Crack Bread

300 Recipes in 1 Year

Recipe #4

I stumbled upon this recipe {HERE} which I found through Pinterest and I have made 2 recipes from this blog. They are beyond easy. She calls it Crack Bread and so far she is not a liar! I'm sure I'll be using a few more of her recipes throughout the year. 

It calls for a loaf of sourdough bread, so I had an exciting {I may be using that term too loosely...} time going to the bakery section of Target. Normally I'm too tempted by their donuts or muffins to even attempt to go over there, so I just keep it at a safe distance while I pick up my grapes :) 

As I was prepping this, Mo was upset that it required the second heating, haha :) 

Lemon Pepper Chicken

300 Recipes in 1 Year

Recipe #3

Tonight I was cooking for one, so I decided to go easy and healthy. I actually didn't follow a recipe on this one....but its pretty self explanatory. I just looked up online how long to cook chicken in the oven and followed accordingly. 

First I marinated my chicken overnight in Lemon Pepper Marinade. I marinated it frozen and by the time it came to cook it was defrosted. I don't know if that is a proper way at all, but I am not a seasoned defroster, so when I can get around it, I do. 

Before sticking it in the oven I seasoned it with Lawry's, pepper, garlic salt and put a little bit of new marinade (I didn't quite use all of the bottle when originally marinating so that I could put it on my cooked chicken and veggies) on top. 

I cooked each side of the chicken breasts for 15 minutes at 375 degrees. When flipping I seasoned the other side. It cooked perfectly! Super easy....one day I'll try a more DARING chicken dish, but I can't help but be super paranoid with that stuff :/ 

As for my veggies: I'm absolutely obsessed with zucchini, so I always look for it in those frozen packs that you just stick in the microwave. Walmart, where I usually do my shopping (ugh...I dislike it greatly, I wish they had HEB's in OK!!!) never has a California blend...ever! But I can't help shopping there because they are so cheap. Sometimes I go to Target, especially for their grapes. They have the absolute best grapes ever! But I get in trouble because their clothes and housewares are just so cute!! And I always feel like they never have everything on my list (which I don't think is ever too demanding...). There is always Homeland, but I feel like they are so overpriced when it comes to what you get in return. HEB on the other hand is always CLEAN & CHEAP & their selection is great. Well, this blog got off on an unexpected grocery shopping tangent....sorry!! Where I was going with this was....Target has the Cali blend that you can microwave, and it is THE BEST!!! 

We have Zoe right now and she is such a great blog buddy! Her snoring has such a soothing tone :) Molly and I were talking tonight and if I get married before I have a niece, Bry and Zoe will be walking down together. (It may just happen anyway...I mean, wouldn't she be just ADORABLE in a jeweled head piece and a tutu?)

Chick-fil-A Nugget Knock Off

300 Recipes in 1 Year

Recipe #2

I'm not going to lie to you, these are not as good as the perfect piece of chicken Chick-fil-A produces. But, they are not that far behind. A fairly easy recipe too if you don't mind the whole frying thing. I think I'm going to try and bake them next time. I can tell you 100% that I will NEVER fry another piece of food again until I get one of those fancy wire cage things that you can just dip into the oil. Ugh :/ Zoe did not appreciate that I  had the oil too hot at first, she barked and then immediately hid. 

Here are the goods you need!

Serves about 4 people {35ish nuggs} 

2-4 Hour prep time

4 chicken breasts

2 cups of milk

2 eggs

2 1/2 cups of flour

4 TBSP of powdered sugar {for sure the special ingredient!!}

4 TSP of salt

2 TSP of pepper

Peanut Oil

First you will need to whisk your eggs and slowly pour in the milk into a bowl. Then cut up your chicken breasts into bite sized pieces and trim off any fat.

Put cut up chicken into the egg and milk mixture for 2-4 hours and just keep it in the fridge. I took mine out and left it on the counter for the last 30 minutes so that it wasn't so cold going into the oil.

After the chicken is finished marinating you will want to start heating about 2 inches of oil on medium heat. {This is where Zoe went crazy because the directions I used said that if you drip a little water into the oil and just sizzles a little and doesn't pop it is at the right temp, but if it pops a lot it is too hot. Well, mine popped A LOT!! I suggest buying a handy thermometer and wait until it becomes 350 degrees.} combine your dry ingredients into a bowl and mix them pretty well.

Take your chicken and coat them with the flour mixture, making sure to get it all covered. 

Depending on how big your pot is, put in about 8-10 nuggs at a time turning them over after about 1 minute. 

After a few minutes take them out {check the bigger ones to make sure there isn't any pink in the middle} and drain them on a paper towel covered plate. 

These guys were delicious and I was very excited that I had some left over packets of CFA's Honey Roasted BBQ Sauce, my absolute FAVE!!! Like I said, not quite as good as Chick-fils, my guess is something in the batter... but anyways you can definitely taste the powdered sugar and the extra touch of sweet was very good! 

French Breakfast Puffs

300 Recipes in 1 Year

Recipe #1

I've had these on my mind ever since I first flipped through Pioneer Woman's cookbook. They remind me of the "Cinnamon Puffs" we get at the Chinese Food places, except more like a muffin. They are super delicious and easier than I thought which is a nice added bonus. Another thing I love....everything was in my pantry all ready...SCORE! It is a wonderful breakfast/dessert muffin that everyone should try. Today. I didn't do anything differently, but PW's says it makes 12, and mine made 16. Ugh, I just HATE when that happens, it's the absolute worst :/ Well, enjoy!! Here is my very first recipe of the year! Yeah me :) 1 down, 299 more to go!

Pioneer Woman's French Breakfast Puffs

300 Recipes in 1 Year Challenge

Happy 2012 Everyone! I'm excited for this one. I've got a lot to be thankful for and a lot to look forward to in this upcoming year....new business prospects with Zoe Lane {woo HOO!!} and some fun resolutions that I'm going to try out. Normally I'm not a huge "rez" person, but last year's "non-rez" worked out very well for me. It is all about not setting yourself up to fail. Last year I simply said, I'm going to cook more. More than never cooking is a good start, and I tried a lot, failed a little and definitely enjoyed my way around the kitchen. 

On NYE we kept it low key and decided for a game night, and our friends Kev & Ash cooked us dinner. For dinner they made all new things that none of us had tried before. Everything was delicious. Our steak included a new marinade, we had grilled squash with feta cheese, a corn and mac n' cheese casserole and a soft sangria. It was fun trying new things, and it led to a discussion with Jake about how this year we are going to support each other more and have a year of Trying New Things!! :) 

Well, that being said, I really wanted to go through a cookbook this year; but I just couldn't decide on one...there are so many good ones out there! My "trying new things" year includes trying & mastering meat dishes. I'm the worst at cooking chicken and I'm too scared to try anything crazy like ribs, brisket or anything else that doesn't include browning hamburger or sausage. I also wanted to master the art of the crock pot, and learn more about spices, seasoning and marinades. ALL OF THAT PLUS I wanted to try a lot more healthy recipes. So if you know of that cookbook you just let me know!! 

What I finally decided was that I'm just going for a set number of recipes. Ready for this number: 300. Scary just to type it.... but its doable. Honestly it is a goal, if I miss it by twenty or so, I won't see that as a fail {That's 280, uh hello, I'll be THRILLED!} By the way, did I mention that they have to be 300 NEW recipes? Haha, wish me luck!! And if you have any that you want me to taste test before you give it a go, let me know!! :) Get ready for a lot of Pinterest inspired dishes and the rest of Pioneer Woman's thing I haven't tried yet. I'm positive that they won't all be the best, but I sure do hope that this will be a fun and challenging year around the kitchen. Again, WISH ME LUCK!!!!