Baldwyn woman likes to cook the old-fashioned way | Food

The oldest of 4 youngsters – and the one woman – Davis grew up in Ellisville, simply outdoors Laurel in south Mississippi. Although the household did not reside on a farm, they at all times had two huge gardens.

“We had a proper backyard with neat rows you could possibly stroll between,” mentioned Davis, 60. “And we had a strow backyard, the place you’d simply forged the seed, and every little thing grew collectively. As youngsters, it terrified us to choose within the strow backyard since you could not see snakes.”

When Davis and her brothers acquired off the college bus within the afternoons, it was her job to get everyone began on chores and homework. By the point she was 11, she was additionally getting supper began.

“It was simply peas, butterbeans, fried okra, creamed potatoes, turnip greens, cornbread – that sort of stuff,” Davis mentioned. “Sometimes, we might have gone to city for a hamburger, however for essentially the most half we ate what we grew.”

Davis nonetheless cooks that manner at the moment for her household in Baldwyn. She and her husband, Greg, have two sons and 4 grandchildren.

“Each different weekend, each boys and their households come to eat with us on Friday evening,” Davis mentioned. “Then on Saturday morning, they arrive again for breakfast. It is like having little cats – in the event you feed them, they will preserve coming again.”

For supper, Davis would possibly make selfmade fried rooster strips with ranch potatoes, peas and fried okra, or brisket with baked beans, baked potatoes and inexperienced beans.

“For breakfast, it is biscuits and chocolate gravy, bacon, and beignets,” she mentioned. “I used to make beignets for my boys after they had been little, and I made the error of creating them two years in the past for my grandkids. Now, I’ve to make them each time they arrive for breakfast.”

Davis, who retired from instructing full time in 2015 however nonetheless works two days per week tutoring college students who’ve fallen behind due to COVID-19, typically tries new recipes. Generally, they work, and typically they do not.

“I acquired on-line and a discovered a recipe for a simple strawberry shortcake in a sheetpan a few weeks in the past,” she mentioned. “It wasn’t superb, so I will not do this once more.”

She likes to Google substances to get concepts, and quite a lot of her recipes come from allrecipes.com.

“However quite a lot of recipes I get from individuals I do know,” she mentioned. “I am going to eat one thing any person has made and say, ‘Oh, that is so good, I’ve acquired to have the recipe for that.’ They usually give it to me.”

DO YOU KNOW A GOOD COOK? Ship your nominations to Ginna Parsons, Cook dinner of the Week, P.O. Field 909, Tupelo, MS 38802. Or you’ll be able to name (662) 678-1581 or e mail them to ginna.parsons@journalinc.com.

1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour

1 cup chopped walnuts or pecans

8 ounces cream cheese, softened

3/4 to 1 cup chopped pecans

For the bread, stir collectively flour, sugar, baking soda and salt in a big bowl. In one other mixing bowl, mix eggs, bananas, oil, buttermilk and vanilla. Add moist combination to dry combination and stir till simply mixed. Fold in nuts. Pour batter right into a greased 9×5-inch loaf pan. Bake at 325 levels for 1 hour and 10 minutes or till bread exams finished. Let cool, then ice.

For the icing, beat cream cheese and butter till clean. Add lemon juice and powdered sugar and beat once more. Fold in pecans. Unfold over loaf.

1/2 cup bacon fats or vegetable oil

2 kilos floor chuck, browned and drained

4 cups grated sharp Cheddar cheese

Mix cornmeal, baking soda, salt, milk, bacon fats, eggs and creamed corn. Pour half of this combination right into a greased 9×13-inch pan.

Unfold the cooked floor beef combination over cornbread batter. Sprinkle chopped onion, diced jalapeños and cheese excessive. Pour remaining cornbread batter over all. Bake, uncovered, at 350 levels for 1 hour. Serves 10 to 12.

2 1/4 cups self-rising flour

1 cup confectioners’ sugar, sifted

Meals coloring or paste (elective)

For the tea truffles, cream butter, sugar and vanilla. Add egg, then flour, and kind a dough. Chill. Roll onto a floured board and minimize into desired shapes with cookie cutters. Bake at 375 levels till frivolously brown. Cool. Frost with icing, if desired.

For the icing, stir confectioners’ sugar and vanilla collectively. Stir in milk, 1 teaspoon at a time, till icing is of piping or drizzling consistency. Add meals coloring, if desired. Ice tea truffles as desired.

1 pound gentle floor breakfast sausage

1 inexperienced bell pepper, chopped

10 ounces egg noodles, raw

1/2 pound processed cheese, grated

1 can rooster and rice soup

Sauté sausage, bell pepper and onion till sausage is browned. Add mushrooms.

Cook dinner noodles and drain. Add cheese to noodles whereas sizzling. Stir in soup and sausage combination. Pour right into a greased 9×13-inch casserole. Bake at 350 levels for quarter-hour or longer, if desired.

1 field Uncle Ben’s lengthy grain and wild rice

3 cups cooked, chopped rooster

1 can cream of celery soup

1 can French-style inexperienced beans, drained

1 can sliced water chestnuts, drained

1 small jar diced pimientos, drained

8 ounces grated Cheddar cheese

Cook dinner rice in accordance with bundle instructions. Mix rooster, soup, inexperienced beans, water chestnuts, pimientos, onion, mayonnaise and cheese. Add cooked rice to combination. Combine effectively and pour int a greased 9×13-inch baking dish. Bake at 350 levels for 35 to 45 minutes.

2 cups self-rising cornmeal

1 tablespoon poultry seasoning

1/2 to 1 teaspoon dried sage

1/2 to 1 teaspoon dried rosemary

1 can cream of mushroom soup

For the cornbread, mix cornmeal, buttermilk, eggs, poultry seasoning, sage, rosemary and pepper. Pour right into a sizzling greased skillet and bake at 400 levels till finished. Crumble.

Sauté onion and celery in butter till tender. Add to crumbled cornbread. Add turkey broth and mushroom soup. Alter seasonings.

Pour right into a greased 9×13-inch casserole and bake at 350 levels for 1 hour.

3 frozen boneless, skinless rooster breast halves

1 packet ranch dressing dry combine

1 can black beans, drained and rinsed

1 can cream of rooster soup

1 can entire kernel yellow corn

1 can entire kernel white corn

1 (8-ounce) block cream cheese, cubed

Shredded cheese, for serving

Place rooster breasts within the backside of a Crock-Pot. In a bowl, mix taco combine, dry ranch dressing, beans, tomatoes, cream of rooster soup, broth and corn. Pour over rooster in Crock-Pot. Dot with cubed cream cheese. Cowl and prepare dinner on low for six to 10 hours. When rooster is totally cooked and falling aside, shred utilizing two forks, then stir the combination collectively. Serve with shredded cheese.

1 pound processed cheese, cubed

8 ounces shredded Pepper Jack cheese

Soften butter in a skillet. Add onion and slaw combine and prepare dinner on low till slaw is wilted.

In a big pot, mix rooster broth and potatoes, and prepare dinner till potatoes are finished. Pour slaw combination into the pot. Add cheeses and prepare dinner on low till cheeses are melted.