Chicken Fried Steak

Here it is. Doesn't it look good? After watching "The next food network star" and seeing them plate a "beauty" plate. I decided to also. I think Trent will think we were all fancy when he gets home and goes to heat up his save plate . . . OH wait, because of the gold edging on the china if you stick it in the microwave it sparks . . . Oh well, I will show him this picture so that when he wonders why his food looks like I have scraped it off someone elses plate I can assure him he is not eating the kids food left on their plate (cuz I would NEVER do something like that, put the food my kids don't touch on his plate????)

• Buy the pre-tenderized cubed steak.
• Make a seasoned flour mixture (flour, Lawry's seasoning salt, onion powder, garlic powder, ranch dressing packet . . . anything you like)
• Dip the meat in the flour and then dip into a beaten egg and then back into the flour.
• Have a skillet with about 1/8 inch of oil hot. Place the meat in the skillet. Allow it to brown on one side for about a minute. Turn and do the same to the other.
• Once both sides are browned, remove from skillet (allow the oil to drip off) and place in an oven safe dish.
• Bake at 350 for 20-30 more minutes.Tips, don't crowd the meat in the oil or oven.
• When finished with the skillet, pour off the oil, but leave the drippings. Add more of the seasoned flour and 2 TBS of butter and stir with a wire whisk to make a roux. Add 2 cups of milk and whisk continually until thickend. Country Gravy!!!!

Now, here's reality. I get to "plate" 5 plates all at once -- not because I am on the next food network star, but because it is my only shot at being able to sit and eat with my kids for more that 2 minutes!!!!!

Friday Pizza

Every Friday, we have Pizza. I know it sounds boring, but we all love it.

It is always homemade, and it is absolutely the best pizza -- yes, better than delivery, take-out, frozen, or gourmet.

First, sometime around 3:30 in the afternoon I make the dough. It takes roughly 2 minutes. Here is the recipe.

1 1/2 cups warm water
1 Tbs yeast (I always use the rapid rise, bread machine yeast)
1 Tbs sugar
2 Tbs vegetable oil
4 cups of flour (I often do slightly less -- like I just don't fill the 4th cup all the way since I know I will use 1/4 cup of flour when I roll out the dough)
1 tsp salt
1 tsp garlic powder (this is optional, but I nearly always add it)

Add those things in that order as fast as you can. I put it in my Kitchen aid with the dough hook and let it run for about 2 minutes. Then you leave it alone. I am sure you could remove the dough hook and let it rise in a nice separate bowl covered nicely with a pretty dish towel, but I never bother. I turn off the kitchenaid and leave it in there (dough hook and all) until it has risen double in size. (In a rush I have let it rise for as little as 20 minutes without noticing any change in result).

When you return, divide the dough in half and flour the countertop. Roll it out and place onto a pizza pan (sprayed with cooking spray). This recipe makes 2 large pizza crusts. As you can see from the photos, I doubled it.

Then top with sauce (I always use Prego traditional). Add cheese and other toppings. Bake at 475 until the crust is done. (About 12-15 minutes)

What kind of weird angle is that????

Now, I must share my quick tip.

Often, as soon as I finish rolling out one pizza crust, I place it in the oven to start baking. Then I roll out the next and place it in the oven. If I am only making 2 pizzas I let them cook while I clean up and get out all the toppings. If I am making 4 pizzas I just keep rolling the dough and putting them in the oven and by the time the 4th one goes in, I pull the 1st one out to get all of its toppings.

I don't let the crusts cook all the way, just until they start to change color (slighlty golden). Then you add the toppings and finish in the oven for only about 5 more minutes. It really helps you get pizza on the table fast. Also, many times I add the toppings to the cooked crust and then freeze the whole pizza to be used at a later date or I take it to someone and let them pop it in their oven for just 5 minutes and they can enjoy oven fresh homemade pizza!

Baked Potatoes

Yes, I know that a recipe for baked potatoes is like a recipe for boiling water, but I do do it different.

Wash potatoes.
Place in a 500 degree oven. (Do not poke, pierce, or stab)
Remove an hour later.
Eat.

The insides will be soft and the skin will be crisp! This is how I love them. I have never had one burst this way (although I have had one burst when I did it the other way-- pricking and wrapping in foil and baking at 350 for an hour???)

Veggie Bars

2 cans of reduced fat crescent rolls
1 standard size bar of cream cheese
1 hidden valley ranch dressing packet (the powder mix)
1/2 cup mayo1 broccoli crown
1/2 cauliflower10 baby carrots
1/2 red pepper
1/2 orange pepper

Place the crescent rolls unrolled and flat on a baking sheet. Press the seams together to make one large rectangle. Bake at 350 for about 10 minutes (until nice and golden). Remove from the oven and let cool completely.In a bowl combine cream cheese, mayonnaise, and ranch mix. Stir well. When the roll is completely cooled, spread this on top.The broccoli, cauliflower, and carrots are chopped finely in a food processor. The peppers are chopped finely by hand. Mix them all together and then pour onto the ranch spread.Cut and serve!

Pizza variation

I make pizza every Friday night. Last night we tried this variety. This time I tried the refrigerated pizza crusts (they were OK, but not great) and a fresh tomato topping. We rolled out the crust and then topped it with a thin layer of. . .

*2 Tbs mayo
*1 tsp chopped garlic
*1 tsp sugar
*1/2 tsp dried basil (although fresh would be better)

We place very thinly sliced tomatoes on next and then topped with mozzarella and parmesan. It was yummy!

Not as good as our regular pizza, but it is always fun to do things different!

Angel Food Cup Cakes!

I wanted to see if Angel Food cake would still be spongy and airy if I made them into cupcakes. And the result . . . YES, they are and they peel out of the cupcake paper shells easily, and they are perfect for making mini strawberry shortcakes.

Note, I made them out of a box and the batter easily made 24 cupcakes and then I had batter left over -- so it is a larger batch than a regular cake mix. Also I baked them for about 15 minutes.