Chicken Nuggets

Today I made this easy, delicious Chicken Nuggets recipe while my boys were napping. I used 3 chicken breasts. I didn't cut them into nuggets, I cut them into strips/smaller pieces of chicken. I did not add the seasoned salt to the flour mixture and I fried them in much less oil, but otherwise followed the directions. I think what made this chicken so good was coating the chicken in the flour mixture, egg wash, and breadcrumbs. Don't omit one of those! I ended up with 2 skillets full of chicken.

This is a great recipe for kids and adults. My boys loved them! Luckily there was plenty leftover for dinner tomorrow night, too!

Chicken Nuggets

Recipe courtesy Ree Drummond

1 cup all-purpose flour

1 Tablespoon seasoned salt

Salt and freshly ground black pepper

2 large eggs

2 cups seasoned breadcrumbs

2 chicken breasts, cut into small pieces

Vegetable oil, for frying

Ketchup, for serving

In a plastic bag, mix the flour, seasoned salt and some salt and pepper. In a bowl, mix the eggs with 2 tablespoons water. In a separate bowl, add the breadcrumbs.

Shake the chicken pieces in the bag to coat. In batches, dip them in the egg wash, then in the breadcrumbs.

Heat about 2 inches of vegetable oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat until a few breadcrumbs dropped in the oil start to sizzle immediately. Fry the chicken, in batches if needed, until golden brown and cooked through, a couple minutes per side. Drain on a paper towel and serve with ketchup.

Makes 2-4 servings.

Giada's Pizza Dough

A few years ago I posted a recipe for Bobby Flay's Pizza Dough, but I haven't made it in a long time. As someone who enjoys cooking and baking and always prefers homemade food over store-bought, I'm a bit ashamed to say my husband and I have been using store-bought dough lately, since life has been a bit hectic in our house (especially dinnertime). I ran into my cousin Christine yesterday and she told me that she makes Giada's Pizza Dough regularly, so I decided to give it a try last night. This recipe is very simple and quite delicious. It reminded me a lot of my grandmother's pizza, but took a lot less time to make since it's for just 1 pizza and not 12! This was the first time I made homemade pizza for my 1-year-old twins, and they approved! I kept it simple for them and made half of it with sausage and half of it with cheese. I froze most of the remaining pizza slices, wrapped individually, as an easy lunch or dinner option for them.

I started the dough around 2:00 pm after putting my boys down for their naps. The timing worked out perfectly so that I was able to spread the dough in the pizza pan (coated with olive oil first), put the sauce and toppings on, and bake it in time to be ready for their 6:00 pm dinnertime.

For the sauce, I just stirred some basil, oregano, salt and pepper together with an 8-ounce can of tomato sauce and spread it on the dough, then added my sausage and shredded mozzarella, and topped with grated cheese. I baked it at 425 degrees for 15-20 minutes.

If you're looking for a pizza dough recipe for just a few people, this is a great one to try. You can also easily double the recipe. I made it in a jelly roll pan and it fit perfectly (per my cousin's suggestion). Next time I will try it in 1 or 2 round pizza pans (edit: I've also made a double recipe and gotten either 2 or 3 14" round pizzas out of it - see pics below! I personally think it is a bit too much dough for 2 pizzas so I usually make 3).

I hope to get back to making pizza on a regular basis, and will definitely be making this recipe again soon!

Edit January 2022: I made this pizza tonight using Anna 00 Flour. I had never used 00 Flour before so I was interested to see the difference (I usually use King Arthur All-Purpose Flour). The dough was very easy to spread. I usually spread the dough a bit, then let it rest, and then finish spreading it later on. I was able to spread the dough completely out on the first try. As usual, I made 3 pizzas with a double recipe. The pizza once it was baked had a very thin crust, but it was delicious! I actually think this was the best pizza I've made.

Edit April 2023: Today I made 4 recipes of dough which made 6 pizzas. This is probably the max amount of recipes I could make at one time in my larger 6-qt. KitchenAid mixer. I'm still using the Anna 00 Flour and the pizzas were so delicious!

Giada’s Famous Pizza Dough

Recipe Courtesy Giada De Laurentiis

1 cup warm water

1 teaspoon active dry yeast

1 teaspoon honey

2¼ cups all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon kosher salt

Extra virgin olive oil

To the warm water, add the yeast and honey. Stir to dissolve. Allow the mixture to sit for 3 minutes to make sure the yeast is alive. It should foam and start to bubble.

Place the flour and salt in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with a dough hook. Add the yeast mixture and mix on low speed until the mixture starts to come together. Turn the speed up to medium and mix for 8 minutes. The dough should start to pull away from the sides but still remain soft and slightly sticky at the bottom of the bowl. Add an extra tablespoon of flour if needed.

Coat your hands in a bit of olive oil and form the dough into a ball. Place the dough in a bowl that is coated in olive oil. Cover with a towel and allow to sit in a warm place for 1 hour or until doubled in size.

Knock down the dough and cut into 4 equal pieces if making small pizzas or simply reform into a ball and allow the dough to proof for an additional 1 hour.

The dough is now ready to use.

Serves 4.