BHS/BMS cafeteria staff

By Published On: August 27, 2014

Bruce High/Middle School Cafeteria staff is composed of seven ladies: Jacque Russell, Linda Haire, Peggy Higginbotham, Patrice Powell, Peggy Ramsey, Laura Rodgers and Ruby Thompson.

Higginbotham started in 2000, and has been there the longest. Russell, who is cafeteria manager, is right behind her. The two agree that during those years, pizza has remained the favorite food of the kids served in the lunchroom, especially the stuffed crust.

Front, Laura Rodgers, Patrice Powell, Jacque Russell; back, Peggy Ramsey, Linda Haire, Ruby Thompson and Peggy Higginbotham.

Jacque says cooking is all she’s ever done. She started with Kathy Brummett at Kathy’s Kozy Kitchen in Pittsboro before coming to Bruce Cafeteria. She learned to cook from her grandmother, the late Reba Bryan, and likes to make her pistachio pudding at Christmas because she always did. Her favorite food is coconut pie, but she says she can’t make it.
Peggy Higginbotham says she cooks supper every night–meat, vegetables and dessert, because that’s what her husband loves. She enjoys making goodies at Christmas–candy, cookies and cakes. A family favorite she makes is butter roll, but says to her it’s not as good as her mother’s. She named pecan pie as one of her favorite foods.

Linda Haire’s grandchildren like for her to make them strawberry pizza for their birthdays, and they also like her homemade donuts and green beans. Desserts she likes to make often are coconut pies and cakes, and they are among those she recently made for a bake sale at Old Town Baptist Church. Her favorite food is grilled shrimp, which she does fix sometimes.
Patrice Powell started cooking about age 14. “Mama (Mary Jo Thomas) made sure we all learned to cook, because she said we had to learn to fend for ourselves.”

Behind Mary Jo, Patrice says she and sister, Vivian, do most of their cooking for family gatherings, but Mary Jo still makes the dressing. “Season to your taste. If it doesn’t taste good to you, it won’t taste good to anybody else,” is one thing Mary Jo always tells Patrice. They use Accent rather than salt to season meat and vegetables, and they don’t do much cooking from recipes.

Laura Rodgers says the ladies in the cafeteria do a lot of recipe sharing. As a member of Bruce Twentieth Century Club, she often makes Ding Dong Cake for their annual bake sale in the spring. She got the recipe from Peggy Ramsey and says it has become a family favorite. Chocolate pie is husband Danny’s favorite besides grilled shrimp. Candy making and baking are things she does for the holidays. Her family usually gets together in early December with “lots of food”, and she also cooks a big meal for their children and grandchildren’s Christmas get-together. She has been in the cafeteria for eight years.

Ruby Thompson learned to cook while standing in a chair at the stove. As far as working in the cafeteria five years, she says she likes to be with people, and cook and eat different foods, like tacos, that husband Binnie won’t eat. She also said she only gets to make casseroles for church dinners, because he won’t eat those either. She says she usually measures the first time she makes a recipe, but not the next time.

Peggy Ramsey’s  Southern Spiced Pecan recipe was in a Happy Homemakers’ Club holiday foods cookbook. She is a member of Happy Homemakers Club and Pieces and Patches Club. Their cookbooks have been projects to raise money for a stove and icemaker for the multi-purpose building kitchen. And about the pecans, “you can’t eat just one…or two!” she said.

Southern Spiced Pecans
(Peggy Ramsey)
1/4 cup butter or margarine
1 1/2 tsp. ground cumin
1/4 tsp. cayenne pepper
3 cups pecan halves
2 Tbsp. sugar
1 tsp. salt
In large skillet, melt butter. Add cumin and cayenne; cook and stir one minute. Remove from heat; stir in pecans, sugar and salt until well-coated. Spread in single layer in greased 15x10x1 baking pan. Bake at 350° for 25-30 minutes or until lightly browned, stirring occasionally. Cool. Store in airtight container.

Pistachio Salad
    (Jacque Russell)
1-20 oz. can crushed pineapple, drained
1-3 oz. pkg. instant pistachio pudding
1-8 oz. Cool Whip, thawed
1/2 pkg. mini marshmallows
In large bowl, combine pineapple and pudding. Fold in Cool Whip and marshmallows. Mix well. Refrigerate until ready to serve.

Buttermilk Coconut Pie
    (Ruby Thompson)
1/4 cup buttermilk
1 cup and 2 Tbsp. sugar
2 eggs
1 can coconut
1/4 stick oleo, melted
Cream sugar and oleo. Add eggs, buttermilk and coconut. Pour in unbaked crust and bake at 350° about one hour.

Chicken Rotel
  (Peggy Higginbotham)
1 large chicken
1 bell pepper
1 onion
3/4 stick margarine
1 can Ro-tel
1 Tbsp. Worcestershire
1 lb. Velveeta
1 large can mushrooms
1 pkg. spaghetti noodles
Boil and season chicken. De-bone. Saute pepper and onion in margarine. Add Ro-tel, Worcestershire and simmer 10 minutes. Add mushrooms and Velveeta. When cheese melts, add chicken. Cook spaghetti noodles in chicken broth. Drain. Add to Ro-tel mix. Transfer to casserole dish. Bake at 350° until bubbly.

Shoney’s Strawberry Pie
  (Linda Haire)
1 cup sugar
6 Tbsp. cornstarch
1 cup water
1 box strawberry gelatin
1 qt. fresh strawberries
1-9” pie crust
Combine sugar and cornstarch. Add water and cook until thick and clear. Add gelatin. Stir until dissolved. Add strawberries. Pour into shell. Refrigerate and top with Cool Whip.

Chocolate Pie
 (Laura Rodgers)
1-9” baked pie crust
1 cup sugar
1 Tbsp. flour
2 Tbsp. cornstarch
4 Tbsp. cocoa
2 cups milk
2 egg yolks, slightly beaten
2 Tbsp. butter
1 tsp. vanilla extract
Mix dry ingredients in microwave safe bowl. Add milk and egg yolks and mix well. Add butter and vanilla. Cook in microwave on high at two-minute intervals, stirring after each, until thickened. Pour into pie crust. Top with meringue made with egg whites and 1/8 tsp. cream of tartar, beaten until peaks form. Gradually add 1/4  cup sugar. Beat until stiff. Spread over filling and brown slightly in 400° oven.

4-Layer Pecan Pie
 (Patrice Powell)
1 refrigerated rolled pie crust (from 15-oz. pkg.)
1-8 oz. pkg. cream cheese, softened
1/2 cup sugar, divided
2 tsp. vanilla extract, divided
4 eggs
1 cup corn syrup
1 1/4 cups chopped pecans
Preheat oven to 375°. Unroll crust and place in 9” deep dish pie plate, pressing crust firmly into plate. In medium bowl, combine cream cheese, 1/4 cup sugar, 1 tsp. vanilla extract, and one egg. Beat at low speed until smooth. Set aside. In another medium bowl, beat three eggs.
Add remaining sugar, corn syrup and remaining vanilla. Mix well. Spread cream cheese mixture in pie crust. Sprinkle  with pecans and slowly pour corn syrup mixture over pecans. Bake 40-45 minutes, or until center is set. Let cool, then refrigerate four hours or until ready to serve. If necessary, cover edge of crust with foil to prevent excessive browning after 25 minutes. You may top each slice with a scoop of vanilla ice cream and drizzle of maple syrup.

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