#grandmapat

So, I had a birthday last month and thanks to Grandma Pat, I finally got a set of silicone cupcake molds. Sure, paper cupcake liners are cute, but they are kind of pain. Plus, when you really want to make cupcakes, you never had the liners you really want to use!

Lucky for me, Grandma Pat hooked me up! I have been talking about buying these but just never actually went out and bought them. Thanks to the new molds, here is the finished product...

Believe it or not, my favorite cupcakes don't involve a fancy, homemade recipe. I use Pillsbury's Devils Food cake mix and Creamy Vanilla Frosting. After I iced the cupcakes, I added some sprinkles, only because I had some in the pantry.

It may not sound super fancy, but these are my all time favorite cupcakes. And now, they are so much easier to make with my silicone cupcake molds!

This is probably Tony’s favorite meal and was one of the first recipes he made sure that I got from his mom (a.k.a. “Grandma Pat”).  Her recipe is amazing and over the years, I have pretty much stayed true to the original.  Here is my most current version:

Photo Updated 9-6-15

4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts 

2 eggs

2 cups flour

4 cups (about) panko breadcrumbs (see note below)

4 tablespoons (about) Parmesan cheese

1.5 - 2 lbs Mozzarella cheese

Cayenne pepper

Salt, pepper

Special note on breadcrumbs: My sister Lia introduced me to Whole Foods Italian breadcrumbs.  These are REALLY good.  In this picture, I used a combination of the Whole Foods breadcrumbs and panko breadcrumbs.  SO good!

Before you get started on prepping your chicken, make sure your gravy is cooked and ready to serve.  That’s gravy, not sauce and yes, it is red (gravy recipe will be a separate post one day!).

The chicken needs to be dredged in flour, egg and breadcrumbs (in that order).  I use three different Pyrex dishes and create the following “mixes:”

Flour mixed with a couple of pinches of cayenne

Egg beaten with a shot of water and a pinch of salt and pepper

Mix of panko, Whole Food breadcrumbs and Parmesan cheese

Dip the chicken in the flour, then the egg and then the breadcrumbs.  Once all of the chicken breasts are coated, place in the refrigerator for about an hour before cooking.

Heat a large frying pan and add enough canola oil to coat the bottom of the pan.  Once the oil is hot, place the chicken breasts in the pan and let them brown on one side; about 3 minutes.  Flip the chicken and brown the breasts on the other side.

Place a small amount of gravy all over the bottom of a sheet pan.  Place the browned chicken on top of the gravy.  Put a small amount of gravy on top of each piece of chicken.  Smother the chicken with shredded mozzarella and cook the chicken for approximately 15 minutes or until the cheese is completely melted.  Serve your chicken parm with a side of spaghetti or penne.

A note about cheese: I like to shred my own cheese.  It takes more time and some days  I curse when I have to do it, but I really feel like it tastes better.  My favorite mozzarella right now is Whole Foods part skim mozzarella.  My “back-up” mozzarella is Boars Head whole milk mozzarella (I get this at Caputo’s - ask the deli to cut you a “chunk” of mozzarella, which is about 1 1/2 pounds).

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I can relate to this quote from experiences that I've had.  One of the experiences that I've had that made the biggest impact was when my grandma Pat was in the hospital in Rochester, MN.

After her double bypass surgery was done and we could see her; we all (grandpa Bob, aunt Sarah, uncle Jeff, uncle Gerald, aaunt Brittany, cousin Laura, dad, Tyler, and I) went into her room.  It was shocking to walk into the room and see my grandma lying there in the bed with her eyes closed (she was still sleepy from the medication) and all the tubes and machines around her.

Tyler stood by dad and was ok for a little bit and he would look at me to see that I was ok.  But after Tyler lost it and stared crying then I did too.

But one thing that made us all laugh was Laura (who wasn't a full year old yet) talking and mumbling words to grandma.

The next time we went to visit grandma I brought my camera to take pictures of all her 'gear' upon her request.