Things Remembered

When Father's Day comes around I always get a little nostalgic thinking of my daddy and the wonderful man that he was.  He was a loving and kind dad who taught me so many things.  The most important of which was a love and respect for my Heavenly Father.  For that I am most grateful.

One of things that dad loved to do was tinker around in the kitchen.  He made a very tasty biscuits and gravy, and the things he would do with left over mashed potatoes.  The potato pancakes where my favorite. Yes, even though mom was the main cook, my daddy was a pretty good cook too; even though he'd dirty up every dish in the house in the process.  No one ever complained though.  Those are such sweet memories for me.

One of daddy's favorite things to eat was chicken and biscuit sandwiches.  So in honor of my dad I made chicken and biscuits for lunch today.  Nice way to remember my sweet daddy who graduated to his heavenly home 16 years ago. 

How did y'all honor/celebrate your dad today?

Spice It Up!!!

Here in Cammie's Kitchen we use a lot of spice. And when I say a lot, I mean A LOT. Like we should probably own stock in the spice industry a lot. Yeah we love our spice. 

One of our favorite ways to "spice it up" is with a spice combo for blackening chicken or fish. I found a recipe that I absolutely love and just have to have on hand All. The. Time. I think it's the smoked papricka that puts it over the top. You could follow the recipe and make a single use portion, but it's so easy to make bunch to keep on hand; so go ahead and do it. You can thank me later. 

The Best Blackening Spice

Ingredients

• 1 tablespoon paprika
• 2 tablespoons smoked paprika
• 1 teaspoon cayenne pepper (cut in half if you prefer less spicy)
• 1 teaspoon thyme
• 1 teaspoon oregano
• 1 teaspoon garlic powder
• 1 tablespoon onion powder
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon ground black pepper

Instructions

1. Mix all ingredients together and store in a cool, dry place. Will stay fresh for three months if sealed well.
2. To use: coat whatever meat or fish you’re using with extra-virgin olive oil, just enough to coat, then coat liberally with spice mix. Grill, broil, roast or saute as desired.
   

http://www.thewickednoodle.com/blackening-spice/

Chicken Soup For The Hungry Soul

Sounds like the title to a familiar book doesn't it. Well, our hungry souls we're sure in the mood for soup today, but with the rainy weather I just didn't feel like venturing out to the supermarket. So I scoured the pantry and fridge to see what I could find. 

I knew I had some chicken thighs and knew we could use those. So I decided on making a creamy chicken soup. Pulled it all together with the following ingredients and didn't have to leave the house. 

Creamy Chicken Soup With Rice

2-3 chicken thighs, cooked, deboned and cubed

1 cup rice (I had some leftover from another meal)

2 stalks of celery chopped

1 cup Idahoan potato flakes, this will help thicken the broth a bit

3 tablespoons peppered gravy mix

2 tablespoons Knor Chicken Bollion

1/4 teaspoon sage

Salt and pepper to taste

2 cups chicken broth

2 cups water

1 cup 1% milk or skim

Combine all ingredients in a Dutch oven. Stir well to incorporate all. Bring to a boil, lower heat and simmer covered for about 20 minutes or until celery is tender. If you are using pre-cooked rice I would add it about the last 5 minutes so as not to have it too mushy. Enjoy your soup with a sandwich or some crackers. It really hits the spot on those dreary and rainy days.

Spicy Panko Crusted Chicken

Mmm.... Well, kinda, sorta. 

On a tip from my cousin I tried substiting corn flakes for the panko breading in my fried chicken recipe tonight. I gotta say it turned out really well even though I had totally forgot to add the egg to the buttermilk soak. Adding a few spices to the panko breading gave the chicken a nice spicy punch. I think this would also work well if you baked the chicken instead of frying.

The corn flakes were also a cheaper option to the panko breading and being able to save money is always a good thing. I think this is another good kitchen substitution. Oh, and you don't need to use brand name corn flakes either. Any brand should work the same. I just happened to have some of the Kellogs already on hand.

Who Knew?

Here's an interesting factoid I came across today y'all....

There are four cities in the United States that have the word chicken in their names: Chicken, Alaska; Chicken Bristle, Illinois; Chicken Bristle, Kentucky, and Chicken Town, Pennsylvania. Well now we know.