Fried Chicken

So I've finished my finals and now I'm back home safe and sound. And for the record, I kicked my finals' butts! I realize that finals technically don't have butts, but I kicked their metaphorical butts. Of course, I won't get my grades for another couple weeks, but I'm fairly positive that I did well. Mission accomplished.

I'm home now, and loving it. Today I made cookies for my little brother and his friends, did some christmas shopping while the mall is still relatively empty, and just generally chilled out. It was wonderful. And I'm looking forward to another three weeks of the same! I've already started cooking and baking like a mad woman and I don't expect that to slow down anytime soon. Having been denied the ability to create and invent in a proper kitchen for a whole quarter has pushed me over the edge. I think I'm going to end up making my brother be a guinea pig for a lot of culinary experiments over break, but I'm sure he won't mind. He loves giving me brutally honest opinions and then eating himself sick.

Anyway! I promised to give you all my recipe for fried chicken that I invented last week! Now don't get in a fuss, I know I promised it sooner, but come on I had finals. (Aunt Kate...I'm looking at you. :)

Fried Chicken--Pinto style

3-4 Chicken breasts, cut into strips

Gluten free bread crumbs

Corn Chex cereal

2 eggs

Italian seasoning

Salt

Oil for frying

This is the same basic breading that we used on the mozzarella sticks. Same idea, same method, just with chicken. We cut the chicken into pretty thin strips and after frying, ended up cutting those strips in half so that there would be enough for a lot of people. Aileen decided that it was basically popcorn chicken and next time we make it, we're going to try cubing the chicken to see what happens.

First make the dredge; smash the Corn Chex cereal to pieces and combine it with the bread crumbs. I used about a 2:1 ratio, 2 cups bread crumbs to 1 cup cereal. Add a good amount of italian seasoning and salt and set aside. Beat the two eggs in another bowl. Dredge the chicken in the eggs, shake off the excess, and roll in the bread crumb mixture. You might need to pat the crumbs onto the chicken to get it to stay. Try experimenting with cereal size, sometimes smashing the cereal to crumbs helps it to stick to the chicken better.

Heat the oil in a large pan until it is screaming hot. I don't have a thermometer, but the way I test out how hot the oil is is to put a bit of water on my finger and flick it into the oil. When the water bounces around and snaps a lot, then the oil is ready. Put the chicken into the oil and cook for about a minute. Flip the chicken over and cook for another minute. Depending on how thick the chicken strips are you may need to cook it longer. We cut them in half, which was helpful because we could see if they were done all the way through and adjust cooking times appropriately. Again, play around, you also want to make sure that you aren't burning the crust.

Once all the chicken is cooked, it's time to dig in and eat some tasty, tasty chicken!

XOXO

Natalie

I'm back!

I'm so happy right now! And I want the world to know it! The kitchen problem isn't fully resolved yet, but it's close enough that I got to make two meals in it this weekend. Progress!

The first meal we made was spaghetti and meatballs. You've all seen that one on here before, but if you haven't tried it out yet....please. Go make some spaghetti and meatballs. You won't regret it. We changed it up a little bit this time by attempting to make mozzarella stuffed meatballs. They turned out alright, but I don't think that we used enough cheese. They were good, but there wasn't that element of cheese-splosion that I was going for.

But tonight...oh man....tonight was amazing. In the words of my little brother: dude. so epic.

Now I know that this might upset a few people, but I'm going to admit something shameful. before tonight, I had never had a mozzarella stick. I know! A horrific truth. Tonight, I got to experience mozzarella sticks for the first time and baby, there's no going back now. I may be forced to eat mozzarella sticks every day for the rest of my life. Ok thats an exaggeration. But at least once a week.

We also made fried chicken strips and I'm fairly positive that I've invented the most amazing fried chicken recipe of all time. Hint: it includes cereal.

Today I'm going to share with you the mozzarella stick recipe just because they are my newest obsession, but the fried chicken recipe will be coming up soon!

Mozzarella Sticks

String cheese

Gluten free bread crumbs (I used Hol Grain brown rice bread crumbs)

Corn Chex cereal

2 eggs

italian seasoning

salt

Oil for frying

You may notice that there are no measurements in this recipe. That's because this is a free for all mozzarella stick making extravaganza. Don't measure! Go wild!

First cut the string cheese sticks in half so that you have two 2" sticks. Crush up a few handfuls of the Chez cereal into small pieces. They don't need to be superfine, just small enough that they'll stick to the cheese without falling right off. In a large pan or plate combine the bread crumbs and the cereal. I did about a 2:1 ratio, 1 cup of bread crumbs to 1/2 cup of crushed cereal. But this is a no measuring extravaganza, so feel free to alter that ratio as you see fit. To the bread crumbs add a good dose of italian seasoning and a pinch of salt. We used Pappy spice because Pappy spice is amazing, but italian seasoning is a great substitute. In a small bowl beat the two eggs into submission. Now for the dredging! Dip the cheese sticks in the egg, shake off the excess, and roll it in the bread crumb mixture. You might need to pat the crumbs onto the cheese to get it to stay, but it'll stick on there. Make sure you cover the ends too or else the cheese will just melt all over the place. After the cheese has been dredged put them on a foil lined cookie sheet. Once all the cheese is done, put the whole cookie sheet in the freezer for at least ten minutes.

While the cheese is freezing, heat up some oil in a pan. I would say about a half an inch of oil will work. When the oil is screaming hot, and I mean hot, you can start frying. Try frying just one first to make sure you know what you're doing. Using tongs, put the cheese sticks in the oil and fry for about thirty seconds, spinning it around constantly. You want to get the outside golden and crispy before the cheese starts melting all over the place. It shouldn't take more than thirty seconds to get them all crispy and delicious. I also wouldn't recomend frying more than three at once because they need to be constantly moving. When they're done cooking, put them on a paper towel lined plate to drain. Then dig in! But be careful, there's lava hot melty cheese in there.

This is the only picture I got of the mozzarella sticks, sorry it's really bad quality, but I was too busy focused on the plat of deliciousness in front of me to worry about pictures.

Ah it's good to be back :)

XOXO

Natalie

Onion strings!

So I haven't gotten my kitchen yet. SAD NATALIE! They were remodeling the kitchen and it was supposed to be finished about a week ago. But I don't think that they've even started it yet. While I am frustrated, I'm not freaking out because the dining hall has been surprisingly awesome. Lots of gluten free food and lots of options. This morning I had a gluten free bagel for breakfast! How cool is that? Although my dining hall (crown dining hall) is so far the only one with gluten free options. So I'm still kind of without food on the weekend. But that's what microwave meals are for! ...wow I can't believe I just wrote that. On a cooking blog for god's sake!

My apologies. In further news: I made it onto the improv team! We have shows about once a month and (hopefully) I will be able to put up a video of one of them. Then all you readers not living on campus with me can see it!

As far as today's recipe, I think I'll share one with you that I've had sitting on my to-post-list for a long time. These are Pioneer Woman's Onion Strings! I've altered them just by making them gluten free. I also made cooking time longer because I like my onion strings super duper crispy.

Onion Strings

Adapted from Pioneer Woman Cooks

1 large onion

2 cups buttermilk

2 cups all-purpose flour

1 Tbsp salt

1/4 tsp cayenne pepper (or taco seasoning!)

canola oil

Slice the onion very thinly. Super thinly. REALLY THIN. Put them in a casserole dish and pour buttermilk over them. Let the onions soak for at least an hour. Combine all the dry ingredients in a bowl and set aside. Heat plenty of oil in a large pan. The way I like to test it for temperature is to flick a couple drops of water into the oil. If they start dancing around all crazy like, then the oil is hot enough. Coat the buttermilk onions with the flour mix, shake off the excess and drop into the oil. Fry until golden brown, or until they are crispy enough for your liking.

OMNOM onions!

XOXO

Natalie

Rainbow cupey-cakes!

I made these for my friend Paul because I felt bad about not seeing him for basically the whole summer. And to make up for my horrible friendship skills, I made him cupcakes! I ended up giving them to him in front of a whole bunch of people who demanded he share and they all liked them too. Even the strangers that were standing around us! But I don't blame them. These are some seriously tasty cupcakes. This is my new favorite cupcake recipe because the great thing about it is: it's so basic! It is a simple simple simple cupcake that can be altered any which way you want. So here's how to make them into rainbow cakes, but feel free to experiment with different flavors and styles following this basic recipe. I made two batches: one gluten free and one not. I actually thought that the gluten free ones came out better because they had a better texture-of course this is just from looking. Stephen said they tasted the same, so that's awesome too!

Rainbow Cakes

Adapted from Baking Bites

1 cup flour

1 1/2 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp salt

1/2 cup sugar

2 large eggs

1/2 cup vegetable oil

1/2 cup buttermilk

1 tsp vanilla extract

red, green, yellow, blue food coloring

In a medium bowl combine the flour, baking powder, and salt. In a large bowl combine the sugar, eggs, vegetable oil, buttermilk, and vanilla extract. Slowly stir the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients until just combined. Then pour the batter into five seperate bowls trying to make them as even as possible. It should be about 1/3 cup in each. Add 1/2 tsp of food coloring to each bowl to make yellow, orange, red, green, and blue. Of course, to make orange you do 1/4 tsp of yellow and red. Stir them really well so that there are no streaks. Feel free to add more food coloring if you want more color!

Starting with the blue, add a spoonful of each color into 10 lined muffin tins. Work from blue-green-yellow-orange-red. I ended up having enough batter to make 11 whole muffins and 1 small one. Don't spread the batter around, just let it fall where it wants, otherwise everything will just run together and you'll end up with mud-puddle cupcakes. Bake at 350F until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.

Once they're cool, frost them with a basic buttercream frosting. I did it all very pretty and artistic with my mad frosting skills. Here's how to do it: After you make your basic frosting, seperate it into three bowls and add one or two drops of food coloring. Do whatever colors you like; I went with red, blue, and green.

Then get a piping bag, or in my case a ziplock bag, and put the frosting in in sections. By this I mean, spread the red frosting into 1 third of the bag then the blue in another third, then the green in the other third. Here's a diagram because I'm tired and I can't think of another way of explaining it. Looking down on the top of the piping bag:

Then just pipe the frosting in a spiral to make it look beautiful!

XOXO

Natalie

Cookie Cake Pie

Are you ready for a sugar coma?! I know I am!

I actually made this months ago for Dan's birthday, but for some reason I haven't posted anything about it yet! This is the most ridiculously sugary thing ever. EVER! This is a cake on top of a giant cookie all within a flakey pie crust. I believe Garrett compared it to a star. As in, super super dense. And sugary...although stars don't have sugar in them. You get the idea.

Cookie Cake Pie

Adapted from CakeSpy

1 batch of cookie dough (your favorite chocolate chip cookie, or just the recipe on the back of the tollhouse bag)

1 batch of cake batter (I used boxed funfetti cause hey, it's fun)

1 pie crust (You can find my favorite pie crust here)

1 jar of frosting (I used vanilla, but you can get creative)

Ok so super easy put assembly: First line a deep pie pan with the pie crust. Then add the cookie dough; spread it out enough to cover the bottom of the pan entirely. Then pour in the cake batter. You aren't going to use all of the cake batter, just fill up the pan. Make some cupcakes with the rest! Then bake the whole thing at 350F for about 30 minutes. Check it every five minutes after the 25 minute mark. You have three very different things in one pan so you need to balance out times as best as possible. After the cake/pie/sugar bomb has cooled, frost generously and dig in!

Please limit yourself to one slice. I can not be held responsible if you go into a sugar coma and don't wake for days.

XOXO

Natalie

I'm alliiiiivvvveeee

I'm here! I know, I've been MIA for the last week. I promised a recipe and then I didn't do it. :( IM SORRYYYYYY! I've been crazy busy and things are only just starting to cool down. I'm back home in the bay area now, about halfway unpacked, and just sent in my last paper of the year. So it is officially summer for me!

And now, as promised, here is the recipe for the Portal cake. This is a kind of strange recipe because it uses a cake mix and then adds a lot of other stuff. But gooooo with it. I promise, you'll love it.

2 cans vanilla frosting

3/4 cup cocoa powder

1 package chocolate cake mix

2/3 cup granulated sugar

2 cups all purpose flour

1/4 tsp baking soda

1 tsp salt

1/4 tsp baking powder

3/4 cup vegetable oil

7 egg whites

3/4 butter, melted

1 tsp vanilla extract

1/3 cup water

semi-sweet chocolate chips

1 can coconut pecan frosting (I used double chocolate fudge chip frosting)

6-8 maraschino cherries

The night before you make the cake, mix the cocoa powder with 1 1/2 cans of vanilla frosting and put it in the fridge. The next day, take it out of the fridge when you start making the rest of the cake so that it will be easier to spread. In one bowl, combine the dry ingredients. In a larger bowl, combine the wet ingredients. Then mix the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients by the cup full. Pour the batter into two greased cake pans and cook for 30 minutes in a 375F oven. I took the cakes out a little before half an hour, just test it at around 25 minutes by sticking a knife or toothpick in the center. When it comes out clean, it's done. Let the cake cool for at least an hour. Then it's time to put it all together! With a knife, trim the top of the cakes so that they will lie flat. Frost the top of the first cake with the coconut pecan frosting and put the second cake on top. Then frost the entire cake with the cocoa powder-vanilla frosting mix. Be careful, the frosting is really thick and is a little hard to spread. Then cover the entire cake with chocolate chips. Put 6 or 8 dots of vanilla frosting on top of the cake in a circle then put one cherry on top of each frosting dot. TADA! Portal Cake. Not a lie.

XOXO

Natalie

corn avo salsa

So this weekend, me and my friends had a bbq at natural bridges, one of the nicer beaches in my area. I made a bunch of food, and this week, Ill be sharing those recipes with you! Today I have a recipe for corn avocado salsa. Me and Aileen (my future roomie) made this and it was mmmmmm so good. Here's the recipe and some awesome pictures!

adapted from Pioneer woman

4 ears sweet corn

2 avocados

1/2 red onion, chopped

/2 jalapeno, seeded and diced

Juice of one lime

chopped cilantro

1 Tbso vinegar

1 tsp sugar, optional

salt to taste

First shuck the corn and try and get all the stringy bits off. Then shave all the kernels off the cob. Cut the avocados into small squares. Then throw everything in a bowl! We didn't have any cilantro, but it tasted fine without it. Wow I expected this post to be longer...so here are some lovely pictures!

XOXO

Natalie

Beans are healthy too, right?

ALLLLLRIGHTY I've got a delicious and unhealthy recipe for you today. And yes, I do remember that like two posts ago I said that I was going to be healthier. But this is an exception. There are beans (a lot of beans) in this, and beans have protein. so....HA! These baked beans are now healthy!I actually have two baked bean recipes, this one is from pioneer woman and is the more complicated one of the two. It's probably better for like parties and family gatherings. The other one I have (which I will post at some point) is more like a quick thing to throw together as a side. Anyway, here's how you do it!

8 slices of bacon

1 med onion, cut into a small dice

1/2 med green pepper, cut into a small dice (optional)

3 large cans of baked beans (with pork please)

3/4 cup bbq sauce

1/2 cup brown sugar

1/4 cup distilled or cider vinegar

2 tsp dry mustard or 2 tbsp dijon

Preheat the oven to 325F. Then crack open a thing of bacon and get frying! Fry the pieces of bacon until almost crispy.

They're gonna cook in the oven, so you don't want them to be completely cooked. Take the bacon out and put it on a plate with paper towels. Then add the onions and peppers if you use them.

And now I would like to tell you what usually happens when I make this at home. Around this point, my brother comes into the kitchen and the conversation goes like this:

Stephen: Hey.

Natalie: Hey.

Stephen: Whatcha makin?

Natalie: Baked beans.

Stephen: WHY ARE YOU OBSESSED WITH BAKED BEANS?! Wait....what...what are you...ARE YOU PUTTING THE ONIONS IN THE BACON FAT?!

Natalie: yes I am!

Stephen: OH MY GOD! WHY?!

Natalie: Are you going to eat it?

Stephen:...YES...

Natalie: Then shut up and pretend you didn't see it.

Then he leaves and I assume forgets about it, because he ends up eating them anyway.

Anyhoo! Next step! Cook the onions and peppers for about 5 minutes until they're tender. Then dump the beans and all the other ingredients into the pot and bring it to a simmer.

Pour the beans into a greased casserole dish and put the bacon on top. Bake them for about 2 hours, or until they don't look liquidy anymore.

I only baked these for about an hour because I had quartered the recipe. So if you aren't using the whole recipe, just check on it every now and then and see how it's doing.

We had these baked beans with (semi) bbq chicken. It was raining, so I couldn't actually grill the chicken. So instead, I just fried it up in a pan with some bbq sauce! yummy.

And that's how you make delicious baked beans!

XOXO

Natalie