Buttermilk Oven Fried Chicken

Do you remember when KFC was actually called Kentucky Fried Chicken? I remember it being a real treat to get KFC, go to the park, and have a huge picnic with my family. My dad loves fried chicken from the deli and we had a lot of summer picnics with fried chicken.

Fried chicken also always look so good on TV...everytime I watch "Man vs. Food" going to some place that makes fried chicken it makes me want to buy a deep fryer for my kitchen. That will probably never happen, so here is an enlightened, but delicious version of fried chicken.

Another hit from Cooking Light, this recipe uses cracker meal for the breading which is genius. This is a hit with bone-in chicken but you can also use boneless skinless chicken breasts if that's all you have on hand. This is a delicious "fried" chicken you can feel pretty awesome about serving since it is briefly pan-fried and then baked to perfection in the oven. The chicken tastes like the real-deal fried chicken without all the fat. I served mine with a green salad and roasted carrots with rosemary.

 Ingredients:
1 cup lowfat buttermilk (Make your own with 1 C milk, and 1 tbsp vinegar OR lemon juice, let stand 10 min)
4 bone-in chicken breast halves, skin removed, about 8 ounces each
1/3 C all-purpose flour
1/3 C cracker meal made by food processoring (or ziploc bag and roller pinning them) about 10 saltine crackers until finely ground
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp freshly ground black pepper
2 Tbsp butter

1. Preheat oven to 425

2. To prepare chicken, combine buttermilk and chicken in a shallow dish, turning to coat.

3. Combine flour and cracker meal in a shallow dish. Transfer chicken from buttermilk to a work surface. Sprinkle chicken evenly with 1/2 tsp salt and pepper. Working with one chicken breast half at a time, dredge chicken in flour mixture, shaking off excess; set aside. Repeat procedure with remaining chicken and flour mixture.

4. Melt butter in a large ovenproof nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Add chicken to pan, meat side down; cook 4 minutes or until golden brown. Turn chicken over, and bake at 425 for 32 minutes or until a thermometer registers 165. If you don't have an oven proof skillet, just transfer the chicken to a baking dish for the oven cooking step. Serves 4.

Printable Version

Dan's Chicken Roll Ups

One time I was trying to bridge the gap between my husband's favorite foods and my own favorite foods. He is a self-proclaimed vegetable hater and I am a lover of vegetables. He hates spicy, I love my nose to run when I eat curry. I hate boxed dinners, he loves Velveeta shells and cheese. What's a girl to do? I called my mom.




I called my mom and my grandma and wrote down every recipe that involved bread, white creaminess, cheese, and one or two vegetables. I am crazy about my husband and have found out he actually likes more foods than either of us originally thought!




This recipe series is devoted to him. He makes me laugh from the moment I wake up until the moment I fall asleep. If these chicken roll ups make him happy (I admit I can eat more of these than him because they are SO delicious) then I will fore-go my veggie medley surprise just for him. Love you babe!




This recipe is a combo of my mom's and my favorite food blogger's, The Girl Who Ate Everything

Ingredients:
Filling:

8 ounces cream cheese at room temperature

1/2 C sour cream

1/4 tsp pepper

1/2 tsp salt

1 1/2 Tbsp dried chives

1 1/2 Tbsp minced onion

2 stalks chopped celery (for veggie lovers)

2/3 C chopped or canned mushrooms (for veggie lovers)

3 C diced cooked chicken breasts


Roll Ups:

2 (8 ounce) cans of Pillsbury crescent rolls

1/4 C melted butter

2 C Italian seasoned bread crumbs




Gravy:

1 can (14.25 ounce) cream of chicken soup

1 package chicken gravy mix

3/4-1 C water


1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. With a hand mixer, combine the cream cheese and sour cream until smooth. Add salt, pepper, dried chives, minced onion, celery, mushrooms, and diced chicken and stir until all smooth and creamy.


2. To assemble your roll ups, roll out the crescent roll triangles until they are as wide and long as possible. Fill each roll with 1/4 C of the filling and then tuck the sides around the filling and roll up towards the skinny end of the triangle, tucking as you go.





3. After rolling, dip the tops and bottoms in melted butter and then roll them around in a bowl of bread crumbs to get that yummy crunchy coating. Shake off any excess crumbs. Line them up on a greased cookie sheet as you go.










4. Bake at 350 for 20-25 minutes until golden brown.

5. Prepare the gravy in a small pot on the stove. Combine the cream of chicken soup, the chicken gravy, and 3/4-1 C water. Bring to a simmer and then keep warm until you are ready to serve warm on top of the chicken roll ups.











Printable Version

Paleo Friendly Thai Coconut Chicken Soup

January 1 is notorious for people starting their diets and since I hate following a crowd, I started mine on December 30.

I realize I have already lost a few readers by including the word Paleo in the title, but since I'm trying to follow the Paleo lifestyle for the next 90 days (at least) I figured this would be a great place to keep track of recipes that have worked for me.

I love that I got to cook with my doTerra essential oils! The first and only time I tried to chop my own lemon grass was 6 years ago and haven't touched the stuff since. I have lemongrass oil and decided to use my oil in this recipe to replace the lemongrass.

This soup is so rich and filling that I couldn't even finish my bowl. It could easily be made with what you have on hand. I just used the veggies I had on hand instead of what the original recipe called for. This is definitely going in my "make again" category.

Adapted from this recipe on the Paleo Periodical.

Ingredients:

2 boneless skinless chicken breasts
kosher salt and fresh ground pepper, to taste
1-2 C frozen stir fry veggies, I like the bag from Costco
2 cups baby chopped baby spinach or other greens like swiss chard
1 drop doTerra lemongrass essential oil or 2 Tbsp. lemongrass
2 Tbsp. ginger, minced
1 can coconut milk
3 cups chicken broth
2 Tbsp. fish sauce
1 tsp. chili-garlic sauce 
3 Tbsp lime juice or the all the juice from a fresh squeezed lime
1 bunch green onions, sliced
1/4 cup basil, chopped
1/4 cup cilantro, chopped

Instructions:

1. In a large saucepan, boil uncooked chicken breasts in the 3 C of chicken broth until cooked all the way. Remove them from the pan and shred them.  Return the shredded chicken to the pan and add the can of coconut milk, turning heat to medium.

2. Stir in frozen veggies, chopped spinach, ginger, fish sauce, chili-garlic sauce, and lemongrass oil and simmer for about 20 minutes.

3. Add chopped green onions, basil, and cilantro and lime juice just before serving. Serve in large bowls.

Printable Version 

BBQ Chicken Calzones

One time in my past life I worked at a bakery called Mrs. Powell's Cinnamon Rolls. It was pretty much amazing to pull fresh cinnamon rolls out of the oven in the morning and load them with frosting. Believe it or not I never got sick of any of the food there, even after 2 years of working there. To balance the sweets, we made a few savory items and one of them was called a BBQ sandwich. It was really a calzone but we called them sandwiches. These were my favorite!!! The combo of tender chopped chicken with a perfectly sweet BBQ all cooked inside fresh flaky bread dough...um yeah. Pretty good.

I've tried to recreate these with a few different dough recipes and we actually prefer the pretzel dough variation! We used our standard pretzel dough recipe for these but you could also use our pizza dough recipe. We have even made them with store bought pizza dough and they work great. 

Printable Version

Ingredients:

1 1/2 c warm water
1 Tbsp Sugar
2 tsp salt
2 1/4 tsp yeast (make sure it isn't too old or it won't work as well!)
4 1/2 C flour
2 ounces melted butter
10 c water
1/4 c baking soda

Or use this pizza dough recipe.


Filling:

2 standard chicken breasts

BBQ sauce of your choice, we like Sweet Baby Ray's

1-2 C FRESHLY GRATED mozzarella cheese. Pre-shredded will disappoint you...it will be gummy when it melts.


Directions:

Combine the water, sugar and kosher salt in the bowl of a stand mixer and sprinkle the yeast on top. Allow to sit for 5 minutes or until the mixture begins to foam. Add the flour and butter and, using the dough hook attachment, mix on low speed until well combined. Change to medium speed and knead until the dough is smooth and pulls away from the side of the bowl, approximately 4 to 5 minutes. Remove the dough from the bowl, clean the bowl and then oil it well with vegetable oil. Return the dough to the bowl, cover with plastic wrap and sit in a warm place for approximately 50 to 55 minutes or until the dough has doubled in size.




While the dough raises, start a pot of boiling water and boil the chicken breasts until tender. Remove from the boiling water and shred with a fork. Return to pan and add a few big squirts of BBQ sauce and combine. It should look something like this.

Preheat the oven to 450 degrees F. Line 2 half-sheet pans with parchment paper and lightly brush with the vegetable oil. Set aside.

Bring the 10 cups of water and the baking soda to a rolling boil in an 8-quart saucepan or roasting pan. (skip this step if using pizza dough)

Next, weigh your dough all together and then divide by 8. You want your calzones to be uniform and each ball of dough should roughly be 2-2.5 ounces, or whatever the weight of your dough divided by 8 is.

Take each ball of dough and roll it into a large circle, then top with a little chicken and cheese.

Gently fold over to seal the edges, then take a fork and pinch the ends together by pressing down around the edges with a fork or one of those fancy pastry wheel things.

Now, you may skip the boiling process if you are using pizza dough. BUT. If you are following the pretzel dough method, you will want to boil your calzones. We tried just brushing them with a baking soda solution and this is what happened.

They were pretty gross actually...way too much baking soda taste and it was hard to get it all even.

Carefully put each calzone in the pot of boiling water and let it cook on each side for about 30 seconds. This boiling process will give it that golden brown pretzel look and taste. The baking soda does something scientific so don't leave out the baking soda!

Transfer each calzone to the half sheet pan and once you have boiled them all, bake for 12-14 minutes.

Remove from oven and brush with melted butter or take a stick of butter and just rub the hot calzones with the butter.

Spicy Chicken Sandwiches with Cilantro-Lime Mayo, can be GF

I could eat these sandwiches everyday. They are so good! They have a nice crunch since they are coated in tortilla chip crumbs. They are the perfect alternative to a big fried chicken cutlet sandwich. These can easily be made GF if you use the right tortilla chips and use your own GF bun!

Mayo
1/4 C reduced fat mayo
2 Tbsp chopped fresh cilantro
1 tsp fresh lime juice
1 garlic clove, minced

Chicken
1/4 C egg substitute (or 1 egg beaten)
3 Tbsp hot sauce such as Tabasco or Chalula (cut this ingredient if you don't like heat)
1 tsp dried oregano
1/2 tsp salt
2 boneless skinless chicken breasts, about 6 ounces each
6 C tortilla chips
2 Tbsp olive oil

Garnish
4 kaiser rolls or bun of your choice
12 red onion slices
4 lettuce leaves

1. To prepare the mayo, combine the first 4 ingredients. (I know, rocket science eh?)

2. To prepare chicken, combine egg substitute, hot sauce, oregano, and salt in a large zip top plastic bag. Cut chicken breast halves in half horizontally to form 4 cutlets. Add chicken to bag; seal. Marinate in refrigerator 2 hours or up to 8 hours, turning bag occasionally.

3. Place tortilla chips in a food processor and process 1 minute or until ground. Place ground chips in a shallow dish.

4. Working with one cutlet at a time, remove chicken from marinade, allowing excess to drip off. coat chicken completely in chips. Set aside. Repeat with remaining chicken and chips.

5. Heat a large skillet over medium heat. Add olive oil to pan, swirling to coat. add chicken to pan, cook 3 minutes on each side or until browned and done. Spread mayo evenly over cut sides of rolls. Layer bottom half of each roll with 3 onion slices, 1 lettuce leaf, and 1 chicken cutlet and top with top halves of rolls. Serves 4.

Grilled Spice Rubbed Roast Chicken

I'm a total Cooking Light Junkie. Every time I know a new issue is about to pop up in my mailbox, I watch for the mailman and as soon as he drives up I storm his little mailman box car and start demanding my magazine. Ok, not really, but you'll find many recipes from there on this blog. This recipe is adapted from Cooking Light.

Chicken is way better when you buy it bone-in. Yeah, those boneless skinless cooking breasts are everyone's quick dinner best friend, but chicken with bones = moist, tender, flavorful deliciousness. This Grilled Spice Rubbed roast chicken is amazing and if you're into gravy, you can make a little gravy out of the drippings and serve with some mashed potatoes.

Ingredients:


1 1/2 tsp brown sugar
1 1/4 tsp ground cumin
1 tsp kosher salt
1/2 tsp freshly ground black pepper
1/2 tsp paprika
1/2 tsp dried thyme
1/2 tsp chili powder
1 (4-pound) whole chicken
Cooking spray.

If you have a BBQ grill, the following recipe involves putting some grill marks on the chicken for about 15 minutes. If you don't have a BBQ grill, just roast in the oven or even put in the crockpot as described below. Back to the BBQ- go heat it up now!

1. Combine first 7 ingredients and set aside.

2. Remove and discard giblets and neck from chicken (my FAVORITE part!). Trim excess fat. Place chicken, breast side down, on a cutting surface. cut chicken in half lengthwise along backbone, cutting to, not not through, other side. turn chicken over. Starting at neck cavity, loosen skin from breast and drumsticks by inserting fingers, gently pushing between skin and meat. Rub spice mixture under skin. Gently press skin to secure.

3. Place chicken, breast side down, on grill rack coated with cooking spray over direct heat; cover and cook 7 minutes. Turn chicken over; cook 7 minutes. If you are fancy and have a big grill, move chicken to an area with indirect heat, cover, and cook for 45 minutes. If you are me, bring back in the house, and throw it in the oven at 350 degrees until a thermometer inserted registers 165 degrees. (About 40 minutes). If you are REALLY short on time, throw that bad boy chicken in the crockpot while you're out and about, making sure to add a couple cups of water or chicken broth to the crock pot to help it steam.

4. Once the chicken reaches 165 degress via any cooking method, it's dinner time!