Week 2: Fried Chicken (Katie)

This week Lorren had everyone pick their own Fried Chicken recipe. I have a good one from the Murphin Ridge Inn cookbook, but I wanted to try something new. So I did a search on Taste Spotting and found one that looked perfect for this week.

Here's the recipe I used:

Oven Fried Chicken
Serving size – 3 medium chicken breasts

INGREDIENTS

1/2 cup buttermilk
1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
8-10 grinds of pepper
3 medium chicken breasts
1 cup of dry bread crumbs
1 teaspoon garlic powder/granules
1/2 teaspoon onion powder
1 teaspoon dried parsely
1 teaspoon dried oregano
1/2 teaspoon dried thyme
1/2 teaspoon dried basil
1 teaspoon kosher salt
10-15 grinds of pepper
1 teaspoon California chili powder
1/2 teaspoon smoked paprika
Olive Oil

DIRECTIONS

In a shallow dish, like a pie plate, combine the buttermilk, ¼ tsp garlic powder, ½ tsp kosher salt, and 8-10 grinds of pepper.

Trim the chicken breast of fat. Gently pound to an even thickness. Place each one in the buttermilk mixture and let sit in the refrigerator overnight (or at least a couple hours). Make sure you use a dish that is wide enough so that all of the chicken can lie flat.

In another shallow dish, combine bread crumbs and seasonings. Stir till evenly combined. Take each breast, one at a time, from the buttermilk (leave all the buttermilk on there - no shaking it off) and place it in the bread crumb mixture. Using a spoon, cover the top with bread crumbs and press all over the surface lightly to help the crumbs adhere.

Line a sheet pan with parchment paper and set a rack on top of the paper. Gently place each chicken breast on the rack. Make sure they aren’t touching, and put the whole thing in the refrigerator for 30 to 60 minutes, depending on how much time you have.

Preheat the oven to 400º. Pick up the rack, remove any crumbs from the pan, and drizzle a line of olive oil where each breast will be - about a teaspoon each. Lay each breast flat on the line of oil and drizzle another teaspoon or so over the top of each one. Bake for about 12 minutes, and then turn each one over and bake another 8 minutes or so.

Here's the link to the recipe if you want to see the original post. It has some great step by step pictures.

I didn't make any changes to the recipe. I made the buttermilk mixture the night before and let it sit all night and day. The result was the most tender and moist chicken! That was definitely my favorite thing about the dish.


I also let it sit on the rack in the fridge for an hour after breading. The website said this would help the breading to adhere, and it seemed to work.


Here's the finished product:


Overall, I really liked this recipe. It was easy to make, and I had the spices and breadcrumbs on hand, so all I needed to buy was the chicken and buttermilk. My only caution would be that you really have to plan ahead when making it. Since it has to marinade overnight, and then sit on a rack 30-60 minutes before you cook it, it's not something you can throw together last minute.


As far as taste goes, it really was delicious. Like I said before, it was super moist. And the breading was very flavorful and spice-y (not spicy as in hot, but rather tasting of a lot of spices!). I actually might tone down the spices next time, but that's a preference thing. Brent loved it! I also liked that the coating wasn't too crispy like KFC...it made it easier to eat, and it seemed healthier too :) I will definitely make this again!

Brent: 5 stars, A+
Joy: 5 stars, A
Katie: 4 stars, A-

I know this post is supposed to be about fried chicken, but I can't resist throwing in a picture of our dessert. These Southern-Style Strawberry Cream Cheese Cupcakes were delicious!


Thanks for the great suggestion, Lorren! I'm already brainstorming what to pick for next week!

Lorren's Apple Bread Pudding

So, I decided to try a different recipe for bread pudding, since the first two reviews weren't great. I got a recipe for Apple Bread Pudding from allrecipes.com. Here it is:

• PUDDING
• 4 cups soft bread cubes
• 1/4 cup raisins
• 2 cups peeled and sliced apples
• 1 cup brown sugar
• 1 3/4 cups milk
• 1/4 cup margarine
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 2 eggs, beaten
• 
  
• VANILLA SAUCE
• 1/4 cup white sugar
• 1/4 cup brown sugar
• 1/2 cup milk
• 1/2 cup margarine
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease a 7x11 inch baking dish.
2. In a large bowl, combine bread, raisins, and apples. In a small saucepan over medium heat, combine 1 cup brown sugar, 1 3/4 cups milk, and 1/4 cup margarine. Cook and stir until margarine is melted. Pour over bread mixture in bowl.
3. In a small bowl, whisk together cinnamon, 1/2 teaspoon vanilla, and eggs. Pour bread mixture into prepared dish, and pour egg mixture over bread.
4. Bake in preheated oven 40 to 50 minutes, or until center is set and apples are tender.
5. While pudding is baking, mix together sugar, 1/4 cup brown sugar, 1/2 cup milk, and 1/2 cup margarine in a saucepan. Bring to a boil, then remove from heat, and stir in 1 teaspoon vanilla. Serve over bread pudding.

I made the vanilla sauce and poured it over the whole thing for the last 20 minutes of cooking, because others had recommended it and it was starting to look a little dry in the oven. I think it made it a lot more moist. It was pretty easy to make and the verdict... not bad! It kinda reminded me of my recipe for caramel soaked baked french toast. I really enjoyed it and am looking forward to fixing myself another bowl after I finish this post.

Savi was so excited about trying her hand at being a "taste-tester". It was right up her alley.Thinking about it...And wanting more! She ate about 3/4 of the bowl happily and then was done.

So ratings? I think Sav and I agree on this one. We give it 4 out of 5 stars. A letter grade of B+. Cole hasn't tried it yet, but he's a chocolate guy. My guess is he won't like it much for dessert but would love it for breakfast!

Joelle's Bread Pudding

I was very excited about making bread pudding. Its a very simple recipe but I feel like everyone's tastes different! There is a restaurant in Greenville, Smoke on the Water, who makes an amazing bread pudding! It comes in little bread pudding balls and has a sauce on top. Its wonderful!

Mine was only so-so.

I used the recipe Katie listed below but added a little bit of brown sugar and I also used Pepperidge Farm Cinnamon swirl bread. I may have added too much bread. After I added the liquid to the bread I thought it seemed too soupy so I added 2 more slices of bread. I doubt it made a major difference, but I bet without the addition of the bread it would have been more custardy. I also made a Vanilla Sauce to put over top. It was basically water, sugar, corn starch and vanilla extract. It was very good and I think added a little punch to the bread pudding.

Now, my appologies... I took Beautiful, AMAZING pictures with my nice camera but can't find my camera cable to load them to the computer! Ok, so they probably aeren't beautiful and amazing, but you will never know, so I'm going to feel free to brag a little. I'm sure I'll find the cable, but I wanted to get my post up ASAP since the week will be over soon! So, please forgive my bread pudding picture, Yes, its a picture of the leftovers. I'm so embarrassed! But, give me bonus points for having pics of my DARLING girls trying the bread pudding, ok? The girls did not try the Vanilla sauce, too much sugar.

Here is Pressy just after her first bite of bread pudding.

Pressley LOVED it!! Gobbled down every bite I gave her.

And, Lyla after her first bite.

She HATED it!! She spit it out on her tray and did her sour lemon face! YUCK!!

So, our ratings (I loved that Katie gave ratings, what a great idea!).

David -- he said it was "Average", 3 stars. C. And he said he was grading a little harsh because he has big expectations. Whatever.

Joelle -- 3 stars. B-.

Pressley -- 5 stars! A+!

Lyla -- 0 stars. F-.

Pressley wants just a little more and has no problem eating straight out of the dish. Thats my girl!

I can't wait to see what Lorren has planned for us next week!

Week 1: Bread Pudding (Katie)

I've been so excited to make this bread pudding and write my first post! Doing this blog together will be so fun!

I've seen a couple cooking blogs, so I think I know how this goes...First, here's the recipe Joelle sent us:

Ingredients:

6 slices day-old bread 2 tablespoons butter, melted 1/2 cup raisins (optional) 4 eggs, beaten

2 cups milk 3/4 cup white sugar 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Directions:

1.	Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
2.	Break bread into small pieces into an 8 inch square baking pan. Drizzle melted butter or margarine over bread. If desired, sprinkle with raisins.
3.	In a medium mixing bowl, combine eggs, milk, sugar, cinnamon, and vanilla. Beat until well mixed. Pour over bread, and lightly push down with a fork until bread is covered and soaking up the egg mixture.
4.	Bake in the preheated oven for 45 minutes, or until the top springs back when lightly tapped.

I didn't have any trouble making the dish - very easy! The only changes I made was to use Pepperidge Farm Cinnamon Swirl bread and to leave out the raisins (Brent's request). Here is a picture of the dish BEFORE I put it in the oven:


It was a little hard to tell when the bread pudding was finished. I did exactly 45 minutes, and when I took it out and tapped it, I thought it still jiggled a little too much. But I tested it with a fork, and it turned out to be just right!


I thought the dessert was delicious! Joelle, you picked the right recipe for this week! It was perfect for someone who recently got their wisdom teeth out and can still only eat soft foods :)

Here's Joy and Brent about to take their first bite...


And they loved it! After they'd finished, I asked them to give it a grade and stars...here's the verdict:

Joy: 4 stars, A-
Brent: 4 stars, A-

Now my turn...


I was a little harder critic (that's the cook's job, right?). I would probably give this 3 stars and a "B." Although I thought it was delicious, I think there are still a lot of desserts I prefer (when I can chew :). And I think I've had better bread pudding too. Brent and I went to this restaurant called Molly Malones around St. Patrick's Day and he ordered the bread pudding...now that was divinity! I think maybe it was just richer, and perhaps had a sauce over it? I will have to check when we go again.

Overall though, I would definitely make this again. As Brent said, "I was ecstatic when I got an A- in college." YUM!

Thanks again for starting this blog, Joelle! I can't wait for next week!