This recipe is a fail proof classic. My family has been making this chicken for at least a decade, but we call it Friday Chicken, named after the woman who gave us the recipe.
It's a simple recipe and a simple meal, but it wins over just about anyone who will eat chicken. Of all the gorgeous meals I cook for my leading man, this he requests most often. We like to serve it with some Rice-A-Roni, the most simple of side dishes, and it is delicious every single time.
Breaded Chicken Strips
serves two
2 skinless chicken breasts slices into strips
2 tablespoons butter
1/3 cup Italian seasoned bread crumbs
1/3 cup grated parmesan cheese
1/2 teaspoon salt
A pinch of pepper
Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Spray a cookie sheet with non-stick cooking spray.
In one bowl, combine the bread crumbs, cheese, salt, and pepper and stir with a fork. In another bowl, melt the butter.
With one piece at a time, dip a chicken strip into the melted butter and then into the breadcrumb mixture, coating the chicken. Place breaded chicken on cookie sheet and repeat the process with the rest of the chicken.
Bake chicken in the oven for 15 minutes, flipping the chicken halfway through.
If there's one thing I really love about this dish, it's the simplicity of it. Especially when the final product doesn't taste like a meal slapped together when in all honesty, that's pretty much what it is.
Red sauce isn't really my absolute favorite, but when combined with the reduced balsamic glaze, it gets an extra little kick.
Easy Bruschetta Chicken Pasta
Serves two
2 skinless chicken breasts
3 oz whole grain angel hair pasta
1/2 cup marinara sauce
2 oz mozzarella pearls
1/3 cup balsamic vinegar
Cook the chicken in whatever way is your favorite. (I like to salt and pepper the breasts, fry them in a non stick pan for three minutes on each side, and then place in a 350 degree oven for another ten minutes.) Slice the cooked chicken into strips
In a small saucepan, heat the balsamic vinegar over medium low heat until reduced by half, about 15-30 minutes. Remove from heat and allow to cool.
Cook the pasta according to package directions and toss with the marinara, mozzarella pearls and the sliced chicken. Drizzle the balsamic glaze over the pasta and serve.
Apparently three of my last four posts have been booze. Whoops.
If you aren't much of a fan of the taste of alcohol, I highly suggest you give this drink a try. It seriously tastes like the liquid version of pineapple upside down cake. It's amazing.
I think using the syrup from a jar of maraschino cherries makes all the difference. Grenadine always tastes a little too much like cough syrup but the maraschino cherry juice really completed to whole pineapple upside down cake flavor.
Pineapple Upside Down Cake Martini
1 shot cake flavored vodka
2 shots pineapple juice
A dash of syrup from a jar of maraschino cherries
1 maraschino cherry for garnish
Pour the vodka and pineapple juice into a shaker filled with ice. Shake and strain into a martini glass. Pour the cherry syrup into the glass and allow to settle onto the bottom. Garnish with a cherry and enjoy.
There are a lot of benefits to living in Southern California. The sun is perpetually shining, palm trees line the streets, and Trader Sam's makes every other bar on the planet look like a bingo game at the senior center.
If you've never been to Trader Sam's, located at the Disneyland hotel, you are missing out. It's packed with all the fun of Disneyland with the added bonus of alcohol. While you sip tropical treats, the room comes alive. I won't spoil anything, but I highly recommend ordering the Ship Wreck on the Rocks. It's comes with a pretty cool little spectacle.
The Tiki Tiki Tiki Tiki Tiki Rum is my personal favorite on their menu, and yes, you have to say the all the Tiki's. It's a bit of a spin on a pina colada, but way tastier.
Copy Cat Tiki Tiki Tiki Tiki Tiki Rum
(based on Trader Sam's awesome drink)
1 1/2 shots coconut rum (I like Malibu Black)
1/2 shot orange juice
1 1/2 shot pineapple juice
1 shot cream of coconut*
Dash of cinnamon and nutmeg
Mix rum, juices and cream of coconut in a shaker with ice. Pour into a glass, top with shaved ice and sprinkle with cinnamon and nutmeg.
(Don't skip the spices, it's what makes the drink exceptional!)
*A note about Cream of Coconut: Cream of Coconut generally comes in a can and is available in most grocery stores. In my local Ralph's, I found it in the liqueur aisle near the drink mixes.
If you open up the can and you see a thick, chunky paste, don't worry, it was just stored some place cool enough to separate. Just fill up a bowl with warm water and rest the can in the water, making sure no water spills over the open edge. Let it warm for five minutes, stirring occasionally, until it becomes a semi-opaque liquid.
St. Patrick's Day is getting close! What's not to love about a holiday that most devote to drinking?
It's times like these that I miss living in Chicago. No one does St. Paddy's Day so well. They dye the river green. It's pretty cool.
But anyways, I always love festive treats, and these were extra fun because they gave me an opportunity to use the cookie press I've had sitting around here for a while.
Spritz cookies were a staple of my childhood. We'd make trees and wreaths for Christmas every year. The weird thing is, for some reason, we just haven't had as much luck with them the last few years.
The dough wouldn't stick to the pans and they'd get pretty burnt on the bottom. Worst of all, using parchment paper was impossible for some reason and I heavily depend on that stuff for easy clean up.
After doing some research, I've found some tips that make the whole ordeal significantly more successful. Plus I added some ground pistachio flour to the mix to create a more complex flavor.
P.S. sorry about the weird measurement of egg. This is technically a half batch but I didn't really need to make 80 cookies.
Pistachio Shamrock Spritz Cookies
(adapted from Wilton)
Yields about 40 cookies
3/4 cup butter, softened.
1/2 cup sugar
2 tablespoons beaten egg
1 tablespoon milk
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup pistachio flour*
3/4 cup all purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
Green Food Dye
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. (350 if you have dark cookie sheets, closer to 375 if you have light cookie sheets)
Fit parchment paper onto two cookie sheets. Place the cookie sheets with the parchment paper in the freezer.
In the bowl of an electric mixer, cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add the egg, milk and vanilla and mix well.
Slowly beat in the pistachio flour, all purpose flour, baking powder and a few drops of green food dye until combined. DO NOT CHILL.
Fit a cookie press with the desired pattern, shamrocks in this case. Using a spatula, fill the cookie press with dough. Pull the chilled cookie sheets out of the freezer and press dough onto the parchment paper holding the paper down around the press as you pull up. Give the cookies at least an inch and a half of space for room to expand.
Bake in the oven for 8-10 minutes or until edges are lightly browned. Cool 5 minutes on the cookie sheet then transfer to a cooling rack. Decorate with icing and sprinkles.
* In theory, pistachio flour could be bought already ground, but I always make my own.
I buy shelled pistachios, generally from a canister, and rinse the salt off using a strainer. I lay them out on a cookie sheet and let them air dry a few hours, then pop them in a 350 degree oven for five minutes.
Cool completely before grinding in a food processor using short pulses. Sift the ground pistachios and the result is homemade pistachio flour.
