Baked Fried Chicken

I just copied and pasted this recipe from Facebook, I haven't tried it yet.

{Baked Fried Chicken}

I am pretty sure someone has discovered the KFC secret recipe! It is DEAD ON! It is also baked...not fried and there isn't any skin! So you get to enjoy the taste of the seasoning, instead of pulling it off because of the slimy skin!

This is super easy and you are TOTALLY going to love it!

Place thawed chicken breast tenderloin strips in a bowl of milk. Let soak for 20-30 min.

Mix in a Gallon Size Ziploc or Large Bowl: 

1/2 tsp. Salt

1 T Season All

3/4 tsp Pepper

1 c. Flour

2 tsp. Paprika

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Cut 1/2 stick of butter into a few pieces and place in a 9x13 pan. Melt butter in pre-heated oven.

Spread melted butter around the bottom of the pan. Lightly spray the pan, if needed, to make sure that there are no dry spots.

Shake excess milk off of chicken and completely coat each piece with the seasoning mix. You can either shake the chicken in the bag, until coated, or dip each piece in the bowl until coated.

Place each piece of chicken in the pan.

Cook for 20 min. Turn each piece of chicken and continue cooking for 20 more minutes, or until cooked through.

ENJOY!

"Healthy" German pancakes

Here's the recipe I texted you guys about. They are really good! My friend just came up with it.

So simple:
4 eggs
1/3 c cottage cheese
1 scoop vanilla protein powder

Blend it all in the blender then pour into a pan and cook like you would a pancake (you will have to experiment with the cooking spray/batter ratio and make them kind of thin) but once they are cooked they seriously taste just like German pancakes!

You can top with fruit and sugar free whipped cream or baked apples and cinnamon... Yum!


Paul and I are making a big effort right now to eat healthier and count calories to get summer-ready and in better shape... And it's not easy! I think this blog could be a great way to share any healthy tips or recipes we have with each other because I know varietybis hard for me, so ill post anything I come across and hopefully you guys can do the same (of course we can still post other yummy stuff too)

Caesar Chicken Tacos

Quick easy meal.  Sorry no picture!

One Head of Lettuce

Casear or Ranch Dressing

BBQ chicken 

4 chicken Breast

4 taco shells

Threw 1 cup BBQ sauce in with frozen chicken in the crockpot.  Cooked for 4 hours on high or 6 hours on low.  Shred chicken and put on a taco shell.  Mix lettuce with Caesar or ranch dressing and put on the taco shell.  Fold the taco shell and Presto-- Caesar Chicken Taco! EASY!

Threaded Spaghetti Hot Dog Bites

So you've probably seen this on Pinterest like I did. 
But tonight I decided to try it. It was fun and tasted really yummy! It's self explanatory, but I'm posting it anyway :)

Ingredients
Hot Dogs
Spaghetti Noodles
Spaghetti Sauce


Directions
Slice up hot dogs.
Break a bunch of Spaghetti Noodles in half.
Poke 5 noodles through each slice of hot dog.
Boil hot dog/spaghetti on stove for 8 minutes (or how ever long you want depending on how soft you want your spaghetti).
Drain
Pour spaghetti sauce over hot dogs/noodles.


Bon Appétit! 

Homemade Hawaiian Haystacks

We made these for dinner a little while ago with Mike and Jenna and they were delicious. I love Hawaiin Haystacks and i love how easy they are but i forget about them a lot. I usually just use cream of chicken soup for the sauce but i found this recipe for ones with a homemade chicken gravy and it was SO yummy. So i wanted to share it in case you forgot about Hawaiian haystacks too.

Homemade Hawaiian Haystacks
From 
“Picky Palate”

Chicken gravy sauce:

8 tablespoons (1 stick) unsalted butter

1/2 c all purpose flour

1 t kosher salt

1/2 c sour cream

1/4 t freshly ground black pepper

32 oz. reduced sodium chicken broth

2 t dry Ranch Dressing seasoning packet

1/4 t garlic salt

2 c cooked shredded chicken breast

Steamed rice

Toppings options:

Chow Mein Crispy Noodles

sliced green onions

black olives

pineapple

dried cranberries

almonds

tomatoes

diced bell pepper

shredded cheese

-Place butter into a large saucepan over medium heat, stirring to melt. Slowly whisk in flour, salt and pepper until smooth and thick, for 1-2 minutes. Slowly whisk in chicken broth until smooth. Increase heat to high whisking until thick, about 2 minutes. Add sour cream, Ranch seasoning, garlic salt, and cooked chicken breast. Stir and season accordingly. You may prefer additional, salt, pepper and garlic salt. You can make this ahead of time and transfer to the crock pot and kept it on low all day until dinner, or serve it immediately.

-Place rice on serving plates and top with chicken gravy. Have toppings at the table and top with whatever you like! Have fun!







original recipe found here: http://picky-palate.com/2012/04/01/homemade-hawaiian-haystacks/

Brownie cookies

I made these cookies yesterday and they are without a doubt some of THE BEST cookies i have ever made. (which unfortunately is not saying much because i'm not very good at all at making cookies, but then again it is saying a lot because they were really easy and turned out delicious.) I found the recipe online and here it is:

BROWNIE COOKIES

CREAM TOGETHER:

1/2 cup salted butter

1/2 cup white sugar

1/2 cup brown sugar

2 egg whites

1 1/4 tsp vanilla

1/4 cup cocoa powder

ADD IN:

1/2 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

1/4 cup white flour

1 cup wheat flour

STIR IN:

1 cup chocolate chips

1/2 cup walnuts/pecans (optional)

Batter should feel much like cookie dough but look like brownie batter

Spoon onto cookie sheets like cookie dough

Bake at 350 degrees for about 8 minutes

(I just used all regular flour since i didn't have wheat flour and i didn't add the nuts. 8 minutes was the perfect time for my oven.)
Seriously you should go make them right now. 

original recipe website: http://pleasantandplump.blogspot.com/2012/04/jessies-brownie-cookies.html

breakfast = oatmeal

i know you guys are gonna laugh when you see this but i'm posting about breakfast, and therefore i am posting about: OATMEAL! surprise! I love it (everyone knows that). But anyways I wanted to post a list of oatmeal options that i love because it is such a great breakfast thing but it usually needs a little kick to be truly delicious and if you eat it everyday like me, you need options. So i wanted to put together a little list of oatmeal mix-ins for everyone in case you want some ideas for how to make your oatmeal truly delicious. And they are all still really fast and easy. It's also for me because sometimes i forgot the yummy ones.

First of all: i just buy the generic brand "quick cooking" plain oats in the cylinder from the store. I usually make about 1/3 c in a bowl then just cover it with water. (of course you can do more, but this was the amount they told me to make when i was on my diet after having Caitlin and it's a good amount for me). Then i stick it in the microwave for 1:45. That's y tried and true time. Then i add my mix ins and enjoy. You can also add milk to it but i stopped adding milk also when i was on my diet, because they told me to. At first it will seem kind of dry but now im totally used to it and i dont mind it.

So here is a list of all my favorite mix-ins that are fast and easy:
-chocolate chips! Melissa actually just told me the other day that she was watching a morning show and they said one of the best breakfasts you can have is oatmeal with DARK chocolate! I knew i had the right idea. They said on the show that people who were having chocolate in their oatmeal lost up to 40 lbs. more than people who weren't. I've just been putting in regular milk chocolate chips but now im on the lookout for dark chocolate so i can feel completely justified!
-butterscotch chips
-fresh fruit (strawberries and bananas are my favorite)
-baked apples (cut up an apple into bitesize pieces then stick them in the microwave for about 25 minutes to get soft)
-cinnamon (yummy with just about anything and good for weight loss)
-peanut butter, nutella-- these are pretty good but they kind of give the oatmeal a weird texture
-brown sugar (i usually don't do this one but it is yummy)
-frozen berries (i get the 3 berry mix from costco and it's my favorite. Just scoop them in and by the time you mix it all around they are thawed enough)
-apple cider mix (like the packet.. use about half and you can get the non sugar kind t make it more healthy)
-Greek yogurt & honey (This is my newest one: I'm super into greek yogurt right now. It's really god for you. Just mix in a spoonful then add some honey to sweeten it up. The texture might look a little scary but it's actually really creamy and delicious.)

Good combo ideas from the above:
-chocolate chips + fresh fruit OR frozen berries
-baked apples + apple cider mix + cinnamon
-bananas + butterscotch chips OR peanut butter

K so there is all you've ever wanted to know about my oatmeal breakfast habits! Hopefully it gave you guys some ideas for if you want to try having oatmeal more often. Let me know if you guys have any other combos that you like!