Good Old-Fashioned Cabbage  

By Lucy Frost-Helms, Copy editor.

Cabbage is my favorite vegetable, and I have perfected this recipe that was loosely taught to me by my dad, and his grandmother before him. The best thing about cabbage is that it’s cheap, and, when cooked properly, it will fill your arteries, but sometimes that’s just what you need in the darkness of winter. It’s a labor of love, which translates to it taking a long time, but it is so worth it. Serve with rice, a baked potato, beans, tortilla chips, KitKats or anything else that you would like to eat.  

Ingredients: 

1 whole cabbage 

Roughly ½ a stick of butter (add more if you want though—this is your cabbage) 

A pinch of sugar 

More than a pinch of salt 

2 tablespoons corn oil (or enough to coat the cabbage) 

A large soup pot that is preferably worn in 

Stirring utensil (whatever you can find) 

Directions: 

Peel off any gritty bits of the cabbage, chop out the core, and cut into 1-inch pieces. Put all of the pieces into a sink filled with water and thoroughly rinse it. Dry the cabbage and place into your pot. Add about two tablespoons of corn oil and begin to cook the cabbage on medium heat. Cook until it has some color then begin to add tablespoons of butter at a low heat. Add salt occasionally—you will need more than you think, but add butter and salt at the same time over the cooking period and keep tasting until it’s salty enough for you. Continue to cook the cabbage on low heat for a little over an hour until the cabbage is soft and tender with a touch of color. When it is ready, add a small pinch of sugar to finish it off. There you go! Just remember to keep stirring and cook on low heat. This is not a recipe for impatient people! 

Green Bean and Corn Casserole 

By Madeline Burbank 

This is a recipe handed down from my grandma, probably taken from a magazine at some point. It’s easy to make, and makes 10 servings. Prep time is one hour.  

Ingredients: 

1 can Shoepeg corn (white), drained 

½ cup celery, optional 

1 can French cut green beans, drained, mostly 

½ cup onion, chopped, sautéed 

¼ cup bell pepper, chopped, sautéed  

½ cup cheddar cheese, grated 

½ cup sour cream 

1 can cream of celery soup 

Salt 

Pepper 

Topping: 

1 row Ritz crackers, crumbled 

¼ cup margarine (I normally use butter) 

½ cup almonds, slivered 

Directions: 

Sauté onions and bell pepper (optional) in a little butter in the microwave until tender, about 1-2 min. on high. Stir all ingredients together and spread in a 9×13 casserole dish. Mix topping ingredients together and sprinkle on top. Bake at 350 degrees for about 45 min. or until bubbly.  

Johnny Ray’s Chocolate Pie

Contributed by Lucy Frost-Helms, Copy editor. 

While this recipe is not my own, it is a holiday classic around my house and is a copy-cat version of the magical chocolate pie from Johnny Ray’s BBQ. After my family moved from Alabama to Kentucky, then Tennessee, the pie became difficult to acquire due to travel reasons, and we always eat it at both Thanksgiving and Christmas. So, I took it upon myself to start making them, and this recipe is the closest version that I have been able to find. It comes from “Just a Pinch,” an online food blog. The recipe makes two pies, which I tend to do. You won’t regret making it, I can tell you that much. 

Ingredients: 

2 pie crusts (homemade or pre-made, but I’m not teaching you how to make the crust in this blurb, young lady) 

4 cups of milk 

4 eggs 

1 stick of butter 

1 ¾ cups of sugar 

6 tablespoons of cocoa powder (Hershey’s unsweetened will do the trick) 

1 cup of flour 

For the whipped cream: 

2 pints of heavy cream 

2 cups of confectioner’s sugar 

2 teaspoons of vanilla extract 

Directions: 

Bake your pie crusts according to their directions and let cool. 

Combine the flour, cocoa powder, and sugar in a bowl and whisk thoroughly. Add 1 cup of the milk, and whisk again until it forms a paste. Add the rest of the milk and eggs, whisking out all of the lumps. Add the pudding to a deep pot with the butter (cut into pieces) and stir on medium heat until it forms a thick, pudding-like consistency.  

Add the pudding into the crusts and set in the fridge to cool. Let the pies sit overnight then add the whipped cream topping right before serving. To make the whipped cream, simply combine the cream, sugar and vanilla to a large mixing bowl and whip with either a hand mixer or a whisk until it forms, well, whipped cream. 

Top the pies with whipped cream and you’re good to go! You can thank me later. 

Uncle Lucy’s Christmas Punch (You in the Face) 

By Lucy Frost-Helms, Copy editor 

This punch is a Christmas classic, for me, at least. It will make you commit—nothing to your memory, that is—and surely begin many holiday feuds with your family. But, hey, it works! This recipe is my own, and is not for beginners. I hope you have a handy cousin hanging around to hold back your hair. 

Ingredients: 

2 oz of apple vodka  

2 oz of cinnamon rum 

2 oz of coffee rum 

3 oz of apple cider—alcoholic or not—this part is up to you 

Directions: 

Add all items into a glass (because what 22-year-old has a shaker), stir with an available utensil, and then pour over a full glass of ice. Garnish with dehydrated apples and a cinnamon stick if you would like. Happy drinking! This will surely start something exciting. 

Uncle Lucy’s Green Smoothie 

By Lucy Frost-Helms, Copy editor 

After consuming three or four of Uncle Lucy’s Christmas punch (You in the Face)’s, you will need to detox the morning after. Take it easy on the stomach with a pungent and delightfully shocking green smoothie. Here’s my recipe.  

Ingredients: 

3 cups of no sugar added apple juice 

1 cup of frozen spinach 

1 ½ cups of frozen wild blueberries 

1 ½ cups of frozen pineapple 

A sprinkling of frozen strawberries 

Directions: 

Blend all ingredients in a blender. If you don’t have a blender, chew all ingredients thoroughly and spit them back out into a cup. Serve with several ibuprofen on the side.