Jessie Hardin, Jordan Hall, Ann-Claire Westmoreland

Jessie Hubbard Hardin, Jordan Robertson Hall and Ann-Claire Mullen Westmoreland are best friends and Calhoun County school teachers, but they go from one end of the spectrum to the other in the cooking department.
Jessie has always cooked “little things” but “branched out” since she married, Jordan doesn’t like “complicated” recipes, and Ann-Claire typically tries to make recipes her own.
Fried cabbage is Jessie’s favorite side dish to serve and one of her “all-time” favorites, to which you can add Ro-tel.

She says that she is not as much of a traditional cook as her mom, Cindy Davis Hubbard.
She likes making homemade French fries with Parmesan, Italian, garlic powder, paprika, olive oil, salt and pepper, and doesn’t like regular fries anymore.
She cooks sauerkraut and wants to learn to can it. She also wants to learn to can pickles, which is next summer’s project.  Salmon, biscuit with molasses are her “wintertime go-to.”

Jessie and Ann-Claire used to bake a lot as teenagers, but she would also make things like chicken and rice.
Jessie would like to be able to make teacakes like her grandmother, the late Ruby Hubbard. “They were thin and crispy,” and she does try to every now and then. She is scared of making a caramel cake, but wants to try it anyway.

Jordan did not start cooking until she married, and she calls the slow cooker crack chicken a “go-to” that they like to eat served on buns. She has made that chicken dish and the sugar-free cheesecake a lot, and she also likes to fix spaghetti and meatballs.
She was so disappointed when a recent layer cake came out “whop-sided” but it tasted good. She wants to be able to make one “that is pretty.”

When her grandmother, Juanice Logan, is telling her how to make something and says, “Just put a little bit in there,” Jordan is like, “How much is a little bit? I need a measurement!”
She says she has learned to cook with a lot of trial and error, and Jessie agreed she had too.
“The chicken and dressing torch will be passed,” said Jordan, about holiday cooking,  and that her mother, Lee Hubbard, makes it now, having learned from Mrs. Juanice. “My time is coming!” said Jessie about dressing.

Ann-Claire adds garlic to everything and Jordan agrees garlic is great. She cooks a lot of chicken and feels like it’s healthier. When she makes her mom, Karan Ann’s, poppy seed chicken, she likes to use a plain rotisserie chicken.

She “amped up” a recipe she had for chicken with green beans and Italian dressing, and came up with her chicken and potato dish. Last week she cooked salmon with lemon wrapped in foil and loved it.
She has always liked to cook and is “a big baker who likes to do sweet stuff”.  She wants to make grandmother, Goldie (Merner) Hardin’s apple pies, noting that “she puts a little sugar in everything.”
She always makes Merner’s sweet potato pie with her at the holidays, and for a wedding gift she gave them a cutting board with the pie recipe handwritten on it.

The girls get together some and whoever is the host provides the main course and the others bring sides.
They let “the hubbies” come, so most recently Jessie’s husband, Dustin, grilled deer burgers and one of their sides was Jordan’s Ro-tel, to which she adds hamburger meat and cream cheese.
“It is awesome!” said Ann-Claire about the dip, and Jordan says she puts cream cheese in everything.
About their husbands, Ann-Claire said David is not at all picky and will eat anything she cooks, except grilled zucchini that she fixed recently.

Jordan said Tyler will eat any meat. Anything else he will at least try, but he is super picky. Dustin would choose beef over chicken, and they are “big time grillers of meat and veggies”.
They all like recipe searching on Pinterest, and for marinade, they use different combinations of seasonings each time, but Jessie “has to have Dale’s.”
Their favorite food: Jessie’s is roast with carrots, potatoes, onions and mushrooms; Jordan’s is her mom’s chicken spaghetti, and Ann-Claire’s is Merner’s homemade mac and cheese, and Jordan attests to that.

Fried Cabbage
(Jessie Hubbard Hardin)
3 slices bacon
1/3 cup vegetable oil
1 tsp. salt, or to taste
1 tsp. ground black pepper, or to taste
1 head cabbage, cored and sliced
1 white onion, chopped
1 tsp. white sugar, or to taste
Place bacon and vegetable oil into large pot over medium heat. Season with salt and pepper. Cook about five minutes, or until bacon is crisp. Add cabbage, onion and sugar to pot. Cook and stir continuously for five minutes, until tender.

Chicken Marsala
(Jessie Hubbard Hardin)
1 lb. rigatoni pasta
6 chicken tenderloins
4 oz. baby portabella mushrooms
1 cup heavy cream
1 Tbsp. butter
2 tsp. garlic, minced
1 cup low-sodium chicken stock
1 small onion, chopped
1/4 cup marsala cooking wine
In large pot, bring water for pasta to boil. Add some salt and olive oil to give the pasta flavor. Add entire box of pasta once water has boiled and cook it all the way through. In separate skillet, add olive oil and cook onions and mushrooms about five minutes. (I add two tsp. minced garlic as well.) Cut up chicken tenderloin into cubes and sprinkle salt and pepper on it. Add chicken to skillet and cook until it’s cooked through. Add chicken stock, marsala and melted butter. Cook until about half of the liquid has cooked off. After pasta has finished cooking, put in colander and let sit to drain. Add cream and let it thicken about five minutes. Add in pasta and let it soak up liquid. Stir and serve.

Slow Cooker Crack Chicken
(Jordan Robertson Hall)
8 oz. bacon, cooked and crumbled
2 lbs. boneless chicken breasts
2 pkgs. dry Ranch seasoning
2 pkgs. 8 oz. cream cheese
Combine chicken, Ranch and cream cheese in slow cooker. Cook on low 6-8 hours or high for four hours. Chicken should shred with fork. Shred chicken and stir to combine ingredients. Add bacon. Serve warm. Can be served on a bun. Can halve recipe for a smaller portion.

Sugar Free Cheesecake
(Jordan Robertson Hall)
Crust:
1 1/4 cups graham cracker crumbs
1/4 cup Splenda
3 Tbsp. melted butter
Filling:
2-8 oz. pkg. cream cheese
1-8 oz. pkg. fat free cream cheese
1 1/4 cups Splenda
4 eggs
1 1/2 Tbsp. lime juice
1 pinch salt
Preheat oven to 350°. Spray 9” springform pan with cooking spray. Combine crust ingredients and press on bottom of pan. Bake 10 minutes and remove to cool. Beat three packages of cream cheese until creamy. Gradually add Splenda. Add eggs, one at a time, beating until each one is incorporated. Add lime juice and salt. Beat until smooth. Pour into prepared crust. Bake 50-60 minutes until mixture is almost set. Run knife along edge of pan to release sides. Cool to room temperature. Cover and chill at least eight hours.

Sweet Potato Pie
(Ann-Claire Mullen Westmoreland & Goldie Hardin)
2 medium sweet potatoes, cooked and mashed
1 stick butter
3 eggs
2 cups sugar
1 can Eagle Brand milk
Combine and put into two unbaked pie crusts. Bake 30 minutes on 350° or until firm in center.

Chicken & Potato Bake
(Ann-Claire Mullen Westmoreland)
6-8 medium red potatoes
1/3 cup olive oil
1 tsp. salt
2 Tbsp. garlic powder
1 pack spicy Ranch
2 cups blended cheese
1 cup real bacon bits
1 cup green onions, optional
Mix olive oil and seasonings in large bowl. Coat potatoes and cubed chicken. Place in 9×13 dish. Bake at 400° for 55 minutes or until cooked through. Add cheese and bacon, and bake five more minutes.