Dear friends: I am sorry to report this, but my Ed has come down with a severe case of new-car-itis. This malady afflicts men more often than women, and, although not fatal, the only known cure is to buy a car.
We don’t need a car. We have two cars. The old car is a 1992 and the new car is a 1996. Both cars have three characteristics I like in a car: (1) They are paid for, (2) they run well, and (3) they have no dents, bents or bruises.
He’s looking, but I’m thinking that if I can feed him Martha Campbell Lowe’s Beef and Cabbage recipe a couple of times, maybe the ailment will go away and he’ll forget about cars.
Martha and her husband Jack Lowe are members of Calvary Baptist Church, where Mark Roberts is pastor. Calvary, in Williamston, is in the Palmetto Baptist Association. Jack has served as a deacon and Sunday school superintendent. He and Martha are members of the same Sunday school class, and Martha helps with arrangements for the class’s social activities. If you know that area of South Carolina, you will recognize the name of Martha’s late parents – Aaron and Hazel McKee Martin – because Martha’s grandfather had a grocery store in the area now known as Fullbright’s Crossing.
Martha Lowe
The Lowes’ story is another romantic one. Their spouses both died in 1996, and though Jack and Martha had known about the Campbell and Lowe families they didn’t know them personally. When Martha – who grew up in Dorchester Baptist Church, Belton – began driving her mother to Calvary Baptist, she met Jack. They have been married five years. Martha has a son, Mark Campbell, whose wife is Bonnie, and a daughter, Carla Campbell Newton, whose husband Stan is a minister. Jack has two children: David Lowe and his wife Joy, and Anne and her husband, Dr. Sid Powate. Together, Jack and Martha have 12 grandchildren.
Martha and her late husband operated a ladies and men’s shop in Belton, and after his passing she sold it. In addition to church attendance and activities, she does volunteer work at the hospice thrift shop and occasionally does clothing alterations from home. Jack enjoys golf and fishing.
It was Jack’s daughter Anne who gave Martha the cookbook from which she selected this recipe. She says it is easy to prepare and tastes much like cabbage rolls without the work they require. You can assemble it before you go to church, leave it in the oven to cook, and when you return home you’ll have hot Beef and Cabbage ready for … Sunday Dinner.
Beef and Cabbage
3 or 4 cups coarsely chopped cabbage
1 medium onion, chopped
1 10½-ounce can cream of tomato soup
Salt and pepper to taste
1 pound ground beef or pork sausage
3 tablespoons uncooked rice
1 soup can of water
Place chopped cabbage in a 2½-quart bake-and-serve casserole dish.
Brown meat and onion in skillet and drain. Add rice, soup, water, salt and pepper to the meat-onion mixture. Mix well, then place on top of cabbage. Do not stir.
Cover and bake 2 hours at 325 degrees.