Mary Joy Tedder

Mary Joy Tedder could not cook when she and Chris married. He sent her to his grandmother, Ruby Dean Tedder’s, to learn to can tomatoes, but the first thing she had to learn was how to peel one! Now during the summer she puts up her own corn and peas, and she cans tomatoes.
Her favorite time to cook is on special occasions, like family birthdays and holidays. Her family, sons Danner, George Dean and Jackson, like taco soup and her shrimp bisque.
She likes her husband’s cooking “versus going out to eat”, and says he does a lot of it. “He just makes stuff up!” she said. She especially likes his baked tilapia topped with cowboy caviar.
A fourth grade teacher at BUES, Mary Joy is in her 16th year of teaching, having previously been at Vardaman Elementary and Calhoun Academy.

Originally from Houston, she is a graduate of ICC, Northeast and MS State.
In the past, she has made Sweet Potato Crunch for her students at Thanksgiving. She chose this to serve because she feels it is not something they would normally try on their own.
Her favorite Christmas meal was several years ago when they had a brunch at her grandmother, Mary Holder’s, who made chocolate gravy.

Her grandmother, and her mother-in-law, Beth Nichols, do a lot of the Christmas cooking for their family gatherings, and Mary Joy looks forward to using recipes handed down from both of them.
Pinterest is her choice for recipe searches, along with her two favorite cookbooks. One is “Cooking With Sweet Potatoes” that she bought at the Sweet  Potato Sweets Shop in Vardaman.

The other is a  family cookbook in memory of her husband’s great grandparents, Wilma Lee and Ella Mae House Tedder, that was made in 2004. “These ladies cooked!”
She couldn’t really name a specific favorite food, but said peanut butter is her favorite ingredient.
And her most recent habit started this year is chocolate coffee every morning from Joe’s.

Seafood Bisque
1/4 cup butter
1/2 bunch green onions, chopped
1/2 cup butter
1 pack frozen boudreaux crawfish tails (I use shrimp)
2-10.75 oz. cans condensed cream of potato soup
2-10.75 oz. cans  condensed cream of mushroom soup
1-15.25 oz. can whole kernel corn, drained
4 oz. cream cheese, softened
2 cups half and half cream
1/2 tsp. cayenne pepper
Melt 1/4 cup butter in large skillet over medium heat. Saute green onions in butter until tender. Remove from pan. Set aside. In same skillet, melt half cup of butter and saute crawfish five minutes. Set aside. In large pot over medium heat, combine soups, corn and cream cheese. Mix well and bring to slow boil. Stir in half and half, sauteed green  onions and crawfish. Season with cayenne pepper. Bring to low boil. Simmer five minutes to blend flavors.

Sweet Potato Crunch
Crust:
2 cups flour
1 cup chopped pecans
2 sticks margarine
Melt margarine and mix. Pat in oblong cake pan. Bake until light brown. Let cool.
Filling:
3 medium sweet potatoes, cooked and mashed
3 Tbsp. margarine
1/3 cup sugar
1 tsp. vanilla
1/4 tsp. almond extract
Mash sweet potatoes with other filling ingredients. Spread potatoes evenly over crust. Let cool before spreading on crust.
Topping:
1 box confectioners sugar
1-8 oz. pkg. cream cheese, softened
1 large carton Cool Whip
Mix all ingredients together and spoon or spread over potato mixture. Refrigerate.

Cowboy Caviar
2 Roma tomatoes, diced
2 avocados, diced
12 green onions, chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/3 cup cilantro, chopped
1 can shoepeg corn, drained
1 can blackeyed peas, drained
1/3 cup lime juice
1/2 cup red wine vinegar
1/2 cup olive oil
1 jalapeno diced small
Salt and pepper to taste

Potato Soup
6 cups potatoes, chopped
1 cup celery, chopped
1 onion, chopped
1 carrot, chopped
2 cups chicken broth
Cook until potatoes are tender, then add:
1/2 stick butter
1 cup milk
1 cup whipping cream
2 tsp. salt
1 tsp. pepper
2 Tbsp. parsley chips
Bring to boil and turn back down on simmer 20 minutes

Sweet Potato Slaw
2 Tbsp. canola oil
1 Tbsp. red wine vinegar
1 Tbsp. balsamic vinegar
1 1/2 tsp. olive oil
1/2 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. mustard seed
1/4 tsp. garlic powder
1/8. tsp. dried basil
2 cups thinly sliced or coarsely grated, peeled sweet potato (one large)
3 cups thinly chopped cabbage
4 scallions, trimmed and thinly sliced
1 finely minced jalapeno pepper with seeds (optional)
Whisk all spices, oils and vinegars in large bowl. Add potato, cabbage, scallions and jalapeno pepper. Toss to combine.

Taco Soup
1 lb. ground chuck
1 large onion, cooked with meat
2 cans whole kernel corn
2 cans pinto beans
2-8 oz. cans tomato sauce
1 pkg. taco seasoning mix, mild
1 pkg. Ranch dressing mix
1 can Ro-Tel tomatoes, mild
Cook meat and onion  together, drain and add rest of ingredients. Cook until thick.