Farmhouse Kitchen, July 2025
Penny Walters is a pro at food prep — whether cooking hearty meals for her family (She and husband Robert have four children and four grandchildren.) or whipping up large catering orders in her on-farm commercial kitchen.
The Lee County Farm-City chairman, Walters grew up on a produce farm where she learned to plant, harvest and can food. Today, the Walters family grows cotton, corn, peanuts and produce in Lee County. They’re active in the Lee County Farmers Federation, with Robert serving as president and Penny giving time to the Women’s Leadership Committee.
Your meals are near-legendary in the Farmers Federation world. Tell us about your catering work.
I have cooked professionally for over 30 years. We have owned two restaurants, the last being Walters Gas & Grill — which transformed from a gas station selling food to a restaurant that sold gas! The restaurant was featured on Food Network’s “Restaurant Impossible.” After much thought and prayer, God led us in a different direction, and we sold the restaurant.
To feed my passion, we built a commercial kitchen on our farm, and our catering business has grown from there. If I’m not catering, I’m canning everything from jellies to Brunswick stew. I also make a lot of casseroles for customers, including King Ranch Chicken. Tomato pie is one of my most popular dishes, and that recipe will be featured in the cookbook I’m working on. During hunting season, I process the deer we harvest on the farm.
Who taught you to cook?
I learned how to cook from my mother. She was an amazing cook and often fed not only our family of seven but also whoever may show up for dinner (which we called supper).
I have enjoyed showing my children and daughters-in-law some of my techniques and recipes. I have had the honor of teaching a lot of people how to cook, including most of my past employees and some who now help me cater, including college kids.
One of my greatest joys is teaching my grandchildren how to cook. When they are with me, we are usually on the farm gathering produce, fishing or swimming in the pond, or in the kitchen. Trust me, it can get a little messy when letting children who are 3, 7, 9 and 14 loose in your kitchen. You never know where that flour or sugar is going to land; most of the time, it’s all over them and the floor. Sometimes, they want to help me when I’m cooking for a catering job, and I give them something to do in my home kitchen so they will stay out of my catering kitchen!
What are your best cooking tips, tricks or wisdom?
Don’t overcook your food! So many of us tend to over cook until it dries out the meat or veggies we are preparing. Some of my favorite tools in the kitchen are a timer and a digital thermometer.
When preparing a dish that needs to be covered and you don’t want the food to stick to the lid (like whipped topping, chocolate or cheese), spray the lid with nonstick cooking spray before covering.