Field Demonstrates Raw Talent In The Kitchen   MENU

by Lindsey Lowe

Chattanooga Times Free Press

August 7th, 2007

Though she is a mere 8 years old, Elisabeth Field takes the title of chef in her large family. Bethy, as her family calls her, often cooks for her mother, father and five siblings in their St. Elmo home and enjoys every second spent doing what she loves.

Elisabeth’s mother, Pauline Field, said her daughter is just a natural in the kitchen. "I don't know where she learned it," Mrs. Field said. "It was just all a gift from God, because I didn’t teach it to her."

Mrs. Field said that, because Bethy is small, she sometimes has to jump up onto the counters to reach things she needs. "She just hops up to get what she needs and back down so quickly you can barely see her do it," Mrs. Field said.

Because Mrs. Field stays very busy serving as software engineer for the family business, SurfN Development [now the Chattanooga Software Center], she said Bethy and her sisters learned a lot of their kitchen skills on their own.

Though all four sisters help in the kitchen at times, Bethy is definitely the cook of the family, and her younger sister Mary, 6, serves as little sous-chef. She loves helping her big sister prepare food.

Bethy pretty much gets to use the kitchen freely and without supervision unless she is using the oven or stove. When she does this more involved cooking, her oldest sister, Susan, 12, watches over her and helps keep her safe while she creates her dishes.

Susan said her sister is quite a creative cook. Even when there are not many ingredients to work with, Susan said that Bethy takes whatever is in the refrigerator or pantry and makes something interesting and beautiful out of it. Bethy’s artistic nature and obvious talent in the kitchen can be seen in the way she presents her work as well.

It seems she just has a way of making the things she cooks look as fabulous as they taste.

Mrs. Field said that her daughter also really loves to serve. "(Bethy') has a servant’s heart," Mrs. Field said. After she cooks, Bethy even enjoys fixing plates for her family, and it’s apparent that serving them in this way is what she does best.

Bethy has spent the past three days in the kitchen, and with the help of sous-chef Mary, she prepared an elaborate feast to first display her talents and then feed

her family. The girls made three large loaves of zucchini bread, cucumber dip, cookies, chicken and dumplings and four dishes from Bethy's "Strawberry Shortcake Berry Yummy Cookbook" including Ginger Snap’s nachos, Strawberry Shortcake’s ABC Soup, Huckleberry Pie’s Spyglass Noodles and Angel Cake’s Peek-a-Boo Eggs.

In the space below, the Fields have shared some of their best recipes for readers to try at home.

CUCUMBER DIP:

1 cup unpeeled cucumber, grated

2 8-ounce packages cream cheese

2 tablespoons grated onion

1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce

3 tablespoons mayonnaise

2 tablespoons lemon juice

Dash of salt, pepper and garlic

Drain the water from the grated cucumber. Mix all the ingredients together in a blender. Serve with Ruffles with ridges.

DOCTOR PROFESSOR KEITH GOLDMAN’S SECRET CHOCOLATE CHIP COOKIES:

2/3 cup shortening

1/2 cup sugar

1/2 cup brown sugar

1 egg

1 teaspoon vanilla

1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 cup chocolate chips

Mix together shortening, sugar and brown sugar. Stir in egg and vanilla. Sift in flour, salt and baking soda. Stir mixture until dough has formed. Add chocolate chips. Put cookies on lightly greased pan and cook at 350 degrees for about 10 minutes. Note: Can cut the regular sugar in half and roll the cookie dough into a dozen balls, placing them on a cookie sheet. This makes extra large cookies and requires about 15 minutes baking time.

ZUCCHINI BREAD FROM THE BREAD BECKERS, INC.:

4 eggs

3/4 to 1 cup honey

1 cup oil

3 1/2 cups freshly milled flour

1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder

1 1/2. teaspoons soda

1 teaspoon salt

1 cup chopped pecans

2 cups grated zucchini

2 teaspoons vanilla

1 cup raisins

1 cup crushed pineapple, drained

Beat eggs. Add oil and honey. Stir in the reset of the ingredients. Mix well and pour into 2 greased 9x5-inch loaf pans. Bake at 350 degrees for 1 hour. Makes 2 loaves.