Fried Chicken

I decided to try this fried chicken after seeing it on one of Bobby Flay's throwdown show this weekend.  This recipe comes from Gillian Clark that won the throwdown to Bobby Flay putting him still to beat someone with his fried chicken (his third attempt).

This turned out sooo good and it is now my fried chicken that I will be making from now on.

Hope you decide to try it. It is a very easy recipe and very satisfying!  :)  Thanks Gillian!

RECIPE:

chicken (I used one pack of all legs because that is what the kids love!)

Marinate chicken in the following;

1 quart of buttermilk

1/2 cup of Franks red hot thick pepper sauce (I didn't measure and I know I added more than 1/2 cup as I love spicy food! *wink*)

6-8 cloves of garlic (pressed)

 Marinate the chicken 24 hours in refrigerator

For the flour mixutre all I did was all purpose flour, salt and pepper in a zip lock bag

Turn on oven to 350

drain chicken and let sit while you prep the flour mixture and warm up the corn oil in a skillet over med. heat. 

Once oil is hot add 1 stick of butter and let heat again,  then add your chicken one at a time in the flour mix. bag and shake off excess flour and add to your hot oil. don't over crowd your chicken or it will stick together.  Cook skin side down first for 10-12 minutes and turn once and cook another 10 minutes.  Add your cooked chicken to a wire rack on a cooking sheet to drip (I used my broiler pan). Once all the chicken is fried you will add the broiler pan to the oven and cook 10-15 minutes.

Thats it!  Very easy and simple.. it turns out crunchy and so moist!

Pasta Fagioli

I thought I would try my husbands favorite childhood dish that his mother would make him.  I found this recipe on a group I am in and thought this would be perfect!

These are the ing. used.. Beef broth, pasta, marinera sauce, diced canned tomatoes, white beans, kidney beans, tabasco.

Brown the beef then add the chopped carrots, celery and onion and saute for about 8 minutes.

This is with everything added!  I also added some garlic powder, oregano, salt and pepper.

Bon Appetite!  My pasta fagioli... yumm!!!

Recipe below:

PASTA FAGIOLI-

makes 12 servings (cut recipe in half for smaller families)

3 tsp. veggie oil

2 lbs. ground beef

12 oz. onion; chopped

14 oz carrots; diced

14 oz. celery; diced

48 oz. tomatoes; canned & diced

2 cups cooked red kidney beans (I used canned beans and it worked just fine)

2 cups cooked white kidney beans (I used canned white beans and worked fine)

88 oz. beef stock

3 tsp oregano

2 tsp garlic powder

2 tsp pepper and salt

1-2 tsp tabasco sauce

5 tsp chopped parsley

48 oz. marina sauce

8 oz. dry pasta shell macaroni or other pasta

Saute beef in oil in large 10 qts. pot until beef starts to brown.  Add onions, carrots, celery and onions and saute for 8 mins.  add tomatoes and simmer for about 10 mins. Drain and rinse beans and add to the pot.  Also add beef stock, oregano, pepper, salt, tabasco, garlic powder, marina sauce, and noodles.  Add chopped parsley.

Simmer until celery and carrots are tender, about 45 mins.  Makes 9 qts. of soup!

Serve with toasted french bread.

Doughnut Cake

My third oldest child turns 18 and I wanted to do something other than a cake so I did this!  He is into lady gaga so I figured I could do something along that line but it was a lot tougher than I thought since her new CD wasn't out yet as I wanted to use that as the topper.
I thought a doughnut cake would be perfect as we are getting tired of cake.  This I found a cute espresso coffee chocolate mousee cup at the store and thought perfect!  I added some feathers on top, printed some lady gaga pictures and added some doughnut holes on skewers.  Turned out great and everyone loved it!
Happy Birthday Niko!