Food prepared, styled and photographed by Brooke Echols
Cook of the Month Beth Lewis, Joe Wheeler EMC
Beth Lewis’s mother, Alice Bass, had two or three recipes that were guaranteed to please her family and a crowd. Her homemade rolls was one and the other was her squash casserole. “I think the key is the stuffing mix,” says Beth. “It’s hearty and gives it a homey taste.” Her mother would swap recipes with other ladies at church, and “there were things in the original recipe she didn’t like so she modified it,” she says. While Beth didn’t appreciate the casserole when she was growing up, she loves making it now, especially for her own church family at Liberty Community Church in Moulton on Wednesday nights. “It’s a big, big hit!” she says. The recipe can easily be halved, which she does for herself and her husband. The casserole is so filling it’s often enough for a lunch by itself.
For 25 years, Beth ran an engineering company, LIT, Inc. and in her retirement she and her daughter enjoy running their two antique stores, Basse Trading Co., in Moulton and Tuscumbia.
— Lenore Vickrey
Mom’s Squash Casserole
- 5 cans of squash, drained or 3 pounds yellow squash, cooked until tender
- 1 medium onion, chopped and sautéed in butter
- 1 can water chestnuts, diced
- 1 cup American cheese, grated
- 8 ounces sour cream
- 1 can cream of chicken soup
- 1 small jar pimentos
- 2 boxes Pepperidge Farms stuffing mix
- 1½ sticks butter, melted
Mix soup, sour cream, pimentos, water chestnuts and cheese together until well blended. Stir in squash and cooked onions, mix well and set aside. Melt butter, stir in stuffing mix until all the stuffing is saturated. Put half of the dressing mix level in the bottom of a large casserole dish. Pour the squash mix over the dressing layer. Add remaining ½ of stuffing mix over the top of the squash. Bake at 350 degrees for 25 to 30 minutes.
Marshmallow Fudgkins
- 2 1-ounce squares unsweetened chocolate
- 2 sticks butter
- 4 eggs
- 2 cups sugar
- 1½ cups flour
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- 2 teaspoons vanilla
- 1 cup nuts, chopped (optional)
- 1 package mini marshmallows
Melt chocolate and butter in a double boiler. Beat eggs until foamy. Gradually add sugar; beat well. Add other ingredients and pour into a greased and floured pan. A 10×15-inch pan is recommended. A 9×13-inch pan will make Fudgkins thick and rich.
Bake 30 to 35 minutes in a 325-degree oven. Take out of oven and spread marshmallows evenly over the top. Put back into oven about 5 minutes. Remove from oven and cover with frosting. Cover marshmallows while frosting is warm.
Frosting:
- 2 sticks butter
- 1 box powdered sugar
- 2 1-ounce squares unsweetened chocolate
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- ½ cup cream or evaporated milk
Melt chocolate and butter in a double boiler. Gradually add milk and sugar. Beat well. Add vanilla and spread on cake. Let stand in pan several hours. When cold, cut into squares.
Marshmallow Fudgkins was my mother’s recipe. Mescal Griffin (1921 – 2011) lived in Lineville, Alabama. Over the years, she must have made hundreds (thousands?) of these to share at church dinners; to take to sick friends; to make for church youth trips and events; and, of course, to make for all our family get-togethers. They were a family and community favorite and was always the top request from her kitchen.
Charlotte G. Robertson, Tallapoosa River EC
Divinity
- 2½ cups white sugar
- ½ cup Karo syrup
- ½ cup water
- 1 cup chopped pecans
- Dash of vanilla (clear works best)
- 3 egg whites
- Aluminum foil sheet laid out to drop candy on (about two feet long)
Beat egg whites with a mixer until firm peaks form. Set aside. Put sugar, Karo and water in a stainless steel boiler. Cook at a medium high heat, stirring almost constantly until medium-firm candy stage forms. Usually around 12-14 minutes.
Keep a small glass of cold water close by to drizzle a small amount of mixture into. (Careful, it is HOT.) If the mixture gets hard in the water, it should be ready.
Pour mixture slowly into the egg whites and blend with mixer about 3-4 minutes. Then use a large spoon, cleaning the sides of the bowl and folding the mixture over and over. Add the vanilla and pecans now. Continue to fold the mixture.
You are wanting it to start to cool down so it will stand up when scooped out. It should have a glassy look to it. When it starts to cool down it will lose the shine. Using a tablespoon and knife, scoop mixture up and drop it on foil by pushing candy off with your knife. Let it set up and firm.
Note: Remember, the candy is hot! Also, rainy and cloudy days can affect your mixture. Most importantly, practice makes perfect.
My mom, Betty Allen of Troy, Alabama, was known for her delicious melt in your mouth divinity. (She also made a mean poundcake.) Every year the Christmas holidays were starting when mom was making her divinity.
She made it for friends and family alike. Some of my favorite memories were of watching her make a batch alone or with her dear friend, Mrs. Ruth. A few years before she passed she was encouraging me to let her teach me how to make her famous candy; I always put her off, thinking we would have lots of time to do it. I was sadly wrong. A few years after she passed I asked Mrs. Ruth to try to teach me how to make her special candy. She gladly did.
With much trial and a great deal of error on my part, she did. Thank you, Mrs. Ruth, for helping my mom all those years ago and her stubborn daughter years later.
Debbie Headley, South Alabama EC
The Buttered Home
My sweet Momma was a fabulous cook. I have lots of recipes that remind me of her and I was fortunate enough to have lots of them written down in her own handwriting. Now that she has passed on, those recipes and memories of her are worth more than gold to me. I am honored to have been her daughter, honored to share this recipe with you and I know it would make her happy to know you cooked it and enjoyed it. My love of feeding people, heart, soul and stomach, comes from her. We have lots of recipes at thebutteredhome.com proudly displayed in her memory so give us a visit so you can see how she loved to love on people with food!
Easy New Potato Salad
- 6-8 medium red potatoes, cooked and cubed (skins on)
- 11/2 cups mayonnaise
- 1 tablespoon prepared mustard
- Salt, to taste
- Pepper, to taste
- 1 small onion, chopped
- 2 tablespoons pimentos, drained
- 1/4 cup dill pickle relish
- Smoked paprika, to taste
- 2 eggs, hardboiled and chopped
Boil eggs and potatoes. Allow to cool. Roughly chop the eggs. Cut potatoes into bite-size pieces, being careful not to mash.
In a large bowl, mix potatoes, eggs, onion, pickle relish and pimentos just until combined. Add in salt and pepper and mix well.
Add in mayonnaise and mustard and about 1/4 teaspoon of paprika. Mix well to combine.
Sprinkle a little more paprika on top and chill for at least 30 minutes before serving.
