Buffalo Chicken Strips

I made this tonight and I promised to write it down so I won't forget it.  It was pretty easy and delicious.  It still needs some tweaking though.

4 chicken breasts
1/4 C butter
3 Tbl Louisiana Hot Sauce
1 tsp white vinegar
1 1/2 - 2 C flour
1 Tbl smoked paprika
2 Tbl ranch dip mix
2 Tbl garlic salt
oil

combine dry ingredients in a gallon ziploc bag.
Slice chicken breasts into strips and put in bag.  Shake to coat.
In a large frying pan put enough oil to generously coat the bottom of the pan.  Heat until almost smoking.
Add flour coated chicken strips.
While chicken cooks melt butter and mix in hot sauce and vinegar.
When chicken is cooked through drain on paper towel lined plate.  Drain oil from frying pan.  Put chicken strips back in the pan and pour hot sauce mixtue over the top.  Toss to coat strips evenly.

*tweaks to try next time: coat chicken in egg before coating with flour.  Decrease flour and add bread or crumbs.
The sauce was pretty much perfect.  Not too hot and not too boring. 

Also whipped up some frozen corn that went over really well.
1 bag frozen corn
2 Tbl butter
Thyme
Parsley flakes
Garlic salt
While corn cooks put butter and herbs in serving dish.  When corn is done microwave dish of butter and herbs for 30 seconds.  Mix everything together. 

Typically, I prefer to use fresh garlic and it's considered a staple at our house.  It's quite rare that I don't use garlic in my dishes.  But, we were out. I try to avoid garlic salt as well as I really try to not add extra salt to our food but, we were out of garlic powder too.  I guess it's time to go to the grocery store!

For the birds

I've got birds on the brain. I'm preparing to book our poultry flocks for the spring.  This year we'd like to keep some laying hens and a rooster over the winter so we can have a steady supply of eggs and chicks. I'm very interested in the dual purpose breeds.  They tend to be heavier so they'll stand the winter better and a few of the breeds lay exceptionally well in winter.  I like the idea that we can keep some for eggs and the rest will still be fine fryers or roasters.  I'm interested in Buff Orpingtons and Brahmas mostly.  Dorkings sound nice too but they're harder to come by.
I'm really chomping at the bit to get some ducklings booked.  We've decided we would like to raise a rare breed this year.  Silver Appleyards.  They sound simply perfect.  They are a heavy breed yet they are very good layers.  They're good at foraging and they're supposed to be calm.  I'd like to over winter 2 hens and a drake.  That should give us a few eggs for eating and a few eggs for setting so we can propagate the breed.

Happy New Years

We didn't have a fancy New Years Eve supper.  We had a FABULOUS New Years Day supper. 

Stuffed beef tenderloin.  It was amazing.  I saw a picture of it on a cover of Cooks Illustrated a few years ago.  This year I finally tried it.  In this case I followed the recipe EXACTLY.  And, as a result my tenderloin looks almost identical to the one on the cover.  And it tasted even better than it looked.

Pickled Eggs

We're hosting a New Years Eve party this year.  As good hosts we will be serving a few snacks for our guests.  So, today I pickled some eggs.  We've done this once before.  They were great.  Granted, they turned a shade of radioactive yellow but the flavor and texture were wonderful.  Just sour enough to make you pucker but not sour enough to make your tongue raw if you have more than one. The whites were just firm enough that they were satisfying to bit but not quite rubbery.

Not Grandma's Chicken salad

Growing up I never liked mayonnaise.  Hated the stuff.  But, I liked grandma's chicken salad.  Loved it.  It was the only thing I would eat that contained mayo until I was about 25.  It took 24 years for me to get grandma to finally give me her chicken salad recipe.  When I first started making it I was still so grossed out by mayo I used the kind that came in the squeeze jar and I eyeballed the amount so I wouldn't have to wash any icky mayo covered measuring cups.  Things have changed.  I love mayo now and I buy the biggest container of it I can find. 
Anyway, since it took me so long to get Grandma's recipe I'm not giving it to you.  I invested a lot of time being the Best Granddaughter Ever to get it.  And I think I will keep it as my only "secret" recipe for now.  But, I will give you a variation of it that I like almost as much as the original.

Southwest Mac and Cheese

I needed a way to stretch the last of what was in the pantry.  I found this recipe on the Hillshire Farms website.  I typically don't go for southwest-y stuff but this was great.  It's not a one pan meal but it's easy enough and the mac and cheese and cheddarwurst have similar cooking times. A regular sized box of mac and cheese left both of us stuffed! And hopefully I'm off the hook from making tacos for a little while.

Chicken and Tomato Orzo

This was Parker's introduction to Orzo.  I had a recipe that called for something similar to be baked in the oven.  But I wanted something faster.  I'm a fan of one pan meals if I can help it.