Saturday, February 19, 2011

So I have slacked this week... We ordered dominos last night.  I feel like I cooked a good bit this week but some of it was recipes that are already up here.  Oh, and my mother-in-laws chili recipe which I don't think will be posted here. Some recipes stay in the family :)  If you come visit sometime, I'll make the chili.  It does make for some great leftover chili-cheese dogs.

Thursday night, we made oven fried chicken tenders.  Walt has been wanting some kind of fried chicken and this is the recipe that we decided to go with (of course, it is from my cookbook I got for Christmas).  To go along with it, I had homemade french fries.  This was a little bit of an experiment because I had never done them before and decided to just go for it without any kind of recipe (they turned out well and were really easy).

Money Savers:
    Get the Crushed Cornflakes when they go BOGO at Publix! Also, you can use a Kellogg's manufacturer's coupon from the paper.  Cereal coupons come all the time for different values.
    The same goes for the butter! BOGO on Land of the Lakes was last week.  When this comes around use the manufacturer's coupon too and stack up!
    For clean up afterward, check out how you can get free dish washing soap from polkadotpantry.com.  This site is $5.99 a month but you save a ton!! They give you the free, better than free, and ridiculously cheap items at stores in your area (target, walmart, walgreens, publix, kroger, riteaid, etc).  You don't have to get the paper to get the deal.  You can get coupons online or buy them in bulk! Check it out!
   
INGREDIENTS for the Oven Fried Chicken Tenders:
1 egg, beaten
3 tbs milk
1 1/4 cups crushed cornflakes or other rich round cracker (approximately 35)
    **I used Ritz crackers and they worked really well.  Make sure you get plenty of the crackers crushed.  I think I will try it next time with the cornflakes for a little crunchier chicken.  Very good with Ritz.
1 tsp crushed, dried thyme
1/2 tsp paprika
1/4 tsp salt
1/8 tsp pepper
2 tbs butter (melted)
3 chicken breasts cut in strips   ** I got about 3 strips out of each chicken breast.  Just depends on how big you want the strips to be.


INSTRUCTIONS:
1.  Combine the beaten egg and milk in a bowl.
2.  Combine the cornflakes, salt, pepper, thyme, and paprika in a separate bowl.  Stir in the melted butter.
3.  Dip the chicken in the milk mixture and then coat with the flake mixture.
4.  Place on cookie sheet in a single layer.
5.  Bake, uncovered at 400 F for 10-12 minutes or until done.

**Do not turn tenders while baking!


INGREDIENTS for Homemade French Fries:
approximately 4 medium potatoes, peeled
cooking oil **I used canola oil.  And you only need enough cover the bottom of the skillet about 1/4 inch thick.


INSTRUCTIONS:
1.  Cut the potatoes into rectangular shapes. (approx 4-5 inches long and 1/4-1/3 inch thick)
    **Best way I have found to do this is to make a large rectangle out of each potato by cutting a little straight off each long side.  You can still cut what you took off to make it kinda rectangular and cook well. 
2.  Heat the oil on the stove in a medium skillet for about 5 minutes or until looks hot.  You have to get to know your stove a little, but for mine it worked best somewhere between medium and medium-high.
      **You want it hot enough to brown the outside but cool enough to do it slowly so the inside is cooked through.
3.  Place a handful of potatoes in the oil, carefully.  Allow them to cook about 3-4 minutes.  Then flip each potato to the other side.  Allow that side to cook 3-4 minutes as well.
     **From here out, you have to kinda eye it.  They should reach a golden brown.  If you like them crunchy, let them sit a little longer.  If you like them softer, turn the heat down some more and let them just cook longer!
4.  Take off the skillet and put on a paper towel or something to absorb the extra grease.  You can eat them as is, OR throw some seasoned salt on top! That's what we did :)

Enjoy!
ps.  This is a pretty quick meal.  You can have it ready in a little over 20 minutes.
Also, I got a tip to be careful with the salt!  You might wanna measure it out to make sure it's not too much! :)

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