Well let me start this first blog by telling you what my blogs will and will not be. First of all I am not a nutritionist, dietician, fitness expert or any other type of professional in the field. I am just a chubby chick who hopes to become less chubby and this is simply a place where I will share with you some of the recipes that I am using in my journey to become healthier. I do have lots of experience in the losing and gaining game. My claim to the dieting game fame is an 80lbs loss a few years ago. I know what to do I'm just not good at sticking with the change because truly that's what it's all about - changing your relationship with food.
I don't subscribe to the idea that you must deprive yourself of certain things. All things in moderation. So at times there will be recipes that don't seem very "healthy" because sometimes you just need need a frickin piece of cake. Ok in my case I have a hard time stopping at one piece, hence the chubby. That's one of the things that I am working on. In those cases I will warn you that it's a splurge recipe.
Which brings me to the next disclosure - these are not recipes that I have created. I have collected, copied, & stolen them over the years from magazines, cookbooks and in some cases friends and family. When I know where they came from I will give credit where credit is due. I will also try to give nutritional information whenever I have it.
Lastly (is that word?) I give you this promise - I will never post a recipe that I haven't tried and really liked.
Ok so now let's get down to it. Like any good country girl I love comfort food. When I first started trying to make a difference in what I ate I looked for changes in how I cooked things. I used to fry - ALOT! I won't lie I love grease - crisco, lard, butter - you name it I love it. You can make anything taste great just by deep frying it. Think I'm lying try a deep fried pickle the next time you are in New Orleans. No kidding - deep fried pickles. So that was the first change I made. That meant I needed to find a new way to make chicken without crunchy batter and french fries without deep frying them.
I came across this recipe in a magazine called Eating Light. It's one of our favorites and I make it pretty frequently - Brown Sugar Baked Chicken and Oven Fries. A few words of advice when making this recipe:
1. Don't forget to start the potatoes first - they need the extra 10 mins.
2. You may want to split the seasoning mix into two different bags. After coating about half the drumsticks the coating gets kind of wet and doesn't stick well to the rest of the chicken. You can also coat them by hand.
3. Always use the foil - it will make clean up a breeze - you'll thank me, I promise.
Brown Sugar Baked Chicken and Oven Fries
Serves 4 Prep: 10 mins Bake: About 40 mins
3 large baking potatoes cut lengthwise in 1/2 in thick slices - preferably with skin on
1 Tbsp of oil
3 Tbsp packed light brown sugar
2 tsp chili powder
2 tsp grated orange zest
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp of black pepper
8 chicken drumsticks
Position racks in the oven to divide into thirds. Heat to 450F degrees. Line 2 rimmed baking sheets with foil. Set a wire rack on 1 sheet; coat rack well with cooking spray.
Put potatoes and oil in a large bowl; toss to coat. Spread out on prepared rack, overlapping if necessary. Bake on top oven rack 10 minutes.
Meanwhile, mix sugar, chili powder, orange zest and 1/2 tsp of the salt in a large plastic food bag. Add drumsticks and shake until chicken is coated. Arrange on second baking sheet.
Place chicken on lower oven rack and bake 25 to 30 mins or until potatoes are tinged golden brown and chicken's juices run clear when pierced with a fork. Drizzle any juices in baking sheet over chicken.
Sprinkle potatoes with remaining salt and the pepper.
Per serving: 470 cal, 36g protein, 42g carbs, 3g fiber, 17g fat.
I really hope you enjoy it! Please let me know if you have any suggestions for recipes. I look forward to hearing what you think.
