Jan Cook

Jan Cook of Vardaman always uses the sweet potato casserole recipe of Mrs. Laudrey Alexander that was the first Sweet Potato Cooking contest winner in 1974.
Gov. Bill Waller presented a silver cup to Mayor Billy Paul Spencer at the Sweet Potato Banquet that year, which was awarded to Mrs. Alexander for having the best sweet potato dish.
“Oh, yes, I love sweet potatoes. Any way you fix them, I love it,” said Jan. And 99% of the time she says she eats them baked in the oven with no butter or sugar.
Her granddaddy, Jack Naron, always said bake them slow on low in the oven and he always cooked a black skillet full, “so there was always one on the stove ready to eat.”

Growing up, sweet potatoes were “a treat” because her daddy, Paul Cook, told them “they are to sell, not eat.”
One sweet potato treat to her was when her mother, Daphna, would slice and fry them, then sprinkle them with sugar. She had them ready when they got home from school and Jan loved them cooked that way.
Although, she keeps an eye out for recipes to use for the Sweet Potato Cooking Contest, 90% of the time she doesn’t try them out before hand. She has participated in the contest for years.

Her daughter, Lyndsey Wade, has been involved for the last five or six years and this year was her son, Walker’s, first time. He was very happy about his second place ribbon for Sweet Potato Dip. After Jan has her entries ready, she says she is their  “prep cook”.
“I don’t cook (much anymore), but I can!”Jan says. She came up with the corn recipe this summer when getting ready to fix something for a revival meal. “I had corn running out the ears.” She says it is so simple and Bonnie Williams loved it.

She also likes making the lasagna recipe of her previous mother-in-law, Pearl Ward. She made it at Christmas and it is something that she fixes pretty often. She likes it because it is simple and the recipe calls for only Velveeta and mozzarella cheeses.
All the family loves the strawberry salad, and that is something her mother has always made for all their family gatherings.
Their Ole Miss tailgating staples when Lyndsey was in high school and at Ole Miss were the Grove Brownies and Sausage Stuffed Tailgate Bread.
“I don’t cull much of anything,” she said, “but if oysters are on the menu, I will order them.”

She says she inherited that from her mother, who only eats them fried, but Jan says she will eat them any way they are fixed.
From the Sweet Potato Sweets Shop, “the sweet potato bread is my absolute favorite!”
She uses Facebook and Pinterest to look for recipes, and also a website in which you enter  ingredients you have on hand, and recipes are suggested.
She calls herself  a “cookbook junkie” because she loves to buy and read them.
Her favorites are church cookbooks and “the old green Mississippi cookbook.”

Creamy Fresh Corn Casserole
8 ears of fresh corn (out of season, I use a quart of home-frozen corn)
2 red bell peppers, diced
2 fresh jalapenos, diced
3/4 cup heavy cream
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
1 stick salted butter, cut into pieces
Preheat oven to 350°. Remove corn kernels with sharp knife. Be sure to “scrape” cob to get all juice. Add bell peppers, jalapenos, heavy cream, salt to taste, generous amount of black pepper, butter and mix well. Pour into 9×13 baking dish.  Bake 30-45 minutes.

Strawberry Salad
2 (3 oz.) strawberry jello
2 ½  cups boiling water
2 (10 oz.) frozen, sliced strawberries in sugar
¼ cup sugar
1 (13 oz.) can of crushed pineapple
1 cup sour cream
3 bananas
1 cup chopped pecans
Dissolve gelatin and sugar in boiling water. Add thawed strawberries, crushed pineapple (with juice), sliced bananas and chopped nuts. Mix together, then pour half in clear serving bowl. Refrigerate a couple hours until set.  Spread sour cream on chilled mixture. Pour remaining strawberry mixture on top of sour cream. Chill until completely set.

Grove Brownies
2/3 cup melted butter
2 cups (1 box) packed brown sugar
2 whole eggs
2 cups sifted all-purpose (plain) flour
1 teaspoon baking power
½ teaspoon soda
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 cup chopped pecans
1 (6 oz.) package white chocolate chips
1 (6 oz.) package semi-sweet chocolate chips
Mix butter, sugar and eggs well. Mix in flour, baking power and soda. Add vanilla and chopped pecans,¼ cup white chocolate and ¼ cup semi-sweet chocolate chips. Pour into greased 9×12 pan. Sprinkle remaining chips on top, pat into batter. Bake at 350° for 30-45 minutes (check for doneness with toothpick in center of pan). Cool, then cut into squares.

Lasagna
(Pearl Ward)
1 ½ lbs. ground beef
¾ cup chopped onion
1 ½ cans diced tomatoes (1 lb. 12 oz. cans)
1 ½ cans (6 oz.) tomato paste
½ cup water
1 ½ teaspoon oregano
1/3 teaspoon black pepper
½ lb. lasagna noodles (cooked)
2 packages mozzarella cheese, grated
½ lb. velveeta cheese, grated
½ cup parmesan
Brown meat, add onions and cook until tender. Stir in tomatoes, paste, water, garlic and seasonings. Cover and simmer 30 minutes. In 9×13 baking dish, layer cooked noodles, meat sauce and grated cheeses. Bake at 400° for 30-45 minutes. Let stand at least 30 minutes before serving. (I sometimes put in two smaller pans and freeze one before cooking and serve the other.)

Sweet Potato Casserole
(Laudrey Alexander)
3 cups mashed sweet potatoes
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup margarine
2 eggs
1 tsp. vanilla
1/2 cup raisins (optional)
Mix together and pour into casserole dish.
Topping:
1 cup light brown sugar
1 cup chopped pecans
1/4 cup margarine
1/2 cup flour
Mix well and spread over potato mixture. Bake in moderate oven (350°) for 20 minutes.

Sausage Stuffed Tailgate Bread
(Donna Ward)
1 lb. pork sausage
1 bag shredded Mexican blend cheese
1 tsp. Tony Chachere’s original Creole seasoning
Paper thin sandwich ham slices
Loaf of uncut French bread (I like Pepperidge Farm Hot and Crusty Twin French)
Brown sausage and drain. Add Creole seasoning, mixing well, then add cheese until melted. Slice French bread, long ways. With a fork, hollow out bread leaving mostly crust (you can “pinch” bread out or use fork). Line top and bottom with thin sandwich ham (this prevents any sausage grease from penetrating the bread). Add sausage mixture to bottom of bread then cover with the top. Wrap in foil and bake at 350° for 15-20 minutes.  Slice  into about  2” thick  pieces, put back in foil and head to the game! Makes 1 loaf. (When I can’t get Pepperidge Farm Twin French, I have used the bread from Subway.  Any French bread will work, but I like the smaller loaves.)