Dollie Armstrong

By Published On: November 11, 2015

“I will test a new recipe out before bringing it out for the holidays,” said Dollie Armstrong about her favorite time for cooking. Christmas and Thanksgiving are both traditional meals for her family, and consist of pretty much the same dishes.
Thanksgiving is spent in Texas with daughter, Sharon Willis, who always makes the dressing, ham and pistachio salad. Dollie packs Sunflower meal to take for her daughter to use in making the cornbread for the dressing.
Dollie cooks the turkey, makes her punch and desserts, which is usually coconut, pineapple, German chocolate cakes (her favorite), and her daughter’s favorite, strawberry cake, along with sweet potato pies.
Dollie ArmstrongSweet potato pie, corn and lima beans and also chocolate chip cookies are favorites of her grandchildren.
The Thorntons started off having Christmas Day lunch at her father, Lynn’s home, but when the family got too large, they moved it to the Lodge near his house, where they have held it for years now. He cooks the turkey and ham for the Thornton holiday meals.
He has a good supply of mustard and collard greens, which is something else they have for their holiday meals.
Her granddaddy, Ernie Thornton, once told her, “Let me taste the soup off your greens. Granddaughter, you got it this time,” saying it tasted like her grandmother Leeler’s.

Mr. Lynn is also known for growing a lot of big cabbage so Dollie has plenty to cook, and sometimes she stuffs it.
Occasionally she will slice cabbage, okra and bell pepper and saute it, adding salt and pepper, which was something her mother used to make.
Rattlesnake beans are a favorite of hers and she likes to can them. They usually have a small garden every year and grow tomatoes, peas, okra, squash, corn and string beans.

Dollie made up her punch recipe a long time ago and uses it for the Armstrong family birthday gatherings, which they have about every other month or so. They look for her to bring the punch and usually a coconut cake and chess pie. There were a lot of cooks in her family to learn from. In her family of 12, there were eight girls. The older ones did most of the cooking and Dollie didn’t start until after she married. But she was always in the kitchen with them watching, listening and taking notes.
Her husband, Johnny, laughed at her first biscuits because they were hard, “Even the dogs ran away from them!” he told her.
Very Good Punch
3 pkgs. Black Cherry Kool-Aid
3 pkgs. Tropical Punch Kool-Aid
1 gallon Hawaiian Berry Punch
3 cups sugar
(Mix well)
1 large Pepsi
(Better the next day)

Strawberry Cake
1 box Duncan Hines cake mix
3/4 cup water
1/4 cup sweet milk
1/3 cup vegetable oil
3 large eggs
Mix well. Beat at medium speed. Pour in greased, lightly floured oblong cake pan. Bake at 350°. Cake is done when toothpick comes out clean.
Frosting:
1 box Domino confectioner’s sugar
1 large box frozen strawberries
1 cup pecan pieces
1 stick Blue Bonnet
1 cup Baker’s coconut
Melt Blue Bonnet, half box of confectioner’s sugar and rest of ingredients. Spread over cake. Mix remaining half of confectioner’s sugar with a little sweet milk and a little Blue Bonnet, and drizzle over top of cake.

Chicken Crunch
6 chicken breasts, cooked and deboned
1 stick butter
8 oz. sour cream
1 can cream of chicken soup
40 Ritz crackers
Mix chicken, soup and sour cream. Pour in casserole dish and dot with butter. Put crumbled crackers on top and cook at 350° for 20-30 minutes or until bubbly.

Coconut Chess Pie
1 stick Parkay
1 1/2 cups sugar
3 large eggs
1/2 cup flaked coconut or 1 cup
1 tsp. vanilla
1 Tbsp. vinegar
Melt Parkay. Beat eggs. Combine all ingredients and mix well. Put in unbaked Pet-Ritz pie shell. Bake one hour at 350°.

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