Garlic Fries

Back in April, this recipe inspired my Wednesday Fun question about your favorite French fries. Well, I'm finally getting around to posting it. My kids don't like garlic, so I made it without step 4 & it was still delicious. I think the Yukon Gold potatoes are totally the way to go & make these especially wonderful. From Cooking Light magazine, April 2002.

Garlic Fries

3 pounds peeled baking potatoes, cut into 1/4-inch thick strips [I made these with Yukon Gold potatoes and they were way better than any other kind I've tried.]
4 tsp. vegetable oil
3/4 tsp. salt
Cooking spray
2 Tbl. butter
8 garlic cloves, minced (about 5 tsp.)
2 Tbl. finely chopped fresh parsley
2 Tbl. freshly grated Parmesan cheese

1. Preheat oven to 400F.
2. Combine first 1 ingredients in a large zip-top plastic bag, tossing to coat.
3. Arrange potatoes in a single layer on a baking sheet coated with cooking spray. Bake at 400F for 50 minutes or until potatoes are tender and golden brown, turning after 20 minutes. [Don't turn too soon, or the crispy part will stick to the cookie sheet instead of the potato. If they don't want to turn after 20 minutes, leave them 5 more & try again.]
4. Place butter and garlic in a large nonstick skillet; cook over low heat 2 minutes, stirring constantly. Add potatoes, parsley, and cheese to pan; toss to coat. Serve immediately.
   

Oven-Fried Chicken

Ok, back in April, I mentioned I'd post two recipes. Well, here's finally one of them! It's from Cooking Light magazine, April 2002, and I think it's delicious. The recipe says you can use ground chipotle pepper in place of the ground red pepper for a smoky taste.

Oven-Fried Chicken

3/4 c. low-fat buttermilk [approximately]
2 chicken breast halves, skinned
2 chicken drumsticks, skinned
2 chicken thighs, skinned [Ok, basically, just use a cut-up chicken.]
1/2 c. all-purpose flour
1 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. ground red pepper
1/4 tsp. white pepper [I don't keep this on hand, so it's just regular black pepper here.]
1/4 tsp. ground cumin
Cooking spray

1. Combine first 4 ingredients [chicken & buttermilk] in a large zip-top plastic bag; seal. Marinate in refrigerator 1 hour, turning occasionally.
2. Preheat oven to 450F.
3. Combine salt, peppers, and cumin in a second large zip-top plastic bag. Remove chicken from first bag, discarding marinade. Add chicken, one piece at a time, to flour mixture, shaking bag to coat chicken. Remove chicken from bag, shaking off excess flour.
4. Place chicken on a baking sheet lined with cooking spray. Bake at 450F for 35 minutes or until done, turning after 20 minutes. [Don't try to turn them too soon or the yummy coating will stick to the pan instead of the chicken.]
   

Wednesday Fun #135 - Recipe Round-up

Ok, y'all, May's theme was a Cookbook Challenge - to make a new recipe out of a favorite cookbook. I did mine already (and I'm so glad I did! YUM!!!), and it sounds like ShoNuff did, too. How about you? If so, let us know how it went! If not, why not this week? You've chosen your cookbook already (right?), so go grab it, look though the index OR the table of contents OR the pretty pictures and pick one. Leave the name in the comments, and you'll be that much closer to making it happen!

(If you're really feeling on the ball, go ahead and put the ingredients on your shopping list and you'll be golden!)

Wednesday Fun #134 - Gonna Garden?

Alright, I was working on my weekly fun post, but got a little long-winded, so I just cut-pasted all that and moved it over to my poor, sadly-neglected Musings & Mutterings. I don't know what it's going to think of actual words, not pictures, but it'll manage. So if you want my preliminary thoughts & lead-in to the question, look there! :)

The meat of the matter
(or the vegetable of it, more accurately), is...

Are you planting a garden this year?
If so, what's going in it?

Balsamic Chicken with Grapes and Almonds

For May's Cookbook Challenge, I decided to make something out of Cooking Light's Annual Recipes 2002, since we've got a bunch out of there we like. Boneless, skinless chicken breasts were on sale this week at our local grocery store, so that helped narrow down the choices. "Balsamic Chicken with Grapes and Almonds" sounded good the first look though, so I put it on my weekly menu. The day came to make it and I was a bit doubtful, but went ahead and made it anyway.

I'M SO GLAD; IT'S SO GOOD!!!! Plus, while my girls don't like their food all mixed up, they do like spinach AND grapes AND chicken AND couscous all separately, so with a little forethought (and nonsaucing theirs), it was easy to please us all. I'd totally make this as an impress-the-guests meal since it's not hard, but Mr. Kluges took a look and said, "That looks gourmet."


Balsamic Chicken with Grapes and Almonds

Serve with wilted spinach [mine was sauteed in a bit of bacon fat] and couscous. [The couscous is perfect for soaking up the yummy sauce.]

4 (4 oz.) skinless, boneless chicken breast halves
1/2 tsp. salt
1/8 tsp. black pepper
2 tsp. olive oil
1 c. seedless red grapes, halved
1/2 c. fat-free, less-sodium chicken broth
2 Tbl. balsamic vinegar
1 Tbl. brown sugar
1/4 c. sliced almonds

1. Sprinkle chicken with salt and pepper. Heat oil in a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Add chicken, saute 3 minutes on each side or until golden brown.
2. Remove chicken from pan. Reduce heat, stir grapes, broth, vinegar, and sugar into pan drippings. Bring mixture to a boil, cook until reduced to 1 c. (about 6 minutes) [or until it seems saucy and nicely-coating].
3. Return chicken to pan; cook 3 minutes or until done, turning to coat. Sprinkle with almonds immediately before serving.

[I thought it took longer took cook the chicken than they said, so keep that in mind if you're in a hurry.]

Wednesday Fun #133 - Which Cookbook?

Ok, y'all. I'm challenging you to make something NEW out of your favorite cookbook during May. Now, I know that it can be a daunting prospect, but you gotta start small. How 'bout this? Just pick your cookbook! So, today's Wednesday Fun question is...

Out of which cookbook are YOU picking your new recipe?

Me? Cooking Light Annual Recipes 2002. I think I've even chosen one!

Wednesday Fun #132 - May's Cookbook Challenge

Ok, gang, I know I'm a little late getting this week's WF out, but it's my only day this entire week when I don't have house guests! (In-laws left yesterday, my folks arrive tomorrow late.) But that's ok! Because I really like my idea for May's theme/today's WF!

It's a Cookbook Challenge!

Sometime in May, I'd like you to take your favorite cookbook (or one of them anyway) and choose a new recipe out of it you've never done before. Maybe you're like me and get stuck in a rut. Maybe you've always wanted to try this one recipe but it seems too expensive/challenging/you're-always-missing-one-key-ingredient. Maybe you've just never ventured past a certain page or out of "main dishes" or whatever.

But you know, you love this cookbook. You might as well try a new promising recipe out of it, don't you think?


If it's awesome, post the recipe here on Recipeeps. If it's not, well, then just leave a comment here or post us a "Tales from the Kitchen" story.