Fried Chicken

This recipe was submitted by my friend Sarah.

Ingredients

10 chicken tenders
3 cups of flour
2-3 T of parsley
2 t of paprika
couple dashes of onion powder (I did 1 tsp)
couple dashes of season salt (I used 1 tsp. Accent seasoning salt.)
*I also added 1 tsp. of garlic salt
3 eggs

Mix together flour and spices. Beat eggs with a little bit of water. Dip the chicken in the flour mixture then dip it in the eggs and back in the flour mixture. Fully coat it (the more coated the better, the breading is the best part). Fry in Canola oil turning over when needed until a deep golden brown. Salt as soon as you pull them out of the oil.

Rate It!
Jen: 8
Kile:8
Kiley: 6
Madee: 7
Destrie: not good

Chicken Pot Pie

This recipe was submitted by friend Karen. I love chicken pot pie and I must confess, have never made one. I sometimes order this dish at Wingers and love it. Chicken Pot Pie is true comfort food and is going to be perfect on this cold winter day...which is actually April 1st! Karen suggested adding more seasoning to this recipe and that is what I did.


Ingredients

* 1 pound skinless, boneless chicken breast-cubed
* 1 cup sliced carrots
* 1 cup frozen green peas
* 1/2 cup sliced celery (I was out of celery)
* 1/3 cup butter
* 1/3 cup chopped onion
* 1/3 cup all-purpose flour
* 1/2 teaspoon salt
* 1/4 teaspoon black pepper
* 1/4 teaspoon celery seed
* 1 tsp. Accent seasoning-(this was my addition)
* 1 tsp. garlic salt-(this was my addition)
* 1 3/4 cups chicken broth
* 2/3 cup milk

* 2 (9 inch) unbaked pie crusts

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees F (220 degrees C.)
2. In a saucepan, combine chicken, carrots, peas, and celery. Add water to cover and boil for 15 minutes. Remove from heat, drain and set aside.
3. In the saucepan over medium heat, cook onions in butter until soft and translucent. Stir in flour, salt, pepper,celery seed, Accent,and garlic salt. Slowly stir in chicken broth and milk. Simmer over medium-low heat until thick. Remove from heat and set aside.
4. Place the chicken mixture in bottom pie crust. Pour hot liquid mixture over. Cover with top crust, seal edges, and cut away excess dough. Make several small slits in the top to allow steam to escape.
5. Bake in the preheated oven for 30 to 35 minutes, or until pastry is golden brown and filling is bubbly. Cool for 10 minutes before serving.

Rate It!
Jen: 8.5
Kile: 8 This had the perfect "gravy" in the pie.
Kiley: 4.5
Madee: 6.5
Destrie: he was sick =(

Chicken Flautas

I can't remember where I found this recipe, so if it's yours, thanks for sharing. These are delicious. I do need to get better at keeping them rolled tight while frying them.

As you can see, there is also rice in the above picture. This was my attempt to modify a recipe for Cilantro Lime Rice that I found on Allrecipes.com. The lime was very overpowering and this rice got horrible reviews from the family. It does have potential though and when I figure out how to make it better, I will post it. So for now, just enjoy the flautas, they are so good.


Ingredients:
1 pkg 6 inch flour tortillas
2 chicken breasts (cooked and shredded)
1 can Rotel tomatoes with cilantro and lime
1 finely chopped green onion
1/2 tsp Garlic salt

Mix together ingredients (except tortillas). Heat oil in pan. Put a small amount of chicken mixture into each tortilla and roll tight. Fry in oil while holding tightly with tongs, turning a few times until brown and crispy. Place on paper towel to remove excess oil, sprinkle with a little salt then serve dipped in sour cream and salsa while still hot.


Rate It!
Jen: 9
Kile: 9
Kiley: 8
Madee: 7.5
Destrie: Not Good

Texas Sheet Cake

This recipe came from the Home Based Mom blog. I remember my mom making this when I was little so I had to make this even though I rarely eat cake anymore. I love the extra kick of flavor from the vinegar.

Mix together in a bowl and set aside:

2 C flour
2 C sugar
1 tsp salt

Mix together in your mixer:

2 cubes/sticks butter
1/4 C cocoa
2 eggs
1/2 C buttermilk
1 C hot water
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp vanilla
1 Tbsp vinegar

Mix together. Add dry ingredients and mix well. Pour into a greased cookie sheet. Bake at 350 for 25 minutes

Frosting:

1 cube/stick butter, softened
6 Tbsp milk
1/4 C cocoa
3 3/4 C powdered sugar
1 tsp vanilla
*I also added a teaspoon of Vinegar to the frosting- if I remember correctly, that's what my mom did.

Mix butter, milk and cocoa together. Add powdered sugar and vanilla. Beat well and spread on hot cake as it comes from oven.


Rate It!
Jen: 8
Kile: 3-he hated the vinegar taste
Kiley: 7
Madee: 6
Destie: Good

Menu Planning Monday

Monday: Steak, Cheesy Potatoes, Corn
(Yes we are skipping Salmon night again-I think we need a break)

Tuesday: Chicken Flautas and Cilantro Lime Rice

Wednesday: Tacos

Thursday: Chicken Pot Pie

Friday: Fried Chicken, Mashed Potatoes, Roasted Veggies

Pierogies

Pierogies are a potato and cheese stuffed pasta. I ran across these several years ago from a food delivery service called, Schwan's. I bought them out of curiosity and we really liked them. I came up with this recipe as a fun way to serve the Pierogies.



Ingredients:

Pierogies
Cheddar Cheese
Hormel Real Bacon Bits
Green Onions
Parsley
Sour Cream

Directions:
Cook Pierogies according to package directions. Arrange Pierogies on a serving dish and top each Pierogie with a thin slice of cheddar cheese. Top with bacon and onion. Heat in the microwave to melt the cheese. Sprinkle with parsley. Serve with sour cream.

Rate It!
Jen: 8
Kile: 7.5
Kiley: 6.5
Madee: 7
Destrie: Good

New Food Finds

I have decided I am going to add a new element to the blog. I will be searching out new food products that I have not used before and if I find something that I really like, I will review it on the blog.

Two weeks ago, I hosted Bunco at my house. I served a tossed green salad with my home-made Ranch Dressing. I wanted to have other dressing options available also. I picked up a bottle of Western Family Light Raspberry Vinaigrette. I had no idea if it would be any good, but I thought it was worth a shot.
I just barely got around to trying this dressing 2 days ago and I loved it! It only has 70 calories per 2 Tbsp serving and it is delicious. Some times "store brands" aren't that good, but in this case, the Western Family brand dressing was a great choice and was much less expensive than the "name brand" product. Try some, and let me know what you think.