1 small can chicken breast, drained

1/4 cup diced water chestnuts

1/2 cup sweet relish or to taste

1/2 cup chopped walnuts or pecans

4 boiled eggs, diced

1/2 cup dried cranberries

1/2 cup mayonnaise or to taste

Mix all ingredients in a medium sized bowl. Cover and refrigerate for a few hours for best flavor and texture, but it's great immediately. Serve as a sandwich, with crackers, on lettuce cups or on wraps.

1 pkg. instant pistachio pudding mix 

1 (20 oz.) can crushed pineapple, undrained

1 cup miniature marshmallows

1/2 cup chopped pecans

1 1/2 cups thawed whipped topping

1 cup maraschino cherries

 

Combine all ingredients in a medium bowl and mix well. Cover tightly and chill for 1 hour or until serving time. Keep refrigerated. Recipe may be doubled.

 

16 oz. elbow macaroni or pasta of your choice

6 hard boiled eggs, chopped

1 or 2 cans sweet peas, drained

cheese of your choice*

1 cup or more mayonnaise

black pepper to taste

4 tablespoons sugar, optional

3 tablespoons white vinegar, optional

 

*Shredded cheese, cubed cheese or torn slices may be used in any variety of your choosing. I used about 2 cups of shredded fiesta blend cheese this time.

Cook macaroni in salted water until tender. Drain and immediately rinse in cold water to stop cooking and bring to room temperature. Drain well. In a large bowl, mix all ingredients and combine well. Cover with a tight fitting lid and refrigerate until serving time. Keep any leftovers refrigerated. 

 

The vinegar and sugar aren't included in the original recipe my sister Martha created, but I add it to mine sometimes for a little different flavor.

6 eggs
3-4 tablespoons mayonnaise
salt and pepper to taste

Place eggs in a medium saucepan and just cover with cold water. Cover with lid and bring to a boil. Let boil for 5 minutes, then turn off heat, leaving pan on the burner. Let set for 15 minutes, then place pan in sink, remove lid and run cold water over eggs till just cool enough to handle.

Pour off all but an inch or so of water, add a cup of ice cubes, and cover with lid. Holding lid with one hand and pot handle with the other, shake pan vigorously in all directions to crack egg shells.

Remove lid. Remove any remaining egg shells under running cold water. I find with this method many times the eggs are nearly totally clean of shells and need very little shelling.

Dice eggs into a flat bottomed bowl and then use a potato masher to mash eggs to your preferred consistency. Add mayonnaise and salt and pepper to your taste and mix well.

Recipe may be increased. Refrigerate any leftovers.

If you like deviled eggs, you may like deviled egg salad. Just add mustard to taste, 1 tablespoon white vinegar and 1-2 tablespoons sugar to the above mixture and mix well.

2 large packages black cherry Jello
2 cans fruit cocktail, drained well
1/2 cup shredded coconut
1 cup chopped pecans
1 cup miniature marshmallows, optional

Prepare Jello as directed up until chilling. Add fruit cocktail, coconut, pecans and marshmallows if used to Jello and mix well. Pour into serving bowl and cover with plastic wrap. Chill thoroughly until set. Serve and enjoy.

I don't know where Mama got the original recipe or if she invented this one herself, but it was always a part of our family holiday dinners, especially Thanksgiving and more often, Christmas. Just the thought of this Jello salad brings back lots of happy memories of Cook family Christmases.

4 cups fresh cooked corn, cooked frozen, or canned corn
1/2 cup minced regular or green onion
1/2 cup minced green bell pepper
2 large ripe tomatoes, seeded and chopped
4 Tbsp. good mayonnaise
2 Tbsp. sugar
2 Tbsp. vinegar (optional)
dash of salt
black pepper to taste

Combine all ingredients in a large bowl with a tight fitting lid. Mix well, cover and chill until time to serve. Keeps up to a week in the fridge. Enjoy!


I almost never measure any of these ingredients. I just eyeball everything and throw it together. This is a yummy and refreshing salad and goes well with almost anything, even on its own as a snack! And it's quick and simple to prepare, using some of that surplus Summer produce in season, and the ingredients are still easy to find during the Winter. It's just as good with canned corn as with fresh.

1 large bunch of broccoli
1 1/2 cups seedless grapes, any color, halved
1/2 cup diced red onion, or slice any size you like
1 cup shredded cheddar cheese
1 cup roasted sunflower seeds
1/2 lb. smoky bacon
1/4 cup sugar, or more to your taste
dash of salt
2 cups good mayonnaise, more or less to your taste

Wash, trim and cut broccoli florets into bite sized pieces. Dry well.

In the meantime, fry the bacon until crisp. Drain on paper towels and cool. Break into bite sized pieces.

Place all ingredients in a LARGE bowl and toss to combine. Cover with a tight fitting lid and refrigerate for at least a couple of hours to let the flavors blend and for the salad to chill.

Serve as a side dish or as a light entree.

To fancy it up a bit, serve on red or green lettuce leaves.

Red or purple seedless grapes are especially pretty in this dish.

This is best for the first couple of days, but will keep for at least a week in the fridge. I wouldn't push it much longer than that because of the mayo. It can be a bit persnickety as we all know.

Now this may sound like garbage to you, and it did to me at first. My friend had to talk me into trying this because it just didn't sound like it would be good at all, but I'm telling you, this combination of ingredients just WORKS, folks!

Enjoy!

1 8-oz. carton sour cream
½ cup butter or margarine, melted
1 tsp. salt
1 can cream of chicken soup
½ cup chopped onion
1 cup grated American cheese
½ cup butter or margarine, melted
2 cups corn flakes, coarsely crushed
pepper to taste

Mix together all ingredients except corn flakes or bread crumbs and second half cup of butter. Pour into a greased casserole and cover with corn flakes or bread crumbs and pour second half cup of melted butter over top. Bake in a preheated 350° oven for about 1 hour or until hot and cheese is melted. We first had this at a wedding reception, and it was delicious.




1 16-oz tub frozen whipped topping
1 cup chopped pecans
1 cup flaked coconut
2 pkg. pistachio instant pudding mix, dry
1 ½ cups miniature marshmallows (optional)

Thaw topping. Mix together thoroughly all ingredients. Refrigerate until ready to serve. This will keep for several days in the fridge.



5 lbs. 2 ½ lbs. 1 ¼ lbs. Good ground beef or ground chuck
5 tsp. 2 ½ tsp. 1 ¼ tsp. Morton Tenderquick Salt
4 tsp. 2 tsp. 1 tsp. Table salt
½ tsp. ¼ tsp. 1/8 tsp. Crushed red pepper
1 tbls. 1 ½ tsp. ¾ tsp. Garlic salt
3 tbls. 1 ½ tbls. 2 ½ tsp. Liquid smoke
2 tsp. 1 tsp. ½ tsp. Course ground black pepper
2 tbls. 1 tbls. 1 ½ tsp. Mustard seed


Note:
I use all ground beef or half ground beef and half ground chuck. It’s too dry and crumbly and won’t stick together if you use all chuck. Also, if you like spicy salami, add more red pepper flakes and black pepper to your taste.

Mix all ingredients well in a large bowl or other container that has a tight-fitting lid. Refrigerate 24 hours. Mix well and refrigerate another 24 hours. On the third day, mix well and shape into 1-½ inch diameter logs. Bake on broiler pan in 160° oven for 8 hours, turning after 4 hours. Cool, wrap in plastic wrap and foil and refrigerate or freeze. Delicious with cheese and crackers. I usually make this for Thanksgiving and Christmas. Even people who say they don’t like salami love this recipe. I've had this recipe since 1985. Enjoy!