Having a plan for dinner sure does make even weekdays go much smoother. I try to come up with a weekly menu on Sundays, but sometimes that doesn’t happen. This Sunday we spent the afternoon and part of the early evening at the Country Fair (check out the pics on Instagram) trying to get in a little more summer family fun before school starts in a few weeks. Even though I didn’t have to make dinner that night, chicken is always on my meal plan at least a few times a week by itself or in a casserole. If I’m cooking a whole chicken, my children always fight over the drumsticks! 4 kiddos and 2 drumsticks always leaves someone a little disappointed at the dinner table. For this crispy and crunchy Oven Baked “Fried” Chicken I use only drumsticks so everyone is happy!

This chicken is great for your Sunday dinner, but it can easily be made any night of the week because it’s so easy to prepare. Simply lay out your chicken in a casserole dish, season it well and pour buttermilk over the top of it and let it sit all day in the refrigerator! You can do this quickly in the morning or you can even do it the night before, letting sit all night too. The longer the better- it makes for a really moist and juicy piece of chicken!

When you get home from work and are ready to get dinner started, get your breadcrumb mixture ready in a pie plate or large dish. I always use seasoned Panko breadcrumbs for this recipe along with a few extra spices to give this chicken a lot of flavor and a lot of crunch! Oh, it’s so good! 

Pick each piece of chicken up out of the buttermilk and dredge it in the breadcrumb mixture. To get it on there really good, I like to use my hands to pack and push it on the chicken.

Place each piece of breaded chicken onto a lightly greased baking sheet lined with foil (for really easy cleanup), spray evenly with a little cooking spray and then bake for about an hour. That’s it! The fried chicken taste you love, right from the oven!

The end result is delicious chicken that the whole family will enjoy. Remember those yummy Rustic Sour Cream & Chive Mashed Potatoes I shared last week? Those go great with this chicken too, but even a baked potato along with some freshly steamed veggies will do.

A great meal doesn’t have to take a long time to make during the week, you just need to have a plan. Try this tasty chicken, I think you’ll love it!

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*Linking up at Miz Helen’s Country Cottage, SITS Girls, Skip To My Lou

The post Oven Baked Fried Chicken appeared first on Cozy Country Living.

Sometimes I just get a craving for tacos!  I love that spicy, smokey, beefy flavor with sharp cheddar cheese and a dollop of sour cream to cool it off a bit.  Yum!

Well earlier in the week I still hadn’t made it to the grocery store and was hoping to come up with something great for dinner with what I had on hand.  Sometimes the thought of bringing all 4 children to the grocery store on a hot summer afternoon doesn’t seem like fun.  It usually turns into a big event, not just a “quick trip” to grab a few things.  Can you relate?

Anyways, I was more motivated than ever to come up with something for dinner from what I had at home.  I grabbed a chair (because I’m short and can’t ever reach anything!) and started pulling out things from the back of the cupboard.  Black beans, corn, soft tortillas, homemade taco seasoning in a jar…Boom!  Some sort of taco dish was definitely going to be made:)

This Loaded Taco Bake is so easy to make and will definitely satisfy an taco cravings!  Taco seasoned ground beef is mixed with fire roasted tomatoes, corn and black beans, then layered between soft medium sized tortilla shells (which fit perfectly into a pie plate by the way) topped with chunky salsa and yes, creamy Extra Sharp Cheddar Cheese and baked all the way through before getting topped with sour cream, green onions and even fresh tomatoes and olives if you wish.

The best part about this meal is that it is really simple to make and it makes 2 Taco Bakes.  That worked out well for us because my family ate this up like they hadn’t eaten all day!  My intentions were to maybe freeze the second one, but that didn’t happen.  Oh, well maybe next time!

If you’re looking for a simple meal to make this summer, give this flavorful dish a try!  I think you’ll really like it!

*Linking up at:

The Best Blog Recipes, Feeding Big, Pint Sized Baker, Inside BruCrew Life, Buns In My Oven, Hun What’s For Dinner, Miz Helen’s Country Cottage

The post Loaded Taco Bake appeared first on Cozy Country Living.