Ranch Chicken

Here's a recipe I hope to make a video of : )

RANCH CHICKEN!

This chicken is easy! It has a tastey breading and the chicken gets nice and moist ^___^

While flipping through my very first cook book of all time, Betty Crocker's Cooking Basics. They show this really simple tastey looking breaded chicken, using ranch. Well first off tried this recipes a few times word for word....easy thing to say now is that it failed, MISERABLY.

There was never enough oil to cook all the chicken and things just didn't cut it measurement wise.

So here's my rendition of Ranch Chicken.
The parental approval went through the roof, yay!

Ok so here's how you start:

Ingredients:
4 skinless boneless chicken breasts

Note: If you're like me and shop at Sam's Club (Hey bulk meat is cheap!) and you buy the Sam's Club brand for chicken breasts you will only need two breasts....reason? They're freakin' HUGE! I now believe in growth hormone filled chicken because I seriously want to see the size of the chicken that had that size of a breast!

1 cup of ranch dressing (choose your favorite brand, I used hidden valley and have extra just incase)
1-2 eggs
2 cups of italian seasoned bread crumbs (with extra just incase you are messy like me and run out)
vegetable oil for frying.

First cut your chicken lengthwise into strips, yes we're making them chicken strip style plus it shortens cooking time.

Once that's done, in a frying pan add the oil I'd say until it's about 1-2 inches deeps and let that heat up really well. I usually heat it up on high.

Now take your eggs, crack them open and whisk away. Once they're beaten add your ranch.
On a paper plate spread out the breadcrumbs.
Now dip the chicken strip in the ranch concoction, until it's well coated, then cover it with breadcrumbs.
I personally suggest to prep all the chicken first before frying anything. It makes life easier.

Now once your oil is heated nicely turn it down to about medium to medium low. Add some of your chicken strips. I tend to cook each side for about 5-6 minutes. So when the first five minutes  are up flip them over and cook for another five.

Once it's done you can cut into it a little bit to check for any pink center. There should not be any. Be smart DO NOT eat pink chicken meat!

Dry the chicken off with paper towels or let it drain on a rack.

These go nicely with either mac n' cheese or mashed potatoes.

Let me know what you think!
Hope to make a video of this soon : )
Because if you're like me you do better with visuals

Ginger Garlic Rice + Turkey Rice

Ok I have a weak point for carbs...hell what chubby girl doesn't it's always carbs and chocolate....don't you just wish these food groups were low in calorie and good for you --; I WISH!

I personally love rice, long grain, short grain, sushi/medium grain, basmati, jasmine, yellow, brown, you got rice? and I'll tell you I love it.

Here's a nice way to jazz up your rice and not add a ton of extra calories to it (YAY! woot! no extra empty calories YAY!)

First you'll need a rice cooker, yes as much as I'm all for doing rice like my grandma in Brazil I just prefer the easy way that and while you're cooking rice you can steam veggies : ) it's a win win!

Ingredients:
2 cups of rice
1 clove of garlic
about a thumb nail sized piece of peeled fresh ginger
1 Teaspoon of olive oil

In your rice cooker put in the rice and add double the water, so two cups of rice equals four cups of water.
Then add in your oil. Chop up the garlic and ginger and add to the rice, give a quick stir to make sure it spreads out in the water. And cook like you normally would.

When i'ts done you have tastey fragrant rice.

I also like to steam vegetables to mix in with it.
I tend to use broccoli or green beans.

A fun recipe I experimented with today was something I'm just going to call Turkey Rice.
It was good, I'm thinking of making a few alterations but here's what I did if you want to try my first experiment with this recipe:

First make the rice recipe above.

Then you'll need:

1 turkey breast filet

(no, not that giant breast you see in the freezer that feeds a whole family, I'm talking the kind you see by the chicken and beef by a brand like perdue that you can easily cook up in a frying pan for dinner for one to two people)

5 mushrooms diced into very small pieces
1 onion diced
1-2 Tablespoons of white wine or even mirin (sweetened sake) to coat
1 teaspoon of rubbed sage
white or black pepper (about 1/8th teaspoon)
olive oil
1 teaspoon parsley flakes

Chop up your turkey into tiny pieces, pretty much dice it. Then coat with your wine/mirin and cook in a pan with some olive oil. Once you know it's completely cooked and it's starting to get a nice golden brown color on the outside add your mushrooms and onions and sautee until they're soft. Add about 1 teaspoon of parsley flakes.

Once this is done you can add your cooked rice to it and mix it up nicely.

Then you're done it's a one dish meal for your whole family!

Should feed 3 to four people.

Since I live at home with my parents they're my personal judges. Thankfully they're brutally honest and will tell me when something is just plain terrible.

Their votes were as follows:
Mom: Liked it and will eat again
Dad: It was ok, would eat it again but thinks it needs a little something extra

So he and I think it either needs something spicey such as a bit of red pepper flakes or some sour contrast such as using the juice of a fresh lemon or lime

Try it out and tell me what you think! : )

Shop Plans

I'm trying to think of things to make to start up my shop in Etsy.com

Does anyone have any ideas? What do you the public want?

I do :

Amigurumi
Knitting (Blankets, scarves)
Crochet (Blankets, miscellanious)
Woodburning

Are there any motifs you want?
Do you follow a certain movie, game or book and want something inspired by it?
Lord of the Rings
Phantom of the Opera
Harry Potter
Nightmare Before Christmas
Legend of Zelda
Castlevania
etc??

Please let me know, the more you tell me the more I know how to please you my customers : )

I want to have happy shoppers!

Arroz Doce/Rice Pudding

Ok this is a recipe I got from Dellalo.com Their recipe was for Rice pudding and strawberries but I just used the Rice pudding part Plus made a few alterations because the measurements they gave for the liquids weren't enough and left the rice a bit tough still.

Rice pudding should be creamy, sweet, and soft.
It's also a nice cheap treat for those of us who are watching our cash flow.

You'll need:

3 cups of whole milk
6 tablespoons of sugar
1 cinnamon stick
1/2 cup of arborio rice
Note: You can pretty much use any kind of rice but I think Arborio helps make the pudding creamier.
Pinch of salt
1-1 1/2 cups of water

In a pot bring water and milk to a boil. Add all the other ingredients and cook for about forty minutes. Stir frequently or you'll end up with the milk burnt and stuck to the bottom of the pan....which I might add from experience is NOT fun to clean! Also watch the pudding cook, if it seems the rice is still too tough and there's little liquid left add a tiny bit more of milk to it. Also adjust the taste of the sugar if it seems to not be sweet enough.

To check if it's done just taste a little bit of it, it should be creamy and the rice nice and soft maybe even close to mushy if you prefer it that way.

For fun half way through add some raisins and let them cook with the pudding. It'll add some extra flavor to it.
If serving at a little get together put them in their own small individual serving dishes and sprinkle cinnamon on top : )
Hope you give this a try!

Foamy the Squirrel Plans

Ok I'm planning a crochet project. Which means I'm trying to find various patterns to make something I want, which I might add is a pain in the rear.

Idea: Make a crochet amigurumi of Foamy the Squirrel or Pill-zee

For those of you who don't know what this is it's a comic/cartoon made by Jonathan Ian Mathers.
Foamy is a ranty squirrel who drops f-bombs constantly in his cartoons and yet is capable of pointing out truths and things many people don't have the courage to say. It's a bizarre cartoon but for some reason I can't help but watch.

For those of you who are young or have young children DO NOT watch these or near children. It's highly inappropriate contains highly sexual and profane content. Just a warning. But for those of you who are of age and are going to be curious watch away. Maybe you too will become part of the Foaminian Cult (joke, watch show to understand reference)

So the idea mostly is first to attempt to make Pill-zee the cute pill popping glasses wearing, hypochondriac with so many mental problems it becomes hilarious.

So far I found a nice pattern on etsy for the tail ^___^ progress is looking good!

Once I start this I'll take pictures. And hopefully can get a pattern out for people who want a foamy or pill-zee of their own...and maybe in the future I can do a bedly (don't think is writing his name correctly) which  is the British squirrel : )

Comment let me know what you think

Does anyone have any requests recipes? drinks? Crochet or Knitting Requests??


COMING SOON TO A YOUTUBE NEAR YOU!!!

A Video on Crochet or Knitting symbols. All hail those who can read universal charts!!!

Have a great day/night everyone!