Breaded Chicken with Roasted Garlic Peppercorn Sauce

My latest chicken adventure was one that didn’t even begin with chicken. I’ve been dabbling in sauces a bit lately, and upon discovering a tasty sounding recipe for roasted garlic peppercorn sauce, the next task was to find something to pour it on. Chicken seemed appropriate to me, so I opted for a breaded chicken recipe, using Panko to create a satisfying crunch.

I served the chicken with mashed potatoes and steamed cauliflower, but I’m only going to list recipes for the chicken and sauce here. Mashed potatoes can be made any number of ways and there’s nothing particularly special about the way I do them, and steamed vegetables are easy. Plus, who am I to tell you what to serve as your side dish? Go nuts!

Dulce de Leche Brownies

Over the weekend, I hosted a pretty successful barbeque. I arranged a tostada bar with carne asada, steak, chicken, and pork, honey sesame chicken drumsticks, and some Smokin’ Scovilles elk chili. Unfortunately, in my rush to have everything done on time, I didn’t get to take a lot of pictures. However, I did manage to document one of the desserts I featured - dulce de leche brownies.

The original recipe actually calls for these brownies to be salted, but I chose not to since the salted dulce de leche on the inside already provides the necessary contrast in flavors. It also calls for a box of brownie mix, but that’s not how I roll – I made the mix from scratch. While not an especially tough recipe, it does take a while from start to finish, so be sure to set aside an afternoon to make them.

Kickin’ Crinkles – Crinkle Cookies With Attitude

Rich, chocolatey, and coated with powdered sugar, Crinkle cookies are chewy, decadent piles of goodness whose surface looks like a delicious reenactment of continental drift. I’d been meaning to make myself a batch of crinkle cookies for some time now, but was always off put by the fact that most crinkle cookie recipes require the dough to sit in the refrigerator for hours before it’s ready to use. Not this recipe!

You also may be wondering why I say these crinkle cookies have got attitude. You see, back before I started this blog, I made a batch of cookies called Aztec cookies. These featured a spicy aftertaste, thanks to the additions of ginger and cayenne pepper. Well, I decided crinkle cookies could benefit from a little bit of that kick, so each cookie comes with a slightly spicy aftertaste to really wake up your taste buds.

Steak Fajitas

Steak. Who doesn’t love steak? Well, vegetarians and vegans, I guess, but I can’t be bothered with those who deny their human nature. For this steak adventure, I decided to make fajitas, with peppers, onions, spicy sour cream, and Spanish rice made from scratch. The meat comes out with a citrusy flavor which, to be honest, is a flavor I don’t necessarily prefer when it comes to meat. Everyone else seemed to love it though, so that’s good enough for me to recommend this recipe.

Skyrim Sweet Rolls

If you’ve played The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, you’ve probably heard the line “Let me guess, somebody stole your sweet roll”. Well, if the sweet rolls could taste as good in game as they do in real life, I would not blame someone for attempting to do so. Those who know me are well aware that my other passion in life is video games. I’ve been working in that industry for years, and even write for a video game website in addition to maintaining this blog. So come with me as my worlds collide in this fairly labor intensive but still relatively easy and very tasty recipe.

Also, be sure to check the “Additional details” section at the bottom of this post, as there were a few extra steps I needed to take which may be of use to some of you.

Eye of Round Roast

Going into my first roast was a bit intimidating. A big chunk of meat and instructions that call for the oven to remain closed for nearly 3 hours? “What have I gotten myself into?”, I wondered. Turns out my worries were mostly unfounded, as the recipe calls for little preparation and a lot of anxious sitting around. Follow this recipe and you too can enjoy a delicious roast that requires almost zero actual effort.

Easy Chocolate Soufflé

My hunt for great desserts leads me to all kinds of interesting ideas. Most of my recent desserts use chocolate as a base, and in my attempt to branch out and diversify this time, I….made another chocolate dessert. Now, I know what you’re thinking – “easy” and “soufflé” don’t belong in the same sentence together. Normally, you’d be right. But this was my first attempt to bake a soufflé, and I assure you – it was easy and the results were perfect. Nevermind that I found this recipe in a cookbook even older than I am, this recipe works just as well today.

Baked Pesto Chicken

If I spent the rest of my life preparing only chicken, I still would not see every method the world has to offer. With so many options, I spend a few minutes feeling a little overwhelmed before I can come to a decision about how to prepare it. This time, I decided to go with pesto. I made the pesto from scratch and found a pretty simple recipe with which to use it, so give it a shot! You won’t be disappointed.