This is not a baked chicken dish, but it's quick and easy and fairly healthy. If you're cooking for a bunch of hungry kids, you might note that you can fit a five pound value pack of chicken thighs (cost around $6) into a 14 inch nonstick skillet (available at Sams for around $28) and have the entire batch cooked in 20 minutes. Worth getting a big nonstick skillet just for this recipe. Crispy Chicken Thighs This is more a technique than a recipe. I learned it from a recipe by Jacques Pepin. That recipe involves making a sauce, but the chicken thighs by themselves are tasty on their own even if you don’t want to bother making the sauce. You get crispy ‘fried’ chicken without a batter and with much less fat than regular fried chicken. Quick, extremely easy, and very tasty. From a food-science-geek standpoint, what you’re doing is rendering the fat out of the skin, and the skin fries in that fat, while the flesh side is steamed in the covered skillet by the vapors liberated in the cooking process. You can vary the seasoning if you want; a little bit of smoked Spanish paprika (‘pimenton’) or chipotle powder works well instead of or in addition to the black pepper. Penzeys has a spice mix called ‘Arizona Dreaming’ that works very well on this. So does lemon pepper (Penzey's 'Sunny Spain' salt free lemon pepper is very good on this) Ingredients 4 chicken thighs, skin on salt black pepper Procedure 1. Set the chicken thighs skin-side down on a cutting board. Trim any excess floppy skin. In the flesh side cut a ½ inch deep slash on either side of the thigh bone, parallel to the bone and about ½ inch away from the bone (this helps the thigh to flatten out somewhat). Season the thighs on both sides with salt and pepper. 2. Place the chicken thighs skin-side down on an unheated non-stick skillet. Only then turn the heat to high. When the chicken starts to sizzle, turn heat to medium and move the thighs around to make sure they aren't sticking to the skillet. Cover the skillet and cook for 16 to 18 minutes. Check the chicken occasionally to make sure it isn’t sticking. If the skin is browning too much after 10 minutes, then turn the heat to low. If after 18 minutes the flesh side doesn’t look quite done, flip the thighs and fry them flesh side down for a minute or two, uncovered. When done, serve.

Note that the leavening is baking soda...and as of NOW the directions in also say soda instead of powder as in the first I posted....and now I will correct it on my copy too!!! Carrot cake Julie Ts 3 eggs 3/4 cup vegetable oil 3/4 cup buttermilk 2 cups sugar 2 teaspoons vanilla 2 cups flour 2 teaspoons baking soda 3/4 teaspoon salt 2 tsps cinnamon 1 8 oz can crushed pineapple, drained 2 cups grated carrots 1/2 cup raisins chopped with 1 Tablespoon of flour Buttermilk glaze 1/2 cup sugar 1/4 tsp baking soda 1/4 cup buttermilk 1/4 cup butter 1 Tblsp light corn syrup 1 tsp vanilla Orange Cream Cheese Frosting 1/2 cup softened butter 4 oz softened cream cheese 1 tsp vanilla 3 cups powdered sugar 1 tsp orange juice 1 tsp grated orange rind Preheat oven to 350 With a mixer Beat eggs, add oil and buttermilk, sugar and vanilla. beat to combine. Stir together flour, salt, cinnamon and baking soda and stir into batter. stir in pineapple, carrots and raisins. Pour into a greased 8 by 13 pan or 2 greased round 9 inch cake pans. Bake 35 to 45 minutes until set in the middle. Remove from the oven and immediatly spread with the buttermilk glaze. Cool completely and frost with the cream cheese frosting. Buttermilk glaze: In a medium sauce pan ( don't use a small pan) combine all ingredients but vanilla. Bring to a boil and cook 3 minutes stirring often...it will bubble a lot. It should be a light caramel color, stir in vanilla and pour over the cake Cream cheese frosting: Beat cream cheese and butter until light add vanilla powd. sugar and juice and rind...beat until smooth and frost the cooled cake.

Like Annie I freeze a few batches of this every year-- in small "blocks"-- love the stuff. Try it as a base for non sauced pizza ;with spinach as a filling for boneless, skinless chicken thighs either roasted or grilled; on grilled corn on the cob or for garlic bread-- yummy -- heck I've eaten it just on warm biscuits . Makes a great little gift packed in a pretty small crock or mug. yeah-- big thanks to Ruthanna !!

Wild Mushroom Soup with Sherry  3 tablespoons butter, room temp  2 tablespoons butter, melted  4 tablespoons all purpose flour  1/2 cup sliced shallots  1/2 cup chopped onion  2 cloves garlic, minced  3-4 cups sliced mushrooms (can use a combo of shitake and button)  1 teaspoon fresh thyme  1 bay leaf  1 cup dry sherry  3 cups chicken stock or canned broth  1 cup half & half or heavy cream Melt 3 tablespoons butter in large pot over medium-high heat. Add shallots and onion and sauté until onion is translucent, about 8 minutes. Add garlic for 30 seconds, and then add mushrooms and thyme, sauté until beginning to soften, about 4 minutes. Add sherry. Boil until liquid is reduced to glaze, about 6 minutes. Make a roux-mix remaining 2 tablespoon butter and 4 tablespoons flour in small bowl until smooth paste forms. Add flour paste to mushroom mixture in pot; stir until mixture melts and coats vegetables. Gradually mix in stock. Bring to a boil, stirring frequently. Reduce heat to medium-low and simmer until mushrooms are tender, stirring often, about 10 minutes. Stir in cream. Season with salt and pepper. Take bay leaf out. Puree about 1/3 of soup in blender until smooth. Return to pot. Can be prepared 1 day ahead of time. Cover and refrigerate. Re-warm over medium-low heat before serving.