Introduction

Well, this is officially my second attempt at 'blogging'. My first blog was supposed to be all inclusive of my life and interests. Then I realized that while I lead a full, busy and amusing life, there wasn't anything really that interesting for outsiders to read about me. I'm a mom, a wife, a librarian and a coupon-cutter - enough said.

I've always liked the IDEA of cooking at home. I'm not even going to say "cooking from scratch" because that's not really what I mean. I just mean, eating a meal at home that does not involve a drive-through window. I have no desire to be on Top Chef or to give up Hamburger Helper.

I own a few dozen cookbooks and have easy access to more via the library. I have the bad habit of cutting recipes out of magazines and stacking them on the edge of the kitchen table. I like to watch Food Network and cooking shows on PBS.

The plan is to make this blog my online recipe box. I know there are sites that exist for this very purpose, however, a blog will allow me to be slightly more creative and share my recipe box with others who may be interested. I'm not even going to mention this blog to my friends and family yet -- let's see if I can keep it active and somewhat current first!

What you will find here are recipes that my family will eat. There won't be any exotic ingredients or recipes that take hours to make. You will find recipes that use pantry items from boxes and cans or items directly from the freezer. We aren't big sea-food eaters, though we do occasionally like to eat fish. While I will use eggs as a minor ingredient, you also won't find any egg dishes (ewww, yuck on the eggs!). You will most likely find lots of dishes that use boneless, skinless chicken breast. I also like to dabble with the crockpot and pressure cooker -- so look for some of these kinds of recipes too.

Cheers and enjoy!

Chicken Breasts Almondine

(The Best Simple Recipes, America's Test Kitchen, page 83)

• 1/2 cup flour
• 2 eggs
• 1 1/2 cups sliced almonds
• 3/4 cup panko bread crumbs
• 1 tsp. cornstarch
• 6 thin-cut, boneless, skinless chicken cutletsSalt & pepper
• 1/2 cup vegetable oil
  

• Spread flour in shallow dish. Beat eggs in second shallow dish. Combine almonds, breadcrumbs, and cornstarch in third shallow dish.
• Pat chicken dry with paper towels and season with salt and pepper. One at a time, coat cutlets lightly with flour, dip in egg, and dredge in almond mixture, pressing to adhere.
• Heat 1/4 cup oil in large nonstick skillet over medium heat until shimmering. Cook half of cutlets until golden brown, 2 to 3 minutes per side. Drain on paper towel lined plate. Wipe out skillet and repeat with remaining oil and chicken.

This was super good and easy -- and the leftovers were great! I served it with this couscous blend from Trader Joe's -- http://www.thekitchn.com/thekitchn/noodles-pasta-and-grains/trader-joes-pantry-harvest-grains-blend-033688. (Btw, I LOVE this stuff from TJs!) Yum!

Notes:

• I didn't have any chicken 'cutlets' so I sliced thick chicken breasts into thin slices.

• Next time, I'm just going to season the flour with salt and pepper, and forget about seasoning each piece of chicken individually.

• Don't skip the step of cleaning out the skillet between batches. I had a smaller skillet and had to do three batches. I tried to re-use the pan without wiping it out after the first batch and the second batch got way too dark.

Enjoy!