Baked Chicken Spaghetti

Everybody loves chicken with pasta. Here is a great tasting recipe that is weeknight simple but tasty enough for company. Make it ahead and pop it in the oven when you need it.

I have tried baked spaghetti before but the recipes always had to much pasta that was mushy. They were just wrong. I started with my chicken marinara then added some tomato paste to deepen the taste. I then undercooked 8 oz of spaghetti by 2 minutes. Mixed in some grated Parmesan. I then mixed the sauce a little into the pasta and topped with some mozzarella and more grated parmesan until browned. About 25 minutes.

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Easiest Crispy Oven Baked French Fries

Here are the secrets to the best oven French fry ever. Tasty, crispy, healthy and did I say easy. Now you can do it too.

All the blogs have oven baked french fries. So I'll jump in too. But I don't want to be flipping half way through. I what relatively simple prep and simpler cooking. But I want crispy and tasty too. I'm so picky...

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Musing

I have been on vacation so no cooking for a while but I do have a couple of posts in the works.

But I'm announcing two things. First is a series on things that are useful for "cooking for two". This has been suggested many times to me but I have resisted.  It sounds simple but is not. I want to cover the pantry, pots and pans, tools and maybe a cookbook or two. So far it looks like 4-5 posts. If there is something you want covered, please post a comment.

Second, I have started another blog - kind of. Not much of a blog. It is just things I feel like talking about. I was going to make a static page on this site, but it would be hard for others to comment so a second blog was needed. The first real post is up about childhood obesity. Check it out of you want to hear me grump. Link below and in sidebar.

Crispy Chicken Tenders

Tasty little things... The whole family likes a good chicken strip. Here is one of these simple recipes you can do over and over and not think about.

Start with chicken tenders or breasts cut into strips. Soak in buttermilk (or a substitute I will cover later) while the oil gets hot. Coat with a flour and seasoning salt and fry a few minutes on each side and you are done. A 4/10 only because it involves frying and you're afraid of that. Once you try it, it will be 2/10.

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Oven Baked Chicken Legs - The Art of Drummies

This is about as easy as a recipe can get. Just wash, dry, spice and cook in a high oven. Then you will have crispy goodness for the family.

I took several weeks last year working on grilled drumsticks until I got it just right. The secret of a great oven baked chicken leg (drumstick) was in the temperature as usual. Since then I have been doing mainly oven drummies. I kind of did this post before in my Chicken for a Hundred post. I was cooking for a party and roasted 150 chicken legs and breast in a similar manor. Here is a scaled down version.

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Guacamole - Fresh and Simple

Make it yourself in only a few minutes for your friends and family. An easy spicy guacamole recipe using fresh ingredients that is bound to impress.

I had not been a big fan of guacamole. I have found most versions bland with nothing special to recommend its consumption. Salsa presented better taste and spiciness. I continued to try it occasionally and finally ran into spicier versions - a great improvement. I now love "guac".
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Healthy Microwave Potato Chips

An amazingly simple, tasty and crispy chip. You just slice a potato up and microwave it. What could be easier? You control the oil and salt. Make it a "healthy potato chip" if you want. Make just a few or make a lot. Flavor them up or just a little salt. And lastly, cheap to make.

I stumbled on this somewhere and had some serious doubts as did my wife. But it works great. I have read so many versions, I can't give an inspired by credit. There are many variations. The cooking times recommended varied from 4 minutes to 10 minutes. Some cooked on high then flipped the chips and continued to cook on 50%. One even stepped it down a few more times. Some soaked the chips and some didn't. You get the idea...
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