Cooking Without Photos – Magic Cookie Bar

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It’s up in the air how Texarkana, TX got their name. There are several stories that claim the origin of the name. One story is that it is named from a combination of Texas, Arkansas and Louisiana. Another is that there was a steamboat with the same name. And still another that a General named the town. It’s a mystery.

Moving along. In case you don’t know, Texarkana, TX is a twin city with Texarkana, AR. Yes. They even have twin post offices, split right down the middle on the state line. Indeed.

Texarkana’s history is hugely important. For hundreds of years, The Great Southwest Trail was the main line of travel for Indian villages of the Mississippi River. When the railroad arrived in the late 1850’s along that same trail, Texarkana quickly became a hub for the area. The population of the area has gone up and down, but one thing remains, the railroad. Still an important part of who they are as a city.

This week is sort of cheated. I was flipping thru, “Sharing Our Best: A Collection Of Recipes By Echo Hills Missionary Baptist” and I came across Magic Cookie Bars😍😍😍

My husband’s Grandma made these and they are fabulous! All of his cousins would just rave about them. The first time I had them, I asked her for the recipe. She laughed and said, “Honey, everybody thinks I came up with this myself, but it’s on the back of the Eagle Brand milk can.” What?! 😆 I loved it and she was the best❤️

Note: you can absolutely make your own Graham cracker crumbs. I was just lazy.

Hope you enjoy!!!❤️❤️❤️

Cooking Without Photos – Ham Chowder

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Alma, Arkansas will always hold fond memories for me. It was our pit stop on the way to visit our Oklahoma cousins. Home to everyone’s favorite ice cream, Braum’s! And when you need to shop but also love being surprised…A to Z has it allllll!!!

Did you know Alma was first called Gum Town? Settlers came to the area around 1835 and Gum Town got its’ name because of the huge number of gum trees in the area. When it was incorporated in 1874, the new name of Alma was chosen.

Early on Alma produced huge numbers of cotton, strawberries and hay. Once they discovered how well spinach and mustard greens grew, Alma quickly became the Spinach Capital of the World! They even have a statue of Popeye the Sailor Man in front of their Chamber of Commerce building. And their water tower is painted to look like a gigantic spinach can😆😆 I kid you not! It’s fabulous!

Today’s recipe comes to you from, “Feeding The Flock: Women First For Faith, First Baptist Church Alma, Arkansas”.

Since it’s been so yucky lately, I wanted to make some sort of new soup. I’m just a soup kinda lady! This recipe didn’t disappoint either!

Couple of things:
This is a great recipe to make in a Dutch oven. Perfect actually.
I doubled the recipe because I was feeding more people.
It doesn’t say what to do with the celery. I put it in when I put in the potatoes. You could also sauté it with the onion too. It’s up to you really.
Nothing was mentioned about any corn. I feel like you can’t go wrong adding a can into the mix.
Don’t add your salt until AFTER your ham has cooked. You may not need much.

This soup is excellent! I served it with oyster crackers, but cornbread would be a great choice too. Hope you like it! Yum!!!