Janna Turner

Janna Turner likes to scroll through Facebook and she tries a lot of recipes that pop up there. She does sometimes share some recipes on Facebook.
Her favorite thing to make is dessert, and that’s the main thing she likes trying. When she makes the red velvet poke cake, she prefers to start off by using her great-grandmother Tula Vance’s red velvet cake recipe.
“I really enjoy cooking,” she said. She has been cooking a long time and has always been around her grandmother, Amy Reid, and her great grandmother in the kitchen. She has copies of Mrs. Tula’s handwritten recipes and she likes to use them.
“I’m not big on measuring stuff,” she said, and she is not afraid to change up a recipe. She and mom, Kristi Shelton, cook together some and if they don’t know how to do something, they call Amy.
Janna says they have a lot of cookbooks at home and Miss Kay’s (Duck Dynasty) is one of them. “I like her cookbook. It has a lot of interesting recipes in it and everything I’ve tried from there has been good.”
She made Miss Kay’s green bean bundles last year for Thanksgiving and probably will again this year. She also made a strawberry pie from that cookbook that is good, but time consuming. It is a favorite of her boyfriend, Bailey Nix.
She likes pasta and makes a lot of it, and she likes her O’Charley’s potato soup recipe. Among her favorite foods is her grandmother, Bobbie Turner’s, chicken and dumplings.
Janna likes to make the sliders for small family get-togethers, and last year she made the red velvet poke cake and took to the Bruce High School office at Christmas. It was a hit with Mr. G, her mom said.
She is looking forward to a traditional family Thanksgiving meal and a big breakfast with Amy’s cheese grits and for Christmas.

Mamaw’s Red Velvet Cake
1 1/2 cups sugar
1 1/2 cups cooking oil
2 eggs
1 tsp. vinegar
2 oz. red food coloring
2 1/2 cups plain flour
1 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. salt
2 Tbsp. cocoa
1 cup buttermilk
1 tsp. vanilla extract
Prepare 9×13” cake pan with cooking spray. Cream sugar and oil. Add eggs, vinegar and food coloring and beat well. Sift dry ingredients together and begin adding to liquid ingredients, alternating with milk and vanilla. Bake at 350° for 35 minutes.

Red Velvet Poke Cake
One red velvet cake recipe or one box red velvet cake mix. (I prefer to use my great grandmother’s recipe.)
2-3.4 oz. instant cheesecake-flavored pudding mix
4 cups milk
1-8 oz. frozen whipped topping, thawed
10 Oreo cookies, crushed
Remove cake from oven and cool a couple of minutes. With a wooden spoon handle or similar sized object, poke holes throughout cake down to the bottom. Holes need to be large enough to allow pudding to seep down into cake. In medium mixing bowl, whisk together pudding mix and milk until smooth and creamy. Pour pudding over cake and spread evenly across the top, gently pushing pudding into holes. Place in fridge until pudding sets (about two hours.) Remove from fridge and layer with whipped topping and crushed Oreos. Keep cake refrigerated.

Copy Cat Olive Garden Pasta e Fagioli
1 lb. ground beef
1 small onion, diced, 1 cup
1 large carrot, diced, 1 cup
3 stalks celery, chopped, 1 cup
2 cloves garlic, minced
2-14.5 oz. cans diced tomatoes
1-15 oz. can red kidney beans with liquid
1-15 oz. can great Northern beans with liquid
1-15 oz. can tomato sauce
1-12 oz. can V-8 juice
1 Tbsp. white vinegar
1 1/2 tsp. salt
1 tsp. dried oregano
1 tsp. dried basil
1/2 tsp. ground black pepper
1/2 tsp. dried thyme
1/2 lb. (half pkg.) ditalini pasta
1 can beef broth
Brown ground beef in large saucepan or pot over medium heat. Drain off most of fat. Add onion, carrot, celery and garlic. Saute 10 minutes. Add remaining ingredients, except pasta, and simmer one hour. About 50 minutes into simmering, cook pasta in 1 1/2-2 qts. boiling water over high heat. Cook 10 minutes or just until pasta is al dente or slightly tough. Drain. Add pasta to large pot of soup. Simmer 5-10 minutes more and serve.

Miss Kay’s Green Bean Bundles
1 bag (12 oz.) frozen whole green beans
3/4 lb. thinly sliced bacon, slices cut in half crosswise
1 stick butter
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
Salt and black pepper
Cajun seasoning
Garlic powder
Heat oven to 375°. Put green beans in bundles of 4 or 5 each and wrap each bundle with a half-slice of bacon. Place the bundles in a 9×13” casserole dish. Melt butter and stir in sugar until it melts. Sprinkle salt, pepper, Cajun seasoning and garlic powder on top of bundles. Pour butter-sugar mixture over bundles. Bake 45 minutes or until bacon is crisp.

Hawaiian Ham & Cheese Sliders
Hawaiian rolls
Mayonnaise
Deli ham
Swiss cheese
6 Tbsp. butter, melted
1/4 cup brown sugar
1 1/2 Tbsp. Dijon mustard
1 Tbsp. poppy seeds
1/2 tsp. Worcestershire sauce
Slice Hawaiian rolls in half and place on bottom half of rolls in 9×9 pan with parchment paper. Spread mayonnaise on rolls and layer deli ham and swiss cheese. Add top of rolls. Mix butter, brown sugar, mustard, poppy seeds and worcestershire sauce. Pour mixture over rolls. Bake at 400° for 15 minutes.