Southern Fried Chicken

So last night I decided that I would make friend chicken because, well, it just sounded good :op I wanted something "quick" and easy without too much fuss and after quickly looking at some recipes, decided on Paula Deen's Southern Fried Chicken. I figured, if anyone had a good recipe for fried chicken, it would be Paula Deen.

The recipe looked easy enough, nothing too complicated nor were there too many spices involved. Of course, this queen of substitution didn't have everything in the recipe so I had to do a quick search about what to do in lieu of self-rising flour. Lucky for me, the JoyofBaking said I could substitute 1 cup Self-rising flour with 1 cup All-purpose flour, 1 1/2 tsp baking powder and 1/4 tsp salt. So I mixed this concoction up and then just measured out as much as I needed. According to some commentators, self rising flour helps the crispy "crust" rise a bit and puff up.

And the result? I cut the recipe in third because I had two large boneless, skinless chicken breasts instead of a whole chicken. Because of this, I wasn't sure how it would turn out but I was pleasantly surprised and Brad enjoyed it too. The chicken was pretty juicy still, not dried out and the exterior was both flaky and crispy. It had pretty good flavor but I feel it was lacking some "oomph" so the next time I think I might add some paprika, maybe a bit more black pepper as well as garlic/onion powder. We'll see what happens. Also, as the reviewers and Paula Deen said, the hot sauce in the eggs doesn't add heat really (and if it did, I didn't notice it, but again, I just eyed it rather than measured out a 1/3 cup because I didn't have a lot of hot sauce and Brad doesn't like his food too spicy so again, but I'll probably up that too in the future.

Southern Fried Chicken
by Paula Deen

• 3 eggs
• 1/3 cup water
• About 1 cup hot red pepper sauce (recommended: Texas Pete)
• 2 cups self-rising flour
• 1 teaspoon pepper
• House seasoning, recipe follows
• 1 (1 to 2 1/2-pound) chicken, cut into pieces
• Oil, for frying, preferably peanut oil (I just used my deep fryer)

Directions

1. In a medium size bowl, beat the eggs with the water. Add enough hot sauce so the egg mixture is bright orange. In another bowl, combine the flour and pepper. Season the chicken with the house seasoning. 
2. Dip the seasoned chicken in the egg, and then coat well in the flour mixture.
3. Heat the oil to 350 degrees F in a deep pot. Do not fill the pot more than 1/2 full with oil.
4. Fry the chicken in the oil until brown and crisp. Dark meat takes longer then white meat. It should take dark meat about 13 to 14 minutes, white meat around 8 to 10 minutes.

 

House Seasoning:

• 1 cup salt
• 1/4 cup black pepper
• 1/4 cup garlic powder

Mix ingredients together and store in an airtight container for up to 6 months.

Xoco- A restaurant by Rick Bayless

As you may know, I try to hit up as many new restaurants as I possibly can just so to experience what different chefs/places have to offer. Many times it can also give me ideas of new foods to make or variations of old favorites as well.

Peeking inside the "kitchen" while waiting to place our order

When my dad was visiting a couple of weeks ago, he, Barb, Brad and myself went to Xoco, a restaurant by Rick Bayless (for those who don't know who he is, he's a celebrity chef based in Chicago with his own cookbooks, tv shows, product line, etc..another claim to fame? He was invited by President Obama to cook at the White House when Mexico's president was visiting).

After the register is the prep space for your meal

According to Bayless, Xoco can be described as... "If Topolo pampers and Frontera dances, then XOCO rocks. Though the word is Mexican slang for “little sister” (from the ancient Aztec language), there’s nothing little about XOCO’s big, bold Mexican marketplace flavors. Open early, late and closed on Sundays and Mondays, this quick-service cafe from Rick and Deann Bayless proffers contemporary expressions of Mexico’s most beloved street food and snacks: hot-from-the-fryer churros and flaky empanadas; frothy Mexican hot chocolate (ground from Mexican cacao beans right in our front window!); warm, crusty tortas (Mexican submarine sandwiches); and made-to-order caldos (meal-in-a-bowl soups) that feature everything from roasted vegetables to seafood to pork belly."

The Woodburning Oven

Now unfortunately, we didn't try to churros because we were way to stuffed from the tortas so that is definitely on our "to do" list next time we are in that part of the loop. So anyway, there we were at Xoco. It's counter style service, where you go up and place your order (once given the "go ahead" by the server/hostess) and then wait to be seated by the hostess/server. Or, of course, if you are taking it to go, then there is no wait to order.

Placing their order at the counter

I have to admit, I was a bit nervous, being a "picky eater" and all but luckily for me, there on the "Today's Specials" menu was a Carne Asada torta. Granted, it came dressed with Chayote "coleslaw", blackbeans, and then a flavored crema...though I honestly can't remember what it was flavored with. I asked if I could get the crema on the side and hoped for the best!

Four flavors of Mexican "Aquas" to choose from if you so desire

As far as drinks go, all of us just ordered water though the had a vast selection of beers and Mexican favorites (i.e. Jamaica...). We also ordered a side of chips and salsa to help curb our appetites as well as get a chance to try some of their "homemade" salsas.

Quite tasty...though I preferred the green over the red

Once the food came, I decided to bite the bullet and just go for it, with the coleslaw on the sandwich though I was tempted to scrape it off and I am so glad that I did! I would have never tried it otherwise and it brought a new flavor to the torta. My only complaint was that because the bread was toasted so well, it roughed up the inside of my mouth a little, but not enough to make eating less enjoyable!

My Carne Asada torta with crema on the side and the Chayote slaw.

Overall I was pretty impressed with the place, and continued to be impressed and dream about my leftovers throughout the remainder of the day and then the next. My dad, on the other hand, thought it was okay but a couple hours after we left the restaurant, he began to reminisce about his lunch and how well developed the flavors were.

He's mentioned quite a few times to me now that he didn't realize how much he enjoyed his food until later on that day. Brad also liked it, but he doesn't appear to be dying to go back...that may have to do with the price though ;o)

Brad's order: Milanesa: Crispy Gunthorp chicken, black beans, artisan Jack cheese, pickled jalapenos, tomatillo-avocado salsa

Would I go back? Sure! Especially to get the churros and ice cream or even one of their specialty hot chocolates that I am dying to try. However, as I mentioned, it is a bit pricey so it's not somewhere I would frequent often. It did get me excited about trying some of the other Bayless restaurants that are right around the corner....

A view of the seating portion of the restaurant

Cinnamon Streusal Pizza

Ah yes, another pizza post (Can you tell that I love pizza?)

The inspiration comes from an old childhood favorite, Godfather's Pizza. It used to be that we would frequent Godfather's often, especially for their pizza buffet. I would fill up with hot pepperoni pizza but made sure to always leave room for one of the best desserts of all...Cinnamon Streusal Pizza.

Godfather's Streusel Pizza from their website...Mmm Mmm

I don't remember when this memory popped into my head but I do know that I have made it quite a few times since then. I would say that it's definitely served best warm and is a great way to use up excess pizza dough. It's also super easy to make (to my surprise).

I used yet another pizza crust recipe but didn't bother taking photos since once you make a pizza crust, the process is all pretty much the same. I'm sure you could use any pizza crust though and it would work out great. (Well except for maybe deep dish..) The recipe I used for the crust, I will put at the very end of the post. Also, the directions say to put it in a pizza pan, I just used my pizza stone and once on a cookie sheet and it still turned out well.

Godfather's Streusel Dessert Pizza
from Savory Seasonings

Pizza Dough
1 TBSP butter, melted or 1 TBSP oil (I used butter...oil just didn't seem right to me)
Cinnamon

Streusel (makes enough mix for 3 pizzas)
1/2 cup plus 1/3 cup bread flour (I used All Purpose Flour and it still turned out great)
1/3 cup white sugar
1/8 cup brown sugar
2 TBSP solid shortening
2 TBSP olive oil

Icing
1/2 - 3/4 cup powdered sugar
1 TBSP water
1/2 tsp. vanilla

1. Mix together streusel ingredients then side aside.
2. To make pizza, pat dough into a 12 inch pie pan that has been sprayed with oil, then brush with 1 TBSP melted butter. Sprinkle cinnamon all around buttered crust. 
3. Top pizza crust with 1/2 - 3/4 cup streusel mix (freeze remaining streusel mix for another pizza). Bake at 450 F for 8 to 9 minutes depending on the thickness of the pizza. 
4. Cover with aluminum foil halfway through to keep streusel from burning. 
5. Mix icing ingredients until it is of a drizzle consistency. If it is too thick, then thin with a small amount of water until you have reached your desired thinness. 
6. When finished baking, top with icing in a circular pinwheel pattern. (As the original poster points out, this can be done easily with the icing in a sandwich bag with the corner trimmed)

 

*************************************************************************************************************
Now a note about this recipe. This is the dough that Savory Seasonings used in her Cinnamon Steusal Pizza so I did as well. And because I rarely plan ahead, I usually don't get the opportunity to allow the dough to develop overnight. Sure, not ideal but hey, it still works for the most part!

Little Caesars Pizza Dough
from Savory Seasonings

1 1/4 cups (9.7 oz) warm water (appox. 120° F)
2 3/4 tsp. dry active yeast
2 TBSP sugar
1 TBSP Honey
1 TBSP Olive Oil
2 Tsp. Salt
1 1/2 cups (8 oz.) bread flour or all purpose flour
1 1/2 cups (8 oz.) whole wheat flour (optional, can use 100% bread flour or all purpose flour)

• Mix water and yeast in mixing bowl and allow it to proof for 5 minutes. 
• Mix in sugar, honey and oil. Then mix in 1 cup flour and the salt. Continue mixing in all the remaining flour until you get a nice, soft dough. Knead until dough is soft and smooth (approx. 10 minutes).
• Finish kneading on a lightly floured surface and shape into a ball. 
• Place in the refrigerator in a covered container coated with olive oil for overnight. For the perfect flavor, it is best to time making the dough 24 hours before baking the pizza's (for pizza Saturday at 5pm, make your dough Friday at 5pm). If you are short on time you can sacrifice some flavor and make this dough first thing in the morning and place it in the fridge until dinner that evening.

3 hours before baking: Remove from fridge and either divide dough in half for two 12” pizzas or leave whole for one somewhat thicker 16” pizza. Work each piece of dough into balls. Allow the dough to come back to room temperature (this process generally takes 3 hours).

45 minutes before baking: With your pizza stone on the bottom rack of your oven, preheat your oven to 475° F to allow the stone to get hot enough (this process generally takes 40-50 minutes).

15 minutes before baking: Shape dough into desired pizza crust, sprinkle pizza peel, wooden cutting board or upside down cookie sheet with corn meal, flour or rice flour. Place pizza crust on top, then add toppings. Gently slide pizza onto the hot pizza stone and bake for 9-11 minutes.

Calzones and Personal Pizzas

So for the past week, the thought of Calzones has gone in and out of my head. Due to Dave not feeling well, I unexpectantly got a day off yesterday from watching Sofia. Since I had the extra time and some cheese, sauce, and pepperoni in the fridge, I figured there's no better time than the present and decided to do some research.

I didn't want to use my CPK copy crust since I hadn't planned ahead and didn't have the time to let it rest properly. So my search began looking for a "quick" homemade pizza crust recipe. I came across a recipe on a blog that I follow from An American Housewife. Her pizza crust took about 2 hours which is some of the shortest times I have seen, plus she seems to really know her kitchen and food so I trust her recipes.

My calzone which was Mmm...Mmm...good

Anyway, I decided to give it a try, especially since she had a great idea....par cook the dough to create ready made pizza crusts for a quick and easy meal in the future. Oh my goodness, why didn't I ever think of that! And since Brad was gone for the night (and the following day), what a more perfect time to try it out!

The pizza crust was pretty easy to put together. I didn't take any pictures of it because I've made pizza so many times that it all kind of looks the same. The only things I did differently is 1) Allow the yeast to activate longer than she directed due to the yeast jar telling me otherwise and 2) Not waiting the full rising time..mainly because I was hungry ;o) Instead I just let it rise enough for the oven to heat up and then plus any time that the crusts waited while the others were baking. 3) Also, I didn't make them as "mini" as she probably did. I went more for the personal size but I'm sure if I would have let it rise more, I would have been able to make more pizzas out of it. Oh well, I'm not complaining!

As a side note: Brad has watched me upload these pictures and immediately got hungry and started asking "Why haven't you ever made me a calzone?!?!"

Homemade Mini Pizza Crusts
from An American Housewife

Pizza Dough

1 pkg. (2 1/4 t) dry active yeast
1 T sugar
1/2 t salt
1/4 c dry powdered milk
1 1/3 c warm water
2 T olive oil
4 c flour

• Put yeast, sugar, salt, dry powdered milk, and warm water into the bowl of a mixer or mix by hand. Wait 2 minutes  (I waited 10 per directions on my jar of yeast).
• Knead in olive oil and flour in a Kitchen Aid style (heavy duty) mixer 5 minutes or knead 10 minutes by hand. Let rest 10 minutes.
• Depending on the thickness of the pizza you like - Use in 1, 2 or 3 greased, average 'home' sized large pizza pans Let raise about 1 1/2 hours and top with your choice. Bake at 400 approximately 16-25 minutes depending the size of your pan and how many toppings you have on it. Bake until golden brown.
• To make the mini pizza's above - split the dough in half, then each in half again and continued dividing each piece in half again until I had 8 balls for a 1/2 inch thick crust. You could do up to 16 if you like very thin, crispy pizzas.
• Form each ball into a circle on a pizza stone and then baked at about 410 degree's for 10 minutes to pre-bake the thicker crusts - less if you make thin. Bake just until the bottom barely begins to get golden. You will finish baking when the pizzas are used in the future. Let cool and package for refrigeration or freezer. 

waiting to be packaged up

• To use, spread pizza sauce, toppings, cheese and bake at 410 until the top is melted and beinging to turn golden brown. (I baked mine at 350 in the toaster oven..)

And now for the Calzone...

I took the same dough that I used above, rolled it out and rolled a portion of it out into a rectangular shape. I then placed the sauce, cheese and pepperoni down the middle in a strip.

Using my bench scraper, I cut diagonal strips into the dough, thinking that I wanted to fancy my dinner up and criss cross the dough.

Now this is where I kind of "wung" it. I didn't really know what to do with the ends to I folded those in first and then did the criss crossing.

I kept the temp at 400 degrees and baked it for about 20 mins when it looked done and the top of the dough sounded a bit "hollow".

What have I been doing lately?

Not a whole lot of action over here this past month or so. Brad and I have been pretty busy for one reason or another and more often than not, not in Chicago and if we are, we're running from one place to another. Because of this, I have made a lot of the same things or at times, things that I'm wanting to tweak a little in the future.

Two of the bigger things I have done though are cakes. When I watch Sofia, I will often find myself watching some sort of cake show or another while she is napping. Well this got me itching to try out cake carving. Lucky for me, I have two birthdays coming up.

One for my brother-in-law's birthday (who happens to be a firefighter)

Ben and his birthday cake

I'm still working out the kinks in how to get the frosting super smooth when decorating in this manner

A little creative licensing to the back of the truck ;o)

I tried my best to model the truck after one of Oshtemo's engines to make it more true to life

And another for one of Brad's co-workers, a huge and forever a KU fan

She asked Brad if he could get her a KU cake being a recent grad and love for her alma mater

I made a four layer cake, then took the top layer and cut into it to make it into a type of "relief" cake

Rock Chalk...

Jayhawk!

K-U!

Strawberry Scones

When people come to visit and spend the night, I LOVE making them breakfast. Back in July, my in-laws were staying with us for one night and I knew I wanted to make something new and something incorporating strawberries since we were in the lovely season of summer. I browsed through my saved recipes and nothing really jumped out to me. But then it occurred to me, what about scones?!

In my experience, scones are more or less a hit or miss. They are either sweet, moist, and flavorful, or crumbly and dry. I scoured the internet for some recipes and then with the help of my father in law, narrowed it down to what we thought might be a "winner" from And Then I Do The Dishes. And lucky for us, a winner it was. My mother in law rarely takes leftovers and she made sure to take a couple slices home for my sister-in-law Catie..though sometimes I wonder if they ever made it the 3 hr trip to MI ;o)

So why am I just posting the recipe now? Well that is due to my not remembering if the recipe I saved, was the recipe that we in fact decided on. This past week, I was craving strawberries despite the fact that I knew they would be expensive and not as flavorful as they are in the summer. I ate about half of them and then I got the urge to use the rest for breakfast...so Strawberry Scones, here we come!

I have to say, despite the fact that these strawberries were not as plump and juicy as the first...the scones still turned out delicious. Knowing that the strawberries this time around were not top notch, I made sure to sprinkle them with sugar and let them sit for a bit before folding them into the batter/dough. And as always, I don't keep buttermilk in our fridge so milk and vinegar combined makes an adequate substitute (1 Tbsp per cup of milk).

Strawberry Scones
from And Then I Do The Dishes

2 cups flour 

1/4 cup sugar 

3 tsp baking powder 

1 tsp salt 

1/2 cup butter 

1 cup fresh strawberries, diced
1/2 cup buttermilk
2 eggs
Coarse or granulated sugar, for sprinkling

• In a large bowl mix flour, sugar, baking powder and salt. Cut in butter until mixture resembles coarse crumbs.

 

• Add strawberries, and mix carefully to coat them in flour. 

• Add buttermilk, one egg and one egg yolk (reserve the white). Mix until blended, trying not to crush the berries. Drop dough onto a lightly floured surface and knead delicately, just until the dough comes together.

• With floured hands pat dough into a 1/2 inch thick circle. Transfer to a parchment paper lined baking sheet and with a sharp knife, score dough into 12 slices (as with a pie).

• Brush top with reserved egg white and sprinkle with sugar.
• Bake in preheated 425°F oven for about 20 minutes. Serve warm.

Hawaiian Chicken, Cooking Light

Early last year, one of Brad's aunts ordered me a subscription to Cooking Light magazine, knowing how much I enjoyed cooking. So far, every issue I have gotten, there is at least one recipe that has caught my eye and tempts me to stash it in my "To Cook" repertoire. Well lucky for the January 2011 issue, Hawaiian Chicken not only caught my eye but I also began to crave it and so of course, I had to make it right away.

Well due to my excitement, I forgot to take pictures. So the one picture that you get is directly from the Cooking Light website. Sorry about that! However, I am happy to repeat that the recipe did not disappoint! The chicken ended up being very flavorful and Brad noted that it was also quite moist/juicy...I don't remember the word he used exactly but you get the idea. Very good chicken and you would never know that it was "light".

A few notes; while reading the recipe I was confused about the directions in regards to the ingredient amounts and reserving marinade. How is it that you are supposed to pour the marinade over the chicken, reserving 1/4 cup when the amount of liquid in the marinade is only 1/4 cup itself? Well, somehow it ended up working where I had enough to pour over the chicken and still reserve the amount the recipe called for. Another note, I also chose to reduce the marinade to create a glaze for the chicken rather than attempting to "baste" it over the chicken as the recipe suggested. Not that I didn't think that it would work, or that my method would be better but rather that is just what I was craving :op. Oh yeah, and of course, I'm not a fan of ginger nor do we ever have it on hand so I omitted it. Either way, a great recipe and definitely a winner!

Cooking Light photo courtesy of John Autry; Styling: Cindy Barr

Hawaiian Chicken 

by Cooking Light

Total: 4 hours, 23 minutes
Yield: 4 servings (serving size: 1 breast half and 1/2 cup rice)

Ingredients

• 1/4  cup  pineapple juice
• 2  tablespoons  ketchup
• 2  tablespoons  lower-sodium soy sauce
• 1 1/2  teaspoons  minced peeled ginger
• 2  garlic cloves, minced
• 4  (6-ounce) skinless, boneless chicken breast halves
• Cooking spray
• 3/4  teaspoon  salt, divided
• 1/4  teaspoon  black pepper
• 2  cups  hot cooked long-grain white rice
• 1/4  cup  chopped fresh cilantro

Preparation

1. Combine first 5 ingredients. Reserve 1/4 cup marinade; place remaining marinade in a zip-top plastic bag. Add chicken to bag; seal. Chill 4 hours.
2. Heat a grill pan over medium-high heat. Coat pan with cooking spray. Remove chicken from bag; discard marinade in bag. Sprinkle chicken with 1/2 teaspoon salt and pepper. Add chicken to pan; baste with 2 tablespoons reserved marinade. Cook 6 minutes. Turn chicken over; baste with 2 tablespoons reserved marinade. Cook 6 minutes.
3. Combine rice, 1/4 teaspoon salt, and cilantro.