Lydia's spin on Garlic Cheddar Drop Biscuits!

(Don't they look yummy! You get a bonus point if you can find the "Zombie Face" in one of the biscuits!)

I saw a link to this recipe on Pinterest recently, and had to attempt it! I am oh so glad I did! 
Since I never follow recipes exactly, I decided to put my own spin on it and change it up a bit. 


To start with, I made mine in a cast iron skillet (drop biscuit style). If you've never made biscuits in a cast iron skillet before, well you're missing out! Give it a try!


Instructions:
*Preheat oven to 400 degrees. 
*Lightly mist medium-large sized cast iron skillet with Canola Oil Spray/Pam


Ingredients: 
1 1/2 cups Bisquik (I use the "Healthy Heart" one, but you could use anything really)
2 cups milk
2 cups shredded sharp cheddar cheese
1/3 stick of butter (melted)
1/2 tsp Black Peppercorn
1/2 TBSP Garlic Salt
1/2 tsp Basil
1/2tsp Tony Chechere's Origional Cajun Seasoning


Directions:
*Mix together Bisquik, milk, and cheese. Use a large tablespoon or ice cream scoop to scoop the dough with and place in cast iron skillet. Try to keep them in a bit of a round shape (It's ok if they touch).


*Bake at 400 degrees for 7 minutes 


*While biscuits are baking, mix together melted butter and seasonings.


*Change oven temperature to 350 degrees


*Carefully pull out biscuits and baste with butter mixture. Place them back in the oven (don't forget to lower the temperature to 350 degrees). 


*Bake biscuits for another 5-8 minutes depending on the thickness of them (you'll need to keep an eye on them).


*Once biscuits look done, place the oven on Broil and allow the biscuits to broil for about 1 minute under supervision. Once they look golden brown, pull the skillet out and allow them to cool for about 5 minutes. 
(Use your leftover butter mixture to baste the top of the biscuits while they cool.)


Enjoy, my lovelies! 


Ingredient side note: I think these biscuits would taste delicious with corn, sausage, ham, or even chopped up bacon in them!

(Another view)

Lydia's Oven Baked Ranch Chicken

For all of you chicken lovers, this recipe is for you! It's my spin on oven-baked ranch chicken. Enjoy, my lovelies!

Ingredients:
(Since I usually "eyeball" my ingredients and don't measure, I've included a rough estimate for everything I used!)


4 Boneless, skinless chicken breasts (thawed or frozen; mine was frozen, just cook it longer!)
1tsp Crushed red pepper flakes
1tsp Tony Chachere's Origional Creole Seasoning (green container)
1Tbsp Chili Powder
1 tsp Black Peppercorn
1 tsp Sea Salt (Optional; most Ranch seasoning packets have a bit of sodium in them already)
1 tsp Fresh Dill
1 tsp Fresh Basil
1tsp minced Garlic
2 large eggs
3Tbsp melted butter
Japanese style Panko bread crumbs
1/4 cup Parmesan
1/4 cup Shredded Mozzarella
1 packet of Ranch dressing mix 

*Preheat oven to 450*


Directions
-Lightly mist a glass baking dish with Pam or EVOO spray-


In a bowl, mix together eggs, butter, Dill, Basil, garlic, and all other herbs and spices


In another bowl, mix together Panko bread crumbs, Mozzarella, Parmesan, and Ranch seasoning,


- Dip chicken into first bowl of mixed liquids and dredge. Let chicken sit for about two minutes and then repeat by flipping to coat the other side. Once you've dredged your chicken, dip into breadcrumb mixture and allow to sit for a minute before you flip sides and repeat. When you've achieved a nice breadcrumb coating, place chicken into baking dish.


-Place chicken in 450 degree oven for 30 minutes (thawed chicken) or 50-65 minutes for (frozen). Once chicken is cooked all the way through, set to a low broil for 1-2 minutes to make coating golden brown.


Enjoy! 


*Lydia's tip: If you have thawed chicken and want to make sure that it coats more easily, place chicken on a cutting board and beat the daylights out of it with a meat mallet! Not only will your chicken hold a coating more evenly, it's also a great way to deal with a stressful day! ;)

What a Pickle!

Literally! I got myself into quite the pickle tonight (or this morning; however you want to look at it!). Let's preface this by saying that I have been quite sick all week. I haven't had much of an appetite for anything other than water and crackers. So, fast foward to 2am-ish today and I was absolutely starving!! Since I discovered a fairly healthy recipe for fried pickles the other day, I thought I'd give it a shot. Why not? I couldn't breathe through my nose or sleep anyways!

I am MORTIFIED! Let's just say different oils have different boiling points! I mixed up my batter and fixed the pickle chips up to put into the boiling oil (keep in mind that I didn't even have it on high). As soon as my pickles started to boil (and despite me having the vent on high), things started to smoke quite a bit and then I hard the ear piercing scream of my fire alarm! I live on the second floor of my apartment complex. I have neighbors above and below me as well on the back side of my unit and on the left of me- that's neighbors directly on 4 sides of me. The apartments in this complex have multiple sprinklers and fire alarms. Speaking of fire alarms, the apartment complex tested them all last week; somehow though, my unit was skipped over- well; the good news is that now I know mine work too!

My first thought (being sickly right now in addition to tired and hungry), was to pour some of the oil down the drain - I had left the water on a bit since I had just washed my hands and I didn't even think about it- soo dumb!! Oil + Water = SMOKE! The fire alarms started screeching even more!! I was praying to God that the sprinklers wouldn't turn on (or the alarms in the other apartments). I honestly half expected a phone call from the apartment complex super or a fireman at my door. I was freaking out! I finally switched burners with the half empty pot of oil and put a cover on it- I opened my balcony door, turned the fans on in each bathroom and left the vent on over the stove. Almost 45 minutes later and my apartment is much less smoky! As far as the fire alarms go- thankfully, the sprinklers never went off and the alarm turned off after I got the situation under control (much to my relief!). For the record, the ceilings are 9' here and even on a step stool, kitchen counter, or my table, there's no way I could reach them to shut them off myself; I'm glad they went off! (I guess they're able to detect the amount of smoke in the air and alarm accordingly? No clue!)

The good news is -my fried pickles turned out lovely, my fire alarm does indeed work (I hope my neighbors slept through it!), and at least the sprinklers did not go off, or a fire truck show up over this-I would have just died had they showed up and evacuated over something like that- could you imagine? Does that even happen?? Anways, I'm glad that did not happen tonight. Hope you lovely readers had a good laugh and my goofy expense!

(Yummy Homemade Fried Pickles! I may have set every damn fire alarm off in my apartment in the process of making them, but it was oh soooo worth it!)