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 our 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), but I normally make a double recipe and get 3 14" round pizzas out of it - see pics below! I personally think it is a bit too much dough for 2 round pizzas so I make 3, but my sister prefers thicker crust and makes 2.

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 separate the dough, shape it into round balls and let it rest on the oiled pizza pans for a few minutes, then spread the dough a bit, then let it rest for a few minutes, and then finish spreading it. I was able to spread the dough completely out on the first try. As usual, I made 3 pizzas with a double recipe. Once the pizza was baked it 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!

Edit November 2024: If you don't want to use honey, you can use 1 teaspoon of sugar in its place. I also usually need to add more flour than the recipe calls for, about 1/4 cup to 1/2 cup extra per recipe. I've been making this recipe often for years now and it's my favorite recipe to make!

Bake at 450 degrees for 10-12 minutes and enjoy!

Giada’s Famous Pizza Dough

Recipe Courtesy Giada De Laurentiis

 

This is one of Giada’s most beloved recipes: her go-to famous pizza dough. It’s so easy to whip up, and turns out beautifully every time.

 

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.

 

For basic cooking instructions, roll the pizza dough out on a floured surface to your desired thickness. Transfer the dough to a baking sheet or pizza peel, and top with your favorite toppings. Bake at 500° for about 8 to 10 minutes, or until crisp and golden brown. Drizzle the crust with extra olive oil if desired. Slice and serve hot.

 

Serves 4.

Thicker crust when I used to use King Arthur All Purpose flour

Great recipe to make with kids!

Thinner crust using Anna 00 Flour - my preferred way!

Double recipe for 3 14" pizzas

Sour Cream Chip Muffins

It's been a long time since I've posted a recipe on here...a really long time. I had twin boys four months ago and haven't cooked or baked anything in a while, until today! My sister Maria recently made this Sour Cream Chip Muffin Recipe and sent a few of them to me. To be honest, I don't usually like chocolate chips in muffins (even though I love chocolate), so I wasn't expecting to like them that much. I usually prefer blueberry muffins. But, these were amazing! I've been wanting more ever since! She sent me the recipe and I had a short window of time today to make them. Luckily, this recipe is very simple - you don't even need a mixer for it. The only change to the original recipe I made is that I used mini chocolate chips and used less. I doubled the recipe so I could use all of my 16-ounce container of sour cream, and I'll individually wrap and freeze most of the two dozen muffins that I made so I can take them out of the freezer whenever I want one! If you love muffins or baking for others that do, give this recipe a try.

Sour Cream Chip Muffins

Recipe courtesy “Taste of Home” Website

1½ cups all-purpose flour

2/3 cup sugar

¾ teaspoon baking powder

¾ teaspoon baking soda

¼ teaspoon salt

1 large egg

1 cup (8 ounces) sour cream

5 Tablespoons butter, melted

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

½ cup mini semisweet chocolate chips
 

In a large bowl, combine the flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Combine the egg, sour cream, butter and vanilla. Stir into dry ingredients just until moistened. Fold in chocolate chips.

Fill greased or paper-lined muffin cups three-fourths full. Bake at 350° for 18-20 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool for 5 minutes before removing from pan to a wire rack.

Yield: 1 dozen.

Easy Restaurant-Style Blender Salsa

Last Friday I stopped by my sister Paula's house and she had just made salsa in her blender that was delicious. The bowl of salsa she put on the table with chips was quickly gone - luckily she had more in the fridge. She sent me the recipe and I tried it yesterday. I used 2 jalapeños and 3 key limes to get the right amount of lime juice. It is so simple to make and tastes much better than any store-bought salsa. It also tastes really good with Multigrain tortilla chips. Give it a try!

Update January 2023: I made two recipes of this today. I used 1 jalapeño in each recipe and 2 limes total gave me the perfect amount of lime juice for both recipes. One recipe fills a Ball Wide Mouth 1 quart/32 ounce Glass Canning Jar with a little bit left over (the perfect amount to eat right then!). 

Easy Restaurant-Style Blender Salsa

Recipe courtesy Averie Cooks Blog

1 28-ounce can whole, peeled plum tomatoes, including juice

1 small yellow onion, peeled and roughly chopped

1 or 2 jalapeño peppers, de-stemmed and roughly chopped (remove seeds to greatly reduce heat level)

3 cloves garlic, peeled and finely chopped

1½ teaspoons ground cumin, or to taste

1½ teaspoons salt, or to taste (remember some brands of tomatoes and chips are much saltier than others)

¼ to 1 teaspoon granulated sugar, optional and to taste (balances the heat and tomato acidity; start with less and add more if necessary; careful not to over-sweeten)

1 or 2 handfuls cilantro leaves, discard stems

3 Tablespoons lime juice

Tortilla chips, for serving

Add all ingredients to the canister of a blender or food processor in the order listed. Pulse or blend on high power until texture is as smooth as desired.

Taste the salsa and tweak as necessary based on personal preference.

Transfer to airtight container and serve immediately with chips, or refrigerate salsa for 1 day prior to serving as the flavor improves on the second and third day. Salsa will likely keep up to 1 week airtight in the fridge.

Makes about 4 cups.

Photos from January 2023:

Pecan Sandies

A few days ago I made an Amish Sugar Cookie recipe with a few changes based on reviews I read, and decided to make them into Pecan Sandies the next day. These were delicious! I did not refrigerate the dough since I was not rolling these out, but you certainly can if you want to. This recipe was so simple to make, and took no time at all. I apologize for the iPhone photos, but I was in a hurry and didn't use my camera for this recipe.

Like most of the other cookie recipes I've made, one recipe fits perfectly in a 1-gallon rectangular container for easy freezing - just put plastic wrap in between the layers of cookies. These are a great price considering that you can use them over and over again. I just stocked up since I only had one container before. Now I have 5 containers full of cookies in my freezer that I will take out and put on trays on the day of the party.

If you like pecans and shortbread cookies, give this recipe a try. Pecan Sandies used to be the only kind of store-bought cookies I would eat. Now I won't be tempted to buy them any more!

Pecan Sandies

1 cup butter, softened

1 cup Crisco

½ cup granulated sugar

½ cup packed brown sugar

1 cup powdered sugar

2 eggs, room temperature

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

4½ cups all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon cream of tartar

1 teaspoon salt

2 cups toasted pecans, finely chopped

To toast pecans, spread them in a baking pan and bake at 350° until golden brown, about 6-10 minutes, stirring often. Once cooled, chop them finely in a food processor.

In a large bowl or the bowl of a stand mixer, beat the butter, Crisco and sugars. Beat in eggs until well blended. Beat in vanilla. Combine the flour, baking soda, cream of tartar, and salt; gradually add to creamed mixture. Stir in pecans. Refrigerate dough for at least 2 hours (optional).

Drop by small teaspoonfuls onto ungreased baking sheets. Flatten slightly with the bottom of a glass, if desired, or push a pecan half into the center of the cookies before baking (optional).

Bake at 350° for 8-11 minutes or until lightly browned – do not overbake! Remove to wire racks to cool.

Yield: about 5 dozen.

 

Amish Sugar Cookies

A few days ago I was looking for different "drop cookie" recipes and came across an Amish Sugar Cookie recipe that intrigued me. I love sugar cookies, but sometimes refrigerating the dough, rolling it into balls and then rolling them in sugar is a little too time-consuming. This week I am making several types of cookies for my husband's deployment welcome home party, and was looking for simple recipes that I could make after work, so I decided to give this one a try!

I read a lot of reviews on this recipe and made some changes to the original one I found online. Some people said the cookies had a strange taste that could be from the oil and were greasy, so I decided to use Crisco in place of vegetable oil (you can also use butter-flavored Crisco but I did not have that). I use the Crisco baking sticks for baking now as they are much easier to use than measuring out Crisco. My powdered sugar was a bit lumpy so I sifted it. Some reviews said the cookies were bland, so I used more vanilla than called for (the recipe says 1 teaspoon but I used 2 teaspoons). Some reviews also suggested either substituting or adding other extracts - my personal preferences would be either lemon or almond. I added 1 teaspoon of almond extract in addition to the vanilla. I also added 1 teaspoon of salt to the recipe as some people said it was needed. The reviews said to be careful not to over-bake, so I baked these at 350° instead of 375° just to be safe, since my oven is a bit temperamental. After about 10 minutes I just watched them closely until they were done.

This dough is soft and can be refrigerated for easier handling, but since the dough is not being rolled that is not necessary. I refrigerated it overnight just so I could bake these right when I got home from work the next day.

Some reviewers suggested slightly flattening the cookies with the bottom of a glass dipped in sugar (flatten the first cookie with the glass and then dip it in sugar so it sticks). Other reviewers simply sprinkled some sugar on top of the cookie dough. Since I was looking for an easy recipe, I baked them without doing anything additional - just used my small cookie scoop to make the same size cookies and stuck them in the oven! But when they came out they looked very plain, so I sprinkled a bit of sugar on top of each cookie. 

These are more of a crumbly cookie, similar to a shortbread, than a soft sugar cookie. To me that means adding pecans would turn these into delicious Pecan Sandies! See my next post for that recipe!

All in all, the cookies tasted good, but didn't look too great. I think I will stick to making rolled out sugar cookies for that reason if I am bringing them to a party and want them to look nice, but for just making and eating at home, this is a great recipe!

Amish Sugar Cookies

1 cup butter, softened

1 cup Crisco

1 cup granulated sugar

1 cup powdered sugar

2 eggs, room temperature

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

1 teaspoon lemon or almond extract (optional)

4½ cups all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon cream of tartar

1 teaspoon salt

In a large bowl or the bowl of a stand mixer, beat the butter, Crisco and sugars. Beat in eggs until well blended. Beat in vanilla and other desired extracts. Combine the flour, baking soda, cream of tartar, and salt; gradually add to creamed mixture. Refrigerate dough for at least 2 hours (optional).

Drop by small teaspoonfuls onto ungreased baking sheets. Flatten slightly with the bottom of a glass dipped in sugar, if desired.

Bake at 350° for 8-11 minutes or until lightly browned – do not overbake! Remove to wire racks to cool.

Yield: about 5 dozen.

NOTE: These make a crumbly cookie, not a soft sugar cookie.

To make these Pecan Sandies: Substitute 1 cup of granulated sugar with ½ cup granulated sugar and ½ cup packed brown sugar. Only use vanilla extract (no lemon or almond). Toast the whole pecans first for better flavor. Sir 2 cups finely chopped toasted pecans in to batter. Push a pecan half into the center of the cookies before baking (optional).