Martha Cannon

Martha Cannon and Linda Doler started the Happy Homemakers’ Club in 1977. According to Cannon of Calhoun City, they are a very close-knit group and they depend on each other, saying there is a great camaraderie and they share a lot of recipes with each other.

Their biggest activities include the Calhoun County Fair, Holiday Bazaar, Quilt Show, and then each hosts a monthly club meeting. For the bazaar, club members make soup and sandwiches, and the top choices are taco, potato, broccoli /cheese and vegetable. At the quilt show, their club makes the pasta salad, and macaroni salad is Martha’s contribution. During the county fair, beginning years ago at the old location in Bruce, the club ladies demonstrated making biscuits from scratch on Thursday and Friday nights.

They still do, so while people now attend the crockpot supper on Thursday night, they can watch them make biscuits. They also make and serve them on Friday nights, with sausage gravy or chocolate gravy, or homemade jelly and jam.

The first cookbook of the club was Treasured Foods, then they did Holiday Foods, and “another one is in the works,” said Martha. In hosting club meetings, the ladies usually try out new things on each other. Among her favorites have been Eva Bush’s Poppy Seed Chicken casserole and Linda Doler’s breakfast. Two that she has recently done were enchilada casserole with cornbread salad, and spaghetti with garlic bread and slaw.

She and husband, Vicky, grow squash and tomato plants, so she uses the squash casserole recipe a lot. Martha likes Mexican food and makes fajitas, tacos and enchiladas pretty often. She likes most anything but sweet potatoes because when she lived in the Delta and came “home to the hills” she was always sent home with a trunk full of sweet potatoes.

The Cannons have two sons and three grandchildren–Reed loves grilled hamburgers, to which they just add seasoned salt, worcestershire sauce and minced onion; Chloe “will eat anything that doesn’t run from her!” said Martha, and Megan’s favorite is her meatloaf.

The meatloaf recipe “is a good one. It is supper in a dish. Simple, simple.” The fudge pie is a good, old recipe. “We like chocolate!”
Growing up, her father, Zeke Vanlandingham, was the fudge maker (with no recipe).?She said she couldn’t and still can’t make it.  He hand stirred it, and “I burned up many beaters trying to make it!”?In trying to find some way to outdo him, she discovered a recipe for turtles.

“It’s so simple!” She also makes cream cheese candy and caramel pecan pie bars, saying that Christmas candy making is a big thing at her house!

Turtles
1-14 oz. Kraft caramels
1 1/2 Tbsp. evaporated milk
1 cup chopped walnuts
1 cup chopped pecans
10 oz. chocolate almond bark
Line two baking sheets with wax paper and butter lightly. Set aside. Unwrap caramels and place in large saucepan with milk. Cook, while stirring slowly, over low heat until caramels melt. Quickly stir in nuts. Drop by teaspoonfuls onto buttered wax paper. Cover and chill. Melt chocolate. Using two forks, dip caramels in chocolate to coat. Place on wax paper until chocolate is set.

Meatloaf Supper in a Dish
1-1 1/2 lbs. ground beef
1 tsp. seasoning salt
1 tsp. minced onion
Sauce:
1/2 cup ketchup
1 tsp. mustard
1 tsp. worcestershire sauce
1 Tbsp. sugar
Preheat oven to 350°. Spray casserole dish with Pam. Mix ground beef, seasoning salt and onion together and press into dish. Mix together next four ingredients and cover top of meat. Bake 25 minutes. Pour off excess grease, being careful not to pour off sauce. Fix cream potatoes from real potatoes or instant, and spread over top of meatloaf. Place sliced cheese or Velveeta on top and put back in oven until cheese melts.

Fudge Pie
4 Tbsp. cocoa
1 stick oleo, melted
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup Karo
4 eggs (stirred well)
1/2 tsp. salt
1 tsp. vanilla
1 pie shell (deep dish is best)
Preheat oven to 350°. Melt butter and mix with cocoa. Add next five ingredients. Pour into pie shell. Cook in 350° oven for 25 minutes. Pie will still be shaky in the middle but will settle down and set after cooling. Tastes best chilled.

Squash Casserole
1 large onion, chopped
4 Tbsp. (1/2 stick) butter
3 cups cooked squash, drained, with all water squeezed out
1 cup crushed Ritz crackers, plus additional for topping
1/2 cup sour cream
1 tsp. garlic powder
1 cup grated Cheddar cheese
Preheat oven to 350°. Saute onion in butter five minutes. Remove from pan and mix all ingredients together. Pour into buttered casserole dish and top with cracker crumbs. Bake 25-30 minutes.

Enchilada Casserole
12 corn tortillas, divided
1 lb. ground beef, browned and drained
1 tsp. salt
2 Tbsp. chili powder
1 med. onion, chopped
1-15 oz. Ranch Style beans
1/2 lb. Velveeta cheese, sliced
1-10 3/4 oz. can cream of chicken soup
1-10 oz. can Ro-Tel tomatoes, drained
Place six tortillas on bottom of 9×13” pan. Layer in order on tortillas: beef seasoned with salt, chili powder, onion, beans and cheese. Top with remaining tortillas, soup and tomatoes. ?Bake one hour in 380° oven.

Ro-Tel King Ranch Chicken
1/4 cup margarine
1 medium bell pepper, chopped
1 medium onion, chopped
1-10 3/4 oz. can cream of mushroom soup
1-10 3/4 oz. can cream of chicken soup
1-10 oz. cans Ro-Tel
2 cups cubed, cooked chicken
12 corn tortillas, torn into bite size pieces
2 cups shredded cheddar cheese
Preheat oven to 325°. In large saucepan, cook pepper and onion in melted margarine until tender, about five minutes. Add soups, Ro-Tel and chicken stirring until well blended. In a 9×13” baking pan, alternately layer tortillas, soup mixture and cheese, repeating for three layers. Bake 40 minutes or until hot and bubbling.

Poppy Seed Chicken Casserole
4 chicken breasts, cooked
1 can cream of celery soup
1 can cream of chicken mushroom soup
1/2 small package slivered almonds (2 oz.)
1-8 oz. sour cream
1 Tbsp. poppy seed
1 tube Ritz crackers (crushed)
1/2 cup margarine, melted
Remove bones from cooked chicken breasts and cut into bite size pieces. Pace in bottom of casserole dish. Mix celery soup, chicken mushroom soup, sour cream, almonds and 1/2 tbsp. poppy seeds and spread on top of chicken. Mix crushed crackers, 1/2 tbsp. poppy seed, and melted margarine together and spread on top of soup mixture. Place in oven and bake at 350° for 20-25 minutes.