Advent starts - Plantation Chicken, Swedish Potatoes and Peanut Butter Cookies

It's the Christmas season once again. Yesterday was jam packed with Sinterklaas celebrations (Dutch Christmas party) and the Cavalcade of lights in Toronto.

Doesn't Wilhelmina look thrilled?

It was a fun day, but we wound up grabbing food on the go all day, so there was a need for a home cooked meal on Sunday!  Chose a straight forward, square meal which began with Plantation chicken.  In the recipe, it's also called "Baked Fried Chicken" and it is a recipe from Janet Dudek.  
Janet is an old friend of my Aunt Lucy's.  Apparently Janet and Lucy sat together in grade 9 and have been friends since.  The boy who sat behind them, Vic wound up being Janet's husband.

Plantation Chicken
Chicken pieces (I used a breast, split in two, 2 drumsticks and 4 thighs)
Flour and spices
Milk
Canola oil
lemon juice

The description of 'spices' is not included,  so I decided to look to the Colonel for inspiration and found a site that claims to have the 'secret 11 herbs and spices' recipe:
http://theinternettoday.net/pics/kfcs-top-secret-11-herbs-and-spices-revealed/

Soak the chicken in the milk and then dredge in the flour/spice mixture.  Heat oil on stove in frying pan.   Fry chicken pieces for approximately 2 minutes. It should be crisp and lightly browned.  Place in a roasting pan on the rack with a cup of water and some lemon juice underneath the rack.   Bake at 350 for 1.5 hours.   Good hot or cold and not greasy.

I was pressed for time and wound up using convection roast so I only roasted for one hour.  

Prepping the chicken

Good ole southern cooking

Swedish Potatoes
6 large potatoes, peeled
3/4 cup sour cream
1 1/2 tsp onion salt (I didnt' have this so used onion powder and salt)
1/2 tsp pepper
3 1/2 tbsp butter
3/4 cup bread crumbs

Boil potatoes and drain.  Add sour cream, onion salt, pepper, 2 tbsp butter.  Whip until fluffy.   Pour into casserole dish and top with melted buter (remaining 1.5 tbsp) mixed with breadcrumbs.  Bake at 350 for a half hour.






Results
Very, very good chicken. All of the kids liked it.  I would definitely make it again.  The water in the pan helped to keep it moist.    The potatoes were awesome!   I think I might make them for Christmas dinner this year as they can be made ahead.  Served with broccoli and cheese sauce (figured if I"m going for a heart unhealthy meal, might as well go with the cheese sauce!!)

Yum!!!

Eleanor embraces her inner caveman

Peanut Butter Cookies - by Sherran Poupore
1 cup shortening
1 cup brown sugar
1 cup white sugar
1 egg
1/4 tsp salt
1 tsp vanilla
2 tsp soda
3/4 cup peanut butter
2 cups flour

Cream shortening and sugars.  Add egg and vanilla and salt.  Blend in peanut butter.   Slowly mix in flour and soda.   Form into small balls and press with fork.  Bake at 350 for 12 minutes.

Philip took care of making these cookies

Results
Very, very yummy.   Very light tasting.  Sherran Poupore was a neighbour of ours and also taught me piano when I was young (she must have been very patient!).  She also, incidentally, was the one who dressed as 'Black Peter' for our Dutch Sinterklaas celebrations and would break into our houses and throw candy at us with a black stocking on her face.  Very politically incorrect, no?
Shame that due to peanut restrictions, I can't use these for lunches this week.

Dutch Pancakes and Christmas Rainbow Cake

It's November 17 and funny how all conversations turn to the topic of Christmas.  What to get kids, when to have family get togethers, Christmas pageants, baking, parties, etc.  So, rather than fight it, I decided to embrace it and make a Christmas dessert, a kind of test drive for the big day.  But what to have for dinner? Thought I'd stick to a family favourite around here, Dutch pancakes.  Technically not an Oma recipe, but Dutch in spirit, so off we go:

Dutch Pancakes (this makes 6 large plate-sized pancakes)
2 cups flour
2 tsp sugar
1/2 tsp salt
2 tbsp butter, melted
2 eggs
milk
butter for frying pan
gouda cheese, sliced thin
ham, sliced thin
dijon

Mix dry ingredients.  Combine egg and melted butter and milk to make 2 cups.  Add to dry ingredients and mix.   Mixture should be quite thin (not as thin as crepe batter, but much thinner than traditional pancake batter).   Add more milk if necessary.   Heat large fry pan.  Add some butter and melt.  Pour a ladle full of batter on pan and swirl so it spreads out to the diameter of your dinner plate:

Flip pancake over (should be light brown on bottom before you flip).  As soon as it's flipped, add ham slices and cheese and let sit on pan as bottom cooks and cheese melts.   As I'm usually making many of these for the family, I slide pancake on plate and keep warm in oven at 200 degrees.  This will also help cheese melt more:

Serve with dijon, if desired.  Yum!!

Reviews always good for this one as it's a family favourite.

Christmas Rainbow Cake
1 package white cake mix
1 package raspberry jello
raspberry jam
1 package lime jello
2 cups boiling water
1 8 oz container cool whip

Grease and flour 2 round cake pans.  Prepare cake according to package directions.  Cool for 15 minutes.  Leave cake in pans and poke holes all over cake with a fork.
Dissolve each jello package in separate bowl with 1 cup boiling water.  Pour green jello all over one pan and red jello all over the other:

Let chill for 4 hours.  Soak bottom of 1 pan in warm water for a minute to unmold onto serving plate.  Top with raspberry jam.  Soak the other pan and invert on top.  Decorate the layered cake with the cool whip and christmas candy, if deisired.  Serve.

Funny Sidebar  - My sister in law gave me what I thought was a chip and dip platter many years ago:

One day, she saw me serving shrimp and cocktail sauce in it and said, "you're such a nitwit, it's a cake platter!!":

Review:  It was a very pretty cake.  The kids loved it.  Mike thought that the jello layers were too tart.  I would make it again, if only for the pretty factor: