Crispy Pecan Chicken // Baked Ziti

I never seem to be able to find enough ways to make chicken. This week I found a pretty easy weeknight chicken recipe that turned out to be delicious! It's called Crunchy Pecan Chicken. The crunch of the pecans added some nice texture to the chicken, which was good since the chicken itself turned out super tender and soft.

Crunchy Pecan Chicken Tenders

Ingredients:

1 cup Bisquick

1/2 cup finely chopped pecans (I used the pecan bits they sell in the baking aisle)

1 tsp paprika

1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp Creole seasoning
2 lbs chicken tenders
1/2 cup buttermilk
1/4 cup unsalted butter, melted

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350.

2. Combine first 5 ingredients in a medium bowl; stir well. 

3. Dip chicken in buttermilk, dredge in pecan mixture.  Place chicken in an ungreased 9x13-inch pan.  Drizzle butter over chicken.  Bake for 18-20 minutes or until chicken is done.

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I had off from work yesterday, and when I have more time on my hands, I love to use it to cook or bake, so yesterday I decided to make a nice dinner for DJ. I was in the mood for Italian and so I asked what kind of pasta he would like me to make and he chose ziti. I went online to try and find a good recipe and I landed on one from the Food Network's site. It involved making my own marinara sauce which seemed a little intimidating to me at first, but it actually ended up being very easy. The whole recipe called for a lot of fresh ingredients which made all the difference in how the ziti tasted. It was also the first time that I shopped around in the "fancy cheese section" of the grocery store. I have no Italian in my blood that I know of, but buying fresh mozzarella and romano cheese and making my own pasta sauce made me feel just about as close as I ever could be to an Italian. I'm going to share the simple marinara sauce recipe first and then the baked ziti recipe that I used it with...

Baked Ziti

[ Simple Marinara Sauce ]

Ingredients:

2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil

1/4 medium onion, diced (about 3 tablespoons)

3 cloves garlic, chopped

3 1/2 cups whole, peeled, canned tomatoes in puree, (one 28-ounce can), roughly chopped

Sprig of fresh thyme

Sprig of fresh basil

2 teaspoons kosher salt

Freshly ground black pepper

Directions:

1. Heat the oil in a medium saucepan over medium-high heat. Saute the onion and garlic, stirring, until lightly browned, about 3 minutes.

2. Add the tomatoes and the herb sprigs and bring to a boil. Lower the heat and simmer, covered, for 10 minutes.

3. Remove and discard the herb sprigs. Stir in the salt and season with pepper to taste. Use now, or store covered in the refrigerator for up to 3 days, or freeze for up to 2 months.
Yield: about 3 1/2 cups.


[ Baked Ziti ]

Ingredients:

1 pound dried ziti pasta

Kosher salt

3 1/2 cups Simple Marinara Sauce, recipe above

1/2 cup freshly grated Parmesan, divided

1/4 cup grated pecorino romano

1 pound fresh mozzarella, half cut into 1/2-inch cubes and half thinly sliced

Freshly ground black pepper

Pinch of crushed red pepper, or to taste

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F. Bring a large pot of water to a boil, salt generously, and boil the pasta until al dente, tender but still slightly firm. Drain.

2. In a large bowl, toss the cooked pasta with the marinara sauce, 1/4 cup of the Parmesan, the pecorino, and the cubed mozzarella pieces. Season with the black pepper and red pepper to taste, and mix until well combined.

3. Transfer the pasta to an oiled 9- x 13-inch baking dish. Cover the top of the pasta with the sliced mozzarella, and sprinkle with the remaining parmesan. Bake until lightly browned and hot, about 30 minutes. Serve immediately.

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Of course, after making DJ a yummy dinner, I knew that it wouldn't be complete without a yummy dessert. I found this recipe for "Sopapilla Cheesecake" which was easy enough that I knew I would have time to make it even after slaving over the pasta dish. I have a weakness for cinnamon and sugar put together, so this recipe did not disappoint me! We ate some right after it came out of the oven so it was a little gooey and messy but still yummy. I'm going to try it chilled today at some point, whenever it decides to call my name from the fridge.

Sopapilla Cheesecake

Ingredients:
Ingredients:
2 cans pillsbury flaky butter crescent rolls
2  8oz packages cream cheese (softened)
1 cup sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/4 cup butter (melted)
Cinnamon & sugar

Directions:
1. Unroll and spread 1 can crescent rolls on bottom of un-greased pan. (I used a casserole dish a little smaller than a 9x13 pan).
2. Combine softened cream cheese, sugar, and vanilla. Spread mixture over crescent rolls.
3. Unroll and spread remaining crescent rolls over mixture. Spread melted butter over the top and sprinkle with cinnamon and sugar. Bake at 350 degrees for 20-30 minutes.



slacking!

So I've definitely been slacking on posting my new recipe experiments on here, but I really have still been trying new things! One of the most recent things I've tried to make was tortilla shells. I didn't actually intend to make homemade tortillas though. The only reason I did was because the tortilla shells that I had at home were expired and not too soft anymore. So I immediately went to google to try and find the quickest and easiest ways to make some tortillas with stuff that I already had on hand. This is what I found, and I must say that they were pretty delicious:

Soft Tortilla Shells

Ingerdients:

3 cups all-purpose flour 3 teaspoons baking powder 1 teaspoon salt Pinch of sugar (optional) 3 tablespoons vegetable oil (more for softer tortillas) 1 cup water

Instructions: Mix together flour, baking powder, salt, sugar and oil. Add water and mix with hands. Divide into 10 small balls. Roll each flat with rolling pin and cook on very hot ungreased griddle until lightly brown on each side. Makes 10 tortillas. I think next time, I will try rolling them thinner though because these turned out a little thick and heavy. ---------------------------------------------------------------- On Saturday, DJ left for Orlando for a few days, so since I had the house to myself, I decided to have a little girls night. Danielle sugggested that we have breakfast food for dinner so I decided to try and find some new breakfast recipes to try out. I've been wanting to try a french toast casserole since I knew those could be made ahead of time which helps me out a lot when cooking for company. I found this recipe and it turned out really yummy! Overnight French Toast Casserole 

Ingredients:

1 loaf sourdough bread (I used Pepperidge Farm)
8 eggs
2 cups milk (I used 1%)
1/2 cup heavy cream
3/4 cup sugar
2 Tbsp. vanilla

Topping:
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1 tsp. cinnamon
1/4 tsp. salt
1 stick cold butter, cut into pieces

1.  Grease a 9x13 pan with butter.  Tear bread into bite-size chunks and place evenly in the pan.
2.  Mix together the eggs, milk, cream, sugar, and vanilla.  Pour evenly over bread.  Cover tightly and store in the fridge for several hours (You can do this overnight, but mine was probably only in the fridge for about 6 hours)

3.  In a medium bowl mix together the flour, brown sugar, cinnamon, and salt.  Cut in the butter with a pastry blender (I just used two knives) until it all looks nice and crumbly.  Place in a ziploc bag and put in fridge.
4.  When ready to bake, take pan and bag out of fridge.  Remove wrap and evenly sprinkle the crumb mixture over the top.  Bake for 1 hour at 350 degrees (or 45 minutes if you like it more soft and pudding-like).

You can serve this with syrup a powdered sugar and milk glaze, which I'm definitely going to try next time!

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To go with the casserole, I also decided to try making a hashbrown casserole. The recipe I found was good, but I think I will use less hash browns next time. The recipe calls for two pounds of hashbrowns but I think a one pound bag may work better with the recipe since it didn't seem like there was a lot of cheesy goodness for all of the potatoes. Here is the original recipe though:

Cheesy Hashbrown Casserole

Ingredients:
1 2 lb. pkg. frozen Hash Browns
8 oz. Sour cream
1 can cream of chicken soup
1 stick butter
1/2 C. Chopped onion
2 C. grated Cheddar Cheese

 

Directions:

1. Place potatoes in a greased 9×13 inch pan. Season with salt and pepper.

2. Melt butter in the microwave. In a bowl add minced onions, sour cream, and cream of chicken soup, and melted butter. Mix these items together.
3. Pour soup mixture over potatoes; sprinkle with Cheddar Cheese. Bake at 350 degrees for 45 minutes, or until all is completely warm, and the cheese begins to melt.

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Although I didn't take a picture of them, I did make a little "breakfast appetizer" that I loved because it had one of my favorite combinations: cinnamon and sugar! These little cinnamon sugar bites were pretty easy to make. The picture and recipe is from here.

Cinnamon Sugar Breakfast Bites

 

Ingredients:
1-1/3 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup crisp rice cereal, coarsely crushed
2 tablespoons plus 1/2 cup sugar, divided
3 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup butter-flavored shortening
1/2 cup milk
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 cup butter, melted

Directions:
1. Mix flour, crushed cereal, 2 tablespoons sugar, baking powder and salt in large bowl.

2. Cut in shortening with pastry blender or fork until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Add milk and stir just until moistened.
3. Roll dough into approximately 2 1/2 dozen 1 inch balls.

4. Mix cinnamon and remaining sugar in a small bowl. Drop balls into melted butter and roll in cinnamon sugar mixture.

5. Place balls onto greased 8 or 9 inch round pan. Bake at 425 degrees for 15-18 minutes or until inserted toothpick comes out clean. Cool for a few minutes in pan on wire rack before removing.