Recipe Review: Crunchy Oven 'Fried' Chicken

Hello and welcome to the weekend! Today I thought I'd do something a little different. I don't know about you, but I always see those thirty second commercials on TV, especially while watching The Food Network, that spotlights a simple recipe featuring a particular product. I've seen quite a few of them and always think, I need to try that one day. Well, I did just that and thought i'd share my results with you.

The recipe I tried was FRENCH'S(R) CRUNCHY ONION CHICKEN and the product they were featuring was the French Fried Onions. Since I am always looking for alternatives to frying foods, I was anxious to try it. Take a look at the recipe:

Ingredients

• 2 cups (4 oz) French's Frid Onions
• 2 tbsp all purpose flour
• 4 (5 oz) boneless chicken breasts (Or you can use tenders)
• I egg, beaten

Directions

Place French Fried Onions and flour into plastic bag. Lightly crush with hands or rolling pin. Transfer to plate.

Dip chicken into egg, then coat with onion crumbs, pressing firmly to adhere. Place chicken on baking sheet.

Bake at 400' for 20 minutes or until no longer pink inside.

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See, I told you it was simple!! OK, now on to my results. First I'll start with the positives:

• Like I said, its a very simple and quick recipe, especially for busy people
• Very few ingredients. No need to purchase special stuff you normally don't use. (I hate that!)
• If you have a toaster oven, like I do, you can use it instead of heating up a large oven, especially in this heat! And there's no splatter like when frying chicken on the stove top.
• The onions did give the chicken a nice flavor
• Easy clean-up. I used aluminum foil on my baking sheet so I didn't have to scrub baked-on coating from my tray.

Now for the negatives:

• I thought the coating was going to be crunchy, like the title implied. However, it really wasn't. It certainly did't look like the picture, especially after slicing it the way they show in the photo.
• Although it did have good onion flavor, it was a little too moist making it not stick to the chicken well at all. I even left my coating a little more coarse, thinking ahead that it would help with this, but it really didn't matter. I'm thinking the onions soaked up the egg too much and thats where the moistness came from.
• The recipe didn't mention turning the chicken half-way through baking, but if I were to make this again, I definitely would because the bottom side coating was, I hate to say it, soggy.
• Although the chicken did have some good onion-y flavor, I would definitely season it with at least salt and pepper, maybe some paprika or whatever you like before coating with the onion/flour mixture the next time. As you know, chicken is bland and really needs spicing up.

Well, those are my thoughts on this recipe. Even though I didn't love it, I wouldn't say I hated it either. I think I will attempt this dish again, making some distinct changes along the way. I like the idea of baking the chicken instead of frying, both for healthy eating reasons along with the cleanup points, but if you like your chicken crispy, maybe frying is the way to go. Your just not going to get that crunch this way, unless you leave the chicken in much longer, but then you take the chance of having dried out chicken when you're done, and who wants that?

To sum it up:

I will give this one another try. Hopefully, with the changes I will make, it will be better next time. FRENCH'S(R) has a great website where they feature this recipe and it even includes a step-by-step video. You can find it here. If you choose to try this recipe, I'd love to know how it worked for you. I followed the recipe the way they had it so I would have comparable results. All in all, if I were to use the same rating system as I do with my books, I would award this recipe 3 out of 5 stars.

This post is part of Weekend Cooking, a weekly event hosted by Beth Fish Reads. Please stop by and see all of the other food-related posts featured today. I hope you'll come back next Saturday for another recipe review!

Friday Finds: 7.9.10

This week I found my pick for Friday Finds while visiting the website for St. Martins Press. I stumbled across a brand new author and her book reached right out and grabbed my attention. Here's the 411 -

The book is called STILL MISSING and the author is Chevy Stevens. Here's the synopsis from the author's website:

On the day she was abducted, Annie O’Sullivan, a 32-year-old realtor, had three goals—sell a house, forget about a recent argument with her mother, and be on time for dinner with her ever-patient boyfriend. The open house is slow, but when her last visitor pulls up in a van as she's about to leave, Annie thinks it just might be her lucky day after all.

Interwoven with the story of the year Annie spent as the captive of a psychopath in a remote mountain cabin, which unfolds through sessions with her psychiatrist, is a second narrative recounting events following her escape—her struggle to piece her shattered life back together and the ongoing police investigation into the identity of her captor.

She's got a terrific website that you can check out right here. The book just came out and the reviews have been amazing. Since I love reading debut authors, I am anxious to read it for myself.

If you'd like to read about more Friday Finds, visit MizB at Should Be Reading.

Sworn To Silence by Linda Castillo (Kindle Version)

Kate Burkholder has been the Chief of Police in the small town of Painters Mill, Ohio for two years. Before that she worked for the Columbus PD in the Homicide Division. Kate isn't your typical small town cop. Part of the reason the town council hired her as chief was because she used to live there - but more importantly, she used to be Amish. Painters Mill includes a large Amish community and the mayor and members of the council thought it would work to their advantage to have an ex-Amish person on the force. Kate didn't let the fact that her hiring was a political move bother her - she's just wanted to be a good cop and do her job.

Kate's world was rocked when in the dead of winter on a frozen January night the body of a brutally murdered young woman was discovered in a field. With virtually no evidence found at the scene, Kate has to rely on her experience and small staff to solve this case. It quickly becomes obvious, once the body is autopsied, that there are disturbing similarities between this murder and several other murders that took place sixteen years earlier, known as The Slaughterhouse Murders. To make matters worse, more bodies are being discovered. As Kate scrambles to find answers, she is forced to open up a part of her past that she has worked hard to forget. Sixteen years ago, when she was only fourteen, she experienced her own kind of horror that changed the course of her life forever. No one knows her secret but when the bodies start adding up, she fears a connection and prays she can control it without jeopardizing the case. It's not only herself she's worried for, but her Amish family who banned her when she was eighteen.

My thoughts:

Linda Castillo is a master crime fiction writer. At no time during this book was there a lull in the story or even a moment that was not edge-of-your-seat thrilling. I'm not a huge murder mystery reader, but Ms. Castillo has lit a fire under me that leaves me excited to read more of her work. SWORN TO SILENCE was released in June of 2009 and is the first in the new Kate Burkholder Series. I'm excited to tell you that the second book, PRAY FOR SILENCE, just came out on June 22nd of 2010. I'm looking forward to reading it very soon.

Kate Burkholder is an original and interesting lead character that is so believable that I instantly became her ally in this quest to find the killer. She's tough, but not over-the-top. Bringing in the Amish element, not only to the general storyline, but into Kate's personal background was genius. I loved the contrast between the Amish and newer English ways of life. She does a great job of showing how two totally different cultures can exist side by side in a modern world. The supporting cast of characters are genuine and just as original as Kate's character. You can feel the bond these people have created in the short two years Kate has been their leader and you can sense the loyalty. That's not to say that all of the characters are on Kate's side. There is some conflict at play from certain other characters that gives the story a realistic feel as well.

SWORN TO SILENCE is first and foremost a story about serial murders, so there are some disturbing accounts regarding the brutality of the victims, but its not to the point that I had to skip over it. I don't like gore in the books that I read. Linda Castillo knows the perfect balance to ensure the reader gets the true feel for what the characters are dealing with without going too far. She even manages to bring in a physical attraction between Kate and another great character but smartly, doesn't veer too far from the main point of the book, which is solving these murders. Most of the book is told from Kate's perspective in the first person, but there are times when the reader is following John Tomasetti, a profiler brought in from another agency to help with the case, and those parts are told in the third person.

I would highly recommend this book to anyone, especially those who enjoy suspenseful crime novels. There is not one dull moment in this book. If you're interested in learning more about Linda Castillo and her books, please visit her website. You can also read an excerpt from the new installment. PRAY FOR SILENCE. If you've never read her books, I encourage you to give them a try. You won't be disappointed.

SWORN TO SILENCE

Author: Linda Castillo

Publisher: Minotour Books

Published: June 2009

Pages: 336

Rating: 5 Stars out of 5 (Highly Recommend)

W.W.W. Wednesdays

This weekly meme is hosted by MizB at Should Be Reading. To play along, simply answer the following three questions:

1. What are you currently reading?
2. What did you recently finish reading?
3. What are you planning to read next?

Here are my answers:

• What are you currently reading? I am currently reading BACKSEAT SAINTS by Joshilyn Jackson. I received this book from LibraryThing Early Reviewers so I feel pretty lucky to have snagged a copy. I've only just begun reading, but right away I could tell I was going to like it. It's southern fiction, which I love and the words are just flying off the page. I love the quirky main character, Rose Mae Lolley and I believe the story is going to be one of those that just keeps your mind jumping the whole way through. I've never read Jackson's previous gods In Alabama, where I believe Rose Mae has a small role, but I have a feeling I'll be picking that one up soon too.
• What did you recently finish reading? SWORN TO SILENCE by Linda Castillo. This is a murder mystery set in a small Ohio town with a large Amish community. I really enjoyed the inclusion of the Amish lifestyle and Castillo's no nonsense writing style. I'll be posting my full review in the coming days, so I hope you'll come back and check it out.
• What are you planning to read next? This is a tuffy. I'm torn between several books. It will definitely be one of these: A RELIABLE WIFE by Robert Goolrick, THE QUEEN OF PALMYRA by Minrose Gwin or THE LOST SUMMER OF LOUISA MAY ALCOTT by Kelly O'Connor McNees. I'll probably be dabbling in a couple of these at the same time but I'm really leaning towards THE RELIABLE WIFE. That one has been on my radar for quite some time and I just don't think I can resist the urge when it is staring me down daily from my book stand. Do you have any opinions or thoughts on any of these books? I'd love to know which one you think I should pick up next.

Teaser Tuesday: An Amish Mystery

As you probably know by now, Teaser Tuesday is the weekly meme hosted by MizB at Should Be Reading where we get the chance to tease other readers with a glimpse of the books we're reading. I always look forward to this event because it takes me inside of some really great books for a feel of whats inside. Here are the rules:

• Grab your current read and let it fall open to a random page
• Choose two teaser sentences to share being careful to avoid any spoilers that may give too much
• List the name, author and page number your teasers were taken from so that others will be able to look up the book further

My teasers today come from SWORN TO SILENCE by Linda Castillo:

I'm an outsider here, a foreigner trespassing on sacred ground. The fact has never been more evident as I enter the world of my past. ~ page 84

Musing Mondays: Current Reads

Today's musing is: What are you currently reading? Would you recommend it? Is it part of a series? If so, which one? What are you thinking about it? What book(s) would you compare it to, if any?

My response:

As I mentioned in yesterday's post, I'm currently reading SWORN TO SILENCE by Linda Castillo. This is a murder mystery set in the small town of Painters Mill, Ohio, which also includes a very large Amish community. The Chief of Police is Kate Burkholder, who was born into an Amish family and lived that life until she became an adult when events happened that she felt left her no choice but to leave. This is the first in a new series by Castillo, who is no stranger to mystery novels. This is the first time I've read her work but it certainly will not be the last. I would absolutely recommend this book to anyone looking for a great story. It can get a little dicey with the descriptions of the murders, but its not so bad that it completely grosses me out. I will definitely be looking forward to more in this series. Because I don't read a lot of murder/mystery books, I don't really have one to compare it with. The Amish twist in the story gives it an originality that I really like, although there has been a trend this past year of books centered around the Amish. Maybe it's because I'm originally from Ohio, near the Amish, that I am enthralled with this story. I've enjoyed the contrast between their way of life and the newer English ways. Also, having an ex-Amish female police chief is something I love about the story.

Another book I'm reading is EAT, PRAY, LOVE by Elizabeth Gilbert. I started this book last month while on vacation and while I am enjoying it, I needed to take a break from it for a few weeks. I typically only read one book at a time, but I needed something else while I read this one. This is a book that I will have to really think about before recommending to anyone. First, I have to finish reading it so my thoughts will be complete. But even now, being only half way through it, I believe it isn't for everyone. I believe it's the type of book that you either love or hate. I haven't decided yet, though I'm leaning in one direction. You'll have to come back at a later time and read my review to find out how I feel about this one.

For more musings, please visit MizB at Should Be Reading.

[TSS] Happy 4th of July!

I'm getting a late start on my Sunday Salon post today, but considering my weekend so far, I'm amazed I'm getting it done at all. July 4th weekend is always a pretty big deal for me and my family and friends. Not only do we celebrate our nation's birthday and all that that entails, but there's also a pretty big NASCAR race in Daytona, which is near where I live. My sister usually has a get-together at her place and its always a good time. Yesterday was no exception. We had good food, good people and great entertainment in the form of the Coke Zero 400. Even with the rain delay, we still enjoyed the race when it finally got started. One of my sister's friends from high school was visiting from out of town and it was a lot of fun catching up with her. It was a pretty late night so I am moving a little slower than normal today. In fact, I only moved from the couch to come in here and write this post! It's thundering and raining outside which makes me feel even more lazy.

Even though I did sleep in a little, I managed to get a good amount of reading done this morning. As you may know, I got my Kindle on Tuesday and I have had so much fun playing with it. The first thing I did was to download my free copy of LITTLE WOMEN because I've never read it all the way through before. The first book I purchased was Linda Castillo's SWORN TO SILENCE, which I am loving. It's a great story that I am having a hard time putting down. I've really only had about two days of good reading but I'm already half way through the book. Linda Castillo is such a great writer of suspense and mystery. I'd borrowed the book from the local library a couple months ago but had to return it unread and I always wanted to get back to it. I'm really glad I did.

Once I finish SWORN TO SILENCE, I'm going to read BACKSEAT SAINTS by Joshilyn Jackson that just came out early last month. You may remember that Jackson also released the very popular GODS IN ALABAMA in late 2007. Have any of you read that one?

Well, the clock is ticking and my Kindle is calling my name, not to mention, my cat, Jax, just walked across my keyboard letting me know it's his turn for some attention. I hope everyone is having a wonderful July 4th! Thanks for stopping by and please do come back soon!