(Recipe} Oven-Fried Chicken

When you grow up in the south, fried chicken is a frequent menu item albeit probably not the healthiest menu item… I’ve been making this healthier oven-fried chicken for years.  It’s easy to make with ingredients I usually have on hand and it’s always a hit with my family.  While you can use any chicken cut for this, we tend to go for the drumsticks since they’re easy for my girls to grab and eat.  Delish!

Ingredients:

1/4 cup butter or margarine

1/2 cup all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon paprika

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon pepper

3- to 3 1/2-lb cut-up whole chicken (or cut of your choice)

Instructions:

1. Heat oven to 425°F. Melt butter in 13x9-inch pan in oven.
2. In shallow dish, mix flour, paprika, salt and pepper. Coat chicken with flour mixture. Place chicken, skin sides down, in pan.
3. Bake uncovered 30 minutes. Turn chicken; bake about 30 minutes longer or until juice is clear when thickest part is cut to bone (170°F for breasts; 180°F for thighs and legs).

Enjoy!

{What’s Cookin' Wednesday} Pumpkin Cream Cheese Muffins

The shorter days, the cooler temperatures, and the arrival of fall always makes me yearn for the taste of fall, of pumpkin and cinnamon and nutmeg.  These muffins fit the bill.  The cinnamon sweet topping is a perfect complement to the moist pumpkin muffin, complete with a surprise of a cream cheese filling.  Yum.  And better yet?  They get better with each passing day, making them well worth your culinary effort.  Enjoy!

Pumpkin Cream Cheese Muffins

Yield: 24 muffins
Ingredients: For the filling:
8 oz. cream cheese, softened
1 cup confectioners’ sugar
For the muffins:
3 cups all-purpose flour
1 tsp. ground cinnamon
1 tsp. ground nutmeg
1 tsp. ground cloves
1 tbsp. plus 1 tsp. pumpkin pie spice
1 tsp. salt
1 tsp. baking soda
4 large eggs
2 cups sugar
2 cups pumpkin puree
1¼ cups vegetable oil
For the topping:
½ cup sugar
5 tbsp. flour
1½ tsp. ground cinnamon
4 tbsp. cold unsalted butter, cut into pieces
Directions:
To prepare the filling, combine the cream cheese and confectioners’ sugar in a medium bowl and mix well until blended and smooth.  Transfer the mixture to a piece of plastic wrap and shape into a log about 1½-inches in diameter.  Smooth the plastic wrap tightly around the log, and reinforce with a piece of foil.  Transfer to the freezer and chill until at least slightly firm, at least 2 hours.
To make the muffins, preheat the oven to 350˚ F.  Line muffin pans with paper liners.  In a medium bowl, combine the flour, cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, pumpkin pie spice, salt and baking soda; whisk to blend.  In the bowl of an electric mixer combine the eggs, sugar, pumpkin puree and oil.  Mix on medium-low speed until blended.  With the mixer on low speed, add in the dry ingredients, mixing just until incorporated.
To make the topping, combine the sugar, flour and cinnamon in a small bowl; whisk to blend.  Add in the butter pieces and cut into the dry ingredients with a pastry blender or two forks until the mixture is coarse and crumbly.  Transfer to the refrigerator until ready to use.
To assemble the muffins, fill each muffin well with a small amount of batter, just enough to cover the bottom of the liner (1-2 tablespoons).  Slice the log of cream cheese filling into 24 equal pieces.  Place a slice of the cream cheese mixture into each muffin well.  Divide the remaining batter among the muffin cups, placing on top of the cream cheese to cover completely.  Sprinkle a small amount of the topping mixture over each of the muffin wells.
Bake for 20-25 minutes.  Transfer to a wire rack and let cool completely before serving.  (It may be hard to resist immediate consumption, but the cream cheese filling gets very hot!)

Source:  Annie’s Eats
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{What's Cookin' Wednesday} Lemon-Coconut Pound Cake

Are you ready for the next edition of What's Cookin' Wednesday?  With it being summertime and a holiday weekend, there weren't a whole lot of gourmet meals going on around here... so how about something a little sweet?  I found this recipe in a magazine feature all about pound cakes!  (You better believe I tore out every page...) Enjoy!

Lemon-Coconut Pound Cake

Ingredients:

1/2 cup butter, softened

1 1/3 cups granulated sugar

3 large eggs

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

1/2 tsp. salt

1/8 tsp. baking soda

1/2 cup sour cream

2 tsp. lemon zest

1 cup sweetened flake coconut, divided

1.  Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Beat butter at medium speed with a heavy-duty electric stand mixer until creamy. Gradually add sugar, beating until light & fluffy. Add eggs, one at a time, beating until just blended after each addition.



2.  Stir together flour, salt, and baking soda. Add to butter mixture alternately with sour cream, beginning & ending with flour mixture. Beat at low speed just until blended after each addition. Stir in lemon zest & 1/2 cup coconut. Pour batter into a greased & floured 9×5 inch loaf pan.


3.  Bake at 325 degrees for 1 hour and 5 minutes to 1 hour and 10 minutes or until a long wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool in pan on a wire rack 10 to 15 minutes; remove from pan to wire rack & cool completely (about 1 hour).

Lemon Glaze:

Whisk together 2 cups powdered sugar, 2 Tbsp. milk, and 2 tsp. fresh lemon juice, adding an additional 1 Tbsp. milk, 1 tsp. at a time for desired consistency.

4.  Spoon lemon glaze over cake and sprinkle with coconut.  (For a fancier look, toast large coconut shavings and use those instead!

Enjoy!!

What's Cookin' Wednesday, No.1 {Stacked Enchiladas}

Hi everyone!  This post is going up late tonight as I was having issues with uploading images to Blogger this morning... grr.  Anyhoo, I've decided to start a new weekly feature on home.made.:

 What's Cookin' Wednesday!

I'd been contemplating joining in on the whole WIWW series with Lindsey at The Pleated Poppy when I realized that (a) I "get dressed" every day since I work outside the home so it defeats the whole purpose and (b) there's only one full-length mirror in my house and it's a cheapo so it makes me look larger than life!  Soooo... I decided instead to focus on something else, like cooking for my family.  With busy schedules, it's easy for me to get in a rut with cooking, so my challenge to myself is to try out a new recipe each week and share it with you.  If you're interested in joining the challenge, let me know and I'd be happy to start up a linky party!

First up, Stacked Enchiladas!

Ingredients:

1 package corn tortillas (small)

1 pound ground beef

1/2 white onion, diced

1 15 oz. can diced tomatoes (with or without green chilies)

1 15 oz. can enchilada sauce (I like the mild red sauce)

shredded cheddar cheese

2 T cooking oil

salt and pepper

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. 
2. Heat oil in large pan over medium-high heat.  Add diced onions and saute until nearly transparent, then add ground beef and cook until brown.
3. Drain meat/onion mixture, return to pan.  Reduce heat to medium.  Add salt and pepper to taste and add tomatoes.  Cover and simmer for five to seven minutes.
4. In a 9x12 baking dish, coat the bottom of the dish with a thin layer of enchilada sauce.  Place two corn tortillas on top of the sauce, side by side.  Place large spoonful of meat mixture onto each tortilla, then cover each with a little enchilada sauce and shredded cheese.  Stack another enchilada on top of each stack (similar to lasagna) and repeat three more times.
5. Place the final tortillas on top of each stack, top with enchilada sauce and shredded cheese.
6. Cover dish with foil and bake for 20 minutes.
7. Remove from oven and serve alongside your favorite sides.  Refrigerate and/or freeze leftovers.

Makes: 8 servings (1/4 stacked enchilada=1 serving)

Bon Appetit!