Best of Old House Kitchen: Cinnamon Chicken

The next few weeks our family is going to be very busy!  We have two more camping trips, 4-H week, Vacation Bible School (my hubby's in charge of this so of course I'm helping, too!), our 16th wedding anniversary, a birthday celebration, and we have overnight guests coming to visit on two separate occasions!  Crazy busy!  So ya'll will forgive me if I re-post a few things here and there, right?  Good.  I knew you were nice like that!  : )  Monday menu plans will be new each week because, after all, we have to eat and I need a menu.  Tuesday's kitchen tips will be new and we'll keep following the Queen of the Castle series, but the recipes that I post will be our family's favorite ones.  I've taken a poll during one of our latest Dinner Time Quiz Shows so here is a family's favorite.

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In season 6 of Little House on the Prairie there's an episode where Laura makes a meal for Almonzo but Nellie is pretending that she made it. Laura is upset with Nellie so she puts cayenne pepper in the mix instead of cinnamon. It's one of my favorite episodes. Hilarious to say the least!

Every time I make this the kids chatter on and on about that episode. But then of course we have to a-hem and remind them that it wasn't very nice of Laura. (But it sure was funny!)

Cinnamon Chicken
2 whole chickens (see note below)
1/2 cup chicken broth
2 tsp. cinnamon
1/3 cup honey
2 T. lemon juice
1/8 tsp. cumin
1/2 tsp. chili powder
1 tsp. garlic salt

Blend together broth, cinnamon, honey, lemon juice, cumin, chili powder, and garlic salt. Place chicken in a large ungreased roasting pan (I use my roaster); pour mixture over chicken. Cover and refrigerate several hours or overnight. Bake at 400 degrees for 1 and 1/2 hours. (Make sure that you have plenty of room between the chickens to let air circulate.) Let them rest for about 20 minutes to retain moisture.

Note: You can use chicken pieces such as breast on the bone with skin. Cooking time will be less (about an hour) and you'll want to lower the temperature to about 375 degrees. 

Best of Old House Kitchen: Lemony Pork Piccata

The next few weeks our family is going to be very busy!  We have two more camping trips, 4-H week, Vacation Bible School (my hubby's in charge of this so of course I'm helping, too!), our 16th wedding anniversary, a birthday celebration, and we have overnight guests coming to visit on two separate occasions!  Crazy busy!  So ya'll will forgive me if I re-post a few things here and there, right?  Good.  I knew you were nice like that!  : )  Monday menu plans will be new each week because, after all, we have to eat and I need a menu.  Tuesday's kitchen tips will be new and we'll keep following the Queen of the Castle series, but the recipes that I post will be our family's favorite ones.  I've taken a poll during one of our latest Dinner Time Quiz Shows so here is a family's favorite.

Lemony Pork Piccata

2 lb. pork tenderloin, sliced into 16 portions

4 t. lemon-pepper seasoning

6 T. all-purpose flour

4T. butter

1/2 c. chicken broth

1/2 c. lemon juice (I use the bottled kind)

Pound pork into slices to 1/8 inch thickness, using a meat mallet or rolling pin. Lightly sprinkle pork with lemon-pepper seasoning and flour. Melt 2 T. butter in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add half of pork and saute 2-3 minutes on each side until golden, turning once. Repeat procedure with remaining butter and pork. Remove pork to a serving plate; set aside.

Add chicken broth and lemon juice to skillet. Cook 2 minutes until slightly thickened, scraping up browned bits. Add pork and heat thoroughly.

Serve over quick-cooking angel hair pasta or brown rice to enjoy every drop of the lemony goodness!

Best of Old House Kitchen: Sausage Gravy and Biscuits

The next few weeks our family is going to be very busy!  We have two more camping trips, 4-H week, Vacation Bible School (my hubby's in charge of this so of course I'm helping, too!), our 16th wedding anniversary, a birthday celebration, and we have overnight guests coming to visit on two separate occasions!  Crazy busy!  So ya'll will forgive me if I re-post a few things here and there, right?  Good.  I knew you were nice like that!  : )  Monday menu plans will be new each week because, after all, we have to eat and I need a menu.  Tuesday's kitchen tips will be new and we'll keep following the Queen of the Castle series, but the recipes that I post will be our family's favorite ones.  I've taken a poll during one of our latest Dinner Time Quiz Shows so here is a family's favorite.

Even though my family is large --huge by some standards-- we're still not Amish "size". Our Amish neighbors have 11 children! I thought I worked hard cooking for our crowd! They have 11 and some of them are big, strappin' boys! I have a few Amish Country cookbooks that I just love. Flipping through them gives me a glimpse into her life and an appreciation for cooking for a large crowd. From a few of these books I've found (and scaled down, believe it or not!) a great recipe for sausage gravy and homemade biscuits. Hubby loves these biscuits! He's a biscuit snob, so they must be good!
Sausage Gravy
1 lb. sausage
3/4 cup flour
3/4 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. pepper
4 1/2 cups milk
Brown and crumble sausage (don't drain it). Add flour, salt and pepper and stir. If the sausage is dry, you may need to add a bit of shortening when adding flour. Add milk while stirring. Heat until it starts to boil and reduce heat and continue to stir until thickened. Makes about 5 cups of gravy.
Homemade Biscuits
4 cups flour

1 tsp. salt
8 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. cream of tartar
4 tsp. sugar
1 cup shortening
1 1/3 cup milk
Sift dry ingredients together. Cut in shortening until mixture resembles course crumbs. Add milk all at once and stir until dough follows fork around bowl. Roll 1/2 thick.* Use a large glass or a canning jar to cut biscuits. Place on ungreased cookie sheets. Bake at 450 degrees for 10-12 minutes. Makes about 30 biscuits.
*Note: The key to light and fluffy biscuits is not to work the dough too much.

Freeze Wrestle?

We have some dear friends who make a yearly pilgrimage from Michigan to northern Indiana for a weekend visit.  We always enjoy our visit.  We pick up right where we left off.  We visit like we see each other every day.  Our children get along very well.  We joke that their three boys are going to marry out three oldest daughters so we can have a great set of in-laws.  : )

Our family does something called "Freeze Dance".  We play music (today it was Paul Simon's "Graceland" cd) and the kids dance like crazy until the music stops.  If they move, they are out.  It goes on and on until we have a winner.  Well the boys decided to make it into "Freeze Wrestle".  Very funny.  Here's a pic!