Master Gardener, Wonderful Cook Called Home

She opened her heart and life to me when I first came to Boone – I, the social worker in the nursing home, she the adult daughter of an aging mother requiring our care. Ours was an immediate bond and one that I knew could be severed only through death. Friday morning that bond was broken when she drew her last breath following a week in an unconscious state. You have seen her name mentioned several times here in this column – especially in the summer as I talked about garden goods and recipes for canning and preserving. She taught me many things about the kitchen . . . . especially how to can those goods from the garden. Only a few weeks ago, she called and asked me to bring my jars over so we could turn the last of her cabbage into kraut. It’s going to be hard to open even one of those jars; it was her last gift to me . . . but certainly not the only gift she ever gave me. Aside from cookbooks she bought for my birthday . . . . and the seamstress work she so skillfully completed for me and my family . . . I could not begin to count the gifts she shared with me, but the most important ones were not the material kind – they were heart gifts that I will cherish forever.

Eula Vines was a servant . . . she loved to do for others, including her family and those she adopted into her family. I felt lucky, indeed, to be among that number. She was a tiny woman in stature, with a heart twice her size. If she loved you . . . you knew it. You never had to guess what she was thinking. Her words were few but her actions great . . . and everything she did, she did for a reason. She certainly wasn’t one to waste time . . . and only when the weather was bad and cold would you ever find her in the house, and even then, rarely sitting down. If she didn’t have something to do to keep her busy, she would find something . . . maybe a family member’s jeans to patch, or a friend’ s curtains to hem. She dreaded winter because it meant that she wouldn’t be able to work in the garden . . . and what gardens she had! Anyone passing by George Wilson Road on a summer day was struck in awe by the beauty of it all . . . rows and rows of beans, potatoes, corn, tomatoes, cabbage and onions . . . grown by an amazing gardener who loved the feel of the soil beneath her feet . . . and whose excitement grew every year as it all began to shoot up from the ground. Vegetables and flowers were her pride and joy . . . And, just as soon as the garden goods were ready for picking . . . well, let’s just say a cucumber didn’t have a chance before it was in a salty brine transformed into a dill pickle. Dozens of jars, filled to the brim, lined her cellar every fall . . . and just now, as I remember my last visit a few weeks back, tears stream down my face as I recall our last walk together into that cellar. I began to feel guilty every time I visited . . . each time I said ‘good-bye,’ my arms were filled with a jar or two of “something good” . . . but I also left a bit more blessed by a tidbit of wisdom, another lesson learned, or by simply being in her presence.

My friend, my surrogate mother, my seamstress, my gardener . . . she was all that and more . . . and my heart aches at her passing. Kraut will never be the same again . . . nor will I ever look at my curtains without thinking of the red, swollen fingers that so skillfully hemmed them. I’ll never grow another garden without thinking of her . . . and I’ll never fix a Candy Bar Cake without knowing hers would have been better . . . I’ll never see a piece of hard rock candy or orange slices dipped in white chocolate at Christmas, without thinking of her . . . and most of all, I’ll never think of heaven and God’s beautiful gardens. . .without the vision of her working in the soil and preparing for all of us a lovely bouquet. Thank you, Vines family, for sharing your precious mother with me. It was truly an honor to be considered her special friend.

Eula’s Candy Bar Cake

1 Swiss chocolate cake mix
1 small box instant vanilla pudding
3 eggs
¾ cup oil
1½ cup milk

Mix all cake ingredients together and bake at 325-degrees for 20-25 minutes. Remove from pans and cool completely on wire racks.

Icing:
1 (8 oz.) pkg. cream cheese, softened
10 milk chocolate bars with almonds, divided
1 cup powdered sugar
½ cup granulated sugar
1 (8 oz.) carton frozen whipped topping, thawed

Beat cream cheese, powdered sugar and granulated sugar at medium speed with an electric mixer until mixture is creamy. Chop 8 candy bars finely. Fold cream cheese mixture and chopped candy into whipped topping. Spread icing between layers and on top and sides of cake. Chop remaining 2 candy bars and sprinkle half over cake. Press remaining chopped candy along bottom edge of cake.

 

Nanny’s Peaches and Cream

½ stick margarine, melted
2 cups graham cracker crumbs
4 cups peaches
1 ½ cups sugar
2 T. cornstarch
1 cup water
½ to ¾ pkg. peach gelatin
8 oz. cream cheese
½ cup milk
8 oz. carton whipped topping
Pinch salt

Slice peaches and add ¼ cup sugar. Set aside. Combine ¾ cup sugar, cornstarch, salt and water in small saucepan. Heat until mixture is clear and begins to thicken. Add gelatin. Allow to cool completely and then add peaches. Mix margarine and cracker crumbs. Press ½ of mixture into bottom of dish. Beat cream cheese, ½ cup sugar and milk until smooth. Fold in whipped topping. Add ½ of the cheese mixture on top of crumbs in dish. Pour peaches and gelatin mixture on top. Add remaining cheese mixture. Then finish with remaining crumb mixture. Chill at least two hours before serving.

 

Eula’s Strawberry Pudding

1 qt. strawberries (washed and capped)
1 (6-oz.) pkg. strawberry Jell-O
½ cup sugar

Combine and heat just until sugar and Jell-O dissolve.

2 (3 oz.) boxes of instant vanilla pudding
3 cups milk
1 (8 oz.) carton sour cream
1 (12 oz.) container Cool whip
1 box vanilla wafers

Mix instant pudding and milk. Add sour cream and ¾ of the Cool Whip. Make two layers each of vanilla wafers, pudding mix and strawberry mix. Top with remaining Cool Whip and garnish with a few strawberries.