By Staff
LOVES TO COOK Ella Rita Stone has been cooking since she was in junior high school. She said she finds comfort in cooking for her family. Photo by Paula Merritt/The Meridian Star
By Penny Randall / staff writer
Aug. 27, 2003
Ella Rita Stone's grandchildren love her cooking so much that they nominated her for this "In the Kitchen"story.
It's Stone's recipe for chocolate chess pie that her granddaughter loves the most.
Bryce Stone said her grandmother is the best cook she knows.
Tasty spaghetti
Stone said there's a secret to making her original spaghetti sauce.
Gumbo is also a favorite dish among Stone's four children and 11 grandchildren.
But one of her favorite recipes is pepper jelly.
Stone started cooking in a junior high school home economics class. For one class project Stone, then only 17, and her friend, Ann Loper, had to make a nut cake.
Her inspiration
But Stone said her inspiration was her aunt, Kathleen O'Neil Johnson.
Stone doesn't taste her dishes while preparing them.
Stone said she cooks whenever the urge hits her.
Stone also looks forward to cooking for family gatherings.
Stone's advice for other cooks: "Let it come natural. Don't get uptight in the kitchen and venture out try something different."