Loving Chicken French Redoux!

Playoff season across the U. S. of A. and we know what that means... great food, easy to access, and cheering for someone's favorite team once yours is knocked out of the running! So for us this year it's "GO VIKINGS" because my son-in-law Jon is from Minnesota...

Chicken and Artichoke French are big family favorites here... Farmer Dave doesn't like them, but the rest of the family loves both so we make it/them for big family parties, doings, whatevers... I'm repeating this post today with an eye toward playoffs and Super Bowl fun because it's a great make-ahead then heat up and cook the pasta at game time! And the videos are not exactly Ree Drummond-friendly skill level but I kept them in because you guys are always loving and forgiving! Here you go, from February 2014:

Okay, this may be a complete waste of your time, because I'm not exactly a camera guru. I'm barely literate with the PHD systems: Push Here, Dummy!!!!

But I thought it would be fun to video tape the step-by-step of making chicken and artichoke French for Super Bowl Sunday. Therefore, you get to see my lame attempts, laugh at me, get HUNGRY when you hear that food sizzle, and if you're a Seattle fan, you're feeling mighty happy still!!!!

I'm feeling happy about THIS:

DEREK JETER PRACTICING!!!!!!!!

I'm not quite as happy about THIS:

DEREK JETER RETIRING!!!!!!

Okay, so I was looking for a dinner that wouldn't require me to be in the kitchen during the game.  All cooking/clean up was done pre-game.

SUHWEEEET!!!!!

Here we go:

5 lb. bag of boneless, skinless chicken breasts
2 large jars of artichoke hearts
Extra virgin olive oil
2 sticks butter
Marsala wine (or dry sherry)
1 Quart lemon juice

For dredging:

A bowl of flour
A bowl of 6 beaten eggs, thinned with 1/2 cup water (I don't measure this, of course!!!)  :)

Drain artichokes. Pat dry with paper towel. Dip in flour first, then EGG....

Slip into heated olive oil in large "chicken fryer" type frying pan and cook on medium- medium low until cooked on all sides, golden with a hint of brown.... Don't use too high a fire and turn them every few minutes.

Then, when they're ALL GOLDEN, CRISPY NICENESS, you add in two tablespoons of butter,  1/3 cup lemon juice, 1/2 cup wine. Let simmer for 5 minutes or so to blend flavors, then pour the whole thing into a big baking dish to be warmed up later...  Wipe down pan between batches to avoid burn spots.

Burn spots taste blech!!!!!

Repeat this until all artichokes are done.

When all the batches were done I put them into two BIG aluminum roasters and covered them with foil, kept them cold (in the car, LOL!!!!) until time to reheat... then all I had to do was boil water for pasta and burn the garlic bread.

Which I did, as usual.  :)

There are NO PICTURES of the burned garlic bread. None. I removed all cameras from the smoke-filled area.  Trust me. It wasn't pretty.

But there is a picture of THIS:  More to come on this amazingly delectable three-chocolate extravaganza delight!!!!

 And of course our signature Floating Island Punch made my Casey, my amazingly talented and beautiful helper!!!

This is Casey doing Crayon Art projects with kids this week... Yes, our kids are off this week, and some of my little ones are on cruises, one is in Florida, and the others are STUCK WITH ME AND CASEY.

Poor babies!!!!

We have now officially found the solution to KILLING OLD CRAYONS with no guilt or remorse!

Melt them!!!!

Multi-published author Ruthy Logan Herne is on deadline and meting out time like she metes out M&Ms... very, very carefully! She is buried in a snow cave in Western New York, busily writing a beautiful story for Waterfall Press/Amazon and working on an absolutely fun mystery for Guideposts Books... and having the time of her life!