When it comes to cooking, Karen King keeps it in the family.
The Wayne resident exclusively uses recipes handed down from her great-grandmother, her mother and her
mother-in-law when feeding her family.
Her Granny’s Tater Soup is one such recipe.
The soup took first place in Wednesday’s 16th annual soup/chili cook-off among all Wood County employees
to benefit United Way.
The base is potatoes, sausage and corn. And a whole lot of cheese.
King is accounts payable clerk for the Wood County Health District, and has been with the district seven
years.
She has never competed in the cook-off before, but first won the in-house contest to move on to the
county contest.
Many of her recipes came from her great-grandmother, who died when she was 8. Then they were made by her
mom. And now her.
"Everything I make is usually a family recipe," she said.
Putting maple sausage in her soup recipe shouldn’t come as a surprise, as her husband Mike loves the
flavor of maple.
He makes a maple bacon-wrapped pork loin, and marinates his ribs in maple syrup.
Her mom, Ethel Jenkins, has passed away, but her mother-in-law, Theresa King, is alive to continue to
pass along her cooking secrets.
The tater soup is a "go-to," made at least once a month.
It’s requested often at family potlucks.
The youngest of eight children, King spent a lot of time in the kitchen with her mom.
None of her recipes are written down, neither were her mom’s.
"I had to remember to type this up," she said about the soup recipe. "I don’t have it
written down anywhere."
Now that the soup recipe is written, though, she can share it with her two daughters, Brittney, 23, and
Morgan, 20. Both are Elmwood High School graduates.
Both are now following in their mother’s footsteps.
Brittney’s expertise is pasta while Morgan excels at baking.
King also makes a buffalo chicken dip, "a pretty mean pot of chili," veggie lasagna, fried
chicken, sweet cole slaw and apple pie.
"He loves my veggie lasagna," said King about her husband.
"Everybody loves my apple pie."
King cooks every night for her and her husband.
"He likes a homemade meal," she said. Still, "he’s not afraid to get in the kitchen."

The only "failure" in the kitchen came with a tuna noodle casserole. Mike won’t touch it.
She does experiment a lot, with whatever is in her cupboards.
"I just kind of modge podge, throw everything together."
She continued, "I don’t remember mom ever looking at cookbooks."
To this day, she tries to recreate her mom’s Salisbury steak, but can’t quite get it right.
Her mom never wrote down the recipe.
Large Yukon Gold potatoes
2 – Containers chicken broth
2 – Rolls Jimmy Dean maple flavor sausage
1 – Large onion, chopped
1 – Large container sour cream
4 – Tbl. flour
3 – Cans of corn
1 – Large block Velveeta cheese
1/2 Gallon to 1 Gallon milk
Peel, dice and rinse potatoes, place in large stock pot, cover with chicken broth and bring to a rolling
boil.
While potatoes are cooking, fry sausage and onion in skillet and set aside.
Whisk sour cream, flour and milk in a large mixing bowl (use more or less of the milk depending on
desired consistency of the soup). Set aside
Drain corn, set aside.
Cut Velveeta into 1 inch cubes, set aside.
Reduce heat on potatoes. Do not drain. Slowly fold in sour cream mixture. Add corn, sausage and Velveeta
chunks. Cook over low until cheese is melted.