BY ANN CIPPERLY
OPINION —
While Kathy Miller Lowe has a love of painting, she also enjoys the home arts, including cooking, decorating, gardening and floral arrangements. Her art includes anything for creating a comfortable home with attractive table settings and centerpieces using flowers from her garden. Kathy enjoys preparing special meals for family and is sharing a variety of favorite recipes from over the years.
When Kathy was growing up in Dadeville near Lake Martin, she spent a great deal of time at her grandmother’s house, which was located next door. After school, she would go straight to her house for a snack and to watch her cook. Her grandmother was a southern country cook and prepared vegetables fresh from the garden at the farm.
Her grandmother cooked every day and always had delicious desserts on hand, such as a lemon pie or banana pudding. She made wonderful homemade biscuits. Kathy has tried making her biscuits in the same dough bowl she used for mixing the flour, buttermilk and Crisco. She feels her biscuits are just not as tender as the ones her grandmother made.
Kathy remembers that her grandmother would get laundry detergent in a large box and would wait until she was there to open it. There would be a piece of china in the box that her grandmother would be excited to have and use. Now, Kathy has those dishes, and when she uses them they bring back happy memories.
Kathy began cooking after she married and has always prepared assorted garden fresh vegetables like her grandmother. “I feel that cooking is love,” she said. “I enjoy cooking big meals for family. Sometimes when I have cooked a lot, I will call a neighbor or two to come over for dinner.”
Kathy had a vegetable garden for years and would freeze and can the vegetables, as well as make pepper jelly. She now grows flowers for creating still life settings for her paintings and making arrangements for the table. “I do love a pretty table,” she said.
Years ago, Kathy was one of the original owners of Southern Crossing. Her art at the time was growing and drying flowers, then making arrangements and wreaths to sell at the shop.
“We started out trying to be an artist co-op,” she says, “because we all did handmade items, but we realized that we had to fill in with gifts to make it.”
She then began painting furniture, which was popular at the time. She started painting other people’s furniture and buying furniture to paint.
“It was hard work,” Kathy said. “After a while, I thought I would try painting on canvas and enjoyed it.”
Kathy took workshops from well-known artist JoAnne Walker Williams and learned a great deal. She continued to take classes and workshops with artists whose work she admired, as she developed her own style. She has tried painting with watercolors, but her love is painting in oils.
After 20 years, floral still-life painting has remained Kathy’s favorite to create. She is a colorist and has developed a palette that she uses with small changes. She arranges the flowers from her garden to paint.
Kathy paints old barns, cows and horses, which reflect her growing up on the farm in Dadeville. She also enjoys painting children playing at the beach and scenes in Auburn and Lake Martin. She recently finished paintings of a tiger and a fox and is working on a landscape painting with horses.
Kathy is part of Studio Sisters that have been painting together at the building next to the Art Haus in Opelika.
“They are each talented,” she said, “and we are able to help each other when stuck.”
Kathy doesn’t paint every day like some artists, as she likes to garden, cook and do other things. Kathy and her husband, Lewis, have enjoyed traveling. She will take photos on trips to paint when they return home.
The Lowes enjoy traveling since their children are grown. They have a blended family with four sons. Ward and his wife Cortney live in Minneapolis, Minnesota, and Drew and his wife E-Wood live in Auburn. Russell and Yvette have three children, Annelise and Molly and Cason, and reside in Auburn, while Matthew lives in Lafayette and is engaged to Samantha Jackson.
For special occasions when the family visits, Kathy will prepare marinated beef tenderloin with roasted potatoes. Kathy has started oven roasting vegetables including frozen green beans. She doesn’t use a recipe for many of her side dishes. She knows how to prepare cornbread by heart. She also makes a sweet cornbread that is yummy.
“I think cooking, entertaining and gardening are all an art,” she said. “My son works with music, and I feel that is artistic. My youngest son farms with his dad. He is a horticulture major, and I think that is art too. I feel fortunate to know people in all these areas of the arts.
“It feels really good to live in an artistic community,” she added. “Opelika has always supported the arts and music. I think if you are artistic and want to learn to paint that you can, it just take time to learn. Sometimes that is not until we retire to have time to paint or grow flowers. It makes me happy to do those things.”
Kathy’s art is available at The Gallery on Railroad, Botanic and Facebook. When the there was a fire in downtown Opelika in 2022, she had many paintings in The Gallery that was filled with smoke. Most of her paintings survived, and Debbie Purves, the shop owner, took the paintings home and placed them around her pool to help remove the smoke scent. Later, all of the paintings sold at the fire sale.
While there is a fresh supply of Kathy’s art in the newly opened Gallery, she is saddened at the loss of Southern Crossing where her love of art began.
Kathy is busy painting and taking breaks to travel and prepare wonderful meals for her family. Clip and save her recipes for treating your family to delicious dishes this week.
Sweet Cornbread
This is a very interesting and different bread it is a side dish, and I like it with grilled meats, especially pork.
4 cups Bisquick
1 cup corn meal
2 sticks butter
1 extra stick butter to pour over top, melted
4 eggs
2 Tbsp. baking powder
2 cups milk
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Mix ingredients and pour into a 9 x 13-inch greased pan. Bake 40 minutes or until golden brown.
Drizzle with melted butter (and honey, if desired).Cut into squares and serve.
Buttermilk Pie
I usually have these ingredients on hand, so it’s great for a last minute dessert. This is fast, easy and delicious.
1 refrigerated pie crust
1 cup sugar
2 Tbsp. all-purpose flour
2 Tbsp. salted butter, melted
½ cup whole buttermilk
2 large eggs, beaten
1 Tbsp. vanilla
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Combine sugar and flour in a medium bowl. Add remaining ingredients and stir well until blended and smooth. Pour into the unbaked pie crust.
Bake just until the pie slightly jiggles in the middle, about 35 to 40 minutes.
Aunt Betty’s Chocolate Chip Cookies
1 cup sugar
1 cup light brown sugar
1 cup butter, room temperature
1 tsp. vanilla
3 Tbsp. milk
1 egg
1 ½ cups self-rising flour
3 cups old fashioned oatmeal
6 oz. semi-sweet chocolate chips
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Blend sugars and butter. Add vanilla, milk and egg; blend until smooth.
Gradually add flour to the mixture. Add oatmeal one cup at a time and stir in chocolate chips.
Bake at 350 degrees 12 to14 minutes or until lightly browned.
These stay best in a glass container.
These have been our favorite for years. My sister and her college roommates made these in their dorm kitchen to send to a brother during the Vietnam War.
Apple Crisp
6 Granny Smith apples, peeled and cut up
½ cup sugar
2 tsp. cinnamon
½ tsp. nutmeg
Combine above ingredients and put in a buttered baking dish.
Topping:
2 ½ cups all-purpose flour
3 sticks chilled butter (I mix these together with my hands.)
3/4 cup white sugar
3/4 cup light brown sugar
½ tsp. kosher salt
1 cup rolled oats
Combine ingredients and sprinkle on top of apples.
Bake at 350 degrees until golden brown, about 30 to 40 minutes.
Hot Chicken Salad
4 cups diced cooked chicken
½ cup diced celery
½ cup chopped almonds
1 Tbsp. minced onion
1 ½ tsp. lemon juice
1 ½ tsp. lemon zest
1½ cups grated cheddar cheese (save some for the top.)
1 cup mayonnaise
1½ cups crushed potato chips for topping
Mix all ingredients except potato chips. Spread chips over the top .Bake at 375 degrees for 25 minutes.
Beef Tenderloin with Madeira Sauce
5-6 lb. tenderloin , oven ready (trimmed but not tied)
Morton Nature’s Seasons Seasoning Blend
Madeira Sauce:
3 Tbsp. unsalted butter
3 Tbsp. all-purpose flour
½ cup Madeira
2 (10.5 oz.) cans beef broth
Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Sprinkle seasoning blend on meat and put in a large roasting pan. Roast for 20 minutes. Turn the meat over and roast for another 20 minutes until meat registers 120 degrees on an instant thermometer for rare.
While roast cooks, make the sauce. Melt butter in a medium saucepan over medium heat. Add flour and whisk until you have a paste. Add Madeira and broth and cook, stirring until thick.
Let the meat rest before slicing. Sauce can be prepared a day ahead and reheated.
Roasted New Potatoes
I love roasting veggies because they are easy and delicious.
2 ½ lbs. red potatoes, halves or cut in quarters for larger ones
1 or 2 yellow onions, chopped
3 Tbsp. olive oil
2 Tbsp. whole grained mustard, optional
Salt and pepper to taste
Fresh parsley, chopped, optional
Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Toss potatoes and onions in olive oil and mustard, if using. Place on a sheet pan. Bake for 50 minutes to 1 hour. Stir occasionally. Top with parsley, if desired.
French Silk Pie
1 cup sugar
¾ cup butter, sliced
3 squares (3 oz.) unsweetened chocolate, melted and cooled
1½ tsp. vanilla
3 eggs (pasteurized eggs are best)
1 pie shell, baked
Whipped cream, optional
In a food processor with steel blade, process sugar and butter until smooth and light. With processor running, add chocolate and vanilla. Add eggs one at a time while processing.
Pour into pie shell and chill for several hours or overnight. Garnish with whipped cream and chocolate curls. Note: Do not consume raw eggs if you are pregnant or have health issues.
Springtime Lemon Cake
1 1/4 cups sugar
1 cup unsalted butter, softened
1 Tbsp. grated lemon zest, plus ½ cup lemon juice
½ tsp. vanilla
4 large eggs
3 cups all-purpose flour
1 tsp. baking soda
1/4 tsp. salt
1 cup buttermilk
Lemon Syrup::
½ cup sugar
1/4 cup lemon juice from 2 lemons
Frosting:
6 oz. cream cheese, room temperature
1 ½ Tbsp. grated lemon zest
3 Tbsp. lemon juice
½ tsp. salt
6 cups powdered sugar
Thin lemon slices for garnish, optional
Preheat oven to 350.
Coat a 17 ½ X 12 ½ inch baking dish with nonstick spray; set aside.
Cream sugar and butter on medium speed in a mixer bowl for about three minutes. Stir in lemon zest and vanilla. Add eggs one at a time, beating after each addition.
In a bowl, whisk together flour, baking soda and salt. Combine buttermilk and lemon juice. With mixer on low speed, alternately add flour and buttermilk mixture to batter, mixing well.
Spread batter evenly into baking sheet. Bake about 18 minutes or until cake tests done by inserting a wooden pick near the center.
Prepare Lemon Syrup by combine sugar, lemon juice and 3 Tbsp. water in a microwaveable bowl. Microwave on high in 30 second intervals, stirring after each until sugar dissolves.
When cake is baked, immediately poke all over with a wooden pick. Brush all over with lemon syrup. Let cool.
Prepare frosting by beating cream cheese and butter until fluffy. Add lemon zest and salt, beating until combined. With mixer on low, gradually add powdered sugar, beating until combined. Add lemon juice and beat until combined. Spread frosting on cake. Garnish with lemon slices.
Fresh Whiskey Sours
3/4 cup Jack Daniels Tennessee Whiskey
½ cup fresh lemon juice
½ cup fresh lime juice
2/3 cup simple syrup
Maraschino cherries
Combine the whiskey, lemon and lime juice and syrup. Fill a shaker halfway with ice and two-thirds with cocktail mixture. Shake for 30 seconds and pour into a glass. Top with a cherry.
Asian Grilled Quail
1/4 cup Hoisin sauce
3 Tbsp. Chinese chili sauce with garlic
3 Tbsp. dark sesame oil
3 Tbsp. honey
2 Tbsp. sesame seeds
1 tsp. ground ginger
8 quail, dressed, or 16 quail breasts
1 (14 oz.) can chicken broth
2 tsp. cornstarch
In a large bowl, combine hoisin, chili sauce, sesame oil, honey, sesame seeds and ginger. Add the quail and coat well. Cover and refrigerate for 30 minutes.
Prepare a hot fire in a gas or charcoal grill.
Remove the quail from marinating and reserve the marinade. Grill the quail for 30 minutes or until done, turning once.
Pour the reserved marinade into a medium saucepan. Bring to a boil over medium heat. Meanwhile, whisk the cornstarch into the reserved broth until smooth. Then whisk both sauces together until smooth and thickened, about 1 minute.
Serve the sauce with quail.