HOW DO YOU UN-FRY A CHICKEN?

 (I intended to send this out June 10 but it seems I must have forgotten to hit 'publish' as I see it is still in draft mode. See what lack of sleep does!)


I sure didn't do what I said I would. I can't seem to get my brain to 'want' to blog for awhile. It doesn't help that I rarely sleep longer than a couple hours at a time and often have to get up and watch tv because I start to toss and turn and wide awake between 2:30 to sometimes 5 or 6 AM before going back to bed and finally able to go to sleep again. That doesn't help to keep the mind from getting foggy.

I have kept busy running to doctor appointments the last few months. For one, I go to the local clinic and have a protime test every one to two weeks to check how thin my blood is since I was put on coumadin, actually warfarin is the generic name. The clinic is only 5 or 6 blocks away and takes about 15 minutes including wait time, but it does mean that I have to get out of my sloppy clothes I wear in the house, and sometimes even my PJ's, and take the time to go.

I also saw a orthopedic surgeon that specializes in knee and hip replacements and have scheduled knee replacements for both knees in the coming months. He will do one and then wait two months to do the other one, providing I have recovered well from the first. That takes place in a city 60 miles away. So between pre-op checkups and post op checkups for both surgeries, I have several more appointments to get to. Add to that, my 3 month checkups with the oncology doctor.  In 10 months I can change that to every 6 months so that will be some relief.

If any of you have had bone-on-bone joints for awhile, you probably know how it hurts to walk or stand and I am long overdue for the surgery. I wish I didn't have to wait longer but the doctor wants me to lose weight and go to physical therapy to gain some strength in my legs before the surgeries. So I finally kicked my behind and got to work on dieting again. So far I have lost 14 lbs! That brings me to this blog title about unfried chicken.

Many years ago Oprah featured her personal chef, Rosie, on her show who showed how to make unfried chicken and unfried french fries, two of Oprah's favorites. I have to agree with Oprah about the chicken. It is very good and you can find that recipe here.

I did change it up a bit this time since the doctor said to eat lots of protein and vegetables and no carbs, so I did not add the flour and breadcrumbs when I made it the other day. I also did not dip the chicken in the yogurt first since I was not breading the chicken. Instead, I just mixed all the spices together, put in a plastic bag and shook the chicken with the spices to coat each piece.

I had a package of 6 boneless chicken breasts that I used. Those breasts were so big that the total package weight 5 pounds! I had to mix up the spices about 4 times in order to cover all 6  and so they were heavily spiced, but oh-so-good! I did cut the breasts in half after they were baked and one piece was plenty for a meal. I will certainly make this again.

I have sliced a piece up and added to a green salad for a main dish and it is very good that way too. I think today I will use some of it to make a chicken vegetable soup that is included in the diet plan I am using.

Until next time . . . . .