What's for dinner? Chicken!

So, I am trying to do better and take pictures as we cook (at least, I have tried that once now).  Maybe I will actually stick with it.  Michael and I are both such impatient people when it comes to food, so it is hard to stop what we are doing to take a picture.  Once we enter the kitchen to start cooking, we want to be eating ASAP (haha, we are a bunch of fatties!)!

Last night we made a VERY yummy but even more unhealthy meal (good thing I never claimed to be a healthy gluten-free blog).  Michael had taken out some frozen chicken to thaw early in the day.  Lately, as I have already said I am sure, I have had a big diversion to meat.  Michael is always trying to get me to eat meat (he insists that the baby needs it).  So, to try to fix my no meat way of thinking, we made my absolute favorite meat (fried chicken tenders, YUM!).  I was looking in the cabinet for some sides while Michael was getting the chicken ready, and in spite of our 20 cans in the pantry, the only vegetable was corn.  Since we are already going through the trouble of frying, might as well make some corn fritters... We can't just eat fried chicken and fried corn fritters though. So, I made some of my mom's home-made mac-n-cheese (with gluten-free pasta). 

As a side note, anybody want to donate their services to me and help me update my blog?  I really wish I knew how to make seperate pages for recipes, eating out, and then blogging.  I used to be so computer and internet savvy back in the day... I just don't have the time to play with it that much anymore.  Maybe one day.

Fried Chicken Strips

Ingredients (once again, I really hope you are not OCD and need exact measurements)

• Boneless raw chicken strips (cut length-wise in half; we prefer long skinny chicken strips)
• Gluten-free all purpose flour
• Salt
• Pepper
• 3 eggs
• Milk 
• Vegetable oil

Directions

1. Place 3 eggs and a couple of splashes of milk (enough to coat the eggs) in a bowl and mix together.  Place raw chicken in bowl and allow to sit while getting other ingredients together (if your chicken isn't fully covered, then just add some milk, as simple as that).
2. Next, I put a layer of flour in a pie pan (a good size and nice and flat for coating the chicken; if you don't use enough flour, then you can always add more later).  Spread a thin layer of salt over the top of the flour and then a thin layer of pepper and toss together (put as much as you want, but believe me Michael and I were surprised how much better the chicken was once we added more salt and pepper).
3. Pour a 1 inch layer of vegetable oil into a cast iron skillet (we actually used a non-stick skillet this time, which works just fine) and bring to medium to medium-high heat (everybody's oven is different, you want to have a good boil when you add the chicken or else it will absorb too much oil and become greasy, but you don't want it to burn either).  
4. Once the oil is good and hot, dip the chicken into the flour and cover fully (if you like extra crispy chicken, then dip back into the eggs and into the flour again).  Carefully place the chicken into the hot oil (it should bubble and sizzle pretty fiercely, I usually test my oil by sprinkling a little flour into it and seeing it if bubbles).  Cook on each side until golden brown and place on a piece of paper towel to cool (always check your first piece of chicken for doneness, to make sure you have your temperature correct).

  

This is what the oil should look like while frying, and you can see the difference b/w the golden brown and pasty-white.

 

 

I forgot to take a picture of just the finished chicken, but you can see it here along w/ the corn fritters and mac-n-cheese.

 

 

 Mom's Homemade Mac-N-Cheese

Really, this mac-n-cheese is too easy to call homemade, but it doesn't come from a mix or a kit.

 

Ingredients

• 1 box of gluten-free pasta (we used Schar Penne pasta, and we only made 1/2 the recipe)
• Splash of EVOO (extra virgin olive oil, don't you watch Rachel Ray?)
• 1/2 box of Velveeta cheese
• Splash of milk
• 2 dollops of butter (big, full tablespoons)
•  Salt & Pepper to taste

Directions

1. Bring a pot of water to boil and add pasta and a splash of EVOO to keep it from sticking together (gluten-free pasta is very bad about sticking together).  Bring to a rolling boil and stir often.  Cook until done (don't throw a piece against the wall, just taste it silly).
2. Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees
3. Drain pasta and pour into a 8x8 glass cooking dish.  Add cheese (you want to make little 1/2-1 inch cubes to add), butter, salt & pepper, and splash of milk (enough milk to coat the pasta and have a thin layer on the bottom, if you put too much milk you just have to cook a little longer).
4. Bake at 350 for 20 minutes (stir at the half-way mark).

 

The gluten-free pasta I used.  I really have liked a lot of the Schar products. 

End product.  To speed things up, I actually added all the ingredients to my hot pan with pasta (after draining) and stirred until all melted together, then I cooked for about 10 minutes (remember, we are fatties that like to eat ASAP). 

 

 

What can you expect next?!  I plan to poast soon about eating fast-food gluten-free and another about the fears of my child having Celiac Disease.