Adrienne Threadgill

“All the family are good cooks, but nobody makes cheesecakes–that’s my thing,” said Adrienne Threadgill of Calhoun City. She uses two recipes–the Philadelphia Vanilla Mousse, and one submitted recently by her mother, Beverly Threadgill–the White Chocolate Rasberry.

Adrienne “likes to try new stuff”, and plans to start with her mother’s cheesecake recipe and change it up with a chocolate cookie crust and add peanut butter morsels to make a Reese’s peanut butter cheesecake. “I?am going to try this,” she said.

She has the Food Network ap on her phone and uses that some, but Pinterest is where she goes most of the time for new recipes. She looks for anything that
catches her eye, and this time of year that’s for tailgating. The white pizza dip, from Pinterest, is a tailgating favorite. The blackberry barbecue sauce is also a must for tailgating, and they enjoy it on pulled pork, ribs, or fried potatoes and onions. She says she tweaks the ingredients to get the taste she likes and that it can be stored in the refrigerator for several weeks.

Tomato tarts (a recipe her mother submitted) are their biggest tailgating hit, which they have probably been serving three years. The guys usually grill tenderloin, chicken wings, barbecue chicken or boudin sausage, and the girls fix the tomato tarts, sausage and cream cheese wrapped in crescent rolls, dips, and grilled stuffed peppers.

They spend a lot of Friday night prepping for tailgating and she prefers the late games so as not to be rushed before the game. Adrienne loves chicken dishes and an all-time favorite of hers has become the Southern fried stuffed chicken, although it is time consuming. Her mother’s chicken pot pie is a favorite, as is the Cajun Chicken Alfredo.

She started playing around with cooking after high school, and always had home-cooked meals growing up. The older she’s gotten, the more interested
she is in cooking, and she always tastes before she serves because she wants her food  to be good before others try it. Adrienne says that she and her sister, Angel Swords, their mother, Beverly Threadgill, and aunt, Evelyn Hawkins, always have a good time when cooking together.

Blackberry Barbecue Sauce
1/2 cup blackberry preserves
1 1/2 cups ketchup
1/8 cup brown sugar
1/8 tsp. cayenne pepper
1/4 tsp. mustard powder
2 Tbsp. red wine vinegar
Mix all ingredients together and refrigerate.

White Pizza Dip
1 pint grape tomatoes, cut in half
1 tsp. olive oil
1/4 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. pepper
1 1/2 (12 oz.) blocks cream cheese, softened
8 oz. mozzarella cheese, freshly grated
8 oz. provolone cheese, freshly grated
1/4 cup finely grated Parmesan cheese, plus more for garnish
4 garlic cloves, minced or pressed
1/4 cup freshly chopped basil leaves
2 Tbsp. freshly chopped thyme leaves
1/2 Tbsp. freshly chopped oregano leaves
Crackers, bread or chips for serving.

Preheat oven to 400°. Line a baking sheet with aluminum foil, then place tomatoes on top. Sprinkle with olive and salt, then roast for 20-25 minutes, until bursting. Set aside. While tomatoes are roasting, mix softened cream cheese with about 7 oz. of provolone cheese, mozzarella and Parmesan. Stir in fresh herbs, garlic and roasted tomatoes, mixing well to combine. Transfer mixture to an oven safe dish (mine was 6×4 round). Sprinkle with remaining provolone and mozzarella. Bake at 20-25 minutes, or until top is golden and bubbly. Serve immediately with crackers, chips or toasted bread.

Philadelphia Vanilla Mousse Cheesecake
40 Nilla Wafers, crushed (about 1 1/2 cups)
4 pkg. (8 oz.) Philadelphia cream cheese
1 cup sugar
1 Tbsp. plus 1 tsp. vanilla, divided
3 eggs
1 tub (8 oz.) Cool Whip whipped topping

Heat oven to 325°. Mix wafer crumbs and butter; press onto bottom of 9” spring form pan. Beat three pkgs. cream cheese, 3/4 cup sugar and 1 Tbsp. vanilla until well blended. Add eggs, one at a time, mixing on low speed after each just until blended. Pour over crust. Bake 50 or 55 minutes or until center is almost set. Run knife around rim of pan to loosen cake. Cool completely in pan. Beat remaining cream cheese, sugar and vanilla with mixer in large bowl until well blended. Whisk in?Cool Whip; spread over cheesecake. Refrigerate four hours. Remove rim of pan before serving cheesecake. Garnish with fresh berries if desired.

Cajun Chicken Alfredo
(Guy Fieri)
4-5 oz. boneless skinless chicken breasts
1 cup blackening spice (recommended:?Paul Prudhomme’s Chicken)
2 Tbsp. extra-virgin olive oil
3 Tbsp. minced garlic
1 cup roughly chopped marinated sun-dried tomatoes
1/4 cup white wine
3 cups heavy cream
3/4 cup grated Parmesan
1 tsp. sea salt
1 tsp. freshly ground black pepper
1 lb. cooked fettuccine
1/2 cup sliced scallions

Preheat oven to 350°. Dredge chicken breasts in blackening spice and place in cast iron skillet over very high heat. (If you have an outside burner to blacken the chicken it works much better.)?Blacken both sides of the chicken and place in the oven for 10 minutes, or until the internal temperature of chicken reaches 165° on an instant-read thermometer. Slice in strips on the bias and set aside. In a saute pan over medium heat, add 2 Tbsp. of extra-virgin olive oil. Add garlic and lightly caramelize. Then add the sun-dried tomatoes and chicken slices. Deglaze the pan with the white wine. Add the heavy cream, increase the heat to a simmer, and reduce cream sauce by half. When the cream sauce is to desired consistency, stir in 1/2 cup Parmesan, salt and pepper. Nest the pasta on large rimmed serving platter, pour sauce over pasta and garnish with scallions and the remaining 1/4 cup Parmesan.

Southern-Fried Stuffed Chicken with Roasted Red Pepper and Vidalia Onion Gravy
4 oz. cream cheese, softened
1 cup dry chicken-flavored stuffing mix
1/2 cup (2 oz.) finely shredded Romano cheese
1/2 cup chopped Vidalia onion
1/4 cup minced fresh basil
4 large boneless chicken breast halves
4 bacon slices
1 large egg
1 cup milk
1 cup all-purpose baking mix
2 tsp. Creole seasoning
1 tsp. black pepper
Canola oil

Stir together first five ingredients in a medium bowl, set aside. Place chicken between two sheets of heavy duty plastic wrap. Flatten to 1/4” thickness using a mallet or rolling pin. Spread one-fourth of cream cheese mixture on side of each chicken breast half. Top with piece of bacon. Roll up chicken jelly roll fashion. Can secure with toothpicks. Whisk together egg and milk in bowl. Combine baking mix, Creole seasoning and pepper in shallow dish. Dip chicken rolls in egg mixture. Dredge in baking mix mixture. Pour oil to depth of 2” in a large skillet. Heat to 350°. Fry chicken rolls in batches 10-12 minutes or until dark brown and done, turning chicken rolls often. Drain on a wire rack over paper towels.

Roasted Red Pepper and Vidalia Onion Gravy
1 large Vidalia onion, halved vertically
1 large red pepper, halved and seeded
Non-stick aluminum foil
1 Tbsp. olive oil
1/4 tsp. kosher salt
3 Tbsp. butter
3 Tbsp. all-purpose flour
2 cups chicken broth
2 tsp. creole seasoning
2 Tbsp. minced fresh basil
Black pepper to taste

Dice one onion half and set aside. Cut remaining onion half into slices. Place onion slices and bell pepper halves cut sides down on a baking sheet with nonstick aluminum foil. Drizzle with oil and sprinkle with salt. Broil 5″ from heat about 10 minutes or until bell pepper looks blistered. Place bell pepper halves in a zip-top freezer bag, seal and let stand for 10 minutes to loosen skin. Peel bell halves and dice one half. Reserve diced bell pepper and remaining half. Dice roasted onion and set aside. Melt butter in a large skillet over medium-high heat.

Add reserved diced raw onion and saute 10 minutes or until onion begins to brown. Stir in flour, cook, stirring constantly, five minutes or until flour mixture is caramel-colored. Stir in chicken broth and Creole seasoning. Reduce heat to medium and cook, stirring constantly until thickened. Process gravy mixture and reserved bell pepper half in a blender until smooth, stopping to scrape down sides. Combine gravy mixture, reserved dice roasted bell pepper, diced roasted onion, basil and black pepper. Serve gravy over chicken rolls.