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Puttin’ Up Vittles on
Nowhere Road
What a sweet surprise I received during a recent
visit with local author, Frances Henson VanLandingham. We had
corresponded a few years back as I helped promote one of her
books. But to sit down over lunch with this genuine soul and
drink from her fountain of knowledge and wisdom – even
for just one hour – was a rare delight. Not to mention,
the date: Sept. 11 – one forever etched in the memory of
any U.S. citizen.
For me, however, that day had scarred my heart years earlier.
It represented my greatest personal loss of all time –
the day my mother died. It wasn’t planned and no coincidence,
I’m sure, that on that particular day, 19 years later,
I shared a noon time meal with one whose gentle spirit was truly
reminiscent of another whose presence I will forever miss.
It was a gift, compounded by her generosity in sharing with
me her cookbook, “Puttin’ Up Vittles on Nowhere Road,”
as well as her latest release, “Mountain Women – Steel
and Velvet,” which certainly describes us all quite well.
We mountain gals have to be tough, but gentle at the same time.
I hope you enjoy these recipes, found along with many other
specialties and snippets about people and places that have made
a difference along the North Carolina/Tennessee state-line,
and especially on Nowhere Road.
Pumpkin Bread
2 cups sifted flour (plain)
½ teaspoon soda
1 teaspoon cinnamon
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon nutmeg
1 cup pumpkin, packed
1 cup sugar
½ cup milk
2 eggs
¼ cup butter or margarine (softened)
1 cup chopped nuts
Mix the first 6 ingredients together. Combine
the pumpkin, sugar, milk and eggs in a mixing bowl.
Add the dry ingredients and butter. Mix until well blended, stir
in the nuts. Spread in a greased 9 x 5 x3 inch loaf pan. Bake
at 350 degrees for 45-55 minutes or until toothpick inserted in
the center comes out clean. Makes 1 loaf.
Bread may be frozen.
Black Bean Salad
1 red bell pepper, diced
1 yellow bell pepper, diced
1 can (15 0z) corn, drained
1 teaspoon cilantro
4 tablespoons red wine vinegar
1 can (15 oz.) Bush’s Best Black Beans, drained
Salt and pepper to taste
1 green bell pepper, diced
½ cup red onion, diced
1 clove garlic, minced
¼ cup olive oil
1 teaspoon lime juice
Tortilla chips
In a salad bowl, combine peppers, onion, corn, garlic and cilantro.
Add olive oil, vinegar, lime juice, salt and pepper to taste;
toss. Add black beans, toss well and serve with tortilla chips.
Aunt Fran’s Cupcakes
(Frances’s nephews loved these when they were
young. She always made a big batch fro them to take home to Connecticut
after visiting with her.)
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
1 cup brown sugar
1 egg
1 teaspoon soda
1½ cups flour
½ cup shortening
1 square melted chocolate
½ cup sour milk
Cream shortening and sugar. Add egg and chocolate.
Add milk alternately with flour and soda mixed. Bake in tins lined
with bake cups for 20-25 minutes at 350 degrees.
The cookbook, containing these and dozens of other
recipes, as well as other works by Frances VanLandingham, may
be obtained by calling the author at her home office: (423) 768-2261.
Plan to meet her on Saturday, Oct. 11, at the Highland Newsstand,
Shops at Shadowline in Boone, for a book signing of “Mountain
Women – Steel and Velvet.”
She will be joined by friends Beecher O’Quinn and his “The
Way It Used To Be,” and Polly Gray, author of “Penny
and Ripshin Mountain: Or Under Mama’s Frozen Green Beans.”
These books will make great gifts for the upcoming holiday season
for those who were raised in, or love to read about, these memorable
mountains.
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