Mom’s Diner inside Yawn’s Books in downtown Canton is back after a year’s hiatus, serving an array of sandwiches, salads, soups and daily specials.

Breakfast has been added with homemade biscuits made from scratch with a choice of butter and jelly, bacon, sausage, eggs or cheese.

After operating Mom’s Diner and Ice Cream Shoppe for more than three years, Nadine Yawn, the Mom in the restaurant’s name, had some health issues that, combined with her duties at Yawn’s Publishing, made operating the diner hard.

Farris Yawn, owner of Yawn’s Books, says that when a friend of Diane Oberkrom inquired about the possibility of leasing Mom’s kitchen to The Soul Food Market, “It was the answer to our prayer.”

“We were pleased to have Diane operate out of our lunch counter for a year,” Farris said.

Nadine is now recovered, and with the help of Reba Walker and Shirley Waters, Mom’s Diner is in full swing.

Walker is busy making biscuits, cornbread, potato salad and pasta salad, and Waters makes cookies, sandwiches, salads, vegetable plates and meatball subs and more.

Nadine Yawn is making her chicken salad and barbecue, which is also sold by the pound for special events or dinner at home.

Other menu items include tuna salad, egg salad and pimento cheese. Mom’s Diner also offers cold cuts, grilled cheese and bacon, lettuce and tomato sandwiches.

Mom’s Diner offers a different special every day. On Mondays, the special is black-eyed pea stew with Italian sausage and homemade cornbread. Tuesday is a veggie plate with cornbread; Wednesday is a meatball sub with a side; Thursday is a garden salad with grilled chicken and Friday is “BBQ” day with homemade potato salad and baked beans. All of the daily specials are $5.99 and include tea, cookie or ice cream.

The sandwich combo includes a sandwich, side of choice of potato salad, pasta salad, garden salad or chips, tea and cookie or ice cream for $6.99.

Nadine doesn’t mind sharing recipes but said the most important thing is to start with quality ingredients, which is the secret to all great dishes.

She said, “Our sandwiches start with premium bread and get better from there. The ladies at Mom’s Diner are busy daily making the items on our menu to insure our meals are always fresh and from quality ingredients making our food tops.”

Black-eyed Pea Stew

1 cup of dried black-eyed peas

3 six inch licks of Italian sausage with the skin removed

1 large can of diced tomatoes

½ cup of mixture of, diced bell pepper, minced garlic and onion

2 tablespoons of hot sauce optional

Brown sausage in sauce pan, after washing peas cook in boiler until well done. Combine peas, sausage, tomatoes, bell pepper, minced garlic, onion, add salt and black pepper to taste. Let it simmer for a couple of hours in a crock pot or over low heat on the stove.

Cheese Biscuit

2 cups of sifted self rising flour 2 cups of very finely shredded sharp cheese ¼ cup of melted butter ¼ cup butter slivers

Mix all ingredients together until well blended. Drop onto an ungreased pan and bake for 15 to 20 minutes at 400 degrees.