laura's family recipes

I love pintos and cornbread (or sour cream cornbread). In fact, I’m going to be making some later this week. I started making pintos in college and they are one of my very first meals I served when “entertaining”. College students are always up for a good meal. Pintos are one of my favorite meals for the following reasons: easy to make (can cook using a crock pot, stove, hot plate, or a campfire), one pot meal (easy cleanup), good for you, very filling, extremely affordable, you can always have the ingredients on hand (you can flavor it with ham, fatback/striped meat, ham hocks, bacon, or nothing at all), can be served all year long, tastes better the second day, can use cooked beans to make soup, chili or refried beans, and to top it off, freezes well....

1 small package orange Jell-O 1 (16-ounce) carton cottage cheese 1 (8-ounce) container Cool Whip 1/2 cup chopped walnuts 1 can mandarin oranges, drained Mix dry Jell-O with cottage cheese until dissolved. Add oranges and fold in Cool Whip. Cover and keep cold. Recipe courtesy of Laura’s maternal grandmother, Nana.

2 (10-ounce) packages frozen choppen spinach 1 cup sour cream 1 package onion soup mix 1/4 cup melted butter 1 cup herb seasoned stuffing mix Cook and drain spinach according to package. Mix sour cream and onion soup mix well. Pour over spinach and stir. In a separate bowl, mix stuffing and melted butter. Place in 2-quart casserole and top with stuffing mixture. Bake at 350° F for 30 minutes....

1/2 cup A-1 sauce 1 1/4 cup brown sugar 1 cup orange juice Wrap ham in foil or place in baking bag. Bake at 350° F for 30 minutes per pound. Remove foil the last thirty minutes of cooking time. Recipe courtesy of Laura’s maternal grandmother, Nana.

6 potatoes 3 hard-boiled eggs 4 tablespoons cider vinegar 1/2 cup milk 4 tablespoons margarine or butter (1/2 stick) 1/2 cup mayonnaise salt and pepper 1 small jar pickle cubes celery seeds if desired Cook potatoes in salted boiling water until done. Drain potatoes. Place in bowl and cream with mixer. Add milk and butter and continue mixing. Peel eggs and place in with potatoes. Mixer will mix eggs well into the potatoes....