Tara Terrell

Tara Winter Terrell of Vardaman likes cooking in the fall and her recipes of homemade creamy chicken noodle soup, crockpot loaded potato soup and peanut butter bars are ones she likes best.
Daughter Maddie, 10, plays travel softball year ‘round, so Tara says she doesn’t cook as much as she used to. More of hers is done in the fall that consists of a lot of chili and soup, especially since she helped her mother, Jeannie Winter, put up 90 qts. of her daddy, Dwyane’s, tomatoes.

With his tomatoes, besides soup, they like to make homemade salsa, homemade spaghetti sauce, tomato gravy and tomato sandwiches. “I could slice and eat whole tomatoes by themselves,” she said.
Maddie’s favorite is creamy chicken noodle soup, a recipe that Tara made up. “And she is a steak girl,” Tara said, and they usually grill it at least once a week. Maddie is also a healthy eater and asks for Greek vanilla yogurt, strawberries, bananas and white grapes on a weekly basis.

Tara is a “pie person” and likes her mother’s lemon ice box pie. She said her husband Jason “likes all food.”
Following their traditional Thanksgiving meal, for five or six years now their family has smoked prime rib for Christmas.
Biscuits are probably the first thing Tara learned to make when she was young. Her mother has been teaching Maddie about cooking since she was about six, and she can now bake a cake on her own. Strawberry is her favorite.

Last week Tara boiled shrimp, potatoes and corn using Zataran’s crab boil and served it with garlic bread.
And speaking of seafood, The Shrimp Basket is her favorite place to eat in Gulf Shores at which she orders the steamed shrimp plate.
Homemade Creamy Chicken Noodle Soup
4 bone-in chicken breasts
1 bag medium egg noodles
2 cans cream of chicken soup
2 1/2 cups milk
1 stick real butter
2 1/2 Tbsp. flour
Salt and pepper to taste
1/2 medium white onion (minced/chopped)
Boil chicken breasts until cooked with onion and salt/pepper. Remove to cool, reserving broth. Then add to broth, two cans cream of chicken and butter. Mix flour and milk together until smooth and pour into mixture. Add egg noodles. Cook on medium/high until noodles are soft. Debone chicken, shred and add to mixture. Let simmer. Add salt and pepper to taste.

Peanut Butter Bars
1/2 cup creamy peanut butter
1 stick butter
1 cup self-rising flour
1 1/2 cups white sugar
2 large eggs
1 Tbsp. vanilla extract
Frosting:
1 1/2 cups confectioners sugar
2 Tbsp. creamy peanut butter
2 Tbsp. milk
1 tsp. vanilla
Put  the peanut butter and butter in saucepan on low heat to melt. Do not let it boil, just warm and remove from heat. Stir in sugar, eggs and vanilla. Add flour and stir to combine well. Spread evenly into 13×9 sheet cake pan. Cool completely before frosting. Frosting: whisk together all ingredients and spread over bars.

Crockpot Loaded Potato Soup
3 cans chicken broth
1 can cream of chicken soup
1/4 cup chopped onion
Pepper to taste
Bag of hashbrowns
8 oz. cream cheese (for later)
Cook in crockpot on low for six hours. Add cream cheese an hour before eating. Serve with sour cream, bacon bits, shredded cheese and green onions.