Deanna Winter

From November to February there is “zero cooking” at Vardaman girls’ basketball coach Deanna Winter’s house. Spring and summer is when she does most of it, and she says she likes to cook “all easy stuff.”
The first “dish” she learned to cook was lasagna, a favorite of husband, Jeremy, and their sons, Elijah, 9, and Jonah, 4. Lasagna and the potato recipes are her “only constants” and are things  she cooks the most. The boys also like Mexican dishes, hamburgers, roast and potatoes in the crockpot, and either grilled chicken sandwiches or pasta. For a treat sometimes they make their own pizza.
Her family uses sweet potatoes a lot in making desserts, and the Sweet Potato Cooking Contest has always been a tradition for them. One year her mother, Marianne Caradine, created a pie she called, “Underground Surprise” that consisted of chocolate, peanut butter and sweet potatoes, and tasted like a Reese’s peanut butter cup.

Deanna entered the contest a lot when she was younger, then started back about three years ago to start the tradition with her sons. She watches all year for pumpkin recipes to substitute sweet potatoes with, especially on Pinterest. When she finds one, she says she can tell by looking at the ingredients that it will potentially be good, so she just goes with it the first time.

Her Sweet Potato Earthquake Cake was a first place winner this year in the cake division and Elijah won first place with his sweet potato waffles and cream cheese filling. Jonah won third  with his three-ingredient cookies, and this was his first time to enter.
She and Elijah made up a sweet potato cake recipe last year using a sweet potato cake recipe, chocolate pudding, Cool Whip and Butterfingers, that they layered.
She loves sweet potato log rolls, but is not interested in making them.

Chocolate oatmeal cookies are her favorite and also the first thing that her grandmother, Alma Ann Williams, taught her to make. “Everyone loves them!” she said, especially when she takes them to church at Thorn or New Hope.

A tip from her grandmother in making them, “Use a glass of water to test your cookies while boiling. Drop a little into the water and if the mixture forms a ball when it hits the water, it is done boiling.” And Deanna said, “When you are ready to drop cookies, if they seem runny, add some extra oats.”
Grilled New Potatoes
5 lbs. red potatoes
1 stick butter, melted
1 Tbsp. minced garlic
2 Tbsp. seasoned salt (or 1 Tbsp. seasoned salt and 1 Tbsp.
Cajun seasoning if you like spicy)
Cut up potatoes. Put in large baking dish. Mix together ingredients and pour over top of potatoes. Cover with foil. Bake at 400° about an hour.

Sweet Potato Earthquake Cake
1 box white cake mix
1 tsp. pumpkin pie spice
15 oz. mashed sweet potatoes
1/2 cup butter
8 oz. cream cheese softened
1 tsp. vanilla
2 cups powdered sugar
1 cup butterscotch chips
Preheat oven to 350°. Grease 9×13” pan. Melt butter in microwave or on stove top. Mix in cream cheese, vanilla and powdered sugar. Stir in butterscotch chips. Set aside. Mix cake mix, pumpkin pie spice and sweet potatoes together. Pour into prepared pan. Spoon dollops of cream cheese mixture onto batter. Take butter knife and swirl mixture into batter. Bake 40-45 minutes. Allow to cool.

Vanessa’s Potato Salad
5 lbs. red potatoes
24 oz. sour cream
2 packs of dry ranch
1 cup mayo
10 oz. bacon bits
Boil potatoes. Let cool, then peel. Add all ingredients. Mash them up some and they are ready to serve or chill for later.

Sweet Potato Waffles w/cream cheese filling
(Elijah Winter)
Filling: 8 oz. cream cheese softened
1/4 cup brown sugar
1 tsp. ground cinnamon
Sweet Potato Waffles: 1 egg
2 Tbsp. firmly packed brown sugar
1/2 cup mashed sweet potatoes
1 cup milk
2 Tbsp. vegetable oil
3/4 cup plus 2 Tbsp. all-purpose flour
1 1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/4 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. cinnamon
1/2 tsp. ground ginger
Pinch of salt
With electric mixer, beat together cream cheese, brown sugar, and cinnamon on medium until smooth and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Preheat waffle iron. In large bowl whisk together egg, brown sugar, sweet potatoes, milk and vegetable oil. Add in flour, baking soda, cinnamon, ginger and salt, and whisk until smooth. Cook waffles according to  waffle iron instructions. Lay waffles in single layer on cutting board or wax paper to cool. Then, evenly spread cream cheese mixture, carefully aligning edges, creating a sandwich. Slice sandwiches into wedges and serve immediately or store in refrigerator.

No Bake Chocolate Oatmeal Cookies
2 cups sugar
1/2 cup milk
3 tsp. cocoa
1 stick butter
1/2 cup peanut butter
2 1/2 cups oats
Mix sugar, milk and cocoa together. Bring to boil. Boil about 2-3 minutes. Remove from heat. Add in butter, peanut butter and oats. Drop onto aluminum foil or wax paper.

Julie’s Lasagna
1 lb. hamburger meat
1 box lasagna noodles
1 1/2 tsp. minced garlic
3 tsp. parsley flakes
1 regular can diced tomatoes
1 small can tomato paste
2 eggs, beaten
24 oz. cottage cheese
1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese
Salt and pepper
2 bags shredded mozzarella cheese
Boil noodles according to package or use no-boil kind. (I usually use half a box.) Brown hamburger meat. Add garlic, half of parsley flakes, tomatoes and tomato paste to meat, and simmer. In separate bowl mix eggs, cottage cheese, Parmesan cheese, half of parsley flakes, and desired amount of salt and pepper. Grease 9×13 pan. Put half of noodles as bottom layer, half of hamburger mixture, half of cheese mixture, then mozzarella cheese. Repeat layers. Bake at 375° about 40 minutes.