Ola Durkin's Squash Casserole

Ola Durkin's Squash Casserole

1 cup margarine
1 8 ox package Pepperidge Farm Herb Dressing Mix
3 cups sliced or diced cooked squash (zucchini or crookedneck)
1 can cream of chicken or cream of mushroom soup (10 1/2 oz)
1 cup sour cream
1 large onion (grated)
2 large carrots (grated)
1/4 tsp black pewpper

Melt butter (margarine) and toss with dressing mix.  Mix half of dressing mix with squash, soup, sour cream, onions, carrots and pepper.  Turn mixture in to slightly greased pan.  Sprinkle remaining dressing mix over top.  Bake at 350° for 45 to 55 minutes.

The last line is difficult to read, but I think it says "For 4 use 1/2 dressing, 1/2 butter, 1/2 sour cream, 1 carrot"

Cherry Pineapple Nut Cake

This was clearly a well used recipe, I remember having it a few times when I was very young.  Looks very simple to make as well.


1 20 ounce can crushed pineapple in heavy syrup
21 ounce cherry pie filling
1 box yellow cake mix
1 cup pecans, chopped
1 stick margarine (a.k.a. oleo) sliced thinly.

Grease a 13" x 9" pan.
Spread pineapple and syrup on bottom.
Spoon cherry pie filling over pineapple
Sprinkle cake mix and pecans over pie filling.
Place slices of margarine on top.
Bake at 350° until golden.

Update:   made this over the weekend and the cake mix never did really absorb the liquid from the pineapple and cherry filling until I mixed them all together.  It did taste great, but if I do this again I think I'll either make the cake mix as per the directions on the box and pour over the other ingredients or mix the pineapple/syrup with the cake mix.

Hill Top Cake Icing

An old-time cake frosting recipe.

1 cup brown sugar
1 TB butter
1/4 cup cream
1 1/2 cup powdered sugar

Combine the brown sugar, butter and cream in a sauce pan and bring to a boil.  Add the powdered sugar and beat until room temperature.

Sausage Balls

This is another one that was a staple of family get-togethers.  Particularly Thanksgiving at Mamaw and Papaw's house.  It's very simple, only 3 ingredients, but packs a HUGE flavor.  We used Bisquick for the biscuit mix, but I think they have changed their formulation since then.  King Arthur Flour makes an All Purpose Baking Mix that would probably be the closest thing to the original Bisquick.

3 cups biscuit mix (Bisquick or King Arthur All Purpose Baking Mix)
1 pound hot breakfast sausage, uncooked
1 pound sharp cheddar cheese, shredded

Combine all until uniform and shape in to 3/4" to 1" balls.  Bake @ 350 degrees for 12-15 minutes.  These were usually served at room temperature and freeze well.

Shrimp Butter

This is one I definitely remember from childhood.  Every time there was a party at the house, a bowl of this would be sitting in the center of a tray of assorted crackers.

1 can shrimp (drained)
1 stick butter

1 8 oz package cream cheese

1 small onion (minced)
2 TB lemon juice
4 TB mayonnaise

Soften butter and cream cheese and lemon juice and mayonnaise and beat together.  Add shrimp and mix to combine.  Serve with assorted crackers

Mrs. Rutledge's Pound Cake

1/2 lb butter (2 sticks)

1/2 cup Crisco

3 cups sugar

5 eggs (lg)

3 cups flour (sift 3 times)

1 Tb baking powder

1 cup sweet milk

1 tsp vanilla extract (not sure what the "or" measurement is.  Ounce?)

1 tsp lemon extract

Preheat oven to 300

Combine the milk and extracts.  sift the flour and baking powder together.  Mix using the creaming method.

Add eggs one at a time to the creamed butter, shortening and sugar and beat after each addition until the egg has been fully incorporated.  Add 1/3 of the flour mixture and mix until combined followed with 1/2 of the liquid and mix until incorporated.  Repeat with 2nd 1/3rd of the dry followed by remaining liquid and finish with the remaining 1/3rd dry.  After each addition try to mix only as much as needed to combine, overmixing will result in small "tunnels" forming in the cake.  Bake for 1 hour and 45 minutes @ 300 degrees.  The temp seems a little low to me, most pound cake recipes I've seen bake at around 350 degrees for 60-75 minutes. Once I have a chance to make this as stated in the recipe I'll post the results.