Ranch Chicken

I'm in love with the pioneer woman. Every recipe I've tried I've loved! She knows how to make good man food. This is her recipe for Ranch Chicken or just look below. I made some minor adjustments to fit what I had.

Ingredients

• ½ cups Dijon Mustard (regular mustard is just fine)
  
• ½ cups Honey
• ½ whole (juice Of) Lemon (Or a splash of lemon juice)
  
• ½ teaspoons Paprika
• ½ teaspoons Salt
• Crushed Red Pepper (optional To Taste)
• 6 whole Boneless, Skinless Chicken Breasts (or any part of the chicken, I had some legs)
  
• 1 pound Thick Cut Bacon
• Bacon Grease
• Sharp Cheddar Cheese, to taste
• Canola Oil

Preparation Instructions

To begin, make the marinade. In a large bowl mix together ½ cup Dijon or country/grainy mustard with ½ cup honey, juice of ½ lemon, ½ teaspoon paprika, and ½ teaspoon salt and whisk until smooth. Sprinkle in some crushed red pepper flakes or cayenne if you like things a little spicy. Set aside.

Next, rinse the chicken breasts, place between two sheets of waxed paper and pound to around ½ to ¾ inch thick with a mallet. Next, add the chicken to the bowl with the marinade, cover with plastic wrap and place in the refrigerator for 1 to 3 hours. (I used chicken legs so I just had to toss them in the marinade)

While the chicken marinates, fry up some bacon. When finished cooking, reserve ¼ cup of the bacon grease and clean out the skillet.

When the chicken is done marinating, preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Remove the chicken from the fridge and pour off excess marinade. Heat half of the reserved bacon grease with an equal quantity of Canola Oil in the clean skillet over medium-high heat. When the grease is nice and hot add two or three pieces of chicken to it. Cook until brownish/blackish, about 1 to 1 ½ minutes per side. Remove chicken to a large baking sheet. If cooking many pieces of chicken, repeat skillet process and remove finished chicken to baking sheet. Place chicken in preheated oven and cook for about 10 minutes. Remove from oven. (The legs took longer than 10 min.)

Lay a few pieces of bacon over each chicken breast. Sprinkle shredded sharp cheddar cheese over the top of the chicken as generously as you like. Return pan to oven for an additional five minutes until cheese is melted and bacon is sizzling. Serve immediately.

Really delicious! The marinade was so yummy you don't even need the bacon or cheese.

Taco Bowls

photo via Annie's Eats

Made this easy dinner the other night and wanted to share a different take on one of our go-to meals, tacos. I thought it would also be a good idea to heat up refried beans and make mini tostadas sometime. Basically you just heat up some corn tortillas in the microwave, lightly coat them with oil, and bake them between the cups of an upside-down muffin tin. Bake at 425 for 8-10 minutes. Just because this dinner is easy, don't think it's so easy you don't need to double-check the temperature before you start because cooking the tortillas at 325 makes them nice and stale! Just being honest.

Honey Walnut Shrimp

Mmmm, mmmm, mmmmm! Shelly, here is the recipe you've been waiting for.

Candied Walnuts
1 egg white
4 cups walnuts
3/4 cup packed brown sugar
cooking spray

Preheat oven to 325. Spray cookie sheet with cooking spray. In a bowl, whisk the egg white until it is completely foamy and no liquid remains. Fold in walnuts and brown sugar. Toss gently to coat. Arrange the walnuts on the prepared baking sheet, keeping the individual pieces separate. Bake until the egg white-sugar mixture is cooked through and the nuts are golden brown, about 20 minutes. Loosen the nuts from the pan with a spatula. Set aside on a plate to cool.


The Shrimp
1 egg white
1 tsp. cornstarch
1/2 tsp. salt
1 lb. large shrimp, peeled

Mix together egg white, cornstarch and salt. Add shrimp and let marinate for 10 minutes.

oil for frying
3 TBS flour
3 TBS cornstarch
1/2 cup water

Heat the oil until very hot. Mix together flour, cornstarch, and water to make a batter. Dip the marinated shrimp one by one in the batter and deep fry for a minute until golden. Set the fried shrimp on a paper towel.

The Sauce
1/2 cup candied walnuts
4 TBS mayonnaise
3 TBS honey
dash of black sesame seeds

Mix together the mayo and honey in the skillet. Add shrimp and walnuts, stirring to coat. Sprinkle a dash of black sesame seeds on top and serve.

Menu Planning

Hayley requested some dinner ideas so here are my meals for the month. I absolutely hated trying to plan meals every week because someone (Brandt) never liked what I picked and thought we had the same things over and over (like spaghetti, which we did, it's my fav and it's easy). So, instead of struggling each and every week and dreading the thought of coming up with ideas I sat down and picked a month worth of meals. This way I can pick all my favorites and still get a variety. It takes a little bit of time at the beginning of the month, but then I'm done and don't have to dread each and every week what to come up with. Now it's fun to see what's for dinner.
*Disclaimer* We never make all the meals in the month and I don't stick to the exact day on the calendar. I plan for the week and we eat what we eat. I'll shift some meals to the next week or just forget about all together.