Cornflake Chicken

The first meal I ever made for Mike when we were dating was cornflake chicken with mashed potatoes - a Hartman family favorite.  I took him to the store with me, bought the ingredients, and then asked him to guess what we were making.  He has zero ideas and was a little afraid to admit he was scared of what this meal would hold.  Finally, I let him in on the secret and although he was still skeptical, he was more willing to try whatever I was concocting. 

However, when we got to making the mashed potatoes all heck broke loose. I boiled the potatoes per usual and began to put them in the mixture when this happened:

       "What are you doing with those potatoes?" - Mike

       "I'm going to mash them..." - Me

       "With the mixer?" - Mike

       "Yes. Is that a problem?" - Me

       "Well where's your masher?" - Mike

       "I don't use a masher! That's too much work and they don't get creamy like I like them." -Me

       "Well I don't know about this..." -Mike...

His constitution had reached its breaking point.  This whole meal was just weird including the lady with the mixer making mashed potatoes.  So I interjected:

"Why don't you just let me make dinner and if you don't like it fine, but just try it first."

Well guess what folks, he ate it, loved it and even married me later despite it.  Believe it or not he commented that the mashed potatoes were excellent! Who would have thought?

So here it is: Cornflake Chicken:

It is a fantastically delicious and pretty speedy weeknight meal.  Full of tons of great things like butter - yes, I sound a bit like Paula Deen, I know.  Problem is, there's not a great recipe for this - I always just kind of make it up.  So I've tried to compile an actual recipe for anyone else who wants to try it! Sadly there's not mashed potato recipe this time.  That's another of those I-just-put-whatever-sounds-good-into-the-pot kind of recipes. Maybe someday soon. 

Cornflake Chicken:

1 stick of butter, melted

1 packet of ranch mix (you can find it by the salad dressing)

4 pieces boneless, skinless chicken breast

1/2 cup parmesan cheese - nothing fancy, just the stuff you buy in the can

4 cups-ish cornflakes, finely crunched (*yes, that's the technical word.  This is best done with your hands.  You don't want it too big or too small)

1/2 T garlic powder

2 t italian seasoning

Preheat oven to 375 grease or spray oil a 9x13 baking sheet or cake pan.  Mix the crunched cornflakes, italian seasoning, garlic powder, ranch mix, and parmesan cheese together in a large bowl.  Take one piece of chicken, coat in the butter evenly the transfer to the cornflake mixture.  Repeat - you want a double coating to get a really great crunch.  Repeat for every piece of chicken.

When all piece of chicken are coated, place in the oven for 35 minutes, or until chicken is cooked through.  Serve to skeptical boyfriends, loving husbands, or anyone else you so choose! 

Winner! Winner! Cupcake Dinner!

If you follow me on facebook, you probably noticed I posted this link last week.  Well,  here are my pictures of my cupcake - you'll notice my pictures aren't quite as good as the Tribune's...something to work on over Christmas break I suppose!

The competition was a lot of fun to compete in and I'm looking forward to next year's competition already!
This is how the whole process worked: I entered my recipes online, and waited patiently anxiously for a month until they notified finalist. *Bragging ahead* I have to say I was proud when they notified me I was the only finalist to have two recipes chosen! Another post about the other recipe later.  I made both recipes, delivered them for testing/photographing and then again, waited for the awards the next week.  These cupcakes took third in the filled category, not my ultimate goal, but still highly respectable.  So here they are:

Don't worry, I actually piped the frosting for the official ones!

If you've been on pinterest you may have seen a couple pins about filling cupcakes with apple butter - well, that's exactly what I did. Everyone that had one really seemed to enjoy them, of course that was mostly my family and they're a little biased, so take that with a grain of salt!  Here's the recipe; hope you enjoy them!

Apple Butter Filled Vanilla Cupcakes with Cinnamon Frosting
(Don't worry, it sounds more complicated than it really is!)

Cupcakes:

2/3 cup sugar

1 stick butter, room temperature

2 eggs

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1-1/2 cups all-purpose flour

2 teaspoons baking powder

1/3 cup sour cream

1/3 cup milk

Filling:

Apple Butter (or if you're a food snob like me, you make your own)

Frosting:

2 sticks butter, room temperature

4 cups powdered sugar

1 tablespoon cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon vanilla

1/4 cup heavy cream

Cupcakes:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line or grease a cupcake tin. In a large mixing bowl, cream the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Beat in vanilla extracts.

In another bowl, whisk together flour, and baking powder. Beat 1/3 of flour mixture into wet ingredients. Alternatively add the flour mixture and milk/sour cream to the wet ingredients, blending until smooth after each addition.

Fill the cupcake liners about 1/4 full. Create a crater with the back of a small cookie scoop and drop in 1-1/2 tablespoon of apple butter into each cupcake liner. Fill the liners with rest of batter until about 3/4 full. Bake for 18-22 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into a cupcake comes out clean. (It’s OK if the apple butter leaves residue on toothpick). Allow to cool completely before frosting.

Frosting:

While cupcakes cool, place all frosting ingredients in a bowl. Mix until frosting comes together and is smooth. Do not mix too fast, to avoid whipping any air into the frosting. Frost cupcakes to taste.