Dee Franklin

Dee Franklin was involved in Calhoun County 4-H’s Kids in the Kitchen when she was younger and always watched her dad, Danny Franklin, when he was cooking.
A college student, newly transferred to Ole Miss from Delta State University, she “enjoys people enjoying her food.” She made Chicken Cordon Bleu Casserole recently for her sister, Toni Clements, from a recipe she found on Pinterest. It was her first time to make the dish and she was pleased with it.

Toni calls Dee a “foodie” because “she’s all about difficult recipes or random, lavish meals that aren’t your ‘everyday simple’, but I did like her chicken casserole.”
Dee is one who will sometimes add a little something to a recipe and says usually things have turned out. She gets her recipes from Pinterest, FaceBook, friends and her dad, Danny Franklin.
Fried biscuits are something Danny has cooked since Dee was little. And the doughburgers “are a Tishomingo thing”, she said, that her mom, Barbara, learned to make when they lived there.
She learned the tart recipe from Maggie Rennie, who used to make it for things at the Calhoun County Fair. It is a favorite of her niece, Chloe Clements.

At a sorority dessert competition for the firemen of Cleveland, Dee and her Tri-Delta sorority sisters made the fruit tarts, and they won first place. She also now makes a lemon curd which she uses on the tarts, along with a mixture of fruit.
While a student at DSU, she said she cooked a good bit, and also worked at a restaurant in Cleveland, where she learned to make pico de gallo and guacamole.
She says she can’t pan fry a steak, “they are awful” and that she is not as good with cooking any meats except chicken. “But my pork chops have turned out moist,” she said. She mainly cooks a lot of vegetables.

There is a date and pecan pie that is a recipe of her boyfriend’s family, Dean Lammey of Hernando, she really wants to learn to make. Two of his favorites are her chicken spaghetti and strawberry cake.
She tries to eat healthy, watching her carbs and sugar. She likes baked chicken with asparagus, and also garlic, butter and whole grain noodles with lemon.
“I could eat shrimp every meal, especially grilled,” she said about her favorite food, but, “I hate Rosemary.”

Fried Biscuits
2 tubes canned biscuits
Vegetable oil
Powdered sugar
1 chocolate bar
Separate biscuits and ball dough around a piece of the chocolate bar. Pour powdered sugar in a bowl and set aside. In deep skillet, heat oil for frying. Flip biscuits immediately once dipped into oil. Fry until golden brown. Lay biscuits on paper towels and roll them one by one in powdered sugar.

Dough Burgers

Combine 1 lb. hamburger meat and one cup self-rising flour, 1 tsp. salt, 1/4 tsp. black pepper, one egg, 1/4 cup water. Make into patties and cook in oil until crispy.

Fruit Tart

1 tube sugar cookie dough for crust
Your preferred fruits for tart (strawberries, kiwi, pineapple)
Lemon Curd: 2/3 cup lemon juice, 1 cup granulated sugar, 2 eggs, plus 4 egg yolks, 1/2 cup unsalted butter, 1 tsp. vanilla
Topping: 1 jar marshmallow fluff and 12 oz. whipped cream cheese
For crust, press dough in tart pan and follow baking instructions on tube of sugar cookie dough until edges are golden brown. For lemon curd, in a medium saucepan, whisk lemon, eggs, egg yolks and sugar. Cook over medium heat. Stir constantly until thickens. Add butter and vanilla. Cool in refrigerator. Combine marshmallow fluff with whipped cream cheese, whisking until mixture is smooth. To assemble, pour curd first, add filling on top, then top with your choice of fruits. (Can be made without lemon curd by just doubling topping mix, then top with fruit.)

Chicken Cordon Bleu Casserole

1 whole cooked chicken, shredded
1/2 lb. thinly sliced ham, chopped
1/4 shredded Swiss cheese
Sauce: 4 Tbsp. butter, 4 Tbsp. flour, 3 cups whole milk, 2 Tbsp. lemon juice, 1 Tbsp. Dijon mustard, 3/4 tsp. salt, 1/2 tsp. paprika, 1/2 tsp. pepper, 1/2 tsp. garlic and onion powder
Topping:
1 1/2 cups Panko breadcrumbs
4 Tbsp. butter
1 1/2 tsp. crushed parsley
Preheat oven to 350°. Butter baking dish. Put shredded chicken on bottom of dish. Place diced ham on top. Sprinkle cheese over ham.
Sauce: Melt butter in large sauce pan. Stir in flour to form a roux. Slowly pour in cold milk to make thick and smooth sauce. Stir in lemon juice, Dijon mustard, salt, paprika, pepper, garlic and onion powder. Once sauce thickens, turn off heat and pour evenly over casserole.
Topping: Melt butter and stir in bread crumbs and crushed parsley. Sprinkle over top of casserole. Bake 45 minutes until topping is light golden brown.