Baking Powder Drop Cheese Biscuits

My dad likes cooking shows, mostly Alton Brown, but he likes a variety of shows. He told me a while back that he had found/made/discovered the recipe for the cheesy biscuits from Red Lobster. Not the ACTUAL recipe, but one very similar. So I told him he had to send it to me. In truth, I haven't made these yet. Why? I don't know. No time to I guess. But they are on my "To-Make" list. So until then, here is the top-secret recipe! :)

Baking Powder Drop Cheese Biscuits
(aka: Red Lobster Cheese Biscuits)

Ingredients:
2 cups all-purpose flour
2 tablespoons sugar
4 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon cream of tartar
1/2 teaspoon salt
¼ tsp garlic powder
1/2 cup shortening or butter
2/3 cup milk or buttermilk
1 egg
½ -1 cup finely shredded sharp cheddar cheese
¼ cup melted butter (optional)
¼ tsp garlic powder (optional)

Directions:
In a bowl, combine the first five ingredients. Cut in shortening/butter until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs. In a bowl, whisk milk and egg. Add cheese to crumb mixture then stir wet ingredients into crumb mixture just until moistened. Drop by heaping spoonfuls 2 in. apart onto an un-greased baking sheet. Bake at 450 degrees F for 10-12 minutes or until golden brown.

Optional: Brush tops of biscuits with butter (optional garlic mixture).

Serve warm.

Ranch Parmesan Chicken

I made this over the weekend and it was SO good. Find the original recipe here (and a recipe for twice baked potatoes that look yummy as well), because as always, I changed it. :)

Ranch Parmesan Chicken
3 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
3 sourdough English muffins
3 TBS. melted butter
1 tsp. garlic
1/4 tsp. pepper
1/4 tsp. cayenne pepper (sounds like it will make it hot, but it doesn't, just adds flavor)
1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese
1 jars ranch dressing

Pre-heat oven to 400 degrees. Spray your cooking pan/casserole dish with non-stick spray. In a blender or food processor, add English muffins and pulse until crumbs. I had to do this in sections since my blender didn't get the muffins on top. Put crumbs in a pie tin. Add the butter and mix together. Add Parmesan cheese, garlic, and peppers. Take your chicken and dredge it in ranch dressing. Dip the chicken into the bread crumb mixture and set on the baking sheet. Bake for 35 minutes or until the chicken is cooked through. Serve with a potato side and veggies.

Those are the simple directions, some extra things I did were that I pounded my chicken flat - not thin - flat. Mostly I thought it would help it cook more even. I put it between wax paper (or you could use parchment paper) and pounded it with a mallet/tenderizer until it was evenly flat (if I had to guess thickness, I would say the chicken ended up about 1/2 inch thick maybe even 3/4 inch). Then I took this fandangled tenderizer I have and tenderized the chicken. Not necessary, but helps it to be tender and soak up juices.

Chicken side note, if you clicked over to the original recipe you'll see that she used double the chicken. Our family is small, so I halved it. And along with pounding the chicken, my hubby and I actually just split one chicken breast for us. We ended up having leftovers. So adjust the recipe to fit your family needs.

I didn't do this, but will try it next time, but thought the recipe be good if your replaced the ranch with BBQ sauce. The crumb mixture on top would compliment the BBQ flavor as well.

A ranch suggestion, I followed the original recipe and used the expensive ranch she suggested. I didn't like it and neither did the hubby. The hubby and I decided that a packet of Hidden Valley Ranch dry mix made into the dressing (ahead of time so it has time to firm up a bit) would've been MUCH better. But, to each his own. Use your favorite! She also suggested adding a bit of the dry ranch mix to your crumble mixture which I thought sounded good. I'll try that next time.

Bourbon Chicken

I made this a couple months ago, and while planning my menu this week remembered it and then remember I hadn't blogged about it. Then while cleaning out my email, I realized I had taken pictures (which is rare for me) so I figured it was a good time to share this.

Don't be scared by the title, this is Bourbon-less Bourbon Chicken. No alcohol. But super duper good. I was really impressed by it. You can find the original recipe here that includes cooking pictures, but I changed the recipe a little, so here is my recipe of it.

Bourbon Chicken
2 lbs. B.S. chicken breasts - Cooked and shredded
1 garlic clove, minced (fresh or dehydrated)
1/2 tsp. ginger
3/4 tsp. crushed red pepper flakes
1/4 cup apple juice
1/3 cup brown sugar (the recipe called for light, but I only had dark, so either works)
2 TBS. ketchup
1 TBS. cider vinegar
1/2 cup water
1/3 cup soy sauce

Cook chicken how ever you prefer - cut into pieces and fry in olive oil. Bake. Crock pot. Boil. Just cook and shred. (I prefer to boil it, and then shred it, then I continued the recipe in the crock pot, I thought that way it would really soak up the flavor - I ALSO doubled the sauce recipe for extra juicy flavor. I would suggest if you are using more than 2-3 chicken breasts that you double the sauce.)

The fast was to cook this is to combine remaining ingredients. Heat and stir over medium heat until well mixed. Add chicken and bring to a hard boil. Reduce heat and simmer about 20 minutes. Serve over hot rice, in a lettuce wrap, on a salad, etc.

You can also cook your chicken in the crock pot, shred it...put it back in. On the stove, make the sauce and pour it in the crock pot over the chicken. Leave the crock pot on to keep everything warm.

No matter which way you cook it, it turns out great. The recipe made enough for our small family to enjoy it a couple of different times. We decided to try different stuff each time. The first night we served it over rice:

The second night we had lettuce wraps with the left over rice. Green leaf lettuce, rice, chicken and avocado (cuz I love them) and a splash of soy sauce. My husband likes his food spicy so he added cayenne pepper to his.

The third night we used the remaining chicken for salads. Green leaf & ice berg lettuce, carrots, chicken, avocado, and cubed cheese. No dressing needed! Super yummy!