Buttermilk Fried Chicken

Made Fried Chicken for dinner on Thursday night.  I also made mashed potatoes and sauteed green beans...yummy!  I marinated the chicken for about 3 hours in a buttermilk mixture.  Here's the recipe for that:

2 cups buttermilk
2 teaspoons salt
1 teaspoon cayenne
1 teaspoon onion powder
1 teaspoon pepper
1 teaspoon garlic powder
1 teaspoon dried thyme

Basically just milk that all together and put the chicken in! It's supposed to be in an airtight container, and you let the chicken marinate in the fridge for at least 3 hours.

After the chicken has marinated for the amount that you want it to, take it out and dredge in a cornmeal/flour mixture! Here's the recipe for that:

2.5 cups all purpose flour
.5 cups yellow cornmeal
2 tablespoons salt
2 teaspoons pepper

I used a whole chicken, cut up into parts.  2 thighs, 2 breasts (each cut into 2 pieces), 2 drumsticks, and 2 wings.

Heat about 6 cups of canola oil in a large pot (I used my dutch oven) to 350 degrees F.  After you've dredged the chicken in the flour/cornmeal mixture (make sure it's in all of the little spaces) drop it into the  oil skin side first, and fry it on that side for 7-8 minutes.  Flip, and cook on the other side for another 7-8 minutes.  Take it out of the oil. Let some of the excess oil drip off into the pot before taking it to a paper bag to drain.   You won't be able to fry all of the chicken at once, so you'll have to do it in 2 batches.  DELISH!

the orange sauce on the right plate is a honey-hot sauce for the chicken.  mix about half a cup of honey with as much hot sauce as you like...very good! kicks up the chicken.

I got the recipe from the Clinton St. Baking Company cookbook.  The chicken and honey sauce are their recipes

delicious blueberry muffins!

I made these amazing blueberry muffins this morning! Well, morning for me...early afternoon for everyone else! I found the recipe on foodnetwork.com, Ina Garten of course! They are so light, moist, and yummy! Here's the link to the recipe:

Ina's blueberry muffins

I sprinkled a tiny bit of sugar on top of the muffins before baking to create a nice little crunch on top of the muffins...it was a good choice.  Here's a pic of the finished product!

Beef Stew

We had a ton of extra beer left over from Jake's birthday this past weekend, and since neither of us drink beer I wanted to use it to make something!  I thought Jake would love a good beef stew, so I made Pioneer Woman's Beef Stew with Beer and Paprika tonight.  SO DELICIOUS! Here's the link to her recipe:

http://thepioneerwoman.com/cooking/2011/01/beef-stew-with-beer-and-paprika/

it's the first time I've used these bowls and saucers! they're from France, I guess they were my Dad's Mom's? Either way, they're perfect for soup!

birthday cheesecake

For Jake's birthday I made this cheesecake:

It was delicious! A good thing that we had a big party, so most of it got eaten, and not by me! Here's the recipe from food network...thank you Ina Garten!

http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/ina-garten/raspberry-cheesecake-recipe/index.html

I didn't put the lemon zest in, because I didn't have any.  BEST CHEESECAKE EVER! It didn't even crack!  Also, I only cooled it for a few hours because I was a bad baker and didn't read the directions all the way through...but it turned out fine! 5 out of 5 stars

The Andy-Kat

One of my best friends loves Kit Kats.  So, for his birthday present he asked me to try and create a cake version of the Kit Kat bar! He doesn't like frosting, so it was a little more of a challenge.  The only thing that I actually made for the recipe was the pastry cream.

Pastry Cream:

• 2 cups whole, 2%, or 1% fat milk
• 1 tsp Vanilla Extract
• 6 egg yolks
• 2/3 cup granulated sugar
• 1/4 cup cornstarch
• 1 tablespoon unsalted butter

Mix the milk and vanilla together. Whisk the egg yolks and sugar until light and fluffy. Add the cornstarch and beat  well until there aren't any lumps. Whisk in the milk mixture.  Cook over medium-high (you must whisk constantly) until it thickens and slowly boils. Turn the heat off, remove the pot, and stir in the butter.  Let it cool a bit, then put Saran-wrap on the surface so that a skin doesn't form (if you care about that sort of thing).  Dip in a spoon and taste it, because it's heaven in your mouth! 

I used a loaf pan to assemble the Andy-Kat.  I had wax paper on all of the sides on the inside so that I could get it out easily.  I then layered sugar wafers, pastry cream, thinly sliced pound cake, pastry cream, etc. until I was almost at the top of the pan.  I then poured melted milk chocolate over the top and froze the whole thing for a while.  A bit later I removed the Andykat from the freezer, popped it out of the pan, and poured melted chocolate all over.  I froze it again for a few hours, but I took it out of the freezer about 45 minutes before Andy's birthday party.  It tasted like a kitkat, but obviously it didn't have the same texture.  Operation Kit-Kat: Success!

Meatball Soup

There are some recipes that just send you back to your childhood.  For me, it's meatball soup.  Some of my earliest memories are of my Mother putting the red bowl filled with meatball soup in front of me (the bowl had something to stick to the table so I couldn't make a giant mess).  I used to help her make it when I was a girl, so tonight when I made it - I used my memory!  I didn't even call my Mommy and ask her if I did it right. So, here's what you need:

2 16 oz. cans Kidney Beans
2 cans of Beef Consomme
1 lb. of ground Turkey (or beef, if you prefer)
1 Egg
Bread crumbs
Salt and Pepper to Taste
A squirt of Ketchup

To start out, squirt some ketchup in the pot.  In your food processor, blend up the kidney beans, then add the consomme and blend. As you pour the mixture into the pot, stir to dissolve all the ketchup.  Turn up the heat to medium-high so the soup starts to boil.

For the ground meat, shape it into a ring, crack the egg into the center, and sprinkle some breadcrumbs on top of the egg.  Sprinkle salt and pepper around the ring onto the meat.  It should look like this:

Use a fork to beat the egg/bread crumb mixture, then use your hands to mix everything together!  Form the meat into little balls (about as big as a teaspoon).  Add the meatballs to the soup, and let it boil for a good while...long enough that you know the meatballs have cooked all the way through.  Enjoy!

My grandparents used to make this soup when my Mother was a child.  I am now the third generation to make this soup in my own home!  It tastes good with some oatnut bread dipped in it.

Catching up!

I have SEVERAL recipes that I've amassed over the past few weeks, but I've been so busy with work and other things that I have not had time to update my cooking blog!  However, I have 4 days off of work this week (not enough business for me to work) so I'll have plenty of time to add recipes for Chili, Thanksgiving recipes, cupcakes, etc!