Sandra Jones

To make the caramel icing for a cake, “lock the door and turn off the phone,” said Sandra Jones of Vardaman, “stay with it and don’t walk away.” This is how she learned to make caramel icing from a recipe given to her years ago by Louise Dismuke.

Desserts are a favorite of Sandra’s to make, although she has always loved to cook, and has tried about everything.

Mexican is her favorite food and all of her family eats the Mexican casserole. Husband, Mike’s favorite is Apple Dumplings. She makes baked spaghetti, a little different recipe, that she got from Glenda Stewart. She is a Christmas candy maker, and crystal candy is among the kinds she does, saying that Dallas Gore used to come over and help her make candy.

For their family reunions, she tries to fix something new also, but for the one July 4 she always makes chocolate trifle, and the lemon pie always goes to Smith Lake.

Her first time to make dressing was two years ago under the direction her mother. She and her sister, Cindy Hamilton, made too much, but at least they learned how.

She and her co-workers bring food to work for their birthdays. Everybody brings a dish and they exchange recipes, so she has gotten a lot of recipes from them.

An aunt, Rebecca Pilgreen, put together a cookbook of their family recipes from a collection of Sandra’s grandmother, Pearl Spratlin Hardin, which included her handwritten notes.

Upon recently finding her other grandmother, Clytee Ashby’s recipes, Sandra is planning to make a cookbook composed of those. She learned from her grandmother Ashby when her mother, Rebecca Hardin, worked.

Caramel Icing
Mix together two cups of sugar and 1/2 of a 12 oz. can of evaporated milk.
Cook on medium heat until sugar melts. Caramelize 1/2 cup sugar (melt 1 heaping Tbsp. of shortening, add sugar, and let sugar brown on medium heat.) Dip it out of shortening with spoon and put it into milk and sugar mixture. Cook over medium heat until it turns caramel. Add 1 stick of margarine or butter and 1 tsp. vanilla flavoring. Stir in well. If not thick enough to spread on cake, let cool a little. Keep it stirred while cooking.

Mexican Casserole
1 pkg. flour tortillas
1 1/2 lbs. ground beef
1 tsp. chili powder
1 tsp. garlic salt
1 can Rotel tomatoes
1/4 lbs. grated Velveeta cheese
1-15 oz. can Ranch style beans
1 can cream of chicken soup
1 medium onion
Combine soup and Rotel in pan until heated. In skillet, saute onion. Add the meat to the sauteed onion and brown. Add garlic salt, chili powder, and beans to meat mixture. Line one very large casserole dish with tortillas. Place meat mixture over tortillas. Sprinkle with cheese and cover with another layer of tortillas. Pour soup mixture over last layer of tortillas. Cover casserole dish with foil and bake at 350° for one hour. Let stand 20 minutes before serving.

Apple Dumplings
1 green apple
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 stick margarine
Cinnamon
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1 pkg. crescent rolls
1 cup water
Slice the apple into eight wedges. Unroll crescent rolls and divide into eight pieces. Place apple slice on each roll and sprinkle with cinnamon.
Wrap apples and place in casserole dish. On the stove top, bring to a boil: water, sugars and margarine. Pour mixture over the wrapped apples.
Bake at 350° until rolls are browned, about 15-20 minutes. This is a quick and easy dessert dish that may be served with ice cream.

Baked Spaghetti
7 oz. spaghetti
1 stick margarine
1 egg
1 lb. group beef
1/2 lb. hot sausage
1 large jar Ragu
1 cup mozzarella cheese
Pepperoni
1 onion, chopped
1 bell pepper, chopped
Cook and drain spaghetti. Melt margarine and pour over cooked spaghetti.
Beat an egg and pour over spaghetti. Mix well. Brown together the ground beef, sausage, onion and bell pepper. Drain off excess grease. In casserole dish, pour in your spaghetti mixture; then layer on the meat mixture. Pour Ragu over meat mixture. Top Ragu with pepperoni slices, arranging in a single layer. Top with cheese. Bake 20 minutes at 350°.
Uncover and continue to bake an additional 20 minutes.

Crystal Candy
4 cups sugar
5 drops red food coloring
3/4 tsp. oil of cinnamon (this can be bought at pharmacy)
1 cup water
1 cup light corn syrup
Combine sugar, water and syrup in large pan. Bring to a boil over medium heat, stirring constantly. Stir in food coloring. Continue to cook, without stirring, until mixture reaches hard crack stage (300° on candy thermometer.) Remove from heat and stir in the oil of cinnamon. Working rapidly, spread mixture onto an oiled jellyroll pan (15x10x1). Let cool.
Break into pieces. Recipe variation: spread mixture on pan filled with confectioner’s sugar.

Four Layer Lemon Ice Box Pie
First layer: Make a 13×9″ graham cracker crust or use three large Graham
cracker pie crusts.
Second layer:
8 oz. softened cream cheese
1 cup sugar
1 large container Cool Whip (use 1/s for this layer)
Spread over pie crusts–cool in refrigerator 15 minutes. Optional–chop one cup of roasted pecans and spread over layer.
Third layer:
Mix well two cans of condensed milk, 6 egg yolks, 1 1/3 cups lemon juice. Spread mixture over second layer and chill 15 minutes.
Fourth layer:
Spread remainder of Cool Whip over top. You may freeze or chill in fridge.