Fried Chicken

So I've finished my finals and now I'm back home safe and sound. And for the record, I kicked my finals' butts! I realize that finals technically don't have butts, but I kicked their metaphorical butts. Of course, I won't get my grades for another couple weeks, but I'm fairly positive that I did well. Mission accomplished.

I'm home now, and loving it. Today I made cookies for my little brother and his friends, did some christmas shopping while the mall is still relatively empty, and just generally chilled out. It was wonderful. And I'm looking forward to another three weeks of the same! I've already started cooking and baking like a mad woman and I don't expect that to slow down anytime soon. Having been denied the ability to create and invent in a proper kitchen for a whole quarter has pushed me over the edge. I think I'm going to end up making my brother be a guinea pig for a lot of culinary experiments over break, but I'm sure he won't mind. He loves giving me brutally honest opinions and then eating himself sick.

Anyway! I promised to give you all my recipe for fried chicken that I invented last week! Now don't get in a fuss, I know I promised it sooner, but come on I had finals. (Aunt Kate...I'm looking at you. :)

Fried Chicken--Pinto style

3-4 Chicken breasts, cut into strips

Gluten free bread crumbs

Corn Chex cereal

2 eggs

Italian seasoning

Salt

Oil for frying

This is the same basic breading that we used on the mozzarella sticks. Same idea, same method, just with chicken. We cut the chicken into pretty thin strips and after frying, ended up cutting those strips in half so that there would be enough for a lot of people. Aileen decided that it was basically popcorn chicken and next time we make it, we're going to try cubing the chicken to see what happens.

First make the dredge; smash the Corn Chex cereal to pieces and combine it with the bread crumbs. I used about a 2:1 ratio, 2 cups bread crumbs to 1 cup cereal. Add a good amount of italian seasoning and salt and set aside. Beat the two eggs in another bowl. Dredge the chicken in the eggs, shake off the excess, and roll in the bread crumb mixture. You might need to pat the crumbs onto the chicken to get it to stay. Try experimenting with cereal size, sometimes smashing the cereal to crumbs helps it to stick to the chicken better.

Heat the oil in a large pan until it is screaming hot. I don't have a thermometer, but the way I test out how hot the oil is is to put a bit of water on my finger and flick it into the oil. When the water bounces around and snaps a lot, then the oil is ready. Put the chicken into the oil and cook for about a minute. Flip the chicken over and cook for another minute. Depending on how thick the chicken strips are you may need to cook it longer. We cut them in half, which was helpful because we could see if they were done all the way through and adjust cooking times appropriately. Again, play around, you also want to make sure that you aren't burning the crust.

Once all the chicken is cooked, it's time to dig in and eat some tasty, tasty chicken!

XOXO

Natalie

I'm back!

I'm so happy right now! And I want the world to know it! The kitchen problem isn't fully resolved yet, but it's close enough that I got to make two meals in it this weekend. Progress!

The first meal we made was spaghetti and meatballs. You've all seen that one on here before, but if you haven't tried it out yet....please. Go make some spaghetti and meatballs. You won't regret it. We changed it up a little bit this time by attempting to make mozzarella stuffed meatballs. They turned out alright, but I don't think that we used enough cheese. They were good, but there wasn't that element of cheese-splosion that I was going for.

But tonight...oh man....tonight was amazing. In the words of my little brother: dude. so epic.

Now I know that this might upset a few people, but I'm going to admit something shameful. before tonight, I had never had a mozzarella stick. I know! A horrific truth. Tonight, I got to experience mozzarella sticks for the first time and baby, there's no going back now. I may be forced to eat mozzarella sticks every day for the rest of my life. Ok thats an exaggeration. But at least once a week.

We also made fried chicken strips and I'm fairly positive that I've invented the most amazing fried chicken recipe of all time. Hint: it includes cereal.

Today I'm going to share with you the mozzarella stick recipe just because they are my newest obsession, but the fried chicken recipe will be coming up soon!

Mozzarella Sticks

String cheese

Gluten free bread crumbs (I used Hol Grain brown rice bread crumbs)

Corn Chex cereal

2 eggs

italian seasoning

salt

Oil for frying

You may notice that there are no measurements in this recipe. That's because this is a free for all mozzarella stick making extravaganza. Don't measure! Go wild!

First cut the string cheese sticks in half so that you have two 2" sticks. Crush up a few handfuls of the Chez cereal into small pieces. They don't need to be superfine, just small enough that they'll stick to the cheese without falling right off. In a large pan or plate combine the bread crumbs and the cereal. I did about a 2:1 ratio, 1 cup of bread crumbs to 1/2 cup of crushed cereal. But this is a no measuring extravaganza, so feel free to alter that ratio as you see fit. To the bread crumbs add a good dose of italian seasoning and a pinch of salt. We used Pappy spice because Pappy spice is amazing, but italian seasoning is a great substitute. In a small bowl beat the two eggs into submission. Now for the dredging! Dip the cheese sticks in the egg, shake off the excess, and roll it in the bread crumb mixture. You might need to pat the crumbs onto the cheese to get it to stay, but it'll stick on there. Make sure you cover the ends too or else the cheese will just melt all over the place. After the cheese has been dredged put them on a foil lined cookie sheet. Once all the cheese is done, put the whole cookie sheet in the freezer for at least ten minutes.

While the cheese is freezing, heat up some oil in a pan. I would say about a half an inch of oil will work. When the oil is screaming hot, and I mean hot, you can start frying. Try frying just one first to make sure you know what you're doing. Using tongs, put the cheese sticks in the oil and fry for about thirty seconds, spinning it around constantly. You want to get the outside golden and crispy before the cheese starts melting all over the place. It shouldn't take more than thirty seconds to get them all crispy and delicious. I also wouldn't recomend frying more than three at once because they need to be constantly moving. When they're done cooking, put them on a paper towel lined plate to drain. Then dig in! But be careful, there's lava hot melty cheese in there.

This is the only picture I got of the mozzarella sticks, sorry it's really bad quality, but I was too busy focused on the plat of deliciousness in front of me to worry about pictures.

Ah it's good to be back :)

XOXO

Natalie

Sad day.

It's a sad day today for The College Housewife. I'm sorry to say that this may be my last post for a while. I will be putting up a Daring Cooks post this weekend, but that may be the last. That kitchen that I've been hoping for has been taken away from me. It's a very long story, but the bottom line is that the housing office here doesn't believe that I need it so that I can eat gluten free food and I have to prove my allergies. Once I have proved them, I will be given a key to use on the weekends to make small meals for myself and no one else.

Worst. Decision. Ever.

I know I haven't been posting very much lately, but this blog is still very important to me. It makes me sad that I might not be able to keep the blog going just because some bureaucrats decided that I can't have the kitchen they guaranteed me. I don't know if anyone even reads this blog anymore because I've been posting so rarely, but I'm still sad. I appreciate the support that you, my awesome readers, have shown me and I promise that I'll be back as soon as I can.

So goodbye for now readers, I'll be back when I can get a kitchen.