Oven-fried chicken

I've had a draft of this recipe saved for a couple months, since my niece was born, because I made it when I was tending my two nephews while my brother-in-law went to pick up my sister at the hospital. When they came to pick them up I sent them home with dinner, and since my brother-in-law thinks I'm even crazier than my husband does I was amazed when he gave this chicken the thumbs up. And my sister just called me and asked me how to make it, so I will finally post it.

I frequently swap out ingredients that I don't have on hand, but I'll list my favorite first, then the others are alternatives. Also, I don't really measure. I get as much chicken as I want to cook, then keep adding more bread crumbs (that is usually what I run out of first) until I'm done.

Oven-fried Chicken

3 slices bread, pulsed in blender until crumbs (or 1/2 c bread crumbs, 3 c cornflakes crushed to 1 c crumbs)
1 t oregano (or basil, italian seasoning, thyme, sage, etc.)
2-3 lbs. chicken, boneless skinless breasts cut into strips (or any kind of chicken pieces, I always take the skin off because it grosses me out)
1/2 c plain yogurt (or beaten egg, or egg white, or melted butter, or milk)

(I like to use pie plates for each step, the sides keep it a little neater, but for easy clean-up, use paper plates)

Mix the bread crumbs and oregano, set aside. Rinse chicken, pat dry, and lightly salt and pepper. Dip the chicken in the yogurt, then bread crumbs, then arrange on a baking sheet so the pieces are not touching (but they can be very close together because it shrinks while cooking). Bake in 375 degree oven for 45-55 minutes, until chicken is cooked through and bread crumbs are golden brown. Do not turn.

Miso Soup

So of course nobody liked this, except me and my brother who came over to eat. But it was soooooooo easy to make, I think it may be the easiest thing in the world to make. And since part of the difficulty of cooking is having the right ingredients on hand when that moment comes to make dinner, it helps that miso keeps indefinitely in the fridge (according to multiple websites). And you don't have to really measure.

3 T miso paste
3 oz. tofu, in 1/2 inch cubes
2 green onions, thinly sliced
sliced mushrooms
couple inches of konbu (dried kelp), cut into small slivers (it expands a lot), or hon dashi (some sort of fish powder, actually I think it might be a powdered form of konbu?)
4 c. water

Bring miso, konbu, and water to a boil, remove from heat. Add everything else.

Easy enough for you?

Pork Medallions with Potato Pancakes from Poor Girl Eats Well

I found this blog http://poorgirleatswell.blogspot.com that features food that is cheap (as the name suggests), but it is also healthy and simple. This is the first time I have found a recipe blog that does all that. Usually, the healthy ones have you searching for unusual sometimes expensive ingredients, the simple ones call for processed unhealthy ingredients thrown in, and I just found an "eat cheap" one that had a recipe for tater tot casserole. No thank you. So far I really like this Poor Girl blog, I hope she adds many more recipes like this pork one I made last night. I used pork chops instead of loin (so I didn't have cute medallions), and I used frozen hash browns because I had some and didn't have potatoes. The glaze was delicious (although I got kind of confused as the recipe wasn't clear on what to do with it, deglaze the pan with half of it and then what? And drizzle it on top, but what do you do with the other half?) I really liked it with cilantro on top. Even my husband liked it, and as you know that doesn't happen very often. The kids liked the "pancakes," but will probably take a few more times before they are adventurous enough to try the meat. A delicious meal, and I'm excited to try more things from her blog.

Apparently her website is having trouble at the moment, so I can't get the link, but go to her blog (when it is working) and look for Pork Medallions and Balsamic Honey Glaze and Potato Pancakes.