Cookin' chicken in the kitchen

There was a lot of chicken making and eating in the house so far this week. OK, well not a lot, but more than the norm.
One recipe I made for dinner one night was new and super simple and quite delicious.
The other recipe was one that I have been making for years. And it usually just comes out for special occasions … like the Kansas City Royals playing in the World Series for the first time in 29 years.
Sauced ‘n’ simmered dijon chicken

The first recipe I made was another one of Hungry Girl’s creations: sauced ‘n’ simmered dijon chicken.
I was looking for something that was simple with few ingredients. And I just happened to have all the ingredients needed already.
If you are looking for a quick and easy dinner to make this is a good one.
I did alter the recipe because once the chicken was cooked it didn’t look like a lot of food, like the picture did.
Curt asked if we had any rice. And I have the brown rice from Trader Joe’s, which you can throw in the microwave and have hot and ready in three minutes.
I also made some carrots to go along with the meal and even poured a little balsamic vinegar over the carrots for a little tasty pizazz.
The sauce on the chicken was excellent and so simple. If you aren’t a meat eater, I would recommend trying the sauce on tofu. I think it would be rather tasty. (Though I haven’t tried the recipe this way. I may have to at some point.)
Baked “fried” chicken

The second was a recipe I found on the box of Safeway corn flakes years ago for baked “fried” chicken.
I made the baked “fried” chicken because it is one of Curt’s favorites. It tends to come out for certain special sporting events.
I taught a yoga class last night and didn’t get home until close to 9. So I prepared the chicken ahead of time and had The Husband throw the chicken in the oven before I got home from class.
The recipe from Epicurious is very similar to how I make my baked “fried” chicken. But here’s what I did:

• Six drumsticks (you can obviously make more–you will just have to adjust the corn flakes and butter used)
  
• 1 ¹⁄₄ cup of corn flakes crushed
  
• Dash of salt and pepper and red pepper flakes (optional)
  
• 2 tablespoons of egg whites
  
• 1 tablespoon of fat free milk
  
• ¹⁄₈ cup of melted Country Crock spread
  
  

To make these more healthy friendly you can remove the skin from the chicken, which I didn’t do. But I may next time.
I poured the corn flakes into a sandwich baggie and added salt, pepper and red pepper flakes (optional) into the bag. I then crushed the flakes with a rolling pin.
I poured the flakes into one bowl. In a second bowl I added the egg whites and milk. I hardly used any of the egg whites/milk concoction. Just enough the coat the chicken so the corn flakes would stick.
I sprayed Cooking Spray canola oil on a baking sheet. I took each drumstick and rolled it around in the egg whites/milk. Then dipped it in the corn flakes and put it on the baking sheet.
Once all the drumsticks were covered in the corn flakes I melted 2 tablespoons of Country Crock spread and poured a little over each drumstick.
Set the oven at 350 degrees and bake for 45-50 minutes.
Easy to make and marinate chicken breasts

Another easy chicken recipe my mother-in-law shared with me years ago is to marinate chicken breasts in light Italian dressing.
I took a cooking class years ago with my dad, Hilda and Curt in Napa. Our teacher Julie told us most marinades only need to “soak” for an hour.
I like to buy the chicken breast that is frozen and preferably individually packaged. I take one or two breasts out the night before or morning of the day we are planning to have them for dinner.
When I was still working full time I would defrost during the day. I would come home from work and put the chicken breasts into a baggie to marinate in the fridge while I headed to yoga class.
Once I got home I would fire up the George Foreman grill and about 10 minutes later we would have an easy and healthy dinner.
The marinated chicken breast in dressing may seem like a no-brainer to some of you. But to someone like me who is a novice in the kitchen thought it was brilliant and still make chicken this way pretty regularly.
Make sure to check out the Recipes tab for information on these recipes and others as well.
So there you go, cookin’ chicken in the kitchen. Happy Wednesday!