Fried Chicken

So, I had a cold this weekend while daughter had serious gastro-intestinal distress. I went to work Monday and survived an eight hour December shift. Came home way sicker than I was previously. Guess I overdid it.

I had the worst craving for boxed mac and cheese. Daughter had a school fundraiser and I purchased the "holiday toy cheesy mac" because her public school demanded I buy pasta or opt for a $20 buy-out. I won't rant here. But simply put, I would rather know what that money is for. I was told field trip. But then tell me my kid needs to sell pasta or pay for their own field trip ticket later. Not just tell me to hand over $20.

I made "fried chicken." Now this is a variant of my mother-in-law's chicken. I had three chicken breasts in the freezer reaching their expiration. I thawed them, slapped them in my cast iron skillet with a slight greasing of oil and baked them at 350 for 20 minutes.

I then retrieved them and sliced each breast into four fingers. They were very juicy at this point so I probably could have skipped egg to bread them. I didn't. I slopped them through the egg, dipped them in my breadcrumb mix, and return them to the skillet with maybe three tablespoons oil. I turned them every three minutes or so.

My breadcrumb mix:

- homemade crumbs from any remotely "bread" product

-commercial Italian breadcrumbs because I didn't have enough in the freezer

- one to two tablespoons paprika

- about 1.5 teaspoons mesquite dry rub

No Bake Crispy Peanut Butter Balls

I want to sign up for the cookie exchange at work but it stresses me to make dozens and dozens of cookies. My mother-in-law recommended peanut butter crispy balls-- a 1:1 ratio of rice cereal, peanut butter and powdered sugar rolled into a ball. 

Now I mixed in some Nutella and ended up with 2 parts rice to 1 part peanut butter and 1 part sugar.

And I rolled them lightly in powdered sugar.

And dipped them in chocolate.

Easy. Vegan if you dip in dark chocolate. And gluten-free.

Buffalo Brussel Sprouts

I just ate a bag of Brussel sprouts. 4 servings. But they were so good. 

I cooked them, brushed them with extra virgin olive oil and Frank's buffalo sauce, sprinkled them with garlic powder and grated romano-percino. 

Roasted them at 475 degrees for ten minutes and flipped them then cooked them for another five minutes.

Pork in orange sauce

This is a variation of pork with peaches and snap peas, the original recipe passed to me from my college roommate.

The sauce, which is added with whatever nuts you want (cashews or peanuts recommended) after the vegetables and meat are cooked, consists of:

- 1/2 cup fresh squeezed juice of clementines

- 1/4 cup corn cob jelly

- 1 tablespoon corn starch

- 2 indivudual serving cups of diced mango

- 2 tablespoons reduced sodium soy sauce

- 2 teaspoons ground ginger 

Cinnamon and honey plantains

I did an impulse buy in the grocery store last week.

Plantains.

Tonight I fried them in butter with fresh ground cinnamon and sprinkles of vanilla.

Then right before I took them out of the pan, I drizzled them with local honey.