I think I've said it before, but I should probably say it again. Southerners will fry anything. Twinkies, mushrooms, onions, chicken, ice cream, Snicker's candy bars, etc. Not only will southerners fry anything, they will eat most anything that is fried.
I love pickles. Always have. And yep, in typical southern fashion, I love them even more when they are fried. I can't count how many recipes I tried for fried pickles before I finally just came up with one on my own. Just a bit of forewarning for y'all. I am the worlds worst about measuring stuff when I'm doing a recipe. I just add stuff until it looks right, so for any of the recipes you may find here, you'll have to work with them to get them to taste the way you want them.
Fried Pickles
Vlasic sliced dill pickles (I like the taste Vlasic pickles have and they also retain their crunch through frying)
1 cup self rising flour
Tony Chachere's Creole Seasoning
Garlic salt and pepper (The garlic salt I have already has the pepper in it)
water
I warned y'all before hand that I don't measure stuff, hence not having an amount of creole seasoning or garlic salt or water and I'm guessing on the flour. What I do is put the flour in a smallish mixing bowl and sprinkle the garlic salt and pepper over the top, generously. Then I sprinkle the creole seasoning over the top, again generously. (Keep in mind that Tony Chachere's creole seasoning is SALTY!!!) I then add water to the bowl until the mixtures forms a sort of loose paste. Not runny and not biscuit dough thick but somewhere in between. I throw a couple handfuls of pickles in the strainer and let them sit for a minute or two then dump them in the bowl with the batter and stir them in until they are all covered. Heat up your oil (I have a deep fryer) and throw them in. I recommend, if you are using the deep fryer method, you put the basket down in the oil before dropping the pickles in, that way they don't stick together. I drop them in one at a time. They will float and you may need to turn them over with a fork once while frying. You will be able to tell when they are done, the crust will turn a golden brown.
If there is any confusion on my madness..err methods...please feel free to leave a comment or get in touch with me by email or Facebook or Twitter. All my links are on the right hand side of the page. Enjoy!!!
So for this week's Tasty Tuesday I decided to post my two newest recipes for chicken. I say newest because they are ones I had never tried before. I'm sure many of you have heard of Chicken Cordon Bleu, so it won't be new to you. That's the first recipe. Sorry, I don't have any pictures of the results, they didn't last long enough to get any.
Chicken Cordon Bleu
4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
8 slices of ham (I used those really thin slices that you can get at most grocery stores for $.99)
8 slices swiss cheese (I used provolone and it tasted just as good as swiss)
bread crumbs (I got enough out of one slice of bread. I made my own but I know a lot of people like the Panko brand.)
Preheat oven to 350F. Pound the chicken breasts. 1/4 to 1/2 inch works best. Once you've pounded the chicken to the desired thickness, lay 2 slices of ham and cheese on top of the breasts. I put the ham slices down first, then the cheese. Stagger the slices as well so they cover the whole breast or as much of it as possible from end to end. Once you have your ham and cheese situated on the breasts, start with one end of the chicken breast and start rolling it all up together. Once you have it rolled pin it in the middle with a toothpick and place it in the pan you plan on baking it in. Once you have all your chicken rolled and placed in the pan, sprinkle the bread crumbs evenly across the tops of the breasts. Bake for approximately 40-45 minutes.
The next recipe was my own concoction and even though it gave us all some serious heartburn afterwards, it was amazing. I literally used what I found in my fridge to make the stuffing.
Bacon Wrapped Mozzarella Jalapeno Stuffed Chicken Breasts
4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
Half a package of uncooked bacon
Half a bag of shredded mozzarella
1 Tbsp. minced garlic (The Old World kind you get in a jar)
1 Tbsp. jalapenos (you may want to cut back on the amount since that's what gave us all heartburn. LOL)
1 tsp. Tony ChaChere's Creole Seasoning
1 tsp. garlic salt w/pepper (The garlic salt I have already has the pepper in it)
Preheat oven to 350F. Pound the chicken breasts to about 1/4 inch thickness. Mix cheese, garlic, jalapenos, creole seasoning and garlic salt in a bowl. Spread the mixture evenly over the surface of each chicken breast. Roll the chicken breast and pin it in the center with a toothpick. Wrap two slices of bacon around each breast and pin the ends with toothpicks. Put them in the pan you plan to bake them in. (I put butter in the bottom of the pan.) Bake for approximately 1 hour.
Both of these recipes turned out really well and I will definitely be making them again. Hope you enjoy this week's Tasty Tuesday. :D
So, I've been slacking off yet again. I actually made a New Year's resolution, that I would blog more and do so consistently. Here we are in the second week of January and this is my first post of the New Year. Sad huh? I never said I was GOOD with resolutions and actually sticking to them but I am definitely going to try to keep up with my blogging.
Anyways, let me start this resolution by saying Happy New Year and I hope 2012 is an amazing year for each and every one of you.
The Camper Queen Series - Tight Spaces
Posted by: Savari in blog series, Camper Queen, family, life, tight spacesI currently live in a camper in my parents backyard. Fun right? Not so much. At 30 years old, it's never fun to have to go to your parents and beg them for a place to live. Especially not with 2 kids and a small zoo. In this new blog series, The Camper Queen, I explain how we get by.
Normally, when I tell someone we live in a camper, they automatically assume it's one of those really big, nice RV type things. Sadly, I have to burst their bubble. We are talking a late 80's early 90's throwback here. One of those smallish campers that one person starts feeling claustrophobic in, much less an entire family. It's tight and cramped at the best of times.
Let me explain how we came to live in said camper. In April of 2009, I broke my ankle. At the time I worked for an animal hospital and being around dogs that were extremely rambunctious more than half the time was not such a good place to find someone with broken limbs of any kind. The break didn't occur at work, but as soon as it happened I became a liability. If I got hurt at work, they would become liable for any further medical treatment, so basically, I lost my job. Not that I could work anyways, being on crutches for almost 6 months. (My ankle refused to heal.) So, we were down to only my husband's salary, which wasn't much, to get the bills paid. Around September of 2009 it got to the point where we just couldn't afford the rent anymore, so to my parents I went, thinking we will only need to live in a camper for a few months. Yea, well, I was wrong. Here it is November of 2011 and here we still are. The economy is shot so finding a decent job is hard enough in itself, but add in not having a vehicle and I'm pretty much S.O.L. Trying to find anything to do online is even harder because either you have to pay out what you don't have to start up something online or the jobs aren't legit to start with.
We've learned to deal with it on a day to day basis. The pros of living in such a confined area is it's super easy to keep clean, I don't lose stuff nearly as often as I did before, and I always know what the kids are doing at any given time. LOL. The cons are I'm slowly being overrun by my animals. With a Ball Python and her food taking up quite a bit of space, I'm constantly trying to make room and the kids are just as horrible here about keeping their stuff put up as they were in the house we lived in before. There is almost no counter space and the stove doesn't work.
It's certainly been a trying year to say the least, but we keep managing to look up and hope for the best. Be sure to look for next week's Camper Queen post on how to manage good meals in cramped spaces with no stove.
Wordless Wednesday - Avoidance Edition
Posted by: Savari in #wordlesswednesday, avoidance., wordless wednesdayMissy the day she came to live with me. |
Much improved. |
Missy's favorite spot. The WHOLE couch. |