Corn Muffins

Corn Muffins are something that I’ve wanted to try making forever. I’ve always enjoyed them, but never got around to making them. For this month’s Secret Recipe Club I was assigned to Robin’s blog Penny-Pinching Provisions. What I love about Penny-Pinching Provisions is that it’s really all about the food. There are so many recipes that all sound equally as good. I was so lucky to be assigned to Robin’s blog because there is such a large variety of recipes that really, I could have made anything I wanted!

With that said, I had a really tough time picking a recipe because there were so many good ones. I mean, hello – she has over 15 muffin recipes! At first I was planning on making her Peanut Butter and Jelly Muffins (how good do those sound!) but when I saw this recipe I knew that I had to make these.

Corn Muffins (makes 7-9)
Recipe from Penny Pinching Provisions

Ingredients

1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup margarine
1 cup milk
1 cup flour
1 cup cornmeal
1/2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
1 egg

Directions

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

Grease muffin tin to line with muffin liners.

Combine all ingredients in a bowl and scoop into muffin tin.

Bake for 20 minutes.

This is seriously, one of the easiest recipes and I found myself baking another batch of these on a Monday night between commercials of a really bad show I’m embarrassed to admit I watch.

- Lou

Coconut Crusted Chicken Strips

So I’m going through a bit of coconut phase right now. And a chipotle phase. And a Beatles phase. And a cakey-sugar-coated-doughnut phase. Which is definitely the worst of all my phases. I can confirm that sugar induced headaches do exist. Need I say more?

I had coconut crusted chicken breasts a few months ago at an event I attended and ever since then, I’ve wanted to recreate them. After a couple of attempts I realized that they were too sweet and missing a little tang. So I added a little chipotle. Seriously, chipotle and coconut are a match made in heaven. It’s not too heavy on the chipotle, it is used more to create a balance between the savory and sweet side of this dish.

Now that I’ve done my obligatory this-is-a-food-blog-must-discuss-food intro, I can talk about what I really want to talk about. I mentioned it on Twitter the other day: the fact that Here There and Everywhere is most definitely, without a fact, the most underrated Beatles song ever. I mean, how can you not wish that Paul had written this song about you? This is definitely one of, if not the best, Paul McCartney love song. And that’s saying a lot considering he has made a career out of writing, literally hundreds of “silly love songs”. He also said that along with Blackbird, this is his favourite song he’s ever written. I’ll stop with the facts now.

Seriously. How can you not love that song?

Coconut Crusted Chicken Strips (serves 2-4)
Recipe by Lou

Ingredients
1 lbs chicken breasts cut into strips
1/2 cup flour
2 tsp chili powder
1/2 tsp dried basil
1/2 tsp dried parsley
salt and pepper to taste
2 eggs
1 tsp Chipotle hot sauce
1 1/2 cup unsweetened flaked coconut

Directions

Preheat oven to 375 and grease a baking sheet with a little oil.

Using three bowls prepare the ingredients. In the first bowl whisk together the flour, spices, salt and pepper. In the next bowl whisk the egg with the Chipotle hot sauce. In the last bowl, place the flaked coconut.

To prepare the chicken strips, coat in flour mixture. Next, dip in the egg mixture, allowing any excess to drip back into the bowl. Next, coat in the coconut.

Place on a baking sheet and bake for 18-20 minutes or until cooked through.

I like to serve these Coconut Crusted Chicken Strips with a little more Chipotle sauce on the side.

- Lou

Oscar Recipe Roundup

We’re all ready to watch The Oscars here at Living Lou, we’ve got our recipes cooking away in the oven or chilling in the fridge, we’re rethinking our choices for our Oscar pool and gearing up to watch the hours of pre-Oscar fun. If you’ve been following along as we prepare for our big Oscar Party then maybe you have some of my recipes on your menu, but if not, there’s always next year! Here’s a roundup of my menu for The 84th Academy Awards.

Seafood Salad

Olive and Mozzarella Breadsticks

Shrimp and Vegetable Skewers

Appetizer Meatballs

Raspberry Lemon Fouls

Parmesan Popcorn

If you’re looking for some other ideas checkout

Parmesan Popcorn

Can you believe that there are only nine short days of Feburary left! Feburary is probably my least favourite month in the year; it’s cold, it’s busy and it’s just not really much fun. It’s one of those months where you have to take the fun into your own hands and make something out of the month. For me this means celebrating a year in some great, hilarious, sad and terrible movies. There were some beautiful movies like Warhorse, highly anticipated, childhood ending films like Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2 as well as some wonderful performances like those in My Week with Marilyn, The Artist and The Help. We saw a year of entertaining films like Midnight in Paris and funny ones like Friends with Benefits. As always we had many romcoms, some wonderful like Crazy Stupid Love and others were not so wonderful. Who can forget the amazing laugh-out-loud hilarious film that was Bridesmaids? How about all the action movies, Captain America, Thor and Transformers 3 to name a few. I think all in all 2011 wasn’t too bad for film!

We’ve finally reached the end of our countdown: less than a week to go until The Oscars! This is the final recipe that I will be serving at my party - you can’t have a party celebrating movies without popcorn. This popcorn is on the savory side, topped with butter and Parmesan cheese means it’s a little decadent and so satisfying. I’m always looking for new ways to spice up popcorn since I watch so many movies.

Parmesan Popcorn
Recipe by Lou

Ingredients

1/2 cup popcorn kernels, popped using your favourite method
1/4 cup melted butter
2 tbsp Parmesan cheese
1/8 tsp black pepper

Directions

Toss the popcorn with the melted butter.

Sprinkle with Parmesan cheese and black pepper. Serve.

Who else is planning an Oscar Party? I’d love to hear what’s on your menu!

- Lou

Chicken Chili

I’m glad that today is another Secret Recipe Club reveal day because I’m suffering from major writer’s block. If I wasn’t going to talk about the lovely Angela from Angela’s Kitchen you might be stuck reading about how I’ve been listening to Carry This Picture by Dashboard Confessional on repeat all weekend. Or my obsession with Beatles cover bands. And donuts. And Carey Grant.

Anyways, Angela’s Kitchen is a wonderful site and a great resource for a variety of recipes for people with dietary restrictions. She has great sections for gluten free and dairy free recipes. I was inspired by her Slow Cooker White Chicken Chili, I’ve always loved chili but have never had a white chicken chili. I’m so glad that I tried this because it is one of my favourite comforting meals. It’s so easy and packed with flavor, I adapted mine to cook on the stove top, but I’m sure it would be just as good in a slow cooker.

Chicken Chili

Ingredients

1 1/2 tbsp olive oil
2 lbs chicken thighs, cut into bite sized chunks
1 onion, chopped or grated
2 cloves garlic, crushed
1 12 oz can spicy diced tomatoes and red pepper or just plain diced tomatoes
1 4 oz can diced green chiles
1 tsp dried oregano
1 tsp coriander
1 1/2 tsp cumin
1/2 28oz can white kidney beans
2 1/2 cups chicken broth
1/3 cup cheddar cheese

Directions

In a large pot, heat olive oil over medium heat. Add diced chicken and cook for 5 minutes. Stirring occasionally.

Add onions and cook for 3 minutes. Add garlic and cook for another minute.

Next, pour in diced tomatoes, green chiles, oregano, cumin and coriander. Cook for another 1-2 minutes, stirring to coat.

Add in beans and chicken broth. Bring to a boil and simmer for 15-20 minutes.

Finally, add in cheddar and serve.

Give this Chicken Chili a try, it’s a nice change from your typical ground beef and beans chili.

- Lou

Living Lou

Corn Muffins

Coconut Crusted Chicken Strips

Oscar Recipe Roundup

Parmesan Popcorn

Chicken Chili

Categories