Dana Hamilton of Bruce "adds Rotel to everything!" She adds it to tater tot casserole, sometimes meatloaf, uses it in a dish with noodles, cheese and chicken, and recently to taco chili she made for Super Bowl. A crockpot dish, the ingredients for the chili are ground beef, taco seasoning, can of whole kernel corn drained, pinto beans, hot chili beans with sauce and Rotel. She serves it with tortilla or corn chips, or crackers.

By CELIA D. HILLHOUSE
Winter time is soup and chili time, and even though the temperature has not particularly cold yet, some of our readers have come through with their favorites.

Roy Davis of Bruce has a policy about cooking: "Follow the recipe. If it messes up following the recipe, I call Evelyn Spratlin for help!"

Melissa Rodriguez King of Bruce grew up in Miami eating traditional Cuban food all her life. Newly wed to Brett King, she is adjusting to "Southern food."

"It is a blessing to be able to cook and provide people with a necessity," said Rita Cole of Calhoun City, but, "I like feeding people more than I like to cook." Rita could not cook when she and husband, Jim, married, and literally taught herself. She said she didn't know the difference between lettuce and cabbage, and remembers stocking her kitchen for the very first time 45 years ago for $26. She is thankful her husband is one who will eat “absolutely anything except boiled okra. He has eaten anything I've experimented with," she said. His favorite is butterbeans and cornbread. Her is Chinese Lo Mein or just a plain, baked sweet potato.

By CELIA HILLHOUSE
Now beginning the fourth year of “Look Who’s Cookin’” in the Calhoun County Journal, we have gotten tips, suggestions, opinions and a family secret or two, along with recipes from over 200 cooks.
“Food preparation is all about presentation,” said Barbara Winter. Looking through recipes in magazines which had accompanying photographs caught her eye and made her more aware of how to make food look. She says that you can take small things in your pantry to make your food look pretty.

Gena Edmondson of Vardaman cooks a big lunch every Sunday. Her husband, James Carl’s, grandmother, Estelle Reedy, taught her a lot of "soul food cooking" and that's what her kids (Carla Lucius and Toby Edmondson) and families like.

Lee Yancy of Jackson and formerly of Bruce, began working in restaurants when he was in college at Ole Miss. One of his first jobs was at the Moonlight Café, a late-night bistro, at the Hoka Theatre. He worked at several Oxford restaurants--Bean Blossom, Audie Michaels, and the Warehouse--before moving to Florida, where he worked in a very large and successful restaurant, The Sound in Ft. Walton Beach, which was destroyed in a hurricane.

This time of year, Mikayla Shelton, 12, of Bruce, always helps her grandmother, Rose Mary Shelton, make candy for Christmas. She has been Mimi’s candy helper for several years. Of the candy recipes, Mikayla's favorites are the Crockpot Candy, saying it takes the longest,  and White Trash. She says candy making is really fun.

Tawanna Shaw of Bruce learned to cook when her aunt, Cleatrice Daniel, told her and her cousins they could have whatever they wanted to eat at her house, but they had to help her fix it so they could learn how to cook.

Corrie Tedder Bennett of Pittsboro and her family enjoy appetizers and “nibbles”?around holiday time and like to have “snack night” while decorating their Christmas tree. The sugar and spice pecans are a big thing they fix at Christmas, along with candy and cookies, saying she does a lot of baking and loves making new desserts.

Cathrine Griffin of Hollandale, and formerly of Bruce, says she cooks only when she has to. “My husband, Rick, thinks he needs to eat more than once a day and I can’t seem to convince him otherwise!”  She loves recipes even though she has little time or desire to cook, but she does enjoy trying new ones, especially when taking food to a church social. Cathrine offers two tips when baking cakes: whenever possible substitute applesauce or two overripe bananas for the oil, for less fat and better taste, and she uses self-rising flour omitting salt and baking soda.