Southern-Style Oven Fried Chicken

Today I am featuring a recipe that I originally got from a Weight Watchers cookbook years ago that I have modified. The original recipe calls for red pepper but I use fresh ground black pepper instead. I have made this many times and it is one of my favorite entrees. 

I have been a lifetime member of Weight Watchers for over 20 years but I followed a pattern where I would lose about 15 pounds and then I would get off track and gain it all back. I did this for years. Then in early November 2013 as I thought about the approaching holidays, and about the challenge of trying to control my weight, I decided to go back to Weight Watchers and I was determined to lose and not gain for that holiday season. I went back on November 7 of that year and now for the first time in years, I have my weight below the goal weight that Weight Watchers has for me. To help keep me focused on keeping the weight off, I still attend regular Weight Watcher's meetings. I also stay active by walking outside when the weather allows and I walk/run on my treadmill. The walking and working out on the treadmill became great therapy for me after losing my husband to pancreatic cancer. 

What you will need:

Four 6-ounce skinless bone-in chicken breast halves

1/4 Cup lowfat buttermilk or (I use 1 teaspoon vinegar added to 1/4 cup milk)

2 1/4 ounces yellow cornmeal

1/4 cup chopped parsley or parsley flakes

3 tablespoons all-purpose flour

3/4 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon fresh ground black pepper (You can use red pepper if you like)

Olive oil or vegetable oil

Directions:

Preheat oven to 375.

Place the chicken in a large baking dish. Pour the buttermilk or milk mixture over the chicken. Turn the chicken to make sure all parts get moistened with with the milk so that the cornmeal mixture will stick better to the chicken. 

In a large plastic bag (I used a gallon zip bag) combine cornmeal, parsley, flour, salt and pepper, and shake to mix well. One at a time, place the milk-soaked chicken breast halves in the bag and shake until evenly coated.

In a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat, warm the oil until hot. Add the chicken, skinned-side down, and cook just until browned on one side, about 4 minutes.

Return the chicken to the baking dish, skinned-side up. Drizzle with any remaining oil in the skillet. Bake for 45 minutes, or until cooked through.

Enjoy!

This entree is great served with mashed potatoes and green beans or just with a salad.

Mini Cheesecakes

Today I am sharing one of my family's favorite recipes, mini cheesecakes, which are very easy and fun to make. The original recipe came from Nestle to be used with Nestle Swirled real semi-sweet & white chocolate morsels, but for the last few years, I have not been able to find the Swirled chocolate chips so I have just used either regular chocolate chips or a mixture of white chocolate chips and regular chocolate chips. After a few times of making them with the chocolate chips, I started making some using cherry pie filling instead of the chocolate chips. My family liked them with the cherry pie filling so much that now when I make them I do half of the cheesecakes using chocolate chips and the other half cherry pie filling. This recipe will make a total of 36 mini cheesecakes. The chocolate chips that I used today are Private Selection Milk Chocolate Chips. The original recipe for this was given to me by my good friend Missy.

Here is what you will need:

36 vanilla wafers

Chocolate chips of your choice

3 packages (8 oz. each) cream cheese, softened

3/4 cup granulated sugar

3 tablespoons all-purpose flour

3 large eggs

1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Foil baking cups (The 2-layer kind that have the foil on the outside and paper liner on the inside)
1 can cherry pie filling (optional)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Directions for mini cheesecakes with chocolate chips:

Place 36  2-inch foil bake cups on baking sheet(s) with sides. Place 1 vanilla wafer, flat-side down, on bottom of each cup. Place 5 or 6 chocolate chips of choice on top of the vanilla wafer.

Beat the cream cheese, sugar and flour in large mixer bowl until creamy. Add eggs and vanilla extract; beat well. Spoon a heaping tablespoon of cream cheese mixture into each bake cup, covering the vanilla wafer and chocolate chips.

Bake for 15 to 17 minutes or until just set and not browned. Remove from oven to wire rack. While still warm, top cheesecakes with a few more chocolate chips of choice. The morsels will soften but will retain shape. Cool completely. Cover and refrigerate.

Directions for the cheesecakes with Cherry Pie Filling:

Do all the same as above, except place about a tablespoon of the pie filling on top of the vanilla wafers in the foil cup, then put the cheesecake filling on top to cover, and then add another tablespoon of cherry pie filling on top. On the ones with cherry pie filling, all of the pie filling gets put on before baking, whereas on the chocolate chip cheesecakes you add the top chocolate chips after they come out of the oven.

Enjoy!

Porcupine Meatballs

What to have for dinner? That is always a challenging question for me but usually once I figure out the entree the rest is pretty easy.

Today I am featuring an entree that I have been making for years, although it had been awhile since I had made them.

I got this recipe from a cookbook that I bought years ago called Lowfat Country Cooking by Taste of Home,  but I have made some changes to the recipe. For one thing, I have tripled the original recipe. I like to have plenty for my family and possibly some leftovers too. I was making these for my entire family: 2 daughters, 2 son-in-laws, 3 grandchildren and myself so I needed plenty and my motto in cooking is that I would rather have too much than not enough. You can always use leftovers and these are just as good the 2nd and 3rd day as the first day.

The recipe as I prepare it:

For the Meatballs:

Mix the following ingredients together in a large bowl:

1 1/2 cups uncooked long grain white rice

(do not use brown rice for this recipe)

1 1/2 cups water

3/4 to 1 cup chopped onions

3/4 teaspoons salt (the original recipe calls for celery salt but I use regular salt)

3/8 teaspoon pepper

3/8 teaspoon garlic powder

3 pounds ground beef or ground round

Once you have all of the rice, water, onion, salt, pepper, garlic powder and ground beef mixed well, shape the meat mixture into meatballs. Be sure to use regular white uncooked long grain rice for this recipe. I have always used the white rice before, but I thought I would try this recipe using brown rice to add more nutritional value to it, but I will not do that again. While they tasted great as always, the brown rice in the meatballs did not get as tender as the white rice always has all the times I have made these before. So you can learn from my mistake. Stick to the white rice for this recipe.

Once you have shaped all of the meatballs, spray 2 large skillets or pans with cooking spray. It usually takes 2 pans to hold them all. Once the skillets are hot, cook the meatballs, turning them as needed, until they are all evenly browned and no longer pink inside. Drain excess liquid and grease from the meatballs.

You are now ready to add the sauce that the meatballs will simmer in:

For the sauce mix together in a large bowl:

3 (15-ounce) cans tomato sauce

3 cups water

6 tablespoons brown sugar

6 teaspoons Worcestershire sauce

Once the sauce is mixed, pour the sauce over the meatballs in the skillets. Cover the skillets with a lid or foil and lower the heat so that they will just simmer covered at a low boil and not a rapid boil. Continue to simmer the meatballs in the sauce until the sauce thickens, usually about an hour.  

Once the meatballs have simmered for about an hour and the sauce has thickened, I transfer all of the meatballs to a large bowl and allow to cool for about 10 minutes or so before serving them. These are great with just a salad, or with mashed potatoes and green beans.

Enjoy!