Diana Wilson

By Published On: August 23, 2017

“If they told me I could eat you, I would can you up and eat you later!” said Diana Wilson, who loves canning, which she learned about from her mother, Dorothy Gates.
Among the things she cans besides pickle relish, are green beans, squash, pepper jelly, and she has even done greens and sweet potatoes. “They did beautiful and they were good!” she said about the sweet potatoes. “I’m not gonna let it go to waste!” she said, about anything.

Diana WilsonDiana has a pantry full of canned items including onion relish, which her grandchildren love on their hot dogs. Her cousin, Debra Petty, loved the onion relish after trying it, got the recipe, and made some of her own.
She loves green beans, a favorite to can, and says she really loves any kind of vegetable, but she leaves the gardening to her nephews and brothers do the gardening.
She likes to make stir fry, and for that she uses squash, broccoli, cauliflower and sometimes green beans, seasoning it with garlic, onion powder,  a little soy sauce,  and served over rice.

Diana lives right at the Calhoun-Chickasaw line, and her daughters Shell Wilson and Karen Welch attended Bruce School. Her grandchildren are Kendrekus Armstrong, Tamiya Tubbs and Jnya Flemmon.
Her family likes dressing, turkey and ham any time of the year, and also for their gatherings she likes to have game meat like deer roast with gravy and mashed potatoes.
She cooks just about anything or makes up a recipe as she goes along. “A little dab of this and that,” is how she learned  from the old cooks.
At the age of six, her aunt stood her in a straight chair, put her up to the wood stove, and started her out making chocolate frosting. She didn’t even know what she was making, just did what her aunt told her.

She loves making fried pies with her own filling, and actually she bakes instead of fries them. She makes caramel cake, and cakes with pineapple cream cheese frosting or strawberry cream cheese frosting. Strawberry is the favorite of Pastor Lee Moore of May Chapel, where she attends.
At Mays Chapel they do a lot of cooking for fellowships. Among those include one at which they have with four other churches, getting together at a different place each time.

Sweet Potato Surprise Cake
1 1/2 cups cooking oil
2 cups sugar
4 eggs, separated
4 Tbsp. hot water
2 1/2 cups sifted cake flour
3 tsp. baking powder
1/4 tsp. salt
1 tsp. ground cinnamon
1 tsp. ground nutmeg
1 1/2 cups grated raw sweet potatoes
1 cup chopped nuts
1 tsp. vanilla
Combine cooking oil and sugar and beat until smooth. Add egg yolks and beat well. Add hot water, then dry ingredients which have been sifted together. Stir in potatoes, nuts and vanilla and beat well. Beat egg whites until stiff and fold into mixture. Pour into 3 greased 8” layer cake pans. Bake at 350° for 25-30 minutes. Cool and frost.
Frosting:
1 large can evaporated milk
1 cup sugar
1 stick margarine
3 egg yolks
1 tsp. vanilla
1 1/3 cups flaked coconut
Combine milk, sugar, margarine, egg yolks and vanilla in saucepan. Cook over medium heat about 12 minutes, stirring constantly, until mixture thickens. Remove from heat and add coconut. Beat until cool and spreading consistency.

Sweet Pickle Relish
4 cups ground cucumber, sliced and seeds removed
1 cup ground green bell pepper
1/2 cup ground red bell pepper
1/4 cup salt
3 cups ground celery
Let set about three hours. Let salt pull water out of the vegetables. Drain off salt water. Now add:
3 1/2 cups sugar
2 cups white vinegar
1 Tbsp. celery seed
1 Tbsp. mustard seed
Bring to boil about 30 minutes. While stirring constantly, the mixture will thicken. Pour into hot sterilized jars. Do a hot water bath for 10 minutes.
 
Whipped Cream Pound Cake
2 sticks butter
6 eggs
1/2 pt. whipping cream
3 cups sugar
3 cups sifted cake flour
2 tsp. vanilla
Cream butter and sugar. Add eggs one at a time. Add flour and cream. Add vanilla and mix well. Start in cold oven. Bake at 300° for 10 minutes. Turn oven to 325° and bake 1 1/2 hours. Use bundt pan, well greased and floured.

Caramel Frosting
2 1/2 cups sugar
1 egg slightly beaten
1 stick butter
3/4 cup milk
1 tsp. vanilla
Melt 1/2 cup sugar in iron skillet slowly until brown. Mix egg, butter, remaining sugar and milk in saucepan. Cook over low heat until butter melts. Turn heat to medium and add browned sugar. Cook until mixture leaves side of pan, about 10 minutes. Remove from heat. Add vanilla and beat until consistency to spread.

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