Friday, September 9, 2011

September 9, 2011

Another week has come and gone; blueberries are in season, so we tried 2 different blueberry muffin recipes. Both were pretty good, but neither earned "keeper" status. Each was close, so I think I will keep working on it, but for now, don't have a great recipe to share. Maybe the ingredients from this one, and the technique from that one...you get the idea. What I do have this week are french toast and chicken recipes to share.

That's right! You may recall that we've tried 2 different overnight french toast recipes this past year, and didn't like either. It turns out my family just loves french toast made on the spot and not as a casserole. So, I found a great recipe which was a step up from the usual way I made it in the past, and bam! We loved it! It isn't hard, so you should give it a go. I loved it using raisin bread, the kids loved it with whole wheat. If you have left over french bread, try it with that. The recipe will work with whatever kind of bread you love or have on hand.

The other recipe we LOVED this week was Garlic Lime chicken. It was quick and easy to make, and was delicious! However, as we were eating it, my husband asked me again what the name of the recipe was, and he commented that he didn't really taste the garlic or the lime as the primary flavors. So, we renamed it Juicy Weeknight Skillet Chicken, but you can call it whatever you'd like. I did taste the lime more than anything, but hey, it was a "keeper" no matter what we call it. I hope you give it a try and enjoy it, too!

New Recipes
Juicy Weeknight Skillet Chicken
French Toast

Juicy Weeknight Skillet Chicken (aka, Garlic Lime Chicken)




Ingredients

* 1 tsp salt
* 1 tsp pepper
* 1/4 tsp cayenne pepper
* 1/4 tsp paprika
* 1 tsp garlic powder
* 1/2 tsp onion powder
* 1/2 tsp thyme
* 6 boneless skinless chicken breasts
* 2 tbsp butter
* 2 tbsp olive oil
* 1/2 cup chicken broth
* Juice of 2 limes

Directions

1. In a bowl, mix together first 7 ingredients. Sprinkle mixture on both sides of chicken breasts.
2. In a skillet heat butter and olive oil together over medium high heat.
3. Saute chicken until golden brown, about 5 minutes on each side.
4. Remove the chicken and keep warm.
5. Turn down the heat, add the lime juice and chicken broth to the pan, whisking up the browned bits off the bottom of the skillet. Keep cooking until sauce has reduced slightly. Either add the chicken back to the pan to thoroughly coat and serve, or pour the sauce over the reserved chicken.

Notes

We loved this recipe, and the original recipe name is Garlic Lime Chicken. The flavor was wonderful, however, we struggled to say that the dominant taste was garlic or lime. Everyone agreed it was a keeper, so we renamed it Juicy Weeknight Skillet Chicken. You can call it whatever you want!

French Toast



Ingredients

* 8-12 slices brioche or high-quality white, wheat, raisin sandwich bread (whatever you have on hand or want to use)
* 2 tbsp butter, melted
* 1 cup milk
* 1 large egg
* 2 tbsp sugar
* 2 tsp vanilla extract
* 3/4 tsp cinnamon
* 1/4 tsp salt
* 1/2 cup all-purpose flour

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 200-F degrees and place a rack in the middle position. Place bread in a single layer on a wire rack over a baking sheet. Bake until the bread is slightly dry, approximately 10 - 15 minutes.
2. While bread is drying, whisk together the milk, egg, sugar, vanilla, cinnamon and salt in a bowl.
3. Melt 2 tablespoons of butter and whisk it into the milk mixture. Whisk in the flour slowly and until batter is smooth. Pour batter into shallow dish (I use a Pyrex pie pan).
4. Soak pieces of bread in the batter for about 30 seconds per side. Take bread out of batter and allow excess to drip back into dish.
5. Cook on a hot griddle coated with cooking spray. Cook until French toast is golden brown on both sides, about 2-1/2 minutes per side.
6. Serve with syrup or butter and sugar. Enjoy!

Notes (September 2011)
We use this recipe with whatever bread we have on hand. Drying out the bread in the oven seems like a silly step, but you can do it while you are pulling together the batter, and it really does make a nice difference in the quality of the French toast you serve. It won't take your oven long to come up to 200, and then you can use your warmed oven to hold the finished French toast until you are ready to serve it.

Update March 2020: Our favorite bread to use is day old brioche from the quick sale rack at the grocery store.  Brioche is perfect, but you want it to be sightly dry, so getting it 50% off because it was made yesterday is perfect!  If they have it but I don't want to make French Toast that week, I still buy it, slice it at home and freeze it.  Then I can pull it out the night before I want to make it!