Community Cookbooks (Thrifty & Estate Sale Finds) ~ Turtle Soup and Southern Secrets

Turtle Soup for the Sorority Soul, published in 2012.  All recipes collected by the Delta Zeta chapter at the University of North Georgia (Dahlonega, Georgia).

Appetizers and Beverages jump start the recipes with lots of dips (7 layer Mexican, baked spinach artichoke, buffalo chicken, avocado & black bean), plus a touchdown taco dip made with re-fried beans, cream cheese, sour cream, taco seasoning & lots of cheese, Texas caviar, potato skins, sausage or cheese balls, mozzarella sticks, hummus, baked mac & cheese cupcakes (!!) and punch, smoothies, eggnog raspberry lemonade and lemon Julius. Moving onto to Soups and Salads, we are given a few options ~ chili, baked potato soup, chowders, hot & sour lemon grass soup and chicken & dumpling soup, plus a few salads ~ chicken & broccoli pasta salad, coleslaw and a strawberry & chicken salad.

Turning to Vegetables and Sides, a few of the offerings include casseroles (potato, cheesy, cranberry, corn and Vadalia onion), baked beans, cornbread dressing, potato wedges, poutine, pirogi, fried okra and browned rice, while Main Dishes consist of a tater tot casserole, sloppy Joe pizza, lasagna, quinoa black bean burgers, lots of chicken dishes (poppy seed, Polynesian, lemon broccoli and Kiev), BBQ ribs, cheeseburger pie, crab pie, quiche, fajitas and a sausage & egg casserole.

Bread and Rolls pitches banana bread, broccoli cornbread, biscuits, monkey bread and a pumpkin loaf, with Desserts contributing pound cake. Oreo ice cream, banana pudding, chocolate almond chocolate chip pound cake, a coconut cloud, plum parfaits, fruit pizza, nutella brownie bites, a berry trifle, beignets, cobblers, crepes, pies (key lime, coconut, butterfinger, cherry cream cheese or eclair), red velvet brownies and turtle cheesecake.

A few of the Cookies and Candies presented include snickerdoodles, red velvet cheesecake cookies, Oreo balls, mint chocolate chip cookies, lime meltaways, cranberry walnut oatmeal cookies, plus fudge, pralines and haystacks. We end the recipes with This & That - a melange of waffles, honey butter, edible play dough and other assorted recipes.

Sharing Southern Secrets Cook Book, published in 1948.  Recipes were collected by the Quota Club of Macon, Georgia (the club is a "non-profit organization empowering women, children, the deaf, hard-of-hearing, and speech-impaired in local communities around the world") and in a twist, are presented in the contributor's handwriting. Some of the recipes are a bit hard to read, but most are quite legible with beautiful script.

To start us off are Cocktails and Hors d'oeuvres ~ mint julep, syllabub, an Azalea cocktail (lime & pineapple juice, gin and grenadine), anchovy fritters, olive canapes and smoke salmon butter, followed by Soups and Salads which consist of oyster chowder, seafood bisque, black eyed pea or veggie soups, coleslaw, frozen party salad (congealed), pineapple salad and a Zuber salad (English peas, pecans, stuffed olives, pimentos and hard boiled eggs).

In Breads and Cakes we are treated to biscuits, hush puppies, batter bread, Southern spoon corn bread, a date & Brazil nut cake, the ever Lady Baltimore cake, sponge cakes, a Waldorf chocolate cake, cheese straws, ice box cookies, waffles, rolls and Moravian cookies. The entrees in Meat and Fish  include mock duck (made with round steak), Texas hash (a favorite in our household for 20+ years), BBQ chicken, chicken curry, cheese soufflé, a hot chicken loaf, crab stew, deviled crabs, ham loaf, spaghetti and pot roast.

A few of the Vegetable dishes offered are asparagus mousse, baked grits, a carrot mold, eggplant souffle, Spanish rice and scalloped cabbage, with Desserts highlighting stuffed apples, Charlotte Russe, buttermilk custard, divinity, stuffed figs, floating islands, heavenly hash butterscotch pies fig preserves and prune pudding.

We end the recipes with Pickles, Relishes and Sauces ~ chow chow, catsup, chutney, French dressing, green tomato pickles, spiced plums, cranberry relish and chili or raisin sauce.

Page from Southern Secrets & bonus card found between the pages! ~