Foodie Friday!

Today I have two variations of a chicken dish that my family just loves! They are very similar, delicious and oh, so simple. Sounds perfect right? I happen to like delicious and simple because, as I have mentioned before I don't really enjoy cooking though baking is nirvana to me. I have a picture here that is a stock photo but is a similar recipe. As my chicken is always gone in a blink I have never snapped a picture of the finished product. The only difference is that my recipe is more moist. Ok and now for the recipe:

Caesar Parmesan Chicken

Boneless skinless chicken breast or tenders - enough to feed your family

creamy caesar salad dressing (I use Ken's)

1 C grated parmesan cheese

1 t ground black pepper

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Melt enough butter to cover bottom of your baking pan. Dip each piece of chicken in salad dressing, coat completely. Then roll each chicken piece in grated parmesan cheese. Place in a single layer in the butter covered baking dish. During the last few minutes you may sprinkle fresh parmesan cheese on top of chicken if you choose. I have done it both with and without and both are delish! Bake at 400 degrees for approximately 30 minutes.

Potato Chicken

1 C instant mashed potato flakes

1/3 C parmesan cheese

1 pinch of garlic powder

1/2 t black pepper

1 t parsley flakes

1 C milk

1 egg

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Melt enough butter to cover and roll around bottom of baking dish. Beat eggs and milk together in a shallow dish. Mix together all dry ingredients in another bowl. Dip pieces of chicken into milk mixture making sure to cover completely and then roll in the dry potato mixture. Place chicken into the baking pan in a single layer then immediately turn each piece over once to coat in butter. Bake for approximately 30 minutes. Chicken should be just turning a light golden color. Enjoy.

Maryland Crab Cakes

We had these for dinner last night finally! My plan was to have them during the game on Saturday but we lost power in our neighborhood for 6 hours and had to go to a sports bar for the game. Anyway on Monday we enjoyed a fabulous dinner of maryland crab cakes and fries with gravy (I've been told that's a weird Maryland thing). If I do say so myself, my crab cakes rival the very best in the state, no kidding. Here's the recipe, such as it is, sometimes you have to use a little instinct:

1 lb. Jumbo Lump Crabmeat

2/3 slices white bread

2/3 T. mayonnaise

2 t. Old Bay Seasoning

2 t. parsley flakes

1 t. mustard

1 egg

1 T. lemon juice

1t. worcestershire sauce

dash hot sauce

I like to use very fine bread crumbs prepared in my food processor (or a blender works fine as well). Set aside your bread crumbs. Beat 1 egg in a bowl. Add all wet ingredients and mix thoroughly. Add Old Bay and parsley flakes into the wet mix. Drain any liquid from your crab meat and gently add the meat into your bowl of wet ingredients. There is little point in paying more for jumbo lump meat if you are going to break it apart anyway. Gently fold the meat until all is moist. Begin adding your bread crumbs at this point. Your crab mixture should be the consistency of a fairly loose mud pie. So it only just sticks together. If you need more moisture, add a bit more mayo/lemon juice mix. A bit more bread crumbs, that's fine too. Shape mixture into patties. At this point I add a dash of worcestershire sauce to each patty. Broil for approximately 10 minutes. Serve and enjoy!