Italian Ranch Fried Chicken

 I ran across this recipe posted on Facebook.

It looked and sounded so good.

I just had to try it.

But mine didn't look anything like the picture on Facebook.

Maybe it's because I used boneless skinless chicken thighs 

instead of the boneless skinless chicken breast.

All you need is four ingredients:

Chicken (8 chicken thighs)

Ranch dressing (1/2 bottle)

Italian bread crumbs (enough to coat all the chicken)

3 more TBS of Italian seasoning (mix with bread crumbs)

Oh and,

Oil for frying

 I decided to prep all the chicken so I could just drop it in the hot oil.

 And I ended up with Frankenstein fingers.

I wasn't to happy with the way the chicken fried up.

As you can see the breading fell off in spots.

And it made my oil crumby.

I used about 3/4 to 1 inch of oil in a small skillet.

I heated it up over med heat. 

When the oil was hot enough I started dropping in my chicken.

I browned the chicken about 4 minutes on each side.

Be careful when you flip it. 

Do it slowly or all the breading will fall off.

This was good.

But I don't think it will be a go-to recipe for the future.

Johnie liked it.

And we made sandwiches with it.

A little mayo and broccoli sprouts on a bun.

See Ya'all Soon!

Bologna Salad

What does a couple in love do with a 2 pound chunk of deli bologna?

They make bologna salad, of course.

Ha!

Johnie and I both had a craving for bologna salad. 

He told me how his mom used to make it,

and I told him how MY mom used to make it.

It's always good to instill competition in a healthy relationship.

So as we approached the grocery store deli together

we were after one thing:

1 pound of chunk bologna.

The clerk dug out her chunk of bologna,

weighed it,

and told us that it weighed 2 pounds.

At the same time....

"We will take it!"

We took it home,

cut it in half

(sliced bologna for sandwiches is good),

and created our bologna salad with the 1 pound chunk.

 We used our Kitchen Aid meat grinder attachment.

I wish I would have gotten a picture of it for you.

We had a lot of fun grinding that bologna.

I don't really have a recipe for you.

But I can give you ideas on what we threw in.

After we ground the bologna was sent through the grinder

(while the grinder was still running)

we sent through

(approximately)

3 TBS. dill relish

2 TBS sliced green olives.

With everything in the mixer bowl we added:

(no measurements, just to taste)

a little mustard

a little ranch dressing

and mayo.

Stirred until all was combined and creamy to our liking.

Yes!

We ate bologna salad for a week.

It's probably best if you make this for a picnic or party.

It makes a lot!

See Ya'all Soon!

Banana Bread Snack Cake

 Ask anyone who knows me well.....

I'm not a big fan of banana bread.

But this snack cake is the bomb.

 There are so many different things you can do with this cake.

In the past I have topped it with a caramel glaze.

But this time I decided to drizzle it with cream cheese frosting.

Johnie is a sweets freak.

And he loves cake.

So I threw this together for our Easter dessert.

The recipe came from a good friend of mine.

She said it is one of her family's favorites.

And has quickly become one of ours.

Banana Bread
1/2 c. Crisco
1 c. sugar
2 eggs
3/4 c. mashed bananas (I used 2 and 1/2 bananas)
1 1/4 c. flour
3/4 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt

My additions: 1/2 c. chopped walnuts (stirred in at the end), 1 tsp. vanilla extract (mixed with wet ingredients), cream cheese frosting, more walnuts to sprinkle on top.

There were no preparation directions with this recipe, so I just combined as I thought it should be. Mix dry ingredients together. Blend Crisco, sugar, eggs, and banana, and mix in dry ingredients. Pour batter into a 9x9x2 greased pan. Bake at 350 degrees F. for 30 to 35 minutes. Mine was closer to 35.

See Ya'all Soon!

Our Easter with Herb Encrusted Roast Leg of Lamb

 An extended weekend!

One extra day off work!

The weekend is going to last forever with just us two.

Yeah, RIGHT!

Another extended weekend cut way too short.

I guess the saying is true, "Time flies when you're having fun."

GGRRRR!!

So upsetting when you want time to STOP for a while.

I'll do a run-down of our weekend. 

And supply you with a great recipe in the mix.

 Friday started with Aunt Millie's Coffee Cake French Toast and bacon.

This is one of my favorite things to do with Aunt Millie's breakfast breads.

Just use it in place of regular bread for French toast.

It always turns out great.

Friday's weather was dreary and rainy.

So we took our time puttering around the house 

doing laundry, and watching Friday morning game shows.

We finally made it out around 3 o'clock.

We did a grocery store run.

And I would really like to know how two people buy almost

$200.00 in groceries?

How is that even possible?

I bet we have enough food in the house to last the rest of the year.

Then Saturday came:

We spent some time on Facebook in the morning while drinking our coffee, 

and after reading our news feed about all the B & E's happening in Marion,

we decided it was time to make our picture windows a little more private.

 We spent most of the late morning at Menard's.

We decided to go with vertical blinds for both picture windows.

And yes, as you can see in the photo above, we are still working on the puzzle.

 While we were at Menard's we came up with more improvements for

the house that really need attention.

We decided on a area rug for the dining room.

My theory: It is so much easier to vacuum than it is to mop.

We moved the dining room table into the kitchen to make room

for the birds big summertime cage.

 This is Tressel. 

Can you guess how he got his name?

Yup!

Named after Ohio State coach Jim Tressel since he is scarlet and grey.

Then onto Sunday:

Easter!

Which means FOOD!

Oh and, we prepped for this day all weekend.

 What I mean by prepping:

An herb marinade on a leg of lamb.

We marinated this leg of lamb for 24 hours. 

Johnie prepared the marinade,

bagged it all up,

flipped it,

massaged it,

and put love into it all weekend.

Johnie found an Emeril Lagasse recipe that he thought we would enjoy.

ENJOY is far from a correct description for this roast.

We LOVED it!

We didn't sway from the recipe at all because we wanted to make

sure our first roast leg of lamb was done right.

 We followed the recipe and directions as it was printed.

If you would like to try this amazing recipe you can find it below.

Just click here.

 The only thing we did differently is, we added asparagus with the potatoes.

We found out (trial and error) that the asparagus should be added

during the last fifteen minutes of roasting.

We added it to the last half hour and it turned out over-cooked.

But that's okay.

We now know for next time.

And there will be a next time......

 The roast turned out just like a prime rib roast.

Tender and juicy.

And the herbs and spices were fantastic.

 How is that for an Easter plate?

For dessert I whipped up this awesome banana bread snack cake.

This recipe came from a good friend of mine.

Best snack cake ever.

But this is going to remain for another post.

I will let you drool for a while until I get it posted.

All-in-all......

One great weekend full of fun and flavor.

See Ya'all Soon!

Bacon Wrapped Sirloin Lamb Chops

Johnie and I are suckers for grocery store sales.

We ran across this manager's special on lamb sirloin chops.

I (Angie) have never been brave enough to try lamb.

We purchased the chops and stuck them in the freezer.

Every time I opened the freezer I was face to face with these chops.

I finally decided the do a Google search to see how different

blogs and food sites prepare them.

I found this recipe at Allrecipes. I mixed it up a bit by adding bacon.

 This is all it takes to prepare them.

Worcestershire Sauce

Eggs

Bacon

Toasted Bread Crumbs

Pretty simple?

Yeah?

 I only had three chops, so the eggs could probably be cut back to 2.

I wrapped each chop with one slice of thick cut bacon.

I mixed three eggs with 3 TBS Worcestershire sauce.

I dumped about a cup of toasted bread crumbs in a bowl.

I rolled the wrapped chops in the egg mixture.

(make sure you hold on tight to the bacon)

Then I rolled them in the bread crumbs.

I placed them in a glass baking dish,

and placed them in a preheated 375 degree F. oven.

They baked for 20 minutes.

I flipped them over and baked for another 20 minutes.

When they were done I placed them under the broiler (on high)

for 1 minute just to crisp up the bacon a bit.

 My first attempt at trying lamb was a very good one.

To describe the taste for you......

I don't want to scare you away from these.

They are very good.

But the taste of the lamb was close to the taste of a mild beef liver.

And we all know that liver is a delicate issue.

Liver can be very good if it is cooked right.

I think lamb falls in that category too.

I'm glad I chose this recipe for my first try at lamb.

Make sure you try this one.

It is great! 

See ya'all soon!