Real Home Fried Chicken

I tried another recipe from The Contemporary Cowboy Cookbook by Dottie Griffith. The picture in the book looked amazing; crispy,  crunchy and golden. Mine was fine but it wasn't crispy. Maybe it's because they were using bone in, skin on chicken and I was using boneless skinless tenders. I've never fried bone in chicken, is it the skin that makes the difference?

First you soak the chicken in buttermilk. Anytime you are frying chicken the buttermilk is a good idea it makes it juicy and tender. The you dip it in flour seasoned with salt, pepper and paprika. The you fry. This recipe had you frying in oil deep enough for the chicken to float. Don't. Not if you are making tenders. It tasted the same as how I normally make them using much less oil.

I would really love a recipe where the tenders are actually crispy.

Chicken Lo Mein

I am such a  bad blogger, I haven't posted since September. I've cooked a lot and taken photos of plenty of dishes but I haven't been in a mood to write. I'm trying to get back into the swing of things so I'm posting about last nights dinner.

Lo mein isn't my favorite thing but I had all the ingredients on hand so I thought I'd try it anyway. It didn't taste much like take out but it wasn't bad. I made extra sauce but it ended up being too saucy and the sauce was much too thick so I would recommend cutting back on the cornstarch. I added some red pepper flakes to the leftovers to give it a little kick, that made it a little less bland.

I found the recipe at Mom's Fridge and it was okay but i don't think it will go into permanent rotation.

Comforting Chicken Noodle Casserole

This recipe came from A Southern Grace, it was a simple dish to make and very tasty. The only complaint was that there was a little too much sour cream flavor. The recipe calls fro 4 boneless skinless chicken breast halves, but I used 4 tenders and that was more than enough. I don't have a kitchen scale to measure out 6 oz of noodles so I used about 2 1/2 c. of wide egg noodles. I served it with a side of steamed broccoli.

Comforting Chicken Noodle Casserole
4 skinless, boneless chicken breast halves
6 ounces egg noodles
1 (10.75 oz) can condensed cream of mushroom soup
1 (10.75 oz) can condensed cream of chicken soup
1 cup sour cream
salt, pepper, and paprika to taste
1 cup crumbled buttery round crackers
1/2 cup butter

Preheat oven to 350F.
Poach the chicken in a large pot of simmering water. Cook until no longer pink in center, about 12 minutes. Remove from pot and set aside. Bring chicken cooking water to a boil and cook the pasta in it. Drain. Shred or dice the chicken and mix it with the noodles.
In a separate bowl, mix together the mushroom soup, chicken soup, and sour cream. Season with salt, pepper, and paprika. Gently stir together the cream soup mixture with the chicken mixture. Place in a 2-quart baking dish.
Melt the butter in a small saucepan or the microwave. Stir in the crumbled crackers and sprinkle atop the casserole. Bake for about 30 minutes, until heated through and browned on top.