Me Vs. the Chicken ROUND 3

OK. If you know me you know that when it comes to cooking, chicken is on of my mortal enemies. But then I've never cooked a roast or steak, so they may be mortal enemies, too. I don't know. But anyway, I went after the chicken in a battle of wills again this afternoon and hands down, I came out the winner! Possibly the easiest chicken recipe known to man. My friend Rhonda G. told me how to make baked cajun chicken...I feel slighty more moronic than usual for NOT know how to do this before.

1. Locate chicken (already cleaned and cut, of course)
2. Sprinkle w/cajun spices
3. Wrap in aluminum foil
4. Bake in 350 degree oven until done.

That's it!! And it was G--OOO--OOOD. I even used my elcheapo Kroger brand Cajun seasoning and as she promised, it turned out nice and juicy w/that spicy cajun flavor. If only all recipes were so simple! Thanks Rhonda!!

Now, most of you are not going to believe this but the chicken was actually my THIRD attempt at real cooking of the day. Yes, I said third.

This morning I made biscuits! From scratch!! Buttermilk, no less! AND THEY WERE GOOD, TOO!! Now, like the mac and cheese, I have not perfected the art of biscuitry just yet. This was actually my third attempt at making biscuits. Lately...I'm not counting my Ellie May Clampet hockey puck biscuits from way back. Anyhow, the first time, I used 2% milk in the recipe and got a pretty good biscuit, somewhat fluffy, not crumbly. A success. But, they still didn't taste quite like the ones my grandma makes. Her's are unbelievably delicious. So I decided I'd try making mine with buttermilk(like she does) and see if they could get any closer. They weren't. Too dense, a little hard and not nearly as good as that first batch. So this morning I was thinking about what to eat for breakfast and I thought "biscuits, bacon and egg". I tried the buttermilk recipe again and realized what I did wrong the last time. I didn't follow the recipe quite right. Evidently when you cook, you have to follow the recipe or things just don't turn out right! Der. So this morning I realized that in the art of biscuitry the shortening and flour must be mixed together before you add milk or they just don't turn out right...also you shouldn't forget to add key ingredients like baking soda when called for. Don't know why...some chemical reaction/scientific explanation that I'm sure Alton Brown could spit out in a matter of seconds, but I have no clue. I just know this mornings biscuits were much better than the last round! Fluffier and not quite as heavy as the last batch...still, not like Mamaws. Hers are fluffier and just taste better. I've watched her make biscuits more times than I can count. She never used a recipe... always just dumps the ingredients in the middle of a giant wooden bowl and mixes everything up by hand. You'd think by following a recipe and from countless times watching her do it, I could get it right. However, she does have about 65-70 years of biscuit making under her belt. I have only three tries under mine, so I'm doing OK, I guess.

My final recipe of the day was sweet potato fries. Now sweet potatos aren't my favorite food, but since I am trying to lose weight and eat a little healtier, I thought I'd give it a try. It's a Biggest Loser recommended recipe(somewhat altered), so I thought I might like it. I cut a sweet potato into fry size pieces, sprinked olive oil, french fry seasoning and a bit of paprika on them and baked them in the oven. The recipe said 10-12min. I left them in longer hoping that they would get crunchy. I have a feeling a sweet potato doesn't get crunchy unless it is deep fried. So I think they turned out OK, but I didn't enjoy them(warmed up a can of corn instead). It wasn't the seasoning that bothered me, it was the taste of the SP that I couldn't get past. I'm guessing Mark, who loves sweet potatos will gobble them up, but my official stand on this is that I am not a fan of the sweet potato and I will not be cooking them for myself again.