Jennifer Wade

Jennifer Edington Wade began watching Food Network while on bedrest pregnant with twins, Cash and Livy, for lack of anything besides re-runs on TV.  “Pioneer Woman, Ina Garten, and Diners Drive-ins and Dives were all first run for me.”
“Despite (husband) Justin making fun of me and (daughter) Laila fussing about being subjected to it, I learned lots of culinary terms and how-tos. I have tried more things in restaurants and just knowing what something means has helped me broaden my horizons, find things I love, and even embrace fixing new things,” she said.
Before that, friend and college roommate, Lena Gore Ingram, and Jennifer cooked up lots of things.

Their favorite was macaroni and cheese and baked potatoes “a fitness nightmare. We used to wash those carbs down with birthday cake from Kroger!”
There were lots of them from Calhoun in two duplexes in Starkville who had many “normal meals” together when she missed those from home.
After she married, she called her mom, June, and Justin’s mom, Debra, many times and asked for recipes when she cooked something of theirs.

Her favorite meal made by her mother is English pea casserole, and mashed potatoes, which she made almost every night of her life. “I still am not sure how she had it in her after working all day to peel and make mashed potatoes every single night. None of my bunch loves it like I do,” she said.
A favorite of many recipes Debra shared is homemade mac and cheese, a staple for family gatherings. As a nurse, now Nurse Practitioner, all the places she’s worked had potluck meals. Anytime she takes it, she ends up passing the recipe along to several as well as getting calls for it down the road. “That recipe is a stand out and always a hit. I sure wish it was easier on my thighs.”

She grew up in the Sweet Potato Capital and her daddy, Grover,  “preached the health benefits of them my whole life. I love and have tried all the sweet versions, but it wasn’t until Justin started farming them that I actually developed a love for baking them. Specifically, the Evangeline variety–45 minutes in the oven at 450° and you will always have perfectly cooked sweet potato. Cooking it fast and on convection, I think is the secret to it being smoother in texture.”

“We have started ordering anything sweet potato we find on a menu while we travel. My favorite to date was in January at The Half Shell in Biloxi while at MAAA convention. We discovered brulee sweet potatoes. Basically it is mashed sweet potatoes cooked smooth, put into a baking dish and sprinkled with white and brown sugars, then likely put under broiler or cooking torch used to create a hardened layer. They throw a dollop of butter on the side before it comes out to the table. I am still working on perfecting it. Maybe I need to invest in a cooking torch or a salamander,” she said.

Since the twins’ arrival, she and Justin have spent much of their leisure time at home rather than out at restaurants, so they have ventured out to cooking more variety and experimenting, and have grown to be pretty good cooks.
“I do lots of cooking that is eyeballing things and playing around with ingredients. Our kids have to try everything before they can declare they do not like it. They have found foods they love that way and some they hate.”

She recently made her Mamaw (Virginia Edington’s) sweet potato casserole for Justin for the first time and he loved it. After all these years, he had no clue why she had held out, “but likely because I had no clue he would love it.”  The secret to it she thinks, is adding eggs to bind it which makes it thicker, and “of course, you just cannot go wrong with the pecan topping.”
She used Virginia’s recipe as the basis and tweaked it, taking ideas from other recipes. She studied Bell’s Best and Calhoun County cookbooks she has from New Century Club, as well as a few others she has acquired. One thing she changed about Mamaw’s is using 3/4 cup regular sugar and 1/4 cup brown sugar, instead of one cup regular sugar in the potato mixture.

Justin came in from duck camp after Thanksgiving a couple of years ago where “they apparently had a leftover potluck dinner” and one of his friends brought Aunt Georgia’s squash casserole. He immediately got the recipe and requested that Jennifer make it.
The first time she made it was a random week night and was in the middle of cooking when he told her a high school friend, Colley Burns, was in town and coming for dinner.
“I forgot to add salt, of all things, and little did I know I was cooking for a chef! Yep, no biggie, make new recipe for a guest, and he happens to be an educated and trained chef, and I forget the salt! He was gracious.”

Homemade Mac and Cheese
8 oz. macaroni
12 oz.-1 lb. Velveeta
16 oz. Pet milk
1 stick butter
1/2 cup milk
1 tsp. salt
Cook macaroni. Mix ingredients. Cook slow in crock pot 45 minutes to an hour. Note: It is easy to travel with–cubing the cheese and butter, adding the liquid ingredients, then topping with the hot cooked noodles prevents splattering during travel. “Lock the lid down on your crockpot and plug it in when you arrive. A few stirs along the way is all it needs.”

Aunt Georgia’s Squash Casserole
John Green
1 cup water
2 tsp. salt, divided
1/8 tsp. sugar
6 medium yellow squash, sliced
8 oz. sour cream
7 Tbsp. unsalted butter at room temperature, divided
4 oz. cheddar cheese, shredded
5 medium green onions, chopped
1/2 cup Parmesan cheese
1 cup bread crumbs
Preheat oven to 350°. Add 1 tsp. salt and sugar to water and simmer squash over low heat, covered for 15 minutes. Drain squash and return to pan. Add 4 tsp. butter and blend with squash. Stir in cheddar cheese, sour cream, green onions, 1 tsp. salt and Parmesan cheese. Pour squash mixture into greased casserole. Top with bread crumbs and dot with remaining butter. Bake 30 minutes.

Sweet Potato Casserole
Virginia Edington
3 cups cooked mashed sweet potatoes
1 cup sugar (Jennifer uses 3/4 white & 1/4 brown)
1/2 tsp. salt
2 eggs
1/2 stick butter or margarine
1/2 cup milk
1 tsp.  vanilla
Topping: Cut and mix one cup brown sugar, 1/2 cup flour, 1/2 stick butter. Add one cup nuts. Spread on top. Bake 35 minutes at 300°.

Tomato Pie

Pie crust
4 tomatoes, peeled and cut into 1/2” slices
1/2 tsp. salt
1 cup mayo
3 green onions, chopped
2 Tbsp. chopped fresh basil
1 cup real Parmesan cheese
Bacon
Preheat oven to 350°. Prepare pie crust. Meanwhile, cut stem out of tomatoes and squeeze most of juice out. Drain on paper towel. Then stir in next three ingredients (salt, mayo, green onions) and 3/4 cup cheese. Bake pastry at 350° for 10 minutes until lightly brown. Remove pastry and sprinkle with remaining 1/4 cup cheese. Layer tomato slices over cheese. Then spread mayo mixture over tomatoes. Bake pie at 350° for 35 minutes. Let cool 5 minutes.