's Farm Sausage Contest at South Mississippi Fair; and the Spam Cooking Contest also at the fair. They have won ribbons for food preservation and vegetable exhibits at the fair. They are still involved in gardening, freezing, and home canning much of their food.

Where I learned to cook

When she was asked where she learned to cooks Ruth said: I can't remember a time in my life when I was not a part of the cooking and food preservation process. I grew up on a farm in Smith County. My parents grew and processed all the family's food on the farm.

We seldom had store-bought food other than the basic staples such as sugar,flour, salt, oatmeal, rice, and Jello. In my early childhood before we had a refrigerator, we had an ice man, who delivered blocks of ice used to make ice cream and to keep the food cool in an icebox.

Mother bought flavors, spices, coffee, and tea from traveling salesmen. My father had a smokehouse where he preserved bacon, ham and sausage. He also operated a small dairy, which provided plenty of milk and butter. There were hens that provided fresh eggs and chickens for all kinds of recipes. I cannot remember when I was too little to help pluck the chickens.

Daddy grew large fields of corn. Mother cooked all kinds of fresh corn dishes. We canned corn in jars at home and also we took pickup loads of fresh corn to the Taylorsville High School Agriculture Department, where a cannery was provided for the public's use. When the dry mature corn was harvested, Daddy took it to the grist mill to be ground into cornmeal. Mother taught me to cook various types of cornbread. One of the family favorites is cracklin' bread, which is made by adding a cup of cracklins to any basic cornbread recipe.

In order to feed her family, my mother developed many unique recipes. The recipe for butterbeans with dumplings, a favorite of many generations, was created to stretch food.

Butterbeans with dumplings

Select young tender butterbeans (lima beans: fresh or frozen). Season them with salt and butter. Cook them in water until they are done. Make sure you have enough water to accommodate the dumplings.

Add dumplings while the beans are in a rolling boil. Sprinkle a generous amount of black pepper. Cook until the dumplings are done.

Dumplings:

Stir 11/2 cups plain flour, 1 tablespoon shortening, and approximately 1 cup of milk together. Roll the dough thin on a floured surface and cut the dumplings. (Frozen dumplings may be used.)

As the middle child of five children, I was always in the middle of everything. We processed everything. I've always enjoyed being competitive. In school I competed in 4-H Club contests and Future Homemakers of America contests. One of my greatest joys has been teaching my children, grandchildren, and great grandchildren to cook.

My latest cooking project has been working with Mary Lou Gregg Cheatham, my sister, who uses the pen name Jane Riley, to compile and write a cookbook entitled Flavored With Love, mary Lou's Family and Friends Can Cook. We spent one year compiling over 240 recipes, along with stories about and by the cooks. To make the cookbook user friendly, Mary Lou chose large print and a type of binding that allows the cook to lay the book flat on the counter. It is a large book with over 300 letter-sized pages.

Ruth's Prize-Winning Broccoli Salad

4 cups broccoli, chopped
1/2 cup raisins
1/2 cup nuts
1/2 cup onion, chopped (preferably purple onion)
1/2 cup celery, chopped
1/2 cup real bacon bits
1/2 cup light mayonnaise
1/2 cup sugar
1/4 cup vinegar (apple cider or white)

Mix the first six ingredients. Make a sauce out of the mayonnaise, sugar, and vinegar. Pour the sauce over the salad. Toss and chill.

Ruth's squash dressing

Combine:

4 cups sliced raw yellow squash and zucchini
1 chopped medium onion

Boil in water until tender. Drain. Mash with potato masher.

Add:

1/2 teaspoon black pepper
1/2 stick butter
1 can cream of chicken soup
2 cups cornbread crumbs
seasoning salt to taste

Mix. Bake at 350 degrees until heated through and through.

Venison hash

Cook 2 pounds venison in salted water until tender. Drain all but small amount of liquid.

Add 1 chopped onion. Season to taste with seasoning salt. Cook until tender and liquid is absorbed.



Tomato Gravy

2 tablespoons oil
2 tablespoons self-rising flour
1 cup fresh tomatoes, peeled and sliced
1 quart chicken broth
seasoning salt to taste
2 teaspoons sugar

Brown the flour in the oil. When the flour mixture reaches a dark brown, add the chicken broth, tomatoes, and sugar. Cook and stir constantly until the mixture reaches the desired thickness.

When Bill and I first married; we ran out of money and ate cornmeal cooked in water for three weeks. We enjoy a sentimental devotion to it. In more prosperous times, I developed the following recipe.

Cornmeal soup

Cook any leftover meat-chicken, turkey, ham-in enough water for broth. Season with seasoning salt. Pick the bones and chop the meat. Mix 1/2 cup cornmeal in 1 cup water and add to boiling broth along with the chopped meat.

Peanut butter pie

1 package (8 ounces) cream cheese, softened
1 cup creamy peanut butter
1 cup sugar
1 tablespoon margarine,softened
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup whipped topping
1 (9") chocolate graham cracker crust
1/3 cup chocolate cookie crumbs

Combine cream cheese, peanut butter, sugar, margarine and vanilla. Beat until smooth. Fold in whipped topping. Gently spoon into crust. Sprinkle cookie crumbs over the filling. Store in refrigerator.

All of the above recipes, along with many more of favorites by Ruth, her family, and friends can be found in Flavored with Love. Cookbooks can be purchased from Ruth for $14.95. She can be reached at 601-649-5258.


http://www.fwlcookbook.com