Wednesday, October 24, 2007

Cornflake Baked Chicken


Something wonderful happened - not only did I get a flash drive so I can put pictures in now, but I found a freaking awesome chicken recipe!! It's amazing. I made it for dinner tonight. This was the first time I've ever made a chicken dish and it came out perfectly. This is SUCH an easy recipe, perfect for first time chicken cookers. I got it at yahoo in the food section. So let's bust a move:

• 4 skinless chicken legs
• 4 skinless chicken thighs
• salt
• ground pepper
• 1 large eggs
• 2 cups of crushed cornflakes
• 1 tablespoon of olive oil
• ½ teaspoon of cayenne powder (optional, but HIGHLY recommended)

Get that oven preheated at 400 degrees, to start off.
Rinse the chicken and pat it dry. Like I said this was my first time with chicken, so yeah, it feels totally nasty. The easiest way to clean the chicken is to first set out some paper towels to set the raw chicken on after you rinse it. Then, pat it dry with another paper towel. After you’ve dried the chicken, season it generously with salt and pepper.

In a soup bowl, whisk the egg with a tablespoon of water. In a large bowl, crush the two cups of cornflakes with your hands until they’re nice and little and then mix in the oil, a teaspoon of salt, and the cayenne if you’d like your chicken with a little spice!

Get out a baking pan with a rim and cover it with some aluminum foil.


Now dip one piece of chicken in the egg mix and then into the cornflakes (it’s okay if some of the salt and pepper comes off the chicken). Make sure you get them cornflakes on every bit of the chicken by pressing them on and then put it on the pan. Do this with every piece of chicken.

You might end up needing more cornflakes, just to let you know. I doubled the recipe because we eat a lot in my house and I like leftovers. But doubling the recipe wasn’t really enough for ten pieces of chicken instead of eight. So I figure you might run out, maybe.

Once you’re done with the chicken, put it in the oven for thirty minutes or until its golden brown and crisp. After thirty minutes, my chicken came out perfectly! I was so happy! It was so moist and flavorful, YUM. Well, when it’s done, sprinkle the chicken with salt and pepper.

For side dishes, I recommend: mashed potatoes and salad, green beans and potatoes au gratin, or French fries and cold slaw. Personally, I had mashed potatoes and salad, but those other two options sound awesome, too!


On a separate note, my boyfriend made some fantastic chili the other night. I put up the recipe on wikihow.com. I might put it up on this blog as well at a later date.

Anyways, I had a really good time making this chicken. It was new and fun and, more importantly, so friggin’ good! I hope y’all enjoy it as much as I did.

Love,

Liz

Monday, October 8, 2007

Mississippi Mud Cake


This is a very special recipe: my Mamma’s Mississippi Mud Cake. So. Freaking. GOOD! It’s a ridiculously thick chocolate cake. I did a speech on how to make it for my speech class a few quarters ago, and they loved it AND me, because I brought in Mississippi Mud Cupcakes.

Here are the ingredients:

• 2 cups water
• 4 squares unsweetened chocolate
• 1 stick of butter
• 1 2/3 cups sugar
• 2 eggs, beaten
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 2 cups flour
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• dash of salt
• baking pan
• saucepan

First preheat your oven to 325 degrees. Put the 2 cups of water and the four squares of chocolate in your saucepan. Turn the heat under the saucepan up to high so it boils. Once the chocolate is melted, remove the pan from heat and add 1 stick of butter, 1 and 2/3 cups of sugar, and stir until the contents are smooth.

Now add the two beaten eggs and STIR QUICKLY! If you don’t stir quickly, the eggs will cook in the heat of the chocolate and then you’ll have chocolate-y scrambled eggs, which is nasty. Then add a teaspoon of vanilla.

In a medium sized bowl, mix the 2 cups of flour and the 1 teaspoon of baking soda. Slowly add the flour/baking soda to the saucepan, bit by bit. Every time you put a little in, mix it in well so that you can’t see any of the white flour and there are no big lumps.

Once you have all of your flour and baking soda mixed in, add a dash of salt. Now beat the mixture until it’s totally smooth. (If you can’t make it completely smooth that’s fine. It’s almost impossible to really make it entirely smooth without using an electric mixer.)

All you have left to do is pour the mix into the ungreased baking dish, and pop it in the oven. After a half hour, check on the cake by sticking a toothpick in the middle of it. If the toothpick comes out with chocolate-y goo, the cake’s not done. Keep doing the toothpick check every fifteen minutes. When the cake is done, the toothpick will come out dry. There may be a few crumbs, but as long as it’s not moist when it comes out, the cake is done.

Let it cool for ten minutes; don’t burn your little tongue.

What my Mamma likes to do is sprinkle confectioner’s sugar on top and serve it with a side of whipped cream. Damn, it’s so good.

Love,

Liz