Chicken Parm and Snickerdoodles

So after the chewy cupcake incident I was still in the mood to cook and bake.  I had been wanting to try this recipe from Brown Eyed Baker for quite some time.  I've mentioned in earlier posts that I've been trying to eat a little more healthy, so this recipe for Lighter Chicken Parmesan sounded perfect.  I made it with some whole wheat pasta (healthy, right?) and I substituted Italian bread crumbs for the panko, just because I didn't have panko on hand.  But I bet the recipe would be amazing with panko too.   Oh, and I didn't toast the bread crumbs and it still worked fine.  The oven-frying method used in the recipe makes the chicken SUPER crispy and you don't even notice it's not fried.  I actually think I like this better than fried (gasp!).  I think it's even crispier.  I didn't take a lot of pics, but there's one up there.  So no more babbling.  Here's the recipe. 

***************************************************************************

Lighter Chicken Parmesan

from Brown Eyed Baker

1 1/2 cups panko (or Italian bread crumbs)

1 Tbsp olive oil

1/2 cup grated parmesan cheese

1/2 cup all purpose flour

1 1/2 tsp garlic powder (I used real garlic and stirred it in the egg wash)

salt and pepper

3 large egg whites

1 Tbsp water

cooking spray

3 large boneless, skinless chicken breasts sliced into cutlets (I used chicken tenderloins)

2 cups tomato sauce, warmed

3 oz shredded mozzarella cheese (I had sliced provolone on hand so I used that)

1 Tbsp fresh basil

1.  Adjust an oven rack to the middle position and heat the oven to 475 degrees. Combine the bread crumbs and oil in a skillet and toast over medium heat, stirring often, until golden, about 10 minutes. Spread the bread crumbs in a shallow dish and cool slightly; when cool, stir in the Parmesan.

2.  In a second shallow dish, combine the flour, garlic powder, 1 tablespoon salt, and 1/2 teaspoon pepper together. In a third shallow dish, whisk the egg whites and water together.

3.  Line a rimmed baking sheet with foil, place a wire rack on top, and spray the rack with vegetable oil spray. Pat the chicken dry with paper towels, then season with salt and pepper. Lightly dredge the cutlets in the flour, shaking off the excess, then dip into the egg whites, and finally coat with the bread crumbs, Press on the bread crumbs to make sure they adhere. Lay the chicken on the wire rack.

4.  Spray the tops of the chicken with vegetable oil spray. Bake until the meat is no longer pink in the center and feels firm when pressed with a finger, about 15 minutes.

5.  Remove the chicken from the oven. Spoon 2 tablespoons of the sauce onto the center of each cutlet and top the sauce with 2 tablespoons of the mozzarella. Return the chicken to the oven and continue to bake until the cheese has melted, about 5 minutes. Sprinkle with the basil and serve, passing the remaining sauce and Parmesan separately.

********************************************************************************

Okay, so I made a lot of substitutions but whatever.  It was still really good.  So after this I was craving some kind of dessert (that tasted better than the cupcakes) and I had everything on hand to make Snickerdoodles.  Can you tell I hate going to the store when I'm about to make something?  I try to plan my meals out for the week and go once a week.  Otherwise, I really really try to keep baking ingredients on hand so I don't have to do a last minute run to Publix. 

I really think Snickerdoodles are my favorite cookie.  Maybe because my favorite food of all time is a cinnamon roll, and this has a similar flavor?  Who knows.  It's just a simple cookie that brings back memories of my childhood.  My Granny made Snickerdoodles whenever we went to visit her.  Now that I think about it, she made cinnamon rolls whenever we went to visit her too...hmm.  I'm seeing a pattern here.  I wish I had my Granny's recipe, but I don't.  But I've made the Better Homes and Gardens Cookbook recipe many many many many times and it's perfect.  (P.S. I have the Breast Cancer edition- and it's Breast Cancer Awareness Month.  Just thought I'd throw that in there).  BTW- if you do not have this cookbook, please go buy it.  Like now.  If you have no other cookbooks in your kitchen, have this one.  It has every basic recipe you could want, and it has intros and basic cooking lessons at the beginning of every tab.  If you can't cook, this book will teach you how.  Plus, you can trust that just about every recipe has been tested and proven to come out perfectly.  (Duh, it's BHG). 

So more about these cookies.  They are soft and chewy with a little teeny bit of crunch around the outside.  Chewy cookies are my favorite.  Chewy cupcakes are not.  All I can really say is yum. 

Whoops- a couple stuck together.  Oh well. 

Normally when I make cookies, if the recipe says "makes 36" it makes about 15 for me.  What can I say?  I like giant cookies.  This time I decided to make them the called-for size and got about 38 little mini cookies, which were quite cute.  Although I could eat about 9 in a sitting.  Probably more if I were being really unhealthy.  Oh well. 

For those of you who don't have the cookbook, BHG has this recipe on their website, so you can make some of these RIGHTNOW.

****************************************************************************

Snickerdoodles

from Better Homes and Gardens New Cookbook

makes 36 cookies

1/2 cup butter, softened

1 cup sugar

1/4 tsp baking soda

1/4 tsp cream of tartar

1 egg

1/2 tsp vanilla

1 1/2 cups all purpose flour

2 Tbsp sugar

1 tsp cinnamon

1.  In a medium mixing bowl beat butter with an electric mixer for 30 seconds.  Add the 1 cup sugar, baking soda, and cream of tartar.  Beat until combined, scraping sides of bowl occasionally.  Beat in egg and vanilla until combined.  Beat in as much of the flour as you can with the mixer.  Stir in any remaining flour.  Cover and chill dough about 1 hour or until easy to handle. 

2.  Preheat oven to 375.  Combined the 2 Tbsp sugar and cinnamon in a bowl.  Shape dough into 1 inch balls.  Roll balls in sugar mixture to coat.  Place 2 inches apart on an ungreased cookie sheet.  Bake 10 to 11 minutes or until edges are golden.  Transfer to wire rack; cool. 

******************************************************************************

That's it!  Easy right?  And I promise these will come out perfectly every time.  As long as you don't burn them. 

Mmmm, can't you just taste them?

I kept some at home and took the rest to work.  They didn't last very long. 

I have a few more recipes that I've tried that I will be sharing soon!  I did my Daring Bakers Challenge the other day and it turned out GREAT!  But I have to keep it a secret until the 27th.  I also have a couple of other main dishes that I've made (one is in the crock pot now!) so I will share those recipes in the next few days. 

For now, it's time to be lazy in my pajamas.  For the second day in a row.  I love days like this.  :) 

I'm ashamed of myself. But I'm baking again.

I truly am ashamed of myself.  I hate the part of me that starts projects, does them for 2 or 3 days, and then quits or forgets about the project all together.  The past week or so I have been OBSESSED with reading baking/cooking/crafting/DIY blogs and feeling the urge to make a blog.  And then I thought "Um..Jill?  You DID do a baking blog.  For 3 days." 

I found that baking my way through the Baking & Pastry book was quite a lofty goal. And as much as I believe in setting big goals, I think I need to just do what makes me happy right now. And not let a goal become a stressor. So I'm going to not only write about baking on here, but other things that make me happy. Who knows what that will be? We'll just have to find out.  But I do know, I'm not quitting this time.

So, let's recap for the past 20 months or so.  In a nutshell.  I hated my job.  I found another job (which I LOVE) about a year ago.  I moved to Tampa 7 months ago.  I've been barely making ends meet, what with living in the "big city" and taking a pay cut with my new job.  But it's all been worth it.  I'm happy.  But lately, I've found that something is missing.  And that's baking.  See, with all of this relocating (and working lots of overtime to be able to afford to live here!) I've been pretty broke.  And I'm so tired on my days off that I don't feel like doing anything.  But maybe that's because I'm just not doing something I love.  Baking relaxes me.  It puts a smile on my face (and inches on my waist...).  So I've been reading baking blogs.  And I've had the urge to bake again.  And write about it (besides baking, another thing I love to do is write; I just haven't found my niche). 

A few nights ago, I decided that I was going to bake.  And I started with...No-Bake Cookies.  Riiight.  Well, I was just hemming and hawing around in my kitchen and saw that I had all the ingredients for No-Bake Cookies.  Just about.  Instant oats, peanut butter, cocoa powder...now all I needed was a recipe.  I found what looked like a pretty good recipe on Brown Eyed Baker  (one of my current blog obsessions).  However, I had to make a few substitutions- and this just goes to show you how I've lapsed in my baking.  I used to keep REAL butter on hand at all times, just in case the baking mood struck.  No more.  I had margarine in a tub.  The recipe calls for a stick of butter, so I figured I would just use 1/2 cup of margarine in a tub.  I had all of the other ingredients except milk.  I don't drink it and just use a little bit in cereal (and I had just come home from a 2 week trip) so I didn't have any on hand.  Keeping in mind I had NO money to go to the store, I improvised.  I had a little bit of sour cream in the fridge.  So, I just mixed that with some water until I had some milk-like substance.  Seemed to work out fine.  So I followed the recipe with a few alterations and the no-bake cookie batter looked and smelled DELICIOUS.  I heaped tablespoons of batter onto cookie sheets and put them in the freezer to set (I was in a hurry to eat them!).  I popped in a movie and watched for about 30 minutes, then went to check on my cookies.  Still sticky.  Went back to my movie for another 10 minutes, then checked again.  Still sticky.  At this point, I couldn't wait and put a couple on a plate to eat with a fork anyway.  They tasted quite yummy (and just what I was craving). 

Maybe it was my weird milk substitution, or the fact that I used margarine instead of butter- I don't know, but those cookies never set.  I left them in the fridge overnight and the next day, I plopped them in a plastic container, spread them out, and made a fudge-like treat.  Still tasted great, but just not in cookie form.  Anyway, here is the REAL recipe- maybe I will try again with the CORRECT ingredients and let you know how it turns out. 

************************************************************************

No-Bake Chocolate, Peanut Butter & Oatmeal Cookies

Courtesy of Brown Eyed Baker

Yield: 2 to 3 dozen cookies

Prep Time: 10 minutes

Cooling Time: 30 minutes

½ cup (1 stick) butter

2 cups granulated sugar

½ cup milk

4 tablespoons cocoa powder

½ cup peanut butter

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

3 cups quick-cooking oats

1. Add the first four ingredients (through the cocoa powder) to a 4-quart saucepan.

2. Bring to a rolling boil and let boil for 1 minute.

3. Remove from heat.

4. Stir in the peanut butter and vanilla until smooth, then stir in the oats.

5. Drop by heaping tablespoons onto wax paper-lined baking sheets.

6. Let cool until set.

***Hopefully yours turn out to be more cookie-like than mine!!***

*******************************************************************

Sorry I didn't take any photos.  I truly didn't get the chutzpah to re-start my blog until tonight, so photos weren't in my mind at the time. 

Well, tonight the baking bug hit me again.  A few days ago I came across a recipe on another new blog obsession of mine, 17 and Baking.  (TANGENT ALERT!) First, let me just say that I started at the beginning of this blog and am reading it the whole way through.  This girl is amazing.  Elissa started her blog when she was 16 years old and she's 19 now.  To read the passion she has for baking truly inspires me.  Her blog almost reads like a biography- I can't wait to find out what keeps happening in her life! 

Back to my story.  I was kind of keeping an eye out for recipes that I had all the ingredients for, since again, I'm pretty broke until the next pay day.  I found a recipe for Yam Biscuits and drooled.  I had all the ingredients (with the substitution of a sweet potato for a yam...close enough) and they seemed pretty simple to make. 

***********************************************************************

Sweet Potato Biscuits

Adapted from 17 and Baking

Here's a link to the original recipe for Yam Biscuits
Makes 8 wedges

1 tbsp butter, room temperature

1/2 cup sugar

1/2 tsp salt

1 large egg

1 cup mashed sweet potato (about one large sweet potato)

2 cups all purpose flour

2 tsp baking powder

1.  Preheat the oven to 425 degrees and spray a cookie sheet with cooking spray.

2.  In a large bowl beat together butter, sugar, and salt, then egg and sweet potato (make sure your sweet potato isn't too hot- if you just cooked it). Stir until smooth.

3.  Sift together flour and baking powder. Stir into sweet potato mixture until flour is completely mixed in. Dough will be sticky, but it shouldn’t be wet – add a couple tablespoons more of flour if that’s the case.

4.  On a lightly floured surface, knead the dough a few times before shaping it into a circle about 3/4″ thick. Cut the circle into 8 equal triangle shaped wedges and separate. Bake for about 15 minutes or until golden.

************************************************************************

I did actually take some pictures of these, and they turned out very pretty! 

And they taste wonderful!  First, let me tell you I will eat anything with a sweet potato in it.  These totally got me in the mood for fall.  They're a pretty golden-orange color with a crispy outside and a cornbread-like texture inside.  They're dense and just sweet enough.  Almost like a scone, but not quite as crumbly.  These will be perfect for breakfast when the weather gets cooler (which won't be until December for us folks here in Florida, but I like to make fall come early).  Overall I'm very pleased with them.  Although next time, I may add some cinnamon and replace some of the white sugar with brown and see what happens. 

I know I wrote a lot.  I guess all of this has been waiting to get out for awhile.  And I have to say, I have a lovely sense of calm from baking and writing.  And a smile on my face.  Almost as effective as a great yoga class.  Almost.