Craft loves sharing dishes with family 

While Justin Craft spends most of his time pastoring Trinity Baptist Church, he enjoys spending time with family and cooking. 

“I like cooking because it represents family and sharing a meal together, even if it’s something as simple as sharing a cup of coffee,” Craft said. “To me, cooking represents bringing family together, and you get a lot of enjoyment out of watching people enjoy something you created.”

Craft grew up in Magee and very recently moved to Neshoba County in July of this year to become senior pastor at Trinity Baptist Church. He also enjoys spending time with his wife Montana, who is also a big cook, and his children, Lydia, Judah and Johanna. 

Craft said he grew up watching his mother cook in the kitchen and his father cook things on the grill. 

“What really got me into cooking was when I became a youth pastor at 18 years old, and lived by myself in college,” Craft said. “When you live on your own you either eat a bowl of cereal, go out to eat, or make food for yourself. I found that I needed to cook and grill when I got married. It’s relaxing to get out there and grill, and I love to cook for people. It’s fun for others to eat something I’ve made. It’s a necessity and enjoyment.” 

He said he enjoys cooking veggies like brown crowder peas, sweet potatoes, corn, butter beans, and more, along with grilling various meats and other savory dishes. 

“I love cooking gumbo, and I don’t always make it the same way every time,” Craft said. “I like grilling hamburgers, steaks, pork chops, and new experimental things like deer steak fajita nachos. I’m a sauce guy, so one day I experimented and cut the deer steak into strips and put sour cream, butter, peppers, and meat over a plate of chips.”

He said he doesn’t make a lot of desserts, but his favorite sweet dishes to make are cookies and homemade orange sherbet ice cream. 

“One of the things my family likes best is my hot chocolate,” he said. “One day I introduced my wife to hot chocolate with milk instead of water and now she can’t get enough of it.”

HOT CHOCOLATE 

1 cup milk 

One packet hot chocolate mix 

Hershey’s Kiss or teaspoon of chocolate syrup for extra chocolate flavor

Microwave for one minute and stir. Microwave again for 45 seconds to one minute, depending on how hot you desire the hot chocolate to be. 

DEER STEAK FAJITAS 

8-10 ounces uncooked deer steak 

One red bell pepper 

One yellow bell pepper 

One onion 

Flour tortillas (Can also use bag of chips to make nachos) 

Grated cheese 

Sour cream 

Lettuce 

Chopped tomatoes 

Salt, pepper and garlic to taste 

Cut deer steak into strips. Season meat with salt, pepper and garlic. Chop bell peppers and onions and cook in a skillet with oil or butter. 

When vegetables are cooked down, add your meat and let it cook. Do not overcook the meat or it will dry out. 

Serve meat, peppers and onions over a plate of chips or in a flour tortilla. Add cheese, sour cream, tomatoes, lettuce, and anything else you desire on the fajitas. 

ORANGE SHERBET ICE CREAM 

1 two liter of orange soda (you can use other flavors like grape, strawberry or peach for different sherbet flavors)

One can sweetened condensed milk 

Mix ingredients into an ice cream maker. Layer ice and ice cream salt. Let the machine turn until done, while occasionally adding ice as needed.