Gentry Leah Budd spends time in the kitchen to “help cook”
NEVADA, MO. – Soon to turn double digits in age, Gentry Leah Budd of Nevada, Mo., is no stranger to cooking.
She loves to come to Grammy’s house and “help cook.” However, family one of her earliest experiences worried traumatize her forever. She was on a two-step ladder and flipped her blankie. The mixer caught the blanket and instantly wrapped it around the beaters. After her blankie got rescued, she went right back to “helping.”
After a long visit to with family a couple of years ago, Gentry wanted to learn how to make “an-gel cake,” hot rolls, and noodles. They were pretty loft attempts for the then 7-year-old, but with supervision, she accomplished them all.
Now, almost every time she visits Grammy’s house, she wants to cook. Her favorite is making rolls. She calls kneading-beating, and does she every work that dough over.
“I love to beat the dough,” she says. “It’s so soothing.”
Another incentive to cooking is she loves the end results of her labor.
“We make the bestest food at Grammy’s” she tells anyone who will listen. They may not want to listen, but they do appreciate eating her food efforts.
A big day in cooking starts with making angel food cake when the mixer is clean. There must be no grease on the mixing bowl or any of the equipment. She uses Best Choice box mix and add one egg white to the egg mixture. The flour mixture is added a bit of a time and gently fluffed in by hand with a whisk. They almost always come out tall and fluffy, but you have to be careful that no one jumps on the floor or the cake will fall. Taking it out of the oven too soon will also result in a cake falling out of the pan when you turn the pan upside down on a bottle. Gentry decided an cake from scratch “was too much trouble.”
Gentry also has a recipe we make using the egg yolks for a yellow angel food cake. Most of the time, however, the yolks are made into noodles.
When the cake goes into the oven, she starts the rolls. The cake is usually done by the time the kneading and beating begins on the dough for the rolls. While the rolls are rising, noodles are made.
Gentry loves to crack eggs and is very fast at it. At the last cooking session, she quickly had a dozen in the bowl. Any noodles not needed for the day’s dinner are put in the freezer.
Meanwhile, chicken has been boiling gently and at this time, we take the chicken out to cool and punch down the bread dough. The break allows Gentry a much-needed break to watch TV.
When the rolls are ready, Gentry and Grammy pinch out about walnut sized hunks using butter-greased hands and fill the big bread pan.
The noodles are cooked in the chicken broth and the chicken added back, with veggies sometimes added.
