Baked Chicken Legs, Cornbread and Beets

Tonight is the last cooking to be done as I now must prepare for Thanksgiving.  Again this menu comes out of the Weight Watchers Power cookbook.  The meat course was Spicy Oven-Fried Drumsticks.  Jim said over and over again how much he liked this.  It serves 4.

Ingredients: 

½ C whole wheat panko bread crumbs (I used seasoned panko)

2 T all-purpose flour

1 t dried poultry seasoning

¾ t salt

½ t black pepper

½ t cayenne

¾ C low-fat buttermilk (buttermilk is low fat)

8 small skinless chicken drumsticks (I used 5 as it was the two of us)

Directions:

1.       Preheat oven to 450 degrees.  Line a pan with foil.

2.       Mix together panko, flour, poultry seasoning, salt, pepper, and cayenne in large shallow bowl.  I used a plastic bag. 

3.       I put the buttermilk and drumsticks in another bag and let them sit for about 1 hour.  I took them out one by one and put them in the dry seasoning bag.  Shook the bag and put them on the foil covered pan. 

4.       Spray the chicken lightly with nonstick spray and bake until crispy and cooked through, about 25 minutes. 

Earlier in the day, I made the Spicy Black-Eyed Pea Cornbread.  It is divided into 10 pieces and is to serve 10 according to the cookbook.  I can’t figure out without higher math how to evenly dive a circle into 10 pieces so I did 8.  I was not wild about the results.  Not my idea of cornbread, but I made 2 mistakes.  I forgot the baking powder and pulled out black beans instead of black eyed peas.  It was a little gummy, but my mistake.  I will blame it on Max who was constantly harassing me to throw his ball. 

Ingredients:

1 C yellow cornmeal

1 C whole wheat flour

1 ½ t baking powder

1 t salt

1 large egg

1 C low-fat buttermilk

2 T sugar

1 (10 oz) can of diced tomatoes with chilies, drained

1 C canned black-eyed peas, rinsed and drained

1 small green bell peppers, diced

Directions:

1.       Preheat oven to 375 degrees.  Spray 10” cast-iron or over heavy ovenproof skillet with nonstick spray.

2.       2 Whisk together cornmeal, flour, baking powder, and salt in a large bowl.  Whisk together egg, buttermilk, and sugar in small bowl.  Add egg mixture, tomatoes, black-eyed peas and bell pepper to cornmeal mixture and stir just until flour is moistened. 

3.       Pour batter into skillet and bake until top is lightly browned and firm to the touch, about 25 minutes.  Let cool on wire rack 5 minutes.  Serve warm. 

I also made Roasted Beets with Horseradish-Mustard Dressing earlier in the day.  It says serves 4, but we have leftovers.  I thought this was delicious but Jim is not a fan of beets. 

Ingredients: 

3 medium beets, trimmed and scrubbed

¼ C water

1 T plus 1 t prepared horseradish, drained

1 T EVOO

2 t maple syrup

1 ½ t balsamic vinegar

1 t whole-grained mustard

¼ t salt

1 T minced chives

Directions:

1.       Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.

2.       Place beets in medium baking dish, add water to dish.  Cover and bake until beets are fork-tender, 1 hour 15 minutes.  (I wrap washed and trimmed beets in aluminum foil and put in a Pyrex dish and baked.  Easier cleanup.)  Let stand until cool enough to handle, peel and thinly slice.

3.       Meanwhile, whisk together the remaining ingredients in a large bowl.  Add beets and toss to coat.  Serve warm or at room temperature.

4.       If you buy your beets with the leaves still attached, which I did, rinse and coarsely chop them, then steam until tender.  Toss them with the dressing along with the beets.