Mmm Mmm Good...

First of all.... What exactly do you do when you suddenly have a craving for Taco Bell, but yet the meat for lasagna is thawing?  Such tough decisions!  Whatever will I DO?!

Second:

Do you feel as though half of your arteries clogged up just by looking at this photo?




Really?




Probably because THEY DID!


See, the thing is, I'm having a really hard time here. Do I post my secret recipe for the world to see?  Do I share my hints, tips, & secrets?  Such a challenge!

It really is the best fried chicken ever, though. It even won the award for the best fried chicken ever. From who? Doesn't matter. But it's the best. Ever. Hands down. Period. I'm not just saying that because I'm biased either.

Maybe I'll make a decision as I layer my lasagna tonight and post it while it's baking... or not...

Alright, I Cave...

Quite a few people have asked me for the recipe for Broccoli and Cheese casserole over the years. There's nothing "special" about it. I guess I just worry that if I give it out I won't have anything to make for potlucks and such. Selfish am I, I know... I was going to make it a special treat on The Carnahan Family website (which I plan to launch this week or next) but realized that some who have asked aren't even close friends or family of my Grandparent's and such, and they would be left out. So, here it is for all of you.

Grandma's Broccoli & Cheese Casserole
(She got the recipe from her sister Darlene...)

Ingredients:

• 1 pkg frozen broccoli; chopped, cooked, & drained.
• 1 cup minute rice (uncooked)
• 1/2 cup milk
• 1 can cream of chicken or cream of mushroom (I use chicken. I believe Grandma did also.)
• 1/2 cup cheez whiz or velveeta (I use velveeta, so did Grandma.)
• Onions to taste (If Bobby is around, this usually means A LOT of onion. Do what you like.)

Mix all ingredients together. Place in casserole dish. Bake at 350 degrees for 30-40 minutes.

I usually double this recipe, which requires closer to 40-45 minutes.

ENJOY!

Uhh... Is This Safe To Eat Still?

Is that a question you often hear in your home?

I'm extremely cautious of not eating foods after they expire. I took a nutrition class about 5 years ago, maybe a little longer, and as a result have become aware of the dangers of food poisoning. I do NOT take chances.

My Mom, who is the same way, knows how much this concerns me and sent me this link:

http://www.stilltasty.com/

I highly suggest you all checking it out! I haven't looked at it into too much depth, but I certainly plan to!

Thanks, Mom! :)

Ironing Out The Irony...

So, this is my younger brother Jared. (Yes, I stole this pic off myspace, get off my back. It's his most recent upload so I found it fitting...)

Jared and I grew up together, of course, being full blooded siblings and all. In other words: We lived in the same house and experienced the same things. Being different genders we both walked away with different takes on life from our upraising, even though we are only 19 months apart. This is noticeable in the most obvious ways, and not so obvious ways as I found out last week...

Jared has recently begun relocating to Northern California with his girlfriend Ashly. (I don't know her very well, but she seems like a nice girl and she makes Jared ridiculously happy. Maybe someday they will give me a dark haired niece or nephew that I can spoil insanely and send home at the end of the day... no pressure! ) Being that Jared is ridiculously happy, he wanted to surprise his girlfriend with a nice dinner though he had few items in the house and no time to run to the store. Who does he call for advice? Me. I received this as an extreme compliment, as he flat out told me he was calling me because I'm a good cook. (I know, I was surprised too...)

So, I asked what he had on hand. Frozen chicken. Then he asked if I ever used frozen chicken and had any ideas what to do with it. Really? Seriously?! I choked on laughter, and if you've been reading this blog for very long you know why. I tried not to get to excited and exclaim the magic and glory of all that is available to you at a low cost and convenience with frozen chicken on hand... I'm not going to say that was easy, but I did it.

Seriously, how is this not the most ironic thing of my week? My little brother, who grew up in the same home I did where Grandma baked frozen chicken AT LEAST once a week, if not twice has never heard of what to do with frozen chicken or even if it's any good? REALLY? And then calls ME, of all people, to ask what to do with it? Made my day... OK, yeah, my week. Love it. Had to share, whether you people care at all or not.

Just goes to show, you can come from the exact same place. Same upbringing. Same blood. Same parents. Etc, etc, etc... and have a completely different outlook than the person next to you. How many times in life do we need to remember that we are all different from one person to the next and that we may not all have the same take? Really makes you think... Or at least it made me think... obviously.... Be concious of other people!!!

My point: Don't you love how God will grab your attention with the most everyday thing like your little brother asking you for a recipe? Amazes me!

P.S. He told me later that the dinner came out excellent and his girlfriend loved it. The art of knowing how to handle frozen chicken must run in our blood...

Morning Sickness = 0 Angie = 1

HAHA! Take that!!! I WILL beat you! Taste my chicken nuggets of fury and dwell in my sprite forever! I will crush you with my sea bands and punch you with preggie pops!

Um... sorry... hormones got away from me again...

At Least It Wasn't Chicken Poop!

OK, so first of all... we have to go back about 7 1/2 years to the beginning of this story in order for it all to make sense...

At the time a lot of those that attend our current church were attending the Fontana PCofG. I was living in Washington State at the time and was down visiting with my then husband and baby Jeff over Summer break from school. Naturally, having a new camcorder I felt the need to record everything about my trip. If you know Crystal, then you know that she was naturally on quite a bit of the footage. Her and I felt the need to record EVERYTHING! Of course this also meant recording her after she fell walking to the car after morning service... into MUD. She did so gracefully, but then had mud all over her, and her reaction was hilarious while everyone just laughed... especially me. Kathy yelled out a valid point to Crystal, "At least it wasn't chicken poop!". I don't know why, but later that night when we watch the video from that day it cracked us up. This may not be too shocking, but I wet my pants. The combination of Crystal's face and Kathy's phrase was just hilarious. The term quickly became a daily part of conversation.

A few years later, a company released a lip balm. The name? "Chicken Poop". Kathy bought Crystal and I both a tube. Various pictures, emails, endearments have been traded between the 3 of us over these last few years. It's our "thing".

So, now to the present day. A few weeks ago at our mini ladies retreat at church Kathy, my Mom, and I were admiring these little chickens that were up for bidding in a silent auction to buy gifts for orphans. Kathy kept trying to tell me that I should want them because she wanted to buy them for someone. My Mom pointed out they would look cute in my kitchen... Kathy said I needed chickens since I blog about cooking them so much... and within a few minutes I decided "They must be mine!" and put down a bid. The next morning I was sick and unable to attend service. This last Sunday, Tommy was teething so badly that he barely slept (and barely let Bobby and I sleep) for the last 5 days. I had no idea where I stood in the bidding and figured I lost. I wasn't too bummed, but I was kind of sad and hoped to find some others later. Sunday night, my Mom calls on her way home from church to let me know KATHY BOUGHT ME THE CHICKENS! I was so excited. Bobby thought I was nuts.

Tuesday my Mom brought the chickens over and I placed them on the counter. I sent Kathy a picture text of them and she called to let me know "I was glad when they said unto me, let us put the chickens up on the counter". It was great. I was so happy and felt so privileged that Kathy did something so nice for me...

I cannot believe that with all of us involved (Crystal knew of the chicken bidding) NO ONE thought of "At least it wasn't chicken poop".

So, now, let me just say once again... Thank you Kathy for my chickens! At least they don't make chicken poop!

Dinner tonight...

Baked lemon chicken...
White rice...
Broccoli with cheese sauce...

With that, I'm calling it a dang day. Dinner will be ready in about 10 minutes.

No, I'm not at all bitter that I didn't get breakfast for dinner. Nope! Not me... really...

UPDATE: I ended up making them into "rice bowls" and they were actually REALLY good. Bobby wins... I did get breakfast for breakfast today, so that was good...

More Chicken! YAY!

As mentioned before, I said I'd be blogging about Cheesy Chicken & Noodles... well here it is!

Last Wednesday Crystal and Kaitlyn came over and spent the afternoon with Tommy and I. They ended up staying for dinner with Bobby, Tommy, and I. As before planned, I served the above mentioned meal. Crystal seemed to really enjoy it and took some home to Kevin who she claims really liked it. Whether they were lying or not, I'm unsure... either way, here is the recipe. (Note that for the veggies I use Broccoli.)

http://www.bhg.com/recipe/chicken/cheesy-chicken-and-noodles/

Tonight we may end up with a grilled or baked chicken salad. Use your imagination for that recipe, OK? ;) (I'm a jerk... if you didn't know this by now then hurry up and get over it...)

I Feel Like Chicken Tonight...

Last night we had Monterey Chicken. This is basically Bobby's version of the Chili's favorite... minus the tomatoes. For some reason, he is not fond of that part...

First he makes the bacon, then sautes the onions in the bacon grease. (Naturally, draining some of the grease after each...) After completing both of those tasks he browns/cooks the chicken in the bacon grease. Once done, top with BBQ sauce, bacon, onions, and of course... CHEESE!!!! Mmmm.... So delicious. I made garlic mashed potatoes to accommodate the main course. Usually we also have a green vegetable or artichoke dip and bread/chips, but we weren't THAT hungry last night.

Another recipe Bobby makes often is Parmesan Chicken. It is as follows... (This is the email he sent me when Crystal asked for the recipe last week...)

On Fri, Oct 24, 2008 at 1:21 PM, Bob Schott wrote:
I don't have any measurements. It's all a process thing.

Thaw chicken
Beat your meat
Dip chicken in egg wash (Beat a couple of eggs with a splash of milk - some salt and pepper)
Coat chicken in bread crumbs (Progresso Italian Bread Crumbs, Parmesan Cheese)
Dip chicken in egg wash again
Coat chicken in bread crumbs again
Brown in pan of olive oil on med-high heat
Bake in oven @ 400 for 20-25 minutes (until chicken is done)
spoon spaghetti sauce on chicken and top with a slice of mozzarella cheese
bake for another 2 to 5 minutes

Tonight, we're on to another use of chicken. Chicken Tacos!!! I actually learned this recipe from one of the many various Disney message boards I used to participate in a few years ago. See! They were good for something other than chaos, geekdom, and unnecessary drama! ;)

Now pay attention... this gets complicated...

1. Get out your crock pot
2. Take frozen chicken out of freezer
3. Place chicken in crock pot
4. Pour about half jar (for about 1 lb of meat) of salsa over chicken
5. Place lid on crock pot
6. Set to low for 6-8 hours... or on high for 2-4.
7. Prepare flour tortillas to your liking, along with vegetables and other garnishments such as CHEESE and sides such as canned re fried beans.
8. Put it all together, call the family to the table, and EAT!

Chicken will break apart easily... and be so tender and flavorful... Mmm.... Seriously, one of the best meals ever and yet one of the simplest. Gotta love it!

Now, to share with you all the song that is stuck in my head...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mJ9M7bsx10I

Next time I'll likely be writing about Cheesy Chicken Noodles... Mmm...

The Never Ending List Of Things To Do...

With CHICKEN!

I'm not the biggest fan of poultry... another way in which I've grown up. As a teen I preferred it over red meat any day. Once I matured, however, I realized that the tastes of my childhood were much more intellectual than that of my adolescents.

What draws me to chicken then? Why do I cook/bake with it so often? Well, let's go over this, shall we?

• Price. It's cheaper than eating red meat and when bought frozen/skinless/boneless is REALLY cheap.
• Health. Red meat is good. I mean it's really goooooood. But chicken has a lot of good things about it too.
• VARIETY! There is so much more that you can do with chicken than you can with steak.
• Ease. Bake, boil, broil, grill, fry, brown, I could go on and on and on. Actually, I can't. I really can't thin of much more than that. But still. There isn't a lot of work to making chicken unless you want there to be.

And now, for my series on chicken.... here is my first entry:

Teriyaki Chicken

Last night for dinner I wow'd Bobby. Trust me, this takes A LOT to do. He's rarely that impressed. Not to that degree, at least. I didn't really do anything special, just the following.

I pounded out 2 once frozen but thawed chicken breasts and then did my usual... set them on the baking sheet and opened my spice cabinet. This is the fun part! Well, since we just moved "ground ginger" had made her place up to the front of the cabinet instead of her usual lonely place in the back. After adding kosher salt, pepper, & garlic salt (rarely is something in this home made without garlic, garlic powder, or garlic salt) I thought the ginger would be a nice addition. I placed the chicken in the oven for the usual time, basting with teriyaki sauce 10 minutes before completion, and made the steamed broccoli and rice.

Seriously, it had to be one of the simplest things I've ever made. Yet it made that man fall even more in love with me. Life is grand.

Tonight, I'm making his favorite: Pork Chops!