Baked Chicken and Sweet Potatoes

In some families, like mine, there isn't much time to make a huge meal, sit down and enjoy it with everyone. But some days there are and when we have the time to eat man do we enjoy. This week I come to you guys with a nice hardy meal that would make any meat and potatoes person happy. But this isn't just any meat and potatoes kind of meal. Mainly because this is actually a chicken and sweet potatoes kind of meal. Now this meal takes a little longer than some of the other recopies you might find here but believe me it’s worth the wait.

Oven Baked Chicken and Sweet Potatoes

Yields: 4 servings                                               Prep Time: 30 minutes                                     Cook Time: 45 minutes

4 Chicken Breast                    2 Sweet potatoes                    4 Tbs. of Butter

1 Cup of Flour                       1 Cup of Sugar                       1 Cup of Brown Sugar

2 Eggs                                   8 Tbs. of Butter                      1 Cup of Pecans

1 ½ Cups of Breadcrumbs     ½ Cup of Evaporated Milk      ½ Cup of Flour

4 Tbs. of Butter                     2 Eggs

First things first you’re going to want to clean the chicken and get it ready. Once that is done your going to need 3 bowls and one plate. In the first bowl you add the cup of flour, in the second bowl you put the 2 eggs cracked and scrambled, in the third and final bowl goes the breadcrumbs. You want to take the chicken and coat it in flour (this is going to help your egg and breadcrumbs stick to the chicken. So you guessed it next it gets fully dipped into the eggs. And finally into the bread crumbs. Now you need to pan fry the chicken using the 4 Tbs. of butter. This is simply just to brown the breadcrumbs and ensure that everything is going to stick to them. Once they are browned they go into a greased 9 x 13 pan to be baked in the oven for 20 minutes covered with foil (to internally cook the chicken) and then 20 minutes uncovered (to finish cooking internally and crisp up the outside) on 350 degrees.

Well your waiting for these to cook you can peel, chop, and boil your sweet potatoes. Once they are peeled, chopped, and boiled you need to mash them and then add the sugar, 8 Tbs. of butter, evaporated milk and eggs. Make sure these are smooth like eating mashed potatoes from KFC.

In the mean time you also want to make the topping for these because if sweet potatoes are not already sweet enough this topping makes it seem like you are eating candy. So in a bowl combine 4 Tbs. of melted butter, brown sugar, flour and pecans copped finely. Once this mixture becomes like play dough you’re going to want to sprinkle it over the top of your sweet potatoes. Now put the sweet potatoes in the same oven at 350 degrees but only for 30-35 minutes or you can stick a knife in them and it comes out clean.

This meal may take longer to make but like motioned earlier, worth the wait and a great way to try something different.

Banana Pudding Dessert

Sometimes as a family you cannot enjoy dinner together. I understand this I used to work in retail not too long ago. It’s hard to have that nice Sunday family dinner when you have to be at work till 9:30 p.m. In my family we try not to let that get in the way of sharing some time together as a family. On nights like these we use desert as a way to get together as a family. From time to time when you don’t feel like cooking a scoop of ice cream or a small dish of jello will work but when you have that urge to create a simple but elegant desert here is an option that you may want to try out.

Simple Banana Pudding Dessert

Yields: 4 servings                                 Prep Time: 10 minutes                                                      Cook Time: 5 minutes

2 3.3oz packs of Jell-O Vanilla Instant Pudding

4 cups of cold Milk

1 8oz container of Cool Whip

2 Banana’s

36 vanilla wafers

In a bowl mix the instant pudding mix and cold milk. You will want to wisk this together till the pudding is full dissolved and there are no lumps left. Your pudding should be a yellowish color like the picture. Place the pudding in the refrigerator to this should only take a couple of minutes. In the mean time you can gather your other ingredients and most importantly your glasses in which to serve them.  In my family we enjoy this desert so we tend to use a larger glass like a margarita glass. Another great glass to use is a martini glass these are smaller therefore you might not need as much pudding for these.

Well waiting for the pudding you can also peel and cut your bananas. You will want to cut them relatively thin somewhere between a ½ - ¼ of an inch thick. No need to measure just guess its dessert it’s supposed to be fun.

Now that the pudding has set and you have all your ingredients out you just simply start to layer your dessert first a scoop of pudding, next a layer of Vanilla Wafers, then the bananas, more pudding, topped off with a dollop of Cool Whip and another Vanilla Wafer.

Now this quick and simple treat is ready to eat!