Cooking Creations: Oven Fried GOODNESS

One thing I really miss about living down south is eating all sorts of fatty, Paula Deen-esque types of foods (that and BBQ-- can't live without good southern BBQ). Imagine my happiness when I found a WW's recipe for Southern-Style Oven Fried Chicken. I made it with some WW mashed potatoes, and paired it with some carrots and pickles to make it feel like I was at some southern picnic, instead of sitting in the cold snowy Mid-Atlantic. The chicken comes out so moist and the corn flake crumbs really gives the chicken a crunchy feel.

Both of these recipes call for buttermilk. You might be thinking, what the heck am I going to do with a container of buttermilk. Well, first, I suggest you buy the smallest container of buttermilk possible (they have 16 oz. containers). In making this recipe for myself (remember, I usually cut recipes in half to make just two servings each), I used half of a 16 oz. container. I FROZE the rest. It's completely safe to freeze buttermilk. Pour the buttermilk into an ice cube tray, and when it is completely frozen, take the cubes and put them in freezer safe bags. You can then take out cubes when you need them and defrost them in your fridge when you need them :)

Weight Watchers Southern-Style Oven Fried Chicken (4 points a serving)

Ingredients:
1/3 cup all-purpose flour
1/4 tsp table salt
1/8 tsp cayenne pepper
3 oz. buttermilk
1/2 cup cornflakes
1 pound uncooked boneless skinless chicken breast, cut into four 4 oz. pieces

Preheat oven to 365 degrees. Lightly coat an 8x8x2 inch baken dish with nonstick cooking spray.

Combine flour, salt, and cayenne pepper togehter in a medium-sized shallow bowl. Place buttermilk and corn flake crumbs in two separate bowls.

Roll chicken breast halves in flour mixture, and evenly coat each side. Next dip chicken in the buttermilk and then corn flake crumbs.

Place coated chicken breasts in prepared baking dish. Bake uncovered until chicken is tender and no longer pink, about 25-30 minutes. Makes four servings.


Weight Watchers Mashed Potatoes--with some edits by moi (1 point per 2/3 cup serving)

Ingredients:
1 lb. red potatoes, scrubbed and cut into two inch chunks
1/2 cup low-fat buttermilk OR fat-free sour cream (I've tried it both ways, and like the ff sour cream better)
1/2 tsp. garlic
1/2 tsp. kosher salt
1/4 tsp. black pepper

Directions:
Bring to a boil in a large saucepan the potatoes and enough cold salted water to cover. Reduce the heat and simmer until the potatoes are tender, about 10 minutes. Drain well in colander.

Combine the buttermilk, garlic powder, salt and pepper in 1 cup glass measure, stirring well until blended, set aside. (If you choose to go with sour cream, you can skip this step, since you'll just throw everything in after you mash your potatoes.)

Return the potatoes to the saucepan. Cook over low heat, stirring constantly until all the liquid has evaporated. Remove the saucepan from the heat. Mash until blended while pouring in the buttermilk (or sour cream).