Nicole Cotten

Nicole Duke Cotten is always looking for a really good kid-friendly meal, and Chicken Parmesan Roll-Ups is a great dish, that even kids love.
She says her husband Scotty will eat most anything, and son, Sutton, 2, is getting a little picky, but he does like green beans and fruit.
For supper Nicole will most often cook tacos, oven fried chicken or macaroni and cheese, with mashed potatoes and butterbeans.

She always puts cream cheese in her mashed potatoes, but doesn’t remember where she learned that. She also puts butter in “a lot of stuff.”
Her recipes–jalapeno corn, chicken parmesan roll-ups and taco casserole, are three of her favorite recipes, and her favorite foods are chicken and potatoes, fixed any way.
“I really like the jalapeno corn recipe with grilled hamburgers and fries. It fits perfect and tastes great together!”
“I am bad about not measuring. I add stuff to recipes a lot, too, and I ‘guess-timate,’ ” she said, so it’s hard for her to share recipes since she doesn’t measure.

Pinterest is her favorite place to look for recipes, also FaceBook.
She liked cooking as a teenager, and although it was more meals than dessert, the first thing she probably learned to make was chocolate boiled oatmeal cookies, and she made a lot of them.
That’s also when she learned to cook peas and cornbread.

Nicole would like to be able to make her Granny, Jackie Gregory’s, chicken and dumplings, and her biscuits. “I’ll never be able to make those,” she said.
She made her first dressing at Christmas and thought it was a little dry.
She used her mother-in-law, Tammy Weeks Cotten’s recipe, and she wants to get that perfected.
She also wants to be able to make a meringue “so she can make a pie look pretty.”

Jalapeno Corn

3 cans of corn, drained
8 oz. cream cheese cut into pieces
1 stick butter
1/2 cup milk
3 Tbsp. flour
1/4 cup diced jalapenos
Black pepper
Mix milk and flour together as a thickening agent. Mix all ingredients together in slow cooker. Cook on high for two hours, stirring occasionally.

Chicken Parmesan Roll-Ups
Regular chicken breasts, cut down center
1/2 cup grated cheese
2 cups Mozzarella cheese
1/2 cup very finely chopped basil
1 can Italian style diced tomatoes
6 cloves garlic
1 1/2 onions chopped very fine
1/4 cup olive oil
Salt and pepper to taste
1 cup Italian seasoned Panko bread crumbs.
Preheat oven to 475°. Heat 3 Tbsp. oil in skillet over medium heat. Add onion to oil and soften. Stir in garlic. Add can of tomatoes and simmer until slightly thickened.
Take mixture off heat and stir in half of basil. Remove about half of sauce and line bottom of small baking dish. Combine Mozzarella and Parmesan in bowl. Remove about half cup of mixture and set to the side. Add remaining basil to cheese mixture.
Wash chicken and dry off really well. Sprinkle salt and pepper over each chicken slice. Top each piece with cheese mixture with basil. Roll each slice of chicken tightly with mixture inside.
Arrange over baking dish with sauce, layering the bottom. Toss bread crumbs with remaining oil in small bowl. Top chicken with reserved cheese, remaining sauce and bread crumb mixture.
Bake until chicken is completely cooked and crumbs are golden. (If chicken is taking too long to cook and breadcrumbs are getting too golden, cover with foil for remaining cook time.

Taco Casserole

1 bag of corn chips
2 lbs. ground beef
1 can diced tomatoes with green chiles
3 Tbsp. sour cream
Taco seasoning
1 bag Colby Jack cheese
1 cup water
Brown ground beef and drain. Add can of diced tomatoes with chiles, taco seasoning, sour cream and water. Stir together and heat 10 minutes.
Spray casserole dish with cooking spray. Spread layer of corn chips on bottom. Crumble ground beef mixture over chips. Sprinkle with cheese. Repeat layers two more times.
Bake on 350° for 20 minutes until cheese is bubbly. (I don’t use a lot of sour cream, but if you are a big fan of it you can add more!)