So...whats for dinner?

Not as pretty as the pictures, but tasty nonetheless.

eric - thanks for the compliment regarding my DD!  Your DD sounds excellent as well - she is sweet to inquire if she is giving you gray hair, so cute!  I have a funny picture of my DD just before prom, she is standing outside by the pool in her long dress and the cat got underneath it and you can only see his tail. Has your DD made college plans?  Happy Birthday to Sharon!

susan - I would dclare myself a kid so I could get chocolate for my churros!  And yay for espresso!  And wine!

Churros and chocolate sound like a winning combo to me!

Carole, I love lamb shanks and have even turned dh into a lover of them. If you haven't tried a braise of them with white beans, you should. You would love it. I use Julia child's. Here's a link if you're interested:

http://meatandwildgame.about.com/od/Cooking_Lamb/r...

Tonight is oven fried chicken. The bird is marinating in buttermilk, seasonings and Louisiana hot sauce at the moment. Sides will be corn on the cob and spinach/kale sauteed with garlic.

I bought some rainbow chard plants for planting. I haven't grown it for years. Hope I can keep the critters out of it!

Double Yay for expresso!  I'm thinking that I may have to purchase a small expresso machine. 

Nance, your Welsh cakes look very much like the pictures in the article I read.  Oven fried chicken is one of my favorites ways to cook chicken.  And chard is probably my favorite greens other than mustard greens fresh out of the garden. 

I'm in one of those "I can't think of anything tempting to cook or eat" moods. 

DH mentioned this morning that I should be mindful of using up the food in the freezers.  He's already thinking ahead to summer.  Time passes so quickly that sometime I wish I could slow it down.

The Welsh cakes were very easy and pretty quick to make. They ended up being very similar to scones. Usually when I try a new recipe, I make it as stated then make adjustments the next time, but I couldn't bring myself to use a whole cup of sugar to 3 cups of flour so reduced it by half. They were quite sweet enough but I'm sure it affected the character of the cakes. I may try a half batch using the right amount, just to see what they should be but we liked them a lot as I made them. I used golden raisins, but will use currants next time.

Lacey, I wish I had some cauliflower tio try your method. It sounded yummy.

Nance & Carole - I never fry chicken - mostly because my Mother never fried anything, but also the grease clean up. What's the trick to oven frying?

I couldn't finish two drinks last night so it was 1-1/2 G&Ts. Tonight was left over beef tips & noodles. Tomorrow will be fresh corn on the cob. I know it's early, but I just couldn't resist.

Sk, what does the ice water do?

Special - thanks for the oven fried recipe. It will be interesting to see how Carole's compares.

Chicken is one of my favorite things. Even though I like it fried, I don't fry chicken either.

I think I've posted quite a few of my "recipes"...if I didn't, or their buried too deeply in the posts, I can repost them.....curry powder rubbed, slow roasted, fast roasted, marinated, coated in caramelized grape juice. shredded into jasmine rice, cooked in cream in a skillet, cooked in a dutch oven in beans and BBQ sauce...

Today...I'll need to go to work to rest up..... :-)

Glad you're enjoying yourself Susan.....

Eriic

Hm, I wondered about the ice water, too.  Dipping in the yogurt sounds interesting.  Similar to buttermilk.  I have done oven fried different ways.  Lately I marinate the chicken pieces in a cup of buttermilk (1 cup of water and 4 T. of buttermilk powder) and a T. of Louisiana hot sauce.  Any kind of breading works.  Panko, Italian seasoned bread crumbs, brown rice crumbs, home-made bread crumbs.  If your breading isn't brown, you can take a few minutes to brown it in a dry skillet.  Add seasonings to breading:  garlic and onion powder, cayenne pepper, s & p, thyme.  Whatever you feel like adding.  Cumin is good, chili powder, if you like those tastes. 

Take chicken from marinade and drop into breading mixture.  Cover liberally.  Cook in very hot oven.  400 degrees up to 450 until cooked.  Probably 40 to 45 min.  I test with an instant thermometer and always have to look up the cooked temperature!  What is it?  165 degrees for chicken?  I should get a magnet with that info. and stick it onto my refrigerator.  I ordered one of those quick read thermometers like the chefs on ATK use and I love it. 

Fish fillets are good oven-fried, too.  I use a cornmeal breading well-seasoned with cayenne and onion and garlic powder. 

Here's a wonderful recipe for those not concerned about calories or fat.  This chicken rivals deep fried.  Melt butter in a baking pan with sides, a block or two blocks of butter depending on size of pan and no. of chicken pieces.  Dip bone-in skin-on chicken pieces in beaten egg.  Drop the chicken into seasoned all-purpose flour (s & p, etc.).  Wet the "pretty" side of the chicken pieces in the melted butter and then place the chicken in the baking pan with the pretty side up.  Cook in oven at 350 degrees for about an hour.  The chicken turns a beautiful brown and the skin is crispy.  I was served this chicken at a dinner party many years ago and made it myself a number of times back in the days when weight control was easy. 

So what's for dinner?  Maybe chicken?  LOL.  I have a whole chicken, boneless breasts and boneless thighs in the freezer.

Carole, although I have cooked the chicken in butter, I haven't tried putting it on the chicken after breading. I'll have to try that next time. I would think yogurt would do the same as buttermilk. I love the tenderizing properties of buttermilk. Juicy chicken every time.

I have the thermopop version of the thermapen. Couldn't bring myself to spring the 100 bucks for the big one. I love it's smaller cousin though!

I think tonight is souvlaki with a pork tenderloin, Greek salad and some tzatziki.

I think tonight will be turkey kielbasa in a sweet and sour sauce with green pepper and pineapple over brown rice.  I need to clear out a closet in the guest room for the eventual arrival of DD.  When she left it only took us about five minutes to turn her old bedroom into an awesome 60" flat screen TV watching den and we wedged a leather couch in there that is never coming out - if we ever sell this house the couch goes with it since it took us more than an hour, removal of the couch legs, a lot of four-letter words, recall of college physics class, and a lot of laughing to get it in there.  So, she gets a guest room.

ugh. Lost my dessert pictures. Will try again, but without the story I fear,

Carole stay safe.   We have a patchy frost possible tonight and of course the yellow azalea that has only bloomed once (when I planted it) has a bud.  Last year it tried to bloom in November......

Dinner was still leftover rotisserie chicken/fixings.  fresh strawberries for dessert.

Mommy I  love crock pot roast beef  I put Liptons Onion soup on it with red wine. 

Carole, hope your night was not as scary as the footage I saw on TV. Thinking of you.

No idea about dinner tonight....maybe I'll freezer shop.