By MERLE MONAHAN\CONTRIBUTING WRITER
merlemonah@aol.com

HOLLAND—Pam Worrell couldn’t avoid learning to cook.

“My mom not only made sure that my sister, brother and I took our turns in the kitchen at home, but she was our Girl Scout leader, and one of her goals was that we all earn our cooking badges,” Worrell said. “All the girls did, including my sister and I. That was an exciting time in our lives — we loved it — even learned to make our own pasta.”

She grew up on a farm on Smith Ferry Road near Franklin and used to can, pickle and freeze vegetables and fruits the way her mother did.

Worrell still lives the farm life; that is her husband, Kenneth’s occupation.

“Mom taught us everything she could about cooking,” Pam Worrell said. “We cook old-fashioned, like meat and potatoes, for instance, but unlike mom, we do use cookbooks.

She cooks breakfast and dinner when she is working. But on weekends and holidays there are always three meals, as well as snacks for her two sons.

“My sons like my cooking, although they have different favorites,” Worrell said. “One likes my mac and cheese and meatloaf, while the other favors spaghetti with homemade sauce. My husband leans more to things like our mothers cooked. In fact, when I’m at work, he’ll stop by his mom’s for lunch.”

Worrell says she stays busy with her job and taking care of her family, so she doesn’t have time for a lot of outside activities. But she does like to scrapbook, and belongs to two scrap-booking clubs in the Holland area.

“When all the club members get together, we usually take food,” Worrell said. “I sometimes take my cream cheese spread and everyone seems to like it. I also bring it to work on occasion. My co-workers like it too.”

NAME: Pam Worrell

AGE: 49

OCCUPATION: Accounting coordinator at Zuni Presbyterian Homes

FAVORITE FOOD: Seafood

LEAST FAVORITE FOOD: Beets

WHAT IS THE FIRST THING YOU

REMEMBER COOKING: Scrambled eggs

WHAT HAS BEEN YOUR WORST COOKING EXPERIENCE: I once made a casserole for a church supper, and when I took it out of the oven, I dropped it. Cleaning it up wasn’t nearly as bad as having to take something store-bought to the supper.

ONE INGREDIENT YOU CAN’T COOK WITHOUT: Black pepper

WHAT IS THE MOST IMPORTANT THING YOU HAVE LEARNED ABOUT COOKING: Have all your ingredients on hand before you start

WHO IS THE BEST COOK YOU HAVE EVER KNOWN AND WHY: That would have to be my mom, Pearl Darden. There isn’t anything she can’t cook. We lived on a farm when I was growing up and nothing was wasted — aside from the regular garden vegetables and meats, like pork and chicken, we grew on the farm, she could cook any kind of wild game, from deer meat to quail and wild turkey, as well as fish from our pond. She was adamant about her children learning to cook — my sister and brother can cook as well as I can. She felt that if we could cook, we could survive, I think. Anyway, we all cook the way she did — old-fashioned, with a little modern thrown in — and our families love it.

IF YOU COULD EAT ONE THING FOR THE REST OF YOUR LIFE, WHAT WOULD IT BE: Seafood

Pam Worrell’s recipe:

Cream Cheese Spread

Ingredients:

2 (8-oz) pkg. cream cheese

1 lg. 20-oz can crushed pineapple, drained well

¼ cup diced green pepper

½ cup chopped onion

½ cup chopped pecans

Directions:

Soften cream cheese. Mix other ingredients well with cream cheese. Serve with crackers.