Marinated Baked Chicken

Oh so slightly adapted from – Cindy Kufeldt – Taste of Home Magazine, April/May 2002.

You have probably noticed, my site has changed. I’ve been very busy this past year and have not been posting much. Sad to say same probably goes for this year. BUT, come May,I will no longer be in school dorms! That’s right, I’m getting an apartment off campus, so I will be cooking way more and will be able to start up the blog again! I’m really excited about it, I’m already looking for stuff for the place and creating a recipe book for poor college kids like me haha. As you see I’ve kept a few of my recipes on here but not all of them. The others will be back eventually as soon as I edit them and take new pictures. Here are some things I plan to do with my “new” blog.

-Post at least once a week (I’ll try for twice though) once I move into the apartment.
-Have video tutorials of some recipes.
-Have a series of cheap meals for college students or families on a tight budget.
-more to come later….

As for the chicken, this is by far one of my favorite dinners and it’s not expensive at all to make. Something about the way the soy saue and dressing combine makes the chicken super moist and it has so much flavor! Great recommendation for college students or easy family meal.
Keep an eye out, I will be going home sometime in October so I’ll try to get some Halloween recipes and ideas on here, and also a soup (or soups) for the cold season. Nothing I love more then sitting inside on a cold day with something hot to eat in jammies. I’ve really been wanting soup lately, even though it’s still about 90 degrees and humid here, I’ve been eating it everyday for lunch in my food court.

Italian Marinated Chicken

Ingredients:

3 – 4 Boneless Skinless Chicken Breasts  (recipe actually calls for skin on thighs, but I use breasts)

1/2 Cup soy sauce

1/2 Cup Italian salad dressing

2 Tbs diced up garlic

*Pinch of onion powder (I’ve not had this on many occasions and the dish is perfectly fine without it)

Directions:

In a large plastic bag, combine garlic, soy sauce and salad dressing. Take out about a 1/8 – 1/4 cup or so for basting during cooking. Add chicken to bag. Marinate it overnight.

When ready to cook, preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

Make your own roasting pan, this is what I do. Take a cookie sheet and line it with foil. Then take a cooling rack and set it on the foil. Grease the cooling rack and place marinated chicken on it. Sprinkle with onion powder then bake uncovered for about 30 minutes. (or if you are using thighs 45-60 minutes, have the skin side up). Occasionally brush with reserved marinade.

After the timer goes off, cut each chicken breast in half to check for readiness (or if you have a meat thermometer, until it reads 170 degrees F). If not done, place back on until all pink is gone, keep an eye on it. (Don’t worry, cutting the breast in half then putting them back in the oven will not make them less juicy.).  When cooked, serve with Bacon Swiss Bread and Buttery Spinach and Mushrooms (coming soon).

Watergate Salad

 

Have a great weekend guys!

Watergate Salad

Ingredients:

1 package pistachio pudding mix

1 container cool whip

1 Cup mini marshmallows

1 8 oz can crushed pineapple (drained)

*1/2 Cup walnuts (optional)

*1/2 Cup halved maraschino cherries (optional)

Directions:

Mix it all in a bowl and refrigerate for about an hour or so before serving.

Serves about 7

Baked Cheez It Mac n’ Cheese

Recipe Adapted from Cook Au Vin – Baked Macaroni and Cheese - http://cookauvin.blogspot.com/2011/09/macaroni-and-cheese.html

I’ve never made homemade macaroni and cheese before. I’ve never really had it to eat either. My mom buys the microwave kind or boxed kind with the powdered orange cheese :/, and at school I buy the Easy Mac for convenience. I’ve had homemade mac and cheese once that I remember at a sort of after Christmas party of my neighbors. Everyone hangs out and brings leftovers. Great way to socialize, eat, and clean out your fridge. One woman who came brought her mac and cheese and I don’t want to go back to Easy Mac. Her recipe was quite different than mine with bacon, bread crumbs, and crispy onions on top mmmm, it was awesome! Ever since then I wanted to try my own recipe. I found this recipe and decided to try to play around with it and see what happened. It came out perfectly, I was actually scared at first because about halfway through the baking of it I remember that I only put the crumbs on, I did not add butter to them.  I couldn’t take them all off, so I melted some butter, drizzled it over the top and hoped they wouldn’t burn or taste extremely dry. I didn’t need to worry though, it was just fine and actually added a nice crunch on top.  I’d like to try this sometime and add chicken into it to make it a meal instead of a side dish. Of course if Cheddar isn’t your taste you can try different cheese. Colby would be a great addition! Later I plan on taking this recipe and play around with it more to try a spicy Mexican version of it. Enjoy!

-Mmm, the cheese melting over the side! =D Did I mention I love cheese?

Baked Macaroni and Cheese

Ingredients:

Macaroni

2 1/2 Cups little shell pasta

4 1/2 Tbs butter

1 1/2 Tbs garlic (I used the diced jarred kind for convenience)

1/4 Tsp paprika

4 Tbs all purpose flour

1 Can chicken broth

1 Cup heavy Cream

1 Cup milk

1 bag shredded triple cheddar cheese

1/2 bag – 1 bag Colby Cheese (I like using close to one bag)

*Leftover chopped up bacon (optional)

salt and pepper to your tasting

Topping

1/2 cup panko bread crumbs

1 1/2 – 2 cups cheez itz crumbs

2 Tbs parsley

About 4 – 5 Tbs Butter

*1/2 cup – 1 cup shredded cheese (optional)

Salt and pepper to taste

Directions:

Preheat oven to 400 degree F.

Boil a pot of water over high heat. Add 1/2 Tbs Salt and the pasta. Cook until softened. Drain the pasta in a colander and set aside. Turn down heat to medium.

Wipe the same pot dry, add the 4 1/2 Tbs Butter. Stir in garlic and paprika, cook for about 30 seconds, careful not to let the garlic burn, make sure the stove has cooled down from high heat. Stir in the flour and cook stirring constantly until golden brown. Whisk in the milk, cream, and chicken broth. Bring to a simmer and cook until bubbly and think, stir constantly. This should take about 15 minutes. Take the pot off the heat and add the cheeses, stir until melted. Add salt and pepper to your liking.

[*Note - I love really cheesy things, to the point where stings of it are hanging everywhere and you have to try to get it all on the fork. So if you are like me I would actually recommend buying three bags of cheese, add the first two bags, then slowly add the third bag to your liking.]

Stir in the pasta and pour into baking dish.  (7″ x 10.5″ pan should be fine). In a medium bowl combine cheez itz crumbs, panko, parsley, salt and pepper (and cheese if using). Sprinkle over the macaroni. Melt the 4 – 5 Tbs butter and drizzle over the crumb topping.  Cover with tin foil and bake about 20 minutes. Remove the foil and bake for another 10 – 15 minutes.

Makes about 12 – 15 servings

Cherry White Chocolate Chip Cookies

Recipe From: Baking Bites – Cherry White Chocolate Chip Cookies – http://bakingbites.com/2008/12/white-chocolate-cherry-cookies/

Love these! I wish I had some on hand right now for studying, have some huge tests and quizzes next week. The combination of white chocolate and dried cherries is so good. And they are probably a little bit healthier than a chocolate chip cookie. Not a lot, and not that there is anything wrong with chocolate chip, but a little bit healthier is always good.

Cherry White Chocolate Chip Cookies:

1 1/2 cups All-Purpose Flour
1 cup Sugar
1/2 cup softened Unsalted Butter
3/4 Tsp Baking soda
1 Egg
1/4 Tsp Salt
2 Tsp Vanilla Extract
*2/3 cups Dried Cherries
2/3 cups White Chocolate Chips

*I actually ran out of dried cherries because of my previous attempt to make these, but I had some dried cranberries and they worked just as well.

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F. Take 2 cookie sheets and line them with parchment paper for easy clean up.

In a large bowl, beat the butter and the sugar untill creamy. Add in the egg and the vanilla extract. In a seperate bowl wisk together the flour, baking soda, and salt (this is sort of like sifting it). Add the flour mixture to the other mixture in small portions, stilling each portion untill combined. Once the batter is combined and looks thick and dough like, fold in the dried cranberries and white chocolate chips.

Using two spoons, scoop up little balls of dough and drop them on the cookie sheet. Place one cookie sheet on the top rack to the right side, and the other on the lower rack on the left side so they are heated pretty evently. Bake for about 10 – 12 minutes. When finished place them to cool on a wire rack for about 10 minutes.

For me this made 28 cookies.

Herbed Almonds

Adapted from: Cook Like a Champion (Fried Herbed Almonds) – http://www.cooklikeachampionblog.com/2011/11/fried-herbed-almonds.html

I LOVE these almonds! This is huge for me because I am not a nut person, I just don’t care for them. But these have such a great flavor and a good bite to them. I like that they are a little on the strong side. I think I went threw these in about two days because they were so addicting. I’ll have to make more before I go back to school. These would be great for students because they are a lot healthier than what I usually reach for while doing homework *cough* Little Debbies *cough* :/. I highly recommend these for anyone, even those who don’t like almonds normally. They are a nice change for those who are trying to eat a little healthier too. I don’t know about you, I try to eat healthy I really do, but some of the healthy meal options I see offered in my cafeteria or in restaurants are pretty dull sounding to me. These are easy to make and take on the go or have out for parties. These are definitely going into my rotation of recipes I’ll make when I come home.

Herbed Almonds:

Ingredients:

2 – 2 1/4 cup Almonds
2 Tbs Olive Oil
2 Tbs Italian Seasoning
1/2 Tbs McCormick All-Savory Salt Free seasoning
2 Tsp sea salt
1 Tsp black pepper

*Note – These do have a bit of a bite to them, so if your not big on strong flavors I’d play around with the spices and herbs until they are to your taste, starting with small measurments and adding more later.

Directions:

Heat a large skillet to medium heat and add the olive oil. Add all the almonds, stiring constantly so they are evenly coated and don’t burn. I turned down the heat here to about medium low and cooked the almonds about 10 minutes. Transfer the almonds to a baking sheet and add the herbs, salt, and pepper. Store in an air tight container. They will be good for about 2 weeks or so.
* In the container the almonds may lose some of the herbs. I just added a small amount of olive oil in the container and shook it to recoat them.

Makes about 2 – 2 1/4 cups.