Food Friday: Picnic Foods and I'm Being Featured!

Today I am being featured on Fabulous Food Friday at Between the Lines, Kel's blog!

Please go over and check out my recipe for
Mandarin Chicken Salad,

and let Kel know you came from my blog!

Oh, and let me know what you thought of the recipe!

It's a fabulous Picnic Salad!

It's Food Friday, and today, since it's Memorial Weekend, I thought many of you may be going to a picnic!  So, I am posting two recipes, which are old-fashioned picnic fare, and comfort food, for sure!

Oven Fried Chicken and Bow Tie Pasta Cheesy Bake

Oven Fried Chicken
Ingredients:

1 whole chicken, cut up
1 Tbsp. butter
1 cup flour
1/4 cup dried chives
2 Tbsp garlic salt
1/2 tsp pepper

How I changed this recipe: I used a package of assorted pieces of chicken (a large thigh, breast, large rib, couple of legs, something like that).  I skinned a couple of the pieces, as we generally eat it "skinless".  Also, I didn't have chives, so I used minced onion and onion salt.
 
Directions:

Melt butter in bottom of 9x13 inch pan; rinse chicken.  Shake chicken until coated in the remaining ingredients.  Place skin side down in pan.  Bake uncovered in 425 degree oven for 35 minutes; turn and bake until done, about 15 to 30 minutes more.
I used a gallon zippered baggie which worked well, doing a few pieces at a time.  With larger pieces of chicken, you may need to bake them a little longer, while keeping the other pieces warm.

This tasted so good!  And it was really easy. This reheats well, and tastes good cold, so will make a good picnic food.

Bow Tie Pasta Cheesy Bake
This is a recipe I got off a Creamettes Bow Tie pasta box, and modified. 

Ingredients:

3 Tbsp Butter
3 Tbsp flour
2 tsp ground mustard
3 cups of milk 
2-1/2 cups shredded cheddar cheese, divided
1 cup of cooked, cubed ham
Whole kernel corn
Here's how I made it, pretty much: (I threw away the box, and this is how I remember it, with my adjustments:)  It came out tasting very good, but it obviously is a forgiving recipe, as you will see!)

Make the box of pasta according to the directions on the box.  Make a white sauce by melting butter in a medium pot, then add the flour, and the mustard; stir.
Then slowly add the milk, on medium heat, constantly stirring until it's pretty smooth and it bubbles. Add 1-1/4 cups of cheddar cheese and stir until melted.
Add the other ingredients to the sauce. I transferred this to a large microwaveable dish before adding everything.  Then they say to bake it for, I think, 30 minutes, at 350 degrees.  I didn't have time, so I put it in the microwave for about 10 minutes on high, covering the dish with plastic wrap.

After I was all done, I noticed it called for 2 teaspoons of ground mustard, and I had put in 3 Tablespoons!!  Also, I noticed it called for a total of 2-1/2 cups of cheese, adding the extra 1-1/4 cup of cheese after baking; I didn't have any more cheese, so I left it out.
So, you see, you can make things work out, even though you "make mistakes"--which I do often:)