Lacy Sullivan Melton

“It is my passion to be creative with food and hair,” says Lacy Sullivan Melton, hair stylist, of Bruce.  Growing up, Lacy was the one outside helping their dad, David, in the dairy barn, and sister, Jessica, was in the house cleaning and cooking.

Today, even though both are good cooks, she says the roles have changed, and she wants to be cooking, while Jessica loves being in the yard with her flowers. They started learning to cook after their mother, Kathy, began working and was on night shift.

“There was lots of trial and error with Daddy,” Lacy said. They would try to make gravy for the biscuits, and “it always turned out looking like Play Dough.”
She began branching out more with her cooking after she and Brad married and started getting recipes  from her mother-in-law Pat Melton, who also taught her to can. Lacy gets most of her recipes from talking to others.

She has a wide age range of customers at the salon, and they have given her a lot of tips and ideas. She and her co-workers also share recipes and frequently take food to work. Lacy usually looks at a recipe to see how she can adapt it to their own likes and tastes, just making it her own.

She also looks at how to make a dessert sugar free, or create her own, for her dad since she usually takes dessert for the family Sunday lunch. She loves flavor–very flavored food, spicy, but not hot. Daughter, Bryleigh 2-1/2, is not a picky eater, and also likes tasty food.

Lacy tries to cook healthier most of the time, and they like to stuff a turkey burger with pepper jack or blue cheese (or a regular burger) and they also enjoy pineapple burgers, saying Brad is their griller and biscuit maker.

But sometimes she does what she calls, “grandma” cooking, meaning it tastes like Grandma’s–mashed potatoes and gravy, rice pudding and stewed potatoes.
She tries to plan ahead for meal preparation during the week, and does her ‘fun cooking’ on the weekend when she has extra time.

She likes to take different things for church get-togethers, but says two of their favorites are her grape salad and banana pudding. Lacy likes to make people smile, and says it’s easy to do that through food.

Snicker Salad
1 large container Cool Whip
6 Snickers bars, cut bite-sized
3 Granny Smith apples, diced
1 Gala or Fuji apple (diced small)
1 box cream cheese, softened
Caramel topping
Cut Snickers and apples into bite-sized pieces. Mix softened cream cheese and?Cool Whip together. Stir in apples and Snickers. Let chil in refrigerator for 1-2 hours. When serving, drizzle with caramel topping.

Cinnamon Roll Cake
Cake:
3 cups flour
1/2 tsp. salt
1 cup sugar
4 tsp. baking powder
1 1/2 cups milk
2 eggs
2 tsp. vanilla
1/2 cup butter, melted
Topping:
1 cup butter, softened
1 cup brown sugar
2 Tbsp. flour
1 Tbsp. cinnamon
Glaze:
2 cups powdered sugar
5 Tbsp. milk
1 tsp. vanilla
Mix all cake ingredients together except for butter. Slowly stir in the melted butter and pour in greased 9×13 pan. For topping, mix all ingredients until well combined. Drop evenly over batter and swirl with a knife. Bake at 350° for 28-32 minutes. Mix glaze ingredients and drizzle over cake while warm. Best served when warm.

Sweet Potato Rolls
2 cups flour
1 cup milk
1/3 cup oil
Mix ingredients together and roll out into rectangle (about 11×13) until it is about 1/4-1/2” thick.
3-4 medium sweet potatoes (cooked, mashed and cooled)
1/2-3/4 cup butter, softened
1/2 cup sugar (I like to mix regular and brown)
Spread butter over dough very liberally. then sprinkle with sugar mixture. Spread cooled, mashed sweet potatoes over entire rectangle. Roll dough not too tight or you will mash filling out. Let chill in refrigerator about 30 minutes.
Cut slices about 3/4-1” thick and place in deep 9×13/11×13 baking dish. Heat and pour over–three cups milk, 1 1/2 cups sugar, 1 tsp. vanilla. It will cover rolls. Bake at 350° 30-40 minutes. Check with toothpick.

Crappie Cakes
2 slices bread
1 Tbsp. mayonnaise
1 Tbsp. Worcestershire sauce
1 Tbsp. parsley flakes
1 Tbsp. baking powder
1 tsp. Old Bay seasoning
1/2 tsp. salt
1 egg, beaten
1 pound cooked crappie (boil in a pot of water with liquid crab boil just until slightly flaky)
Panko bread crumbs
In large bowl, break sliced bread and moisten with milk. Add all other ingredients but Panko bread crumbs. Pat into about 4-5 round patties and cover both sides and edges in Panko bread crumbs. Let chill in refrigerator about 30 minutes. This will help hold them together while cooking. Heat oil in medium skillet and fry on both sides until golden brown.

Lowfat Fish Tacos
1 lb. fish (crappie and tilapia work well)
1/2 tsp. creole seasoning
1 Tbsp. oil
8 ct. pkg. flour tortillas
10 oz. bag angel hair coleslaw mix
1/2 cup minced fresh cilantro
2 jalapenos, seeded and minced
2 Tbsp. fresh lime juice
1 tsp. honey
1/4 tsp. salt
Sprinkle fish w/ creole seasoning. Heat oil in large non-stick skillet over medium-high heat. Add fish. Cook until flakes easily with fork. Cut into pieces. Combine all slaw ingredients. Serve fish and slaw on warmed flour tortillas.

Sugar Free Peach Delight
1 large container sugar free Cool Whip
1 pkg. instant sugar free peach Jello
1-2 pkgs. sugar free Pecan Sandies cookies
1 large can sliced peaches, diced (no sugar added/in their own juice)
In 8×8 dish, crumble cookies to cover bottom of dish. Line sides of dish with whole cookies. Combine softened Cool Whip and 3/4 package of Jello.
Layer on the cookie crumbles, then diced peaches. Continue cookie crumbles, Cool Whip, and peaches until full. Top with few sliced peaches in the middle. Chill a couple of hours before serving.