Honey Chipotle chicken crispers!

Yeah, like the ones from chili's.

 

Now these are AMAZING! My husband & I looooovvvve Chili's. Well mostly me, when there's a date night I always suggest it first. Only because these chicken crispers & the ribs they flavor the same. I absolutely had to figure out how to make them.

Now after last weeks angel food cake disaster I've been dying to make something to redeem myself... to myself. I won't go into detail but.. I wasted twelve eggs & I hate wasting things.

Back to the crispers, they are the star of this post!

I've recently started frying things in deep oil. I've always been to much of a sissy to do it. I fried onion rings the other day that were out of this world! Again, sidetracked... Sorry.

WHAT YOU NEED:

1 lb of boneless skinless chicken breast. ( I just used four chicken breast.)

6 cup vegetable oil for frying

FOR THE SAUCE:

2/3 cup honey

1/4 cup water

1/4 cup ketchup

4 tablespoon honey bbq sauce

1-2 tsp of the sauce in chipotles in adobo sauce (Depends on how much heat you want.)

1/2 teaspoon salt

3 tbsp brown sugar

FOR THE BATTER:

1 egg, whisked

 (I only had egg yolks... due to the angel food incident. So I used one of those.)

1/2 cup milk

1/2 cup chicken broth

1 1/2 tsp salt

1/2 tsp black pepper

1/4 tsp paprika

1/4 tsp garlic powder

1/4 tsp onion powder, or minced onion

3/4 cup all purpose flour

FOR THE BREADING:

1 1/2- 2 cup all purpose flour

1 1/2 tsp salt

3/4 tsp paprika

1/2 tsp black pepper

1/2 tsp garlic powder

WHAT TO DO:

Now, to make the sauce. Which is the best part! Combine it all and cook it on the stove until it starts bubbling & then cook for 3 minutes stir it a lot. Then set it aside, by the time you need it, it will of carmelized. (about fifteen minutes.)

TO COOK CHICKEN:

Heat your oil to 350 F.

Whisk together all of your batter ingredients in a bowl.

Then mix together all your breading ingredients in a shallow pan.

Cut the chicken into little strips or bite size pieces.

Let the chicken sit in the batter for about ten minutes if you have time.

Take it out and cover it in flour to coat completely.

Then drop it in your oil when it's ready. Should do something like this. ~

Let fry for about four to six minutes or until medium brown. Cook about six at a time. You can flip them over halfway through if you'd like.

Let them sit on a paper-towel covered plate for five minutes. Pour the sauce over them and serve hot.

For dipping they go best with ranch dressing.

By the way, SO GOOOOOOOD!



Garlic parmesan bread sticks

Soft, chewy, delicious.

Now I make Phillip this bacon pasta (which I will post next time I make it most likely). Since I am an avid bread connoisseur and I just so happen to have a lot of bread flour to have fun with I decided to try and replicate little ceasars bread sticks which we can never eat enough of. Once we ate two bags of them in the car on the way home. Who needs the pizza?

Okay, sidetrack over. These breadsticks have been on my mind for awhile and I just happened to remember how badly I wanted them. So here goes it!

WHAT YOU NEED:

2 1/2 cup bread flour

3 tsp. instant yeast

2 tbsp sugar

1/2 tsp salt

1 tsp italian seasonings

1 tsp garlic (minced)

1/2 cup parmesan

2 tbsp butter

1/4 cup hot water

1/2 cup milk

1 egg

1/4 cup butter

1/4 cup parmesan

WHAT TO DO:

Now first get your stuff out. I know, you know. But it's important! Anyways, Take your yeast, sugar, italian seasonings, garlic, 1/4 cup parmesan, and salt. Mix all that up well, then add one cup of bread flour and mix it up some more! Then go ahead and add the rest of your flour. In another bowl mix up your egg, hot water, and milk. Slowly pour and mix alternatively in your bowl of dry ingredients. I used my dough hook it can be done by hand as well if you don't have one. Knead for about 2 minutes until well mixed. Then lightly oil a bowl and put it in there, turn it over to coat it all with oil. Then put a damp towel over it and let it rise for an hour until it's about doubled in size. (Mine wasn't quite doubled.

~

That's mine when I set it outside to rise. Just set it in a slightly sunny place and it'll do great.

~

This is after it rose, told you... not exactly doubled.

Once you do that roll it all out on your floured counter top. But don't roll it out completely flat or it won't make puffy breadsticks!

Then brush on butter and parmesan mixture, you'll need a lot!

~

Should look something like that.

Let them rise for 35 minutes.

Preheat your oven to 375 and grease your pan.

Bake them in the oven for 13 minutes. But since ovens are all different watch it carefully!

After that put a little more parmesan on top & butter! They won't last too long, trust me.

Yum, Yum, Yum!!

A revolution in the Martin household.

Now, I don't know about your family but in our house every meal is cooked with cheese somewhere! We use so much cheese it's impossible to keep it in the fridge. (My husband often eats cheese by itself.) A few weeks ago it hit me, and when it did I knew it would be a fantastic journey. I was going to make my own cheese. For some reason or another this obvious solution never occured to me. While I was home visiting for a few weeks this month my mother, my sister, and I went to Sur La Table. Save yourselves, don't go look. It will only cause you misery when you look at price tags. This is unfortunately one of my most favorite stores. And guess what I found there? A cheese cloth so waaalllaaa, my first step into making my own cheese! Since I'm extremely impatient I don't like buying my cooking supplies online, and there are TWO other things I desperately need to find; rennet & citric acid. Neither of these I can seem to find in any store in Del Rio. So this coming Friday I've decided I'm ordering them. I can wait no longer to make cheese it's been gnawing at me since I discovered how simple it was so, sometime before two weeks is up I will chronicle my cheese making, hold onto your britches I'm trying something AWESOME. But don't worry, there will be LOTS of pictures so you can do it too!

Cinnamon sugar pull-apart bread.

(Sorry I was so distracted making this I forgot to take pictures of the whole process!)

Now let me just tell you I WAY over nutmegged this thing but it was still completely heavenly. My oven thanked me afterwards, it won't last long and you definitely will want to burn your mouth eating lots of it as soon as it comes out of the oven! What makes this so special is browning the butter first, the flavor packs a serious punch. The entire thing is just like a gooey center of a cinnamon roll! And who can resist that, really? I adapted and slightly changed this recipe from Joy the baker and BOY am I glad I did. There's always a ton of recipes I cannot wait to try and this came up on my list recently and I was totally stoked to start baking, as always.

WHAT YOU NEED:

2 3/4 cup all-purpose flour

1/4 cup sugar (the grade of sugar isn't really important here.)

2 1/4 tsp. instant yeast

1/2 tsp salt

4 tbsp butter

1/3 cup milk

1/4 & 2 tsp water

1 tsp vanilla

2 large eggs

FOR THE GLAZE:

6 tbsp butter

1 cup sugar

2 tsp cinnamon

1/2 tsp nutmeg (SCANT NUTMEG YALL, THAT STUFF IS DANGEROUS!)

WHAT TO DO:

You're gunna wanna start with getting allllll your ingredients out, that's always important. I can't stress enough how many times I've gotten half way through a recipe and needed to go to the store!

So combine your flour, sugar, yeast, and salt in your mixing bowl, if you don't have a dough hook don't worry I rarely use mine anyways.

Then combine your butter and milk in your saucepan on the stove, get that heated up but only until the butter is melted then take it off! Let it cool for a minute or so, then go ahead and add that to your dough mixture above and then add the eggs, vanilla and water to the bowl too.

Mix or knead just until it comes together in a doughy like form, and keep kneading it until you have an elasticy dough, add flour if you need too sometimes it's not enough. Your dough shouldn't be sticky, if it's sticky you need to knead more flour in but only add a little at a time!

(about 3-6 minutes of kneading.)

Oil a bowl large enough for the dough and place your dough in there and turn it once to make sure it's coated with dough.

Let it rise for about an hour or until it's doubled in volume.

While your dough is rising brown the butter in a small saucepan but be careful not to overcook it. Then in a small, small bowl add together your cinnamon, sugar, and nutmeg.

Transfer your dough to a lightly floured surface, roll it into a ball and let it rest for about five minutes then roll your dough out into a flat rectangle, as much as you can get it too. Mine was very elasticy and made a sort of small square but it works don't worry.

Brush the dough with the butter with a pastry brush or just lightly pour some on and spread it out! It works just as well, then sprinkle heavily with your sugar mixture. (I added a little brown sugar at this point and it was SO good.) And you need to use ALL of the mixture, it seems like a lot but its not. Then take a pizza cutter or very sharp knife and cut it into rectangles, should be about six.

Then stack them all on top of one another and cut them into six more while there still stacked.

Then stack all of them together in an oiled loaf pan, they might lean to the side and not stand up all the way but they will rise A LOT so it's okay.

Oven at 350 degrees F.

28-34 minutes in the oven, make sure the tops get sort of dark brown so the inside will be all done, and let it sit for fifteen minutes in the pan once its done. Prepare yourself for that step, its an irresistable smell. Once you've tortured yourself waiting run a knife around the edge of the pan and turn it upside down on a large plate, flip it over and it's ready to be eaten!

Chicken & Sausage Gumbo.

Yes, it had to be added!

Gumbo is something that NO ONE makes the same, some like it light, some like it dark. I prefer a lighter gumbo, much less gravy like & so does my husband. Now, if you don't like spicy add a little less cayenne & tony's but we like ours hot, so I tried an even keel here and this is a mild gumbo. I just made this tonight for dinner, it can be left out overnight. It just makes it thicker and brings out spices! I made this tonight for dinner so we can bring the rest to a function tomorrow. Don't worry I'll take it slow on this one!

INGREDIENTS:

2 Stalks celery

1 large yellow sweet onion

3-5 boneless skinless chicken breasts

3 andouille sausage links. (if you have an HEB, you can get them there.)

1 cup oil

2 cups flour

4 quarts chicken broth

1 tbsp file

Large pot!

2 1/2 cups rice. (No I'm not going to tell you how to make rice, don't worry!)

The spices I use, (you can omit or add what you please.)

Basil

Celery salt

Garlic

Onion powder

Tony's

Cayenne pepper

Bay leaves

Thyme.

Even if you don't want it spicy I reccomend using a little of all of these things to flavor it correctly.

The longer you cook your roux (I'm about to explain.) the darker it will become, the darker it is the more gravy like it is, but DO NOT BURN IT. I REPEAT, DO NOT BURN THE ROUX. I've done so before, it stinks and your base is ruined afterwards.

I always start by getting everything chopped and prepared to cook since roux is SO darn touchy.

So let's chop all the onions, celery, chicken, and sausage. Yes, keep them all seperate for now.

When you're done it should look something like this~

Yes, my kitchen is a mess during gumbo! Who am I kidding, it's a mess all the time.

Anyways, Once you've done all that, take out ALL the spices you're using and basically everything on the list. Grab your pot, (I use a 6 quart paula deen pot). Pour the oil & flour in and whisk it all together until it is well incorporated. Then turn on the burner to medium-low heat and stir CONSTANTLY otherwise your roux will burn quickly, but don't be afraid it takes ten minutes or so to cook, or more if you want it darker. Once it starts to bubble it's cooking, then it should get the color or caramel or chocolate milk depending on how you want it.

Note: you should have seasoned and be cooking the meat now, you can cook it all together with the leftover onions for some added flavor.

Mine looked more about like so~

Now once it's the color you want, get some help so you can keep stirring and pour your cut up celery & onions in there, keep about half the onions by the way! and stir all of that really well and saute about four minutes, it should be bubbling but NOT boiling. Low heat.

I know it's a lot of pictures but gumbo is slightly complicated if you've never made so here's another once I added celery & onions. ~

I know that doesn't look likes something you just wanna dig into, yet!

Once you get all that done, add your chicken stock. and stir it up well. Add all your spices now! Once it's bubbling as well add your meat & file! and stir it up well again.

THEN YOU SHOULD END UP WITH THIS~

Yes, that's my goofy husband, he loves gumbo nights.

If a man won't eat it, you're doing something wrong, and that's a food philosophy to live by.

But really it should look something similar to this~

Cover it up & let it cook for about 45 minutes to an hour stir every fifteen minutes. The once it's all finished if you want it thick let it sit for 30 minutes! It's just as good soon as it's done, it just won't quite thicken up as much unless you wait.

Serve it over rice with saltines and waalllaaa, phenomenal gumbo night!

Mothers day peach pound cake.

I made this for this past mothers day and I will be making it before the next one!

You can add more peaches if you want, you can nevvvvvvver have enough! This pound cake just reminded me of summer. But whatever you do, don't overbeat it or it will be tough and crumby, just mix enough to be well incorporated.

INGREDIENTS:

1 cup & 2 tbsp. butter2 ½ cups sugar

4 eggs1 1/2 tsp. vanilla extract (Mexican vanilla is the best for this cake.)3 cups all-purpose flour.

1 tsp. baking powder

 4 drops orange food coloring (optional.)

1/3 cups sour cream2 cups peaches, peeled, pitted and chopped (yes, you can buy them frozen.)½ tsp. salt 

WHAT TO DO:

Preheat oven to 350 F.

I used a loaf pan because I was home visiting & my mother apparently doesn't own a bundt pan. (Actually I think I stole it.) So I used a loaf pan, doesn't work quite as well but does the job! Grease it up and you can put a little sugar on the pan to make the outside pretty, mix a little brown sugar and regular sugar and just put it all over the pan for a better tasting prettier crust.) Use your mixer and cream the butter, sugar, and sour cream. Continue beating and add eggs one at a time.

Then add flour, baking powder, salt, vanilla then add food coloring if you want too. Then dredge the peaches in flour and add them and stir LIGHTLY. Pour into pan and bake for 45 minutes or until the top is lightly browned. Stick a toothpick and if it comes out clean its done. Let sit for ten to fifteen minutes to come together and then cut & serve. Absolutely fabulous cake!

My mother loved it!

Naan bread.

Don't worry you don't need a tandoori like you may think!

INGREDIENTS:

1 Packet (.25 oz.) active dry yeast

1 Cup warm/hot water

1/4 Cup sugar

1/2 Tsp. baking powder

1 Tsp. greek yogurt (optional)

3 Tbsp. milk

1 egg (beat the egg first.)

2 Tsp. salt

4 Cups bread flour

2 Tsp. minced garlic

1/4 Cup butter

WHAT TO DO:

In a large bowl, empty yeast and then add the warm/hot water. Stir a few times to assure that it's dissolved. Let stand about 10 minutes, until frothy. Stir in sugar, milk, egg, salt, baking powder, greek yogurt and enough flour to make a soft dough (About 4 cups.)  Knead for 5 minutes on a lightly floured surface, or until smooth. Place dough in a well oiled bowl, cover with a damp cloth, and let rise. Let it rise about an 1 hour, until the dough has almost doubled. (the dough should not be very sticky)

Punch down dough, Pinch off small handfuls of dough about the size of a golf ball or whatever size you would like them to be. Should be about eight to ten of them. Roll into balls and allow to rise about 30 minutes.

During the second rising, preheat oven to highest setting (usually 500 F.)  I used a grill sheet (as seen above in picture, if you don't have one you can you use a pizza stone or a cookie sheet I just prefer the grill sheet). Lightly oil whatever you chose to use. Stretch the dough out but the edges should stay elasticy, and thicker than the middles. Place dough on sheet, and cook for 4 1/2 to 5 minutes, or until puffy, the bottoms should be LIGHTLY browned. Melt the butter and garlic in a small bowl and stir, then use a pastry brush to brush the tops with the melted butter mixture. I did about 4 at a time and they came out chewy and delicious. You can wrap them in foil and re-heat them the next day if you'd like, just pop them in the oven for a few minutes and waaallaaa you have naan bread!

We ate ours with a pasta but it's best with indian food. Use it for dipping or eat it plain! We couldn't resist.



So I guess I should start with an introduction, why I'm doing this & all that stuff.

My name is Alley. Born and raised in a little town by the name of Rosepine, Louisiana. My passion is food and always has been. Then in July of 2011 I got married to my high-school sweetheart and I was plucked from a place that was the centerfold of my passion & dropped in Del Rio, Texas (Thank you U.S. Airforce). Now if you've never been to Louisiana let me tell you, nothing compares food wise. NOTHING. No matter where you go you will have fresh seafood and an array of spicey cajun cuisine at your disposal. We can fry anything (and often do) and make a gumbo you won't soon forget.


I've been wanting to do this for a couple of years now and have never got around to starting it but I guess you have to start somewhere. So here goes it, cross your fingers for me!