Ohhh so yummy Honey Garlic Chicken with a crunch

4 large boneless skinless chicken breasts

 

For the chicken coating:

1 cup flour

1/2 cup Panko bread crumbs

1/2 cup Corn starch 

2 tsp salt

4 tsp black pepper

3 tbsp ground ginger

1 tsp nutmeg

1 tsp ground thyme

2 tbsp paprika

 

Canola oil for frying

 

Egg Wash:

2    eggs

4 tbsp water

 

Honey Garlic Sauce:

1-2 tbsp olive oil

3-4 cloves minced garlic

1 cup honey

1/4 cup soy sauce

1 tsp ground black pepper

1/2 tsp garlic powder

 

 

Directions

 

 

 

 

 

 

Step one: Flatten your chicken breasts to about 1/2 inch thickness. I usually use two breasts and cut them each in half then pound them out.

Step two: Mix together Flour, Panko, Corn starch, Salt, Pepper, Ginger, Thyme, and Paprika.

Also in a small bowl mix together your egg wash.

 

Heat oil in a frying pan, use enough to generously coat the entire bottom of the pan...

 

Once you have your breading and egg wash ready, first, dip chicken into egg wash, followed by breading mixture. From the breading mixture, dip back into the egg wash and once more into the breading mixture. This allows for a better coating and comes out much more crispy.

 

Fry the chicken on medium heat for approximately 4-5 Min per side or until golden brown and crispy. Keep an eye on it because it can go from golden brown to super brown/burnt very quickly.

After it is done place on a paper towel to soak up an extra oil.

 

Now you should also be working on getting the sauce going..

 

Add about 1 tablespoon of oil to a small sauce pan on med/high heat.

 

Add your minced garlic to the sauce pan and allow to soften but not brown.

 

 

After the garlic has cooked a couple minutes go ahead and add the honey, soy sauce, pepper and garlic powder to the sauce pan.

Allow this to simmer for 5-10 min.  *** Keep a very close eye on this because it will foam up and overflow if you do not catch it and stir it in time.

 

Next, place the chicken into a dish that they can all fit in I use a 9x13 pyrex dish.

 

Once the sauce is finished pour entire amount over chicken and move around to evenly coat the chicken.

 

I serve this over rice with some of the sauce drizzled over the top...

 

ENJOY!!!

 

 



Some Damn Fine BBQ Chicken

What you need:

 

Brine:

2 quarts water

1 tablespoons salt

1/4 cup sugar

2 garlic cloves, smashed with the side of a large knife

4 sprigs fresh thyme

6 - 8 Chicken legs / Thighs

 

BBQ Sauce:

1 slice bacon

1 bunch fresh thyme

Extra-virgin olive oil

1/2 onion, chopped

3 - 5 Garlic cloves chopped

2 cups ketchup

1/4 cup brown sugar

1/4 cup molasses

2 tablespoons red or white wine vinegar

1 tablespoon dry mustard

1 teaspoon ground cumin

1 teaspoon smoked paprika if available

Freshly ground black pepper

Optional - Red pepper flakes

Optional - diced jalapeno

 

 

 

For the brine, in a 2 Gal zip-lock bag combine the water, salt, sugar, garlic, and thyme. Add the chicken, close the bag and refrigerate up to 2 hours to allow the salt and seasonings to penetrate the chicken.




About a half hour before your ready to cook the chicken you can start on the BBQ sauce.



First: Wrap the bacon slice around the bunch of thyme, you can stick a toothpick through it to hold it together. Heat about 2 tablespoons of oil in a large saucepan over medium heat. Add the thyme bundle and cook slowly 3 to 4 minutes. Add the onion, garlic, and jalapeno (optional) and cook for about 5 minutes.




At this point I remove the bundle of thyme and set aside. Add the remaining ingredients, whisk together, throw the time bundle back in and cook on low for about 20 min.

Next remove chicken from the brine and pat dry with a paper towel.

Preheat your grill to medium-high heat and once ready wipe grates with olive oil to help keep it non-stick.

 

Arrange chicken pieces on preheated grill without sauce until you see the grill marks appearing in the chicken pieces.

Once this has happened turn the heat to medium and brush the chicken generously with the sauce, one side at a time.

 

Once you have both sides grilled and covered in sauce allow to cook until it's cooked all the way through on the BBQ, or you can preheat your oven to 375 Deg F and cook for another 15 to 20 min.

Comes out delicious every time!!!

Enjoy!!



By far the best way to make brussel sprouts

What you need:

 

Approximately 15 Brussel Sprouts

2-3 Tablespoons of butter

1 Tablespoon Lemon Juice

3-5 Minced Garlic cloves

 

 

First step: cut off the ends from each sprout and slice an X in the bottom of each on as shown above.

 

Step two: After you cut off the bottoms and slice the X throw them in your steamer to cook.

 

You want them to be soft enough to stick a fork in it but not soft enough that when you pick the fork up it slides off. So, basically slightly undercooked.

 

Step three: In a separate frying pan or wok like I used here, add your butter, lemon juice and then brussel sprouts.

Cook on medium-high until they begin to brown slightly on the outside. The little leaves that fall off and crispify are the best part. Allow to brown but not too long to burn the garlic.

 

These are the best brussel sprouts I have ever had; my mother in-law taught me how to make these and I have been making them ever since...

 

Don't be discouraged, sometimes it takes a couple times to get the timing down for the steaming part; over steaming them can cause them to come out a little mushy after frying them up. But after a couple times you should have it down no problem!!!

 

ENJOY!!!

Awesome Steak Marinade

Sorry I didn't get a picture of this but it is still awesome!

What you need:

1 Small onion
7 Garlic cloves
1/2 Cup oil
1/2 Cup Balsamic Vinegar ( or whatever you have on hand as far as vinegar goes)
1/2 Cup Soy Sauce
2 Tbsp. Dijon Mustard
1 Tsp.  Black Pepper
Throw this all in a blender until smooth and add to your steaks.

Marinade for a couple hours and you are good to go!

DELISH!!!

DIY Refurbishing an Awesome Garage Sale Find

Have you ever seen something at a garage sale or a thrift store and love it but it doesn't match your décor or it is just really grungy looking? Well, fix it! Its easier than you think and doesn't take long at all... I found this awesome shelf for $5 at a garage sale recently and fixed it up so it goes fantastically great in my living room and even matches my color scheme and it was all less than $15.

 

Here's the grungy old shelf I saw at a garage sale for $5 and thought, man that could be something totally awesome. Can you see it? If you have a knack for this type of stuff it's easy to see the potential in something even at its worst. If you don't have a knack, that's ok, looking at stuff like this can help you with that and give you more ideas!

 

For my shelf I decided I wanted to have a crackle effect. Don't worry, it's not as hard as it sounds!

First I sanded the whole shelf down to get rid of any rough areas and the possibilities of splinters.

 

Now to begin the paint and crackle effect. For a crackle effect you are going to need two different colors, a base color and a top coat. The base color will be what comes through your top coat in the crackle effect. For mine I chose black for the base and red for the top coat.

For the type of paint the bottom coat doesn't much matter, I used a can of black spray paint. The top coat however needs to be an acrylic for the crackle to work; I happened to have leftover paint from painting an accent wall in my house which worked perfectly!

 

First step: paint your item with the base coat, fairly even coverage but not a huge deal if it isn't perfect that's what gives part of the aged look you get with crackle. Allow the base coat to completely dry.

 

Second step: After the base coat is dry, you can apply the crackle formula. I used Folkart crackle from Michael's craft store and it was about $6. You will brush this on with a paint brush and keep in mind, the thicker you put it on the wider and deeper your crackling will turn out and the thinner you put it on the less the crackle will show through. I chose to do a medium coat, not to heavy and not too thin.

 

 

 

 

After the crackle application is finished and dry you can now apply your final coat, the top coat. Again, with your top coat you don't want to glob it on too thick or the crackle wont be able to break through it. Apply an even coat over the entire piece and as it begins to dry you will start to see the crackle showing through...

Allow your top coat to dry completely and BOOM, you are done and now have an awesome refurbished project just how you like!

BBQed Asparagus!! Heck yes!!

Once you try this you will never go back to the original baking of asparagus!! This is by far the best  ever!!!

Before you begin, cut off about an inch off the bottoms of your asparagus bunch to get rid of the tough part.

Then wash in cool water and pat dry with a towel or paper towel.

 

Coat asparagus lightly with EVOO and sprinkle lightly with garlic powder, salt and pepper.



 

After heating grill, put the asparagus directly onto the grill, no foil or roasting dish necessary.

 

Cook for 3-5 min (doesn't take very long)

Rotate once while cooking to get that grilled flavor and markings all the way around and to keep it from burning.

 

And... there you have it deliciously simple BBQed Asparagus

Try it! You will LOVE it!!!

Did you know that you can grow more green onions from the roots that you normally throw away?!?!?!

Okay, so I know its been a while, but I am back! I am gonna do my best to keep up and add more frequently to this blog I started a while and let slip to the side...

FUN FACT though!! You know when you buy green onions at the store and usually once you get down to the white you throw them away? Well, don't! Keep them, regrow them and save your money!

 

As you can see here, this is the white at the bottom of green onions with the roots.

 

All you have to do is put those roots into some water and you can grow some more!!

 

 

As you can see here, it doesn't have to be full, just enough for the roots to be covered and then set in a window and wait. In a couple days or so you will see the green start sprouting through and there you have it, more green onions without another trip to the store.

Change out the water every so often just to keep it fresh and you can just keep growing and use them as you need them.

 

Update: Here are my green onions, growing away!!!

 

Homemade Chicken Noodle Soup Base

So, this is so easy and is so much better tasting than store bought chicken noodle.

For the base of my soup I always buy a rotisserie chicken from Costco and use whatever chicken I want for another recipe or chicken salad sandwiches.. MMMMM so good

For the base, it is really just a matter of your tastes and what you like and how much of everything you like..

Spices I use:
Basil
Oregano
Italian Seasoning
Thyme
Pepper
Celery Salt
Garlic Powder

Extras for the broth:
Garlic cloves
Chicken bullion
Onion

For the Soup:
Cabbage
Carrots
Celery
Noodles
Rice

First step to make your broth.. Put your rotisserie chicken in one of your large soup pots and fill with warm water until the chicken is completely submerged under water.

Cook on stove anywhere from Med to Med-High - we are wanting to get this to a steady boil.

For my base, while we are bringing the chicken to a boil I cut up one whole onion and add it to the water, up to 10 garlic cloves and about 6 chicken bullion cubes (depends on the size of your pot).

You want to boil this for about an hour: this is one of those things that if you forget about it, its no big deal, the longer it boils the better the flavor and the easier it is to pick apart the chicken.

This is what it looks like while cooking.

After it is done boiling you want to strain everything out of the broth.

Place broth back into your soup pot and continue to keep warm/boiling so you can add your ingredients for your soup.

Allow your chicken to cool before attempting to pull it apart to get your chicken for your soup.

Usually, when it is cooling is when I chop up my carrot, celery, cabbage and add to the broth along with all my spices.

Once your broth and veggies have boiled for about 15 minutes or so I add the noodles and rice (I usually use minute rice, it cooks faster)

Add your chicken as soon as you are finished pulling apart your chicken and it is completely de-boned.

Let all this boil about another 15 minutes until noodles and rice are completely cooked.

 

Serve and Enjoy!!

 

Delicious Freezable Breakfast Burritos

What you need:

Your favorite Cheese

Peeled and Chopped Potatoes

Salsa

Meat Choice (This time I am using diced ham)

Eggs

Tortillas

!!Anything else you desire!!

The awesome thing about these burritos is you can make them how you want, with whatever ingredients you want! This way that I made them is just one simple way to make a delicious on the go quick breakfast. The amount also depends on how many burritos you want to make. With this batch I made 14, my measurements will be for 14.

1. Peel and Chop your potatoes in preparation to fry them up.

Approximately 8 potatoes

2. Crack your eggs into a mixing bowl and whisk until well mixed.

14 Eggs

(I know there are 16 in the picture, but I only used 14)

(Keep in mind, one egg will be equal to about one burrito)

3. Add a couple tablespoons of oil to your fry pan for your potatoes and cook until tender

4. Add two Tablespoons of butter to your pan for the eggs, after melted add eggs and scramble. (Leave slightly less cooked then you normally would, because they will be cooked extra when you reheat these in the microwave)

5. Gather all the ingredients you want to add to your burritos.

I grated about 1 lb of Mild Cheddar Cheese for mine.

6. Lay out your work station, Here We Go!!

The order I layered my burritos

1. Egg

2. Potato

3. Ham

4. Salsa

5. Cheese

Wrap your burritos by folding in both ends and then rolling. Put them on a cookie sheet and put in the freezer until frozen.

After they are frozen, take them out and wrap them individually in foil and then into gallon size zip lock bags and put back into the freezer until you are ready to eat.

 

When you want to eat one, take the foil off and wrap in a paper towel and warm for 2-3 minutes.

ENJOY!!!

Fresh Mango Mud Mask

What you need:

1/2 of a Mango peeled and cut into chunks
2 Tablespoons Oatmeal
2 Tablespoons Almonds
Water

How to do it:

1. First, grind your almonds and oatmeal together to make a fine powder. This will be your mud base.

2. Add your chunks of mango to your base and blend for 1 minute or until completely mixed.

3. Add your water in Tablespoons until you have reached your ideal mud consistency.

4. Smooth the mud mixture over your face and allow to dry for 15 Minutes. After it is completely dry, rinse with warm water and pat your face dry.

Store your leftovers in the fridge to use again!

NOTE: This is ideally done in a food processor or maybe at least the almonds and oatmeal done in a coffee grinder.. It wasnt enough ingredients for my blender to really get it as smooth as I needed it.

Also: I think next time to make it even better I am going to add a tablespoon of honey to the mix, one its great for your skin and two it also helps with holding the mud together!

Hope you Like it!!