Monday, March 24, 2014

In The Kitchen Today

I've had some kitchen projects going on - food stuffs type projects, not the remodel projects - that I've been working on here and there, now and then. I had a big 50 pound bag of flour I was funneling into 2 liter bottles for storing (to keep out bugs)(I don't recommend anyone ever trying this. Get 3 liter bottles with wider openings instead), a 25 pound bag of sugar I divided into gallon size ziplock freezer bags for storing, and bags of potatoes I was peeling/cubing/flash freezing.

The sugar I get done in one go, but the other jobs were so tedious and unrelenting and mind-numbing. I could only do so much at one time and would have to quit for awhile. A long while. Like days and weeks, maybe months.
I finally got all the flour transferred into (7) 2 ltr bottles, and needed to finish peeling/cubing one last bag of potatoes, and make another batch of homemade Shake-n-Bake.


I haven't been much paying attention to the weather forecasts, just taking it as it comes, but yesterday morning it rained, then last night the temps dropped down into the 30's, so I'm reckoning a cold front came through.
It was a nice, bright sunny morning this morning, but still on the chilly side. I decided it'd be a good day to knock out some of my kitchen projects.

Before I could make up a batch of homemade Shake-n-Bake, first I needed to make up a batch of homemade bread crumbs.

I've been saving scrap bread, mostly the "butt" pieces from loafa bread we don't eat, in the freezer.


I put them in a single layer on a sheet pan and toasted them at 300*, flipping them over and over until they dried evenly on both sides. (The more thawed ones dried/toasted a bit better than the frozen ones, so next time I'll (try to) remember to let them thaw some before starting.)


Then I broke them up and pulverized them in my mini kitchen chopper.




The amount of bread I had filled this breadcrumbs container I had that was empty, plus a bowlful.


Between grinding the toast, and waiting for another pan of bread to toast, I was peeling and cubing potatoes. Boiled them slightly, then spread them on pan-sprayed cookie sheets for flash freezing. After they were frozen I broke them up and put them in freezer bags and back into the freezer. Now I can just get out however much I need to make mashed potatoes or potato salad.

After I (finally) got all my breadcrumbs made, I gathered up the other ingredients needed for my homemade Shake-n-Bake.


This is the recipe I used to mix it all up.


Done. Bag of homemade Shake-n-Bake that will last me...the last batch I made lasted 1 year and 8 months.
I keep it in the freezer, and just dip out about 1/2 cup to "Shake" my chicken or chops in each time, so I don't contaminate the entire batch.


4 comments:

Anonymous said...

YUM thanks for sharing!

Melissa said...

You're welcome! It does taste good, and is really frugal. Loved using the bread parts I usually throw out to the birds and squirrels, and most of the spices I found at the Dollar Tree.

Unknown said...

Mmmmmm, I am going to need to revisit this!!!

Melissa said...

It's good Trina. If you click on the link "last batch I made" it gives a good recipe for "unfried chicken".

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