PINE GROVE - If it were up to Tena Vasquez, she'd be cooking massive quantities of food every day.

"I like doing big meals," said the homemaker, who worked at Lane until 2008. "Everyday cooking drives me crazy. This one doesn't want this or this one doesn't like that. I like to plan big meals and prepare those."

Vasquez used to have her family over on Sundays for a big get-together, but that gathering has been moved to Friday nights to accommodate more schedules. She and her husband, Bob, have four children and eight grandchildren.

"As many children and grandchildren as can make it come," said Vasquez, who was born in Frankstown and grew up in Illinois before moving back to Northeast Mississippi in 1994. "We're a pretty close family, my kids and us. As we started having children, we did everything as a family."

They like her beef lasagna, which has three pounds of cheese and no ricotta or cottage cheese, paired with garlic bread and a salad. Sometimes, they'll have ribs, baked beans, corn on the cob and potatoes cooked on the grill.

"We have to have potatoes at just about every meal," she said, laughing. "It's not a meal unless there's meat and potatoes in this house."

Catering bug

At Christmas, Vasquez makes copious amounts of candies, chocolate-covered cherries and her famous Monster Cookies.

"I've had people for years tell me I need to bake my cookies and sell them and I was always afraid to, afraid I'd fail," she said. "But now that I'm not working I'm going to give it a shot."

She's prepared the food for the Ladies' Renewal retreats at Trinity Baptist Church in Baldwyn, and recently she catered a wedding and loved it.

"I can't get up and preach or testify. I don't have a whole lot of talents, but I like to cook for people," said Vasquez, who lives in the Pine Grove community just outside Ripley.

She also likes to try new recipes about once a month, which her family calls experiment food.

"My husband hates the experiment food," she said. "But some have turned out well. Some experiments I've been making for years."

And some she hasn't.

One evening, she found three or four ingredients in her cabinet and thought she'd put together a hamburger casserole.

"My husband came home and looked at it and said, 'I'm not eating that.' And I said, 'Fine, you don't have to.' And he said, 'I'm going to McDonald's to eat.' And I said, 'Fine, go.' And then I took a bite and said, 'Wait, I'm going with you.' It was nasty."

Do you know a good cook? Send your nominations to Ginna Parsons, Cook of the Week, P.O. Box 909, Tupelo, MS 38802. Or you can fax them to (662) 842-2233 or e-mail them to ginna.parsons@djournal.com.