Susan Penick Leachman

By Published On: November 22, 2017

“The Penick ladies were known for their cooking,” Susan Penick Leachman of Bruce and formerly of Vardaman, said, especially of her grandmother, Grace Ferguson Penick, for whom the Sweet Potato Banquet cooking award for the best recipe, “Mama Grace,” is named.
As she talked about the ladies of the family who were influential in her life, she also mentioned her aunts, Mary Sue Penick Wells and Louise Penick Alford, and her mother, Eve, and how they helped her in learning to cook.
“My aunts were always trying something new,” she said.

Susan Penick LeachmanSusan always did the cooking when her parents were in the potato field, and sister, Gwen, tended to the animals. “We’re not sure what Terri and Gary were doing.”
She was cooking full meals by age 12, with her mother telling her what to have. She loved to cook then, and she still does now, but hated to cut up chicken.

Her mother didn’t know how to cook when she married so she learned a lot from mother-in-law Grace. Susan would often pick up the phone and Grace would be on the party line when she needed to ask her how to make something.
Most of Susan’s recipes are old ones and she usually goes back to her basics when cooking, and most likely a new recipe she tries would be a casserole or dessert.

The chicken and dressing recipe is Susan’s own because she puts in dressing what she likes, and it reminds her of a chicken casserole. She cooks her onions down first because she doesn’t like them crunchy.
The sweet potato casserole is a “basic one, and fairly simple”.
“A lot of times men will eat the marinated vegetable salad when they won’t eat other salads. It has a little twang and the more it marinates, the better,” she said.

She has had the chocolate cake recipe since high school and thinks it’s one from Nancy Gary’s home ec class.
Strawberry cake is a favorite of her bunch, saying they like most any-thing with fruit in it. She bakes hers in two round pans and stacks them, but says you could make in a rectangle pan.

Grandchildren John Grayson likes the strawberry cake, Lynsey likes chocolate oatmeal cookies and Austin, chocolate cake.
Growing up, their Thanksgiving meal was always lots of vegetables with turkey and dressing.
Now for Thanksgiving Day dinner she usually has chicken and dressing, casseroles including sweet potato, marinated salad, and blueberry French pie. “After I finish cooking one dish, then I start on another one, and then another,” she said.

Susan has always liked sweet potatoes. If they got hungry when they were out in the field digging, she would peel and eat a raw potato, or if they could get it clean, would eat peel and all. Her favorite sweet potato dishes are sweet potato cake and casserole.
She likes homemade food and desserts, and appreciates that something was made with love and care, like her Mama Grace did.

Strawberry Salad
1 can strawberry pie filling
1 can Eagle Brand milk
1 small can crushed pineapple, drained
1-12 oz. Cool Whip
1/2 cup chopped pecans
Mix all together and refrigerate before serving.

Marinated Vegetable Salad
1-17 oz. can small English peas, drained
1-17 oz. can white shoepeg corn, drained
1-15 1/2 oz. can French style green beans, drained
1-2 oz. jar drained pimento
1/2 cup diced celery
1/4 cup chopped onion
1/2 cup chopped green pepper
1 cup sugar
1/2 tsp. pepper
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1/2 cup vinegar
Combine drained vegetables, tossing lightly. Combine remaining ingredients in medium saucepan. Bring to boil over low heat, stirring occasionally. Pour over vegetables stirring gently to blend well. Cover and chill 24 hours.

Chicken and Dressing
1 pan of cooked cornbread
1 small can of biscuits, cooked
3 raw eggs
1/2 cup sweet milk
Small amount of onion, chopped (I saute in butter)
Salt and pepper
Broth from chicken
4 cooked chicken breasts
Mix all ingredients together. Place in dish and bake 30 minutes at 300° or until done.

Blueberry French Pie
(Blueberry Delight)
1st layer: 1 pkg. crumbed graham crackers, 1 cup chopped pecans, 1 stick melted butter. Mix together.
2nd layer: 1-8 oz. and 1-3 oz. softened cream cheese, 1 cup powdered sugar, 1 tsp. vanilla flavoring, 2 tsp. lemon juice, 1-12 oz. container Cool Whip. Mix all together.
3rd layer: 4-5 bananas, sliced and dipped in lemon juice;
4th layer: 1-1/2 cans blueberry pie filling. Refrigerate.

Sweet Potato Casserole
3 cups sweet potatoes, cooked and mashed
1 cup sugar
1/2 tsp. salt
2 eggs
1/2 stick butter
1/2 cup milk
1 tsp. vanilla flavoring
Mix with mixer. Place in casserole dish. Bake 35 minutes at 300°. Topping: 1 cup brown sugar, 1/2 cup flour, 1/2 stick melted butter, 1 cup chopped nuts. Cut and mix with pastry cutter or fork and add to casserole top.

Hot Spiced Tea
1-1/3 cups Tang orange flavored beverage crystals
1/3 cup instant tea
1 tsp. cinnamon
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 tsp. ground cloves
Combine and store in tightly covered jar. For one serving, place a rounded teaspoon in cup. Add boiling water.

Chocolate Sheet Cake
2 cups flour
2 cups sugar
1/2 tsp. salt
2 sticks margarine
1 cup water
4 Tbsp. cocoa
2 eggs
1 tsp. soda
1/2 cup buttermilk
1 tsp. vanilla flavoring
1 tsp. cinnamon
Mix flour, sugar and salt. Bring margarine, water and cocoa to a boil and pour over flour mixture. Add two well beaten eggs and soda to above mixture. Beat and add to above mixture, the buttermilk, vanilla and cinnamon. Pour into greased and floured large cookie sheet (17x11x3/4). Bake 20 minutes at 350°. Start making icing the last five minutes of cake baking time. Icing: 1 stick margarine, 4 Tbsp. cocoa, 6 Tbsp. buttermilk, 1 box confectioners’ sugar, 1/2 cup pecans, 1 tsp. vanilla flavoring. Bring margarine, cocoa and buttermilk to a boiling point. Add confectioners sugar, pecans, vanilla flavoring and mix well. Ice while cake is hot.

Strawberry Cake
1 white cake mix
1 Tbsp. flour
1 small pkg. strawberry gelatin
3/4 cup cooking oil
1/2 cup water
1/2 cup frozen strawberries, thawed
4 eggs
Cake: Mix ingredients well and bake at 350° for 25-30 minutes. Icing: 1 stick margarine softened, 1 box powdered sugar, 1/2 cup strawberries, drained. Mix together and spread on cool cake.

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