Thursday, January 29, 2009

Oh, my heavens!

Last night I made Amish Style Oven Fried Chicken that I got from Farmhouse Blessings. It was delicious.

You know what? Delicious just doesn't do it justice. It was the BEST chicken I have ever made and I've made lots of chicken. My husband (who can be a little picky) could not stop raving about it. And my son begged me to make it again this week.

And it wasn't just delicious. It was pretty. Pretty chicken? Yes, pretty chicken. I should have gotten a picture, but after we started eating we couldn't put the chicken down long enough to pick up the camera. The chicken quickly disappeared.

That chicken is going in my permanent recipe box.

I had mashed potatoes and biscuits along with the chicken. I should have made a vegetable, but I was late getting dinner on the table and I was a little flustered. By the time the biscuits were done, we just wanted to eat.

Actually, everything I have made this week has gone over big.

I made Potato Soup on Monday, another recipe from Lea at Farmhouse Blessings.

I'll make an embarrassing confession here. I have NEVER made potato soup. My husband and I will be celebrating our 17th anniversary in September and I am just a few years shy of 40 and I have NEVER made potato soup.

I know it's silly, but I was a little intimidated by making this soup. I thought for sure I was going to mess it up. Actually, I did forget the butter, but the soup was still very good. I think I went a little overboard with the pepper, still it didn't make it bad. The soup was just peppery.

I didn't get biscuits made to go with the soup like I had planned. Next time I think I'm going to make Amish White Bread to go with the soup. I made this bread from Tammy's Recipes on Sunday and it was fantastic. I've used Tammy's recipe for Homemade Wheat Bread before and it always comes out great, but I have never made homemade white bread.The Amish White Bread was simple to make and had a great texture and flavor. The next time I try it I might turn it into rolls rather than a loaf of bread. I think that can easily be done after letting the bread rise the first time by placing three small balls of dough together in a greased muffin cup. After giving it some more time to rise, it should bake into a nice dinner roll. I'll be testing it out the weekend.

I've made chocolate chip muffins twice this week, once on Saturday and again on Tuesday. My son is a big fan of the store bought chocolate chip muffins. You know the overpriced ones that come from the bakery? Well, the recipe I got from Born Blonde was perfect. I thought the batter needed more liquid, but decided to trust her judgment (since she has, you know, actually made the muffins before!). She was right. The batter was perfect. The muffins were delectable!


It's a nice breakfast for my husband and son. I like that my husband can just grab them and go. (He prefers to eat in the car. It makes his 2 hour commute just a bit more tolerable.) I also like that I can fix them the day before and let my son eat them for breakfast. I'm not always in the mood to cook first thing in the morning. This is a good alternative for my son who has never liked breakfasts that are convenient for me. He won't eat cold cereal. Breakfast bars are not his thing. Poptarts are something he can take or leave. Chocolate Chip Muffins? Those are a winner.

I'm going to try these muffins later this week with strawberries instead of the chocolate chips. I think they'll be really good that way too.

So, it's Thursday and it's been one week since my family has eaten dinner out. That's a record, people! I'm still having trouble with lunch ideas for my husband. Here's the scoop. Maybe you can help!

He's not crazy about sandwiches. He'll eat them once in a while, but sandwiches for lunch every day is not something he enjoys. He doesn't have a microwave. Any suggestions? Maybe a thermos that will keep soup or something warm. I've even thought about buying a small microwave and having him take it to work. The cost versus eating out would make the investment worth it, I think.

I'm going to do some more research about it. Leave suggestions, if you have any!

2 comments:

A. said...

Those chocolate chip muffins sound so great! I'll be N. would love them. J loves on the go food for breakfast. I've been making him "egg mcmuffins" and he loves those.

I think soup in a thermos would be great. What about something like crackers, cheese and pepperoni or summer sausage. Or a couple big pepperoni rolls makes a great lunch.

J just takes leftovers but he has a microwave so its easy.

Born Blonde said...

I think I may have to try the Amish chicken recipe. That sounds really good and looks good too.

You might take a peek at Hillbilly Housewife.com for some lunch ideas. I know she has a lot of them but I can't remember if they fit into your parameters or not.

Good luck.