2012 has been a long year at our house. While we've had our share of blessings in many ways, my health was not one of them. After a year or more of not feeling well, constant fatigue, and intermittent chest pain, palpitations, high blood pressure, and vomitting, we found out this fall after numerous trips to several doctors, an ER visit with overnight observation, and a full cardiac work up that all of that chest stuff was caused by, drumroll please, gall bladder dysfunction.
Say what? Yup, you read that right. All that false path heart fear was really just my silly ole gall bladder acting up. I never had abdominal pain at all! Crazy, I know.
So an operation, pneumonia, and several weeks off work to recupe my stamina, I'm back in the groove and can remember who that energetic fun Glenna used to be and is again!
As a small thank you to my wonderful hubby, Gene, who waited on me hand and foot, took over all of the house chores, and did everything to take care of me while I was depressed, shaky, and pukey all the time, I didn't volunteer to work Christmas Eve like I often do, but instead stayed home for a cozy Christmas Eve dinner of all of his favorite foods as a small token of thanks for his help, his sense of humor, and his patience helping me through this awful year health-wise. Thank you, Honey!
Gene's Christmas Eve Thank You Dinner Menu
Oven Fried Chicken
Mashed Potatoes
Corn
Creamed Spinach (Okay, that one's my favorite)
Dinner Rolls
Nannie's From Scratch Banana Pudding
(chicken and creamed spinach recipes follow, banana pudding tomorrow!)
Oven Fried Chicken
Recipe by Glenna Anderson Muse
Ingredients:
- 6 pieces chicken: legs, thighs, breasts, or combination, can be with or without skin
- Salt and Pepper for chicken
- 1 egg, beaten
- Cooking spray, commercial or non-aerosol oil mister (such as the Misto Oil Mister available at Bed, Bath, and Beyond or Target)
- For coating:
- 1 1/2 cups all purpose flour or 1/2 white/ 1/2 whole wheat flour
- 1 cup bread crumbs, Italian seasoned
- 1 tsp salt
- 1 tsp pepper
Directions:
1. Rinse chicken pieces and pat dry. Beat egg in a shallow bowl and set asside. Mix (coating) last four ingredients together in a gallon sized storage baggie.
2. Dip each piece of chicken in egg and let extra drip off. Place two or three pieces of chicken in coating baggie at a time and shake until pieces are even coated.
3. Place coated chicken onto a rack over a rimmed baking pan covered in foil (easy clean up). Do not let pieces touch. Let set for approx 15 minutes so coating will adhere better during cooking. Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees.
4. The key to getting crunchy oven baked chicken is to spray the coated pieces lightly with oil prior to baking. Either a commercial cooking spray like Pam brand or a non-aerosol mister to convert olive or cooking oil into spray.
5. Bake at 350 degrees F for 1 hour until browned nicely. Bigger pieces, like joined leg/thighs or over-sized breasts may require and extra half hour of cooking time. Poultry should reach 165-175 degrees internally at the fleshiest part before removing from oven. Allow chicken to rest for 10 minutes before serving to allow juices to resettle.
Easy Microwave Creamed Spinach for Two
Makes 2 servings
Recipe by Glenna Anderson Muse
Ingredients:
- 1 cup of packed spinach, frozen (thawed and drained)
- 1/4 tsp nutmeg or cardamom
- 1/4 tsp dried red pepper flakes
- 2 Tbsp cream cheese
- 1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese
- Salt and Pepper to taste
Directions:
Mix all ingredients together. Microwave for approx five minutes on medium high, stirring every minute or so until hot and creamy.
I pile corn on top of my mashed potatoes too! How funny.
Posted by: Kimberly W. | November 06, 2013 at 01:33 AM