Monday, 11/22/2010

Yikes, the weather was not nice to Seattle today.  Katie and I were supposed to go to Molbaks nursery with my friend Sydney this morning.  We go every year during the holiday season to enjoy their lovely display of decorated Christmas trees and poinsettias.  On her way to our house, Sydney's car slid on ice and hit a curb really hard.  She made it to our house, but we decided it was not in our best interest to go up to Woodinville given the road conditions.  Knowing how the rest of the day went with road conditions, that was a really smart decision.  We did make it to Downtown Seattle to return our rented photography gear.  Then, Katie and I followed Sydney to a tire shop, where she left her car for repair.  The three of us did our grocery shopping for the week, and then we delivered Sydney to her home and got back to our house safely.  

Ben had his longest commute ever tonight.  He got on a bus at 4:44pm and didn't get home until three hours later.  After spending an hour and fifteen minutes on a bus and going nowhere, he got off and started walking.  He walked for an hour and a half and finally got onto the main road that leads to our house.  Katie and I bundled up and drove our trusty Subaru WRX to pick him up.  Boy, was I ever glad to see him.  He was cold and hungry and has sore feet, but is in fine spirits.  

And for dinner, I made oven-fried chicken for the first time.  It was GREAT!  All three of us really enjoyed it.  I found the recipe in my Better Homes and Gardens New Cookbook.  Here's the recipe:

OVEN-FRIED CHICKEN

Prep: 20 minutes   Bake: 45 minutes

Ingredients:
1 beaten egg
3 tablespoons milk
1 cup finely crushed saltine crackers
1 teaspoon dried thyme, crushed
1/2 teaspoon paprika
1/8 teaspoon pepper
2 to 2 1/2 pounds meaty chicken pieces (breasts, thighs, and drumsticks)
2 tablespoons margarine or butter, melted

Directions:
1.  In a small bowl combine egg and milk.  For coating mixture, in a shallow dish combine crushed crackers, thyme, paprika, and pepper.  Set aside.  Skin chicken.  Rinse chicken; pat dry.  Dip chicken pieces into egg mixture; coat with crumb mixture.
2.  In a greased 15x10x1-inch or 13x9x2-inch baking pan, arrange chicken so the pieces don't touch.  Drizzle chicken pieces with the melted margarine or butter.
3.  Bake in a 375 degree oven for 45 to 55 minutes or till chicken is tender and no longer pink.  Do not turn chicken pieces while baking.  Makes 6 servings.

Notes:

1.  I am not sure how many pounds of chicken I used, but I baked two drumsticks, two thighs, and two breasts, all bone-in.

2.  I added a few dashes of hot sauce to the egg and milk mixture.   I gave this particular bottle of hot sauce to Ben for Christmas in 2007.  It's called "Smack my ass and call me Sally".  I don't think I added enough of the sauce to make a difference, but I did enjoy adding it to the recipe.

3.  I didn't want the mess and hassle of crushing saltines.  Instead, I used a cup of plain bread crumbs and added approximately a 1/2 teaspoon of kosher salt.

4.  I used ground thyme.

5.  I had to melt a little extra butter, because I didn't drizzle evenly enough to cover all six pieces of chicken.