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Hi Everyone, 

Hope this post finds you well.

I promised more recipes during my recovery and I have another recipe to share that I posted a few weeks back on Facebook. I think you will like this one. Ciao!

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I am getting around a little bit more, so Bob and I have been taking it slow and cleaning the garage and preparing donation boxes. When I get tired, Bob continues on his own. You could say I am a little late on my Spring cleaning….

Bob was cleaning the garage mezzanine and came in the house with a box and said, “Look what I found?” These four words always get me excited because I have collected so much stuff over 31 years of marriage, that I never know what I might stumble upon and most definitely I forgot about it tucked away in the attic or basement or garage. 

Well, this was the case with the mystery box. I peaked inside and a flood of memories came back to me.

It was a waffle boat maker.

I know that doesn’t sound that memorable, but when my son was little we would eat ice cream in waffle boats with sprinkles and whipped cream on the patio after soccer practice and just talk about anything and everything.

It was a great one on one time with my son.

Bob asked if we should keep the waffle maker or donate it and then the bell in my head went off with an idea.

One of my favorite meals to order at brunch is “Chicken and Waffles”.  

What if I prepared fried chicken wings in waffle boats? And at that moment, I knew what we were having for dinner. Bob went out to Whole Foods to buy waffle mix and a few packages of chicken wings and when he got back, I got to work.

My favorite recipe for fried chicken is a recipe from Ina Garten for oven fried chicken – easy preparation and it starts off in the frying pan for three minutes and finishes baking in the oven. Of course I had to tweak the recipe a bit– see cooks notes.

Very easy, and the chicken is always crispy on the outside and juicy on the inside. Her recipe calls for marinating the chicken overnight in buttermilk, but in this case I only marinated the chicken for two hours because I couldn’t wait.

Cooks Note: To the buttermilk, I added  1- 1/2 tsps. of dried tarragon and a splash of sriracha sauce.

(I will share the recipe at the end of the post).

Now, what to serve with this and the first request Bob had was French fries so that was an easy decision. Cole slaw or mashed potatoes with gravy would be nice also.

I am serving the chicken with three condiments- maple syrup, honey and hot sauce. (I love Mike’s Hot Honey on chicken- unfortunately for me, I can no longer have raw honey so I have to settle for the pasteurized “honey in the plastic bear bottle”. 

Making the waffle boats were a snap with the mix and dinner was ready in no time. For the full experience with this meal, Bob and I had ice cream for dessert.

BTW– this is the waffle boat maker that I used. I have had it so long it is considered a “collectible” online. How is that for making someone feel old? A collectible appliance.

It can be found on Amazon from various sellers- price varies from $147 to $300.

VillaWare 2007 UNO Series Waffle Boat Maker

It was a great dinner with lots of memories and one I am sure any child (that is children of all ages) would love to have fried chicken wings in a waffle boat. 

Oven- Fried Chicken

recipe courtesy of Ina Garten and Food Network

Ingredients:

• 2 chickens (3 pounds each), cut in eight serving pieces
• 1 quart buttermilk
• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 tablespoon kosher salt
• 1 tablespoon freshly ground black pepper
• Vegetable oil or vegetable shortening

COOKS NOTES:

FOR  MY ADD ON… tarragon & hot sauce

Adjust the buttermilk amount according to chicken quantity…

Directions:

Place the chicken pieces in a large bowl and pour the buttermilk over them. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate overnight.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

Combine the flour, salt, and pepper in a large bowl. Take the chicken out of the buttermilk and coat each piece thoroughly with the flour mixture. Pour the oil into a large heavy-bottomed stockpot to a depth of 1 inch and heat to 360 degrees on a thermometer.

Working in batches, carefully place several pieces of chicken in the oil and fry for about 3 minutes on each side until the coating is a light golden brown (it will continue to brown in the oven). Don’t crowd the pieces. Remove the chicken from the oil and place each piece on a metal baking rack set on a sheet pan. Allow the oil to return to 360 degrees before frying the next batch. When all the chicken is fried, bake for 30 to 40 minutes, until the chicken is no longer pink inside. Serve hot.

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I hope you have a chance to try this recipe.

Until my next post, make every day a celebration!

Stay well,

Diane

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