Nance loves to cook for gatherings

Maggie Nance grew up learning to cook from her grandmothers, Jimmie Permenter and Susan Davis, and her mother, Katie Burrage. Her grandfather, Brad Permenter, also played a significant role in shaping her cooking skills.

This fall, Nance will enter her junior year of college, taking online veterinary technician classes at Mississippi State University.

Her favorite dishes to cook include her crowd favorite, poppy seed chicken and strawberry cake. She also enjoys making fried pork chops, mashed potatoes, and lady peas for her family.

“Everybody likes my poppy seed chicken,” Nance said. “Everyone’s told me it’s really good, and it’s so easy to make.”

Nance said that she has recently begun baking, although it hasn’t always gone as planned quite yet.

“We tried to bake cookies the other night, but we didn’t have a cookie pan, so we baked a chocolate cookie cake instead. It was raw in the middle and burnt on the outside,” she said with a laugh.

Nance frequently cooks for family gatherings, and during the Fair, she made her signature poppy seed chicken with rice. She also loves to bake a blueberry pie, a favorite recipe from her “Nanny,” Jimmie.

Though she prefers to eyeball her cooking, Nance said that she is starting to collect recipes.

“We started writing down recipes of stuff that we really liked,” she said. “If we made it once and liked it, we want to know how to make it again, so we are starting our own collection.”

Nance’s essential kitchen ingredients include garlic and onion powder and any sort of pasta. Her advice to aspiring cooks is not to worry if something doesn’t turn out perfectly at first; it will come together with practice.

“Trial and error is a big thing in the kitchen,” Nance said. “I love having fun with it and then seeing the smiles on people’s faces whenever you give them something good to eat.”

POPPY SEED CHICKEN

1 whole lemon pepper rotisserie chicken, shredded

1 can (10.5 oz.) cream of chicken soup with herbs

8 oz. sour cream

1 tbsp. garlic powder

1 tbsp. onion powder

2 tbsp. poppy seeds

1 sleeve Ritz crackers, crushed

4 tbsp. (1/2 stick) butter, melted

Preheat your oven to 375 degrees. Shred up one whole lemon pepper rotisserie chicken and put it to the side. In another bowl combine one can of cream of chicken soup with herbs, 8 oz of sour cream, a tablespoon of garlic powder, a tablespoon of onion powder and about two tablespoons of poppy seeds.

Once that’s done combine your mixture with the shredded chicken and pour it into a baking dish. Then get a whole sleeve of Ritz crackers, crush them up, combine crushed ritz with half a stick of melted butter, and put on top of chicken. Cook for about 25 mins or until top is brown.

CHILLED STRAWBERRY CAKE

1 pack strawberry cake mix

1 can (14 oz.) Eagle Brand sweetened condensed milk

1 tub (23 oz.) frozen strawberries with sugar, thawed

1 tub (16 oz.) Cool Whip, thawed

Mix up one pack of strawberry cake mix and bake as instructed on box. Get one can of Eagle Brand sweetened condensed milk, one 23 oz. tub of frozen strawberry with sugar and mix together well.

Once the cake is done, take it out and poke straw size holes all over the top of the cake. Get your mixture of strawberries with condensed milk and pour on the cake, evenly distributing it. Then get a 16 oz. tub of cool whip and spread as the topping of cake. Let chill for about an hour and serve cold.

HOMEMADE KRYSTAL BURGERS

2 lbs. ground beef

2 cans jalapeño cheese dip

18 oz. package cream cheese

1 large onion

2 slices white bread

1 package dinner rolls

Brown ground beef and onion. Drain. Add remaining ingredients and mix well, Slice rolls in half. Add mixture and place tops back on rolls. Cover with foil. Bake at 300 degrees for 30 minutes.