I can hardly wait until Strawberry season is open. I just love strawberry pie or just strawberries and cream. In the mean time, I have a good strawberry dish for you again.

Every once in a while I write a recipe just for children to try. I have found that a lot of the adults use them, also.

Since students will soon be out for Easter holidays (spring break), I thought I’d put a recipe in the paper just for them.

February is usually our coldest month, so I thought we needed something to keep us warm and a big bowl of hot chili should hit the spot.
You’ll need a large heavy pot and a bowl to pour excess grease in.

I got several comments about the Etouffee so, I thought I’d stick to French cooking this week; even though I’m not French, just my name.

Now that we have eaten all of the turkey and dressing we can hold, it is time to think of eating something nonfat. What is that?
I first thought of vegetables and that is good; then maybe fish or shrimp or crawfish. That sounds good. However, by the time I got the computer to come on, I had forgotten just what I planned to give you. Any type of fish is good, however; you’d have to add some kind of sauce, then rice, then up go the calories.

December is the month of cold weather and rain and for some a little snow. Also Christmas and eating pie, ham, turkey and dressing and leftovers.

(Submitted by Mary Stanton)

• 4 cups milk
• 3/4 cup sugar
• 1 1/2 cups coarse cracker crumbs
• 2 eggs, separated
• 3 tablespoons sugar (in addition to amount above)
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 1 cup shredded coconut ( optional)

Submitted by Queen Mum Donna of the Bridge City Golden Girls Red Hat Club

I do believe it will be gumbo weather soon. We had some at our son’s house Monday. It was left over from one of his customers last weekend. He is always cooking something.

You are never sure what he will come up with when he starts to cook. I just know his gumbo is not what he was raised on. We both learned from Charlie’s mother, but I think he lost something in the translation. However good is good and we always manage to eat it and bring a doggie bag home with us.

Our little Orangefield is beginning to grow again. The old timers can recall when Orangefield was a boom town.

I have only been here for 54 years, but can recall several things that have gone by the wayside.

Before I get into the pie, I have had two calls about the shrimp or crawfish etouffee. (When do you add the flour?) Add flour before putting shrimp back into seasoning.

My 98 year old sister passed away in September. I remember that her favorite cake was Hershey’s chocolate cake. It is about the best holiday cake that I know of.
And then you have Donna Bradley’s Strawberry cake.

While shopping last Monday, we heard one lady hollering to another one to get eight or nine bananas, because that’s what mama always gets. That brought back a lot of memories.
My mama always made a dish pan full of fruit salad every Christmas. Papa went to the Market Square every Saturday to purchase fur hides from the trappers, and he’d send them to market. There was always lots of things on the Market Square to purchase, especially fruit. He would bring home apples and oranges as big as grapefruit every winter.

Hope you had a happy Thanksgiving day. Sorry I didn’t get this recipe in before Thanksgiving. It really makes a pretty salad. I always put it in a clear glass bowl, so you could see just how pretty it really is. You can save this and make it for Christmas or New Year’s Day. It is not only pretty, it is good for you.

When Charlie and I buy groceries, we usually eat out or get a roasted chicken and a small box of Cole slaw and eat at home.
He likes dark meat, I like white, so that works out fine on a chicken. We get a roasted original chicken. He cuts me a wing and a part of the breast, while he gets a drumstick and leg. That pretty much takes care of half of the chicken.

I have really been enjoying the persimmons that Sue and Cecil brought us. The muffins are great also. 

Helen brought some cookies for all the gang that chat at Walmart, and some recipes that I am about to give you today.