Sherry Williams

“I love to cook!” said Sherry Williams of Vardaman, and she remembers her mother, the late Louise Vance,  always saying, “you can’t rush it, take your time.”
This rings true especially with the memory of her daddy breaking open the coconut, draining the milk and helping prepare it for her mother’s fresh coconut cake for the holidays. “I remember that fresh coconut smell.”
Her mom made broccoli and cheese casserole and strawberry cake every year for the holidays and Sherry has continued the tradition since her mother’s death in 2003, but she has not tried to make the coconut cake.

For years their holiday menu for Thanksgiving, Christmas and Easter has remained the same: Mom’s chicken and dressing, rotisserie turkey, broccoli and cheese casserole, sweet potato casserole, strawberry cake and sweet potato pie.
She cooks turkey breast on one of her two rotisseries and that is what husband Craig likes. “The turkey is so tender and perfect.” She also has a Masterbilt smoker, and has worn out more than one George Foreman grill.
Sherry helped her mom in the kitchen “forever” and learned about “look and taste” cooking from her. “I don’t ever go completely by a recipe,” she said.

She is saving her mom’s recipes, which she has laminated handwritten copies of, on the computer to pass along to her children.
Craig is a sweet potato farmer, and “oh, yeah, we eat sweet potatoes.” She has tried some different sweet potato recipes, one of which was pancakes, but her family didn’t care for those.
“You can’t beat sweet potato bread, casserole or a plain baked sweet potato.” Her after school snack was many times a baked sweet potato made by her grandmother.

Her favorite sweet potato is the Jet, the only variety she likes to cook. To her the Jet has the best flavor and texture. She still makes sweet potato pie like the ones she grew up eating, with the recipe including orange flavoring and extra spices.
It is hard for her family members to name one favorite she makes, but her son Dillon won the Sweet Potato Festival pie eating contest several years, so her sweet potato pie is among them. Daughter Trisha likes the broccoli casserole, and her daughter, Kaylee, prefers mainly corn on the cob.

Sherry makes a lot of desserts, and she recently baked a Coca-Cola Cake she remembers from childhood. After seeing buttermilk and Coke among of the ingredients Dillon wasn’t so sure about the cake, but has now it has become something he likes.
Sausage casserole was a hit for a group of teenage boys who stayed at their home for a Disciple Now weekend. She also likes to grill corn, zucchini and tomatoes that they grow. Seafood is her favorite food and she also enjoys deep sea fishing.
She has “no telling how many cookbooks” and loves Pinterest. She is always looking for something different to try, so she gets lots of recipes from friends, and picks up “all those little magazines at the checkout.”

Broccoli & Cheese Casserole
1 cup chopped onion
1 cup butter
1 cup rice (uncooked)
1 can cream of mushroom soup
1 can cream of celery soup
1 cup shredded cheddar cheese
1 cup chopped celery
1 bag broccoli florets, cooked
1/2 cup water
Saute onions and celery in butter. Combine all ingredients and pour in a 9×13” baking dish. Bake at 350° for 35-40 minutes.

Strawberry Cake
1 box white cake mix
1 box (3 oz.) strawberry Jell-O
1 cup vegetable oil
1/2 cup whole milk
Combine these ingredients on slow speed, then add the following:
4 eggs (one at a time)
1 cup coconut
1 cup chopped pecans
1 cup frozen, chopped strawberries
Beat at medium speed two minutes. Pour into three 9” pans and bake at 350° until done.
Frosting:
1 stick softened butter
1/2 cup strawberries
1/2 cup chopped pecans
1 box Confectioners’ sugar
1/2 cup coconut
Cream butter and sugar together. Add remaining ingredients and frost cake while it is warm.

Sweet Potato Pie
1 1/2 cups margarine, melted
1 1/2 cups sugar
2 Tbsp. flour
3 eggs
1 1/2 cups whole milk
1 tsp. orange flavoring
1 tsp. vanilla flavoring
1/2 tsp. nutmeg
1 tsp. cinnamon
2 cups cooked sweet potatoes
In large mixer bowl, combine sweet potatoes and margarine. Beat at medium speed until mixed well. Continue mixing and add milk, eggs and flour. Add remaining ingredients and pour into two regular pie crusts. Bake at 350° for 35-40 minutes.

Sausage Casserole
3 cans crescent rolls
1 lb. cooked sausage
2 cups shredded cheddar cheese
1/2 cup Real Bacon bits
8 oz. cream cheese
Preheat oven to 375°. Spray 9×13 pan with cooking spray. Roll 1 1/2 cans of crescent rolls in pan. Cook at 375° for five minutes. Combine cream cheese and cheddar cheese. Cover crescent rolls with sausage, bacon and cheese mixture. Cover with remaining 1 1/2 cans of crescent rolls and return to oven. Bake until golden brown.

Double Chocolate Coca-Cola Cake
1 cup Coca-Cola (not diet)
1/2 cup butter
2 cups sugar
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 cup buttermilk
1 tsp. vanilla
1/2 cup cooking oil
3 Tbsp. cocoa
2 cups plain flour
2 eggs
1 tsp. baking soda
In saucepan, mix Coca-Cola, oil, butter and cocoa and bring to boil. In another bowl, combine sugar, flour and salt. Pour boiling cola mixture over flour mixture and beat well. Add eggs, buttermilk, soda and vanilla, and beat well. Pour into greased and floured 9×13 baking pan and bake at 350° for 20-25 minutes. Remove from oven and cool about 10 minutes before frosting.
Frosting:
1/2 cup butter
6 Tbsp. cream or milk
3 3/4 confectioners’ sugar
2 Tbsp. cocoa
1 tsp. vanilla