Birthday Feast: Fried Chicken, Mashed Potatoes & Store-Bought Chocolate Cake
Yeah, we are gore-METS. Just pulled out all the stops for Ryan's 18th birthday! Does he look happy or what?
Kidding aside, we all think this is the best home-cooked meal we've put together since Thanksgiving! Notice the "we"? I was the sous chef, plus I made the mashed potatoes and the honey mustard sauce all by myself. See? You can teach an old girl new tricks!
The original plan was to go out with the family, but we had to call it off because we just got about 5" of snow. Five inches doesn't sound like much, but driving on fresh snow is no fun and we weren't sure when it was going to stop... So maybe we'll go out next week, we'll see. This meal was so so good, we may never have to eat again. At least till tomorrow morning.
I know you want to make this (trust me), so here's the recipe -- this one is going in the book:
Fried Chicken Strips 4 skinless boneless chicken breasts cut into strips (we try to eat only organically pastured hormone-free meats, but sometimes we gotta do store-bought. Kroger's carries a hormone free chicken, at least.)
Dip 4 eggs (from our local farmer) 1/2 c of flour (whole wheat flour from our local mill) 1/4 c. raw milk (from our local farmer)
Dredge 2-3 c. day old bread made into fine crumbs (used the Cuisinart) Almost equal amt. of flour 4 T. turmeric powder (organic from here -- use the search bar upper right) 1 t. 5-alarm cayenne powder (organic from our local Good Foods Coop) 1 T. real salt (we buy in bulk from our local health food store) 1 T. pepper
Dip, dredge, fry in coconut oil, turning once. Coconut oil is the best for frying. Light flavor (although we couldn't taste any coconut in this), keeps good hot temperature and the food does not absorb it, so a little goes a long way. We order unrefined coconut oil online here -- great price, even with shipping, and a gallon lasts us almost two months.
Mashed Potatoes 2 large sweet potatoes, peeled 5-6 round brown potatoes, unpeeled 1/2 stick of butter slash of whipping cream salt & pepper to taste
I sliced up the potatoes really thin in the Cuisinart, then boiled till soft. Then put back in the Cuisinart with the butter and whipping cream and salt to blend. Had to do it in two batches -- two large batches -- and it came out really creamy and so good!
Honey Mustard Sauce 1/2 c. any kind of mustard (we like spicy) 1/4 c. honey (or as much as you like)
Mix. This is a really good dipping sauce for the chicken. Although the potatoes worked great for that, too!
Store-Bought Chocolate Cake 1 bite (It was so awful, I couldn't eat it. Even the boys only ate one piece.)
Buen provecho! A delicious, hearty comfort meal to celebrate one of the finest days of my life. And to think I didn't even know it was becoming so at the time -- there's proof of a higher power if anybody's lookin' for some. The babies are growing up... I'm going to have to get a life someday!