Deana Thacker

Pinto beans (with onions, ham and bacon) and cornbread is Deana Thacker’s favorite meal, but “homemade tomato soup runs a close race.”
Deana, who is the town clerk at Pittsboro, said her favorite dessert is Cream Cheese Crescents, a recipe she got from Judy Brown when she was a teenager.
“I love chicken and dumplings, and I have made them,” but says they are too time consuming.
Homemade pizza is also a favorite.

Deana has been eating low carb for about three weeks now, and she loves the low carb dish recipe she included here.
“It is super good, and I highly recommend the Weber Garlic and Herb seasoning. I add an extra pack of mushrooms, too,” she said.
She learned to cook at a young age from her mother, Donna Ferguson, and started learning how to can when she was around 10 or 11 with her aunt, Deb Embry.
“I just cook. Down home cooking. I don’t really measure anything,” she said. “I couldn’t tell you how I make my cornbread,” she said.

“I just throw things together,” when telling about a marinade for pork chops recently. She used Worcestershire sauce, soy sauce, dry Italian soup mix and more.
“But I cannot grill to save my life,” she said.
Every day or so she cooks the low carb dish or tacos. She likes to cook chicken in a bag using Grill Mate seasoning.
She usually always has home-canned green beans, or will cook butterbeans or corn, and some kind of potatoes.
“I can do anything with a potato–creamed or loaded.”

Barbara Bryant of Bruce showed her how to put okra up in a jar so when it is fried it tastes just like out of the garden.
“I’ve got a load of cookbooks,” she said, and Facebook is where she does most of her recipe looking, but she loves oldtimey recipes like the corn pudding.
“I am old-fashioned. I was brought up old-fashioned,” she said.
She grows tomatoes, squash, all kinds of greens, purple hull peas, rutabagas, herb garden with dill, parsley, cilantro, garlic and onions.

She uses Jeff Bryant’s recipe to make squash pickles instead of relish, and just slices the squash thinly rather than chopping.
She takes the ham and cheese rolls to showers, ballgames or just makes them for friends, and never has any left.
As soon as the persimmons are ready again, she plans to make the Persimmon Pudding from a recipe she found in an Amish cookbook.

Yummy Low Carb Meal

6 thinly sliced chicken breasts
1 container green onion cream cheese
1/4 cup olive oil
1/2 cup chicken broth
1 large pkg. sliced mushrooms
1 small bag fresh baby spinach
Sprinkle of Weber Herb and Garlic Seasoning
Sprinkle of pepper
8 oz. Mozzarella cheese
Put chicken in 9×13 pan in a single layer. Top with spinach and mushrooms. Sprinkle seasonings on top. Soften cream cheese and whisk in olive oil and chicken broth. Pour mixture over chicken. Lay foil over top but do not seal. Bake at 375° for 20 minutes. Remove foil and bake uncovered another 20-25 minutes. Sprinkle mozzarella cheese on top and bake uncovered another 10 minutes or until starting to brown. Let cool 10 minutes and serve.

Persimmon Pudding
(An Amish recipe)
Work together one gallon of persimmons, one quart buttermilk and one Tbsp. soda. Run through colander. Add 3/4 pound butter mixed with 1 1/4 lbs. sugar, 8 eggs and one large grated sweet potato, 1 1/2 lbs. flour, 1 Tbsp. of cloves, allspice and cinnamon. Bake in thin layers and stick while hot. Serve with cream. (This pudding is from Mrs. H.F. Toothman’s mother’s cookbook published in 1880.)

Ham & Cheese Rolls
Hawaiian sweet rolls OR plain dinner rolls
Any kind of ham
Any kind of cheese (I use Velveeta)
Onion (optional)
Stick of butter
1 Tbsp. Worcestershire sauce (more if you want)
1 Tbsp. mustard (more if you want)
Split rolls and add ham, put tops back on, and place cheese on top. Melt butter in saucepan, add onions and let boil. Stir in Worcestershire sauce and mustard. Pour on top of rolls and place on 9×13 pan. Preheat oven to 350° and leave in until cheese melts.

Jeff’s Bryant’s Squash Relish
2 lbs. yellow squash, chopped
2 bell peppers, chopped
2 onions, chopped
1 jar pimento
1 Tbsp. salt
1 Tbsp. celery seed
1 Tbsp. mustard seed
3 cups sugar
3 cups vinegar
Mix everything together except sugar and vinegar. Let stand for one hour. Add sugar and vinegar. Bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer for 15 minutes. Can and seal in hot jars.

Cream Cheese Crescents
(Judy Brown)
2 cans crescent rolls
1 cup sugar
1 tsp. vanilla
8 oz. cream cheese
Unroll one can rolls and put in bottom of ungreased 9×13 dish. Mix sugar, cream cheese and vanilla. Spoon over layer of rolls. Place other can of rolls over filling. Melt one stick margarine and pour over top of rolls. Bake at 350° for 30 minutes or until golden. (Can add 2 Tbsp. cocoa OR cinnamon to sugar mixture for a chocolate version or a cinnamon version.)

Corn Pudding
1-17 oz. can cream-style corn
1/4 cup flour
1/4 cup sugar
3/4 cup milk
3 cups eggs
1/4 cup melted margarine
Salt and pepper to taste
Combine corn, flour, sugar, milk, eggs, margarine, salt and pepper in bowl. Mix well. Spoon into greased 1 1/2 quart baking dish. Bake at 375° for 45 minutes or until set. Yield: 6 servings.

Lemon & Garlic Broccoli
1 bunch fresh broccoli
1 clove garlic, minced
2 Tbsp. olive oil
Juice of half a lemon
Salt and pepper to taste
1/4 cup Parmesan cheese
Separate broccoli into flowerets and slice stems. Cook in water in saucepan eight minutes or until tender. Drain. Saute garlic in olive oil in skillet two minutes. Add broccoli. Toss to coat well. Stir in lemon juice, salt and pepper. Spoon into serving dish. Sprinkle with Parmesan cheese. Yield: 4 servings.