More Fried Chicken, Y'all!

Kat and I must be on the same wavelength because I found myself revamping Paula Deen's Southern Fried Chicken, even after Kat shared one of her fried chicken recipes just last week! I love fried chicken, but haven't had the real thing in years, because once I start, I just can't stop myself. And then I want biscuits, topped with butter and honey. And then maybe some mashed potatoes with gravy (brown gravy, that is, I know how southerners love white gravy!). Or potato salad. And then have some pie . . see, this is why I don't have it!!

Here's my lineup (minus some olive oil):

I reduced the egg yolks by two and just used the whites. I also omitted the salt from Paula's House Seasoning and used crushed corn flakes to get that crunchy texture so I could use skinless chicken. I originally had intended to bake the chicken, but decided at the last minute to pan fry them, using 1 - 2 Tbsp oil to ensure that my chicken came out crispy. I was just in that kind of mood and the oven-fried method usually only works 50% of the time for me.

I set up my dunking and dredging stations. Egg, water and hot sauce on the left, crushed cornflakes on the left.

I coated the pan with enough olive oil to cover the bottom of the pan, about 1 1/2 tbsp of olive oil.

While I waited for the oil to heat up, I pounded out my chicken breasts. When I make chicken, I almost always use a meat pounder/tenderizer (not sure of it's official name) thing to flatten it out for two reasons. First, it makes the chicken cook so much quicker and it's easier for me to not overcook the little guys.

The second reason is evident below:
Look at how huge that piece of chicken is! I promise you, it was just a small chicken breast, but pounding it out makes it look so much bigger! So I felt like I was really treating myself to this huge piece of "fried chicken," but I'm really getting a very reasonable portion.

I've never tried the hot sauce in the egg mixture before, but I loved this recipe! It was crunchy and not overcooked (thanks to my meat mallet!) and had a little kick to it. I even had some today as leftovers over a salad with some egg whites and more hot sauce and it was still amazing!

What's your favorite thing to add hot sauce to? I've never really used it, but am thinking I should start but don't know what to put in on, other than eggs. Too bad Kat can't tolerate spicy foods, otherwise I would totally share my leftovers!

And the nutritional stats are . . . not quite ready! Sorry, guys, but typing up the ingredients for both recipes (while very important in comparing our recipes) takes f.o.r.e.v.e.r and I have a date on the couch with these two great girls and Hot Tube Time Machine, so I'll add them in later.


They don't look it, but they're excited!

Here's the recipe, it's a keeper!

FNF-ing Awesome Pan Fried Chicken

1 whole egg, plus 2 egg whites
1/3 c water
1 c hot red pepper sauces
2 cups crushed cornflakes
1/4 tsp pepper
1/4 tsp garlic powder
4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
2 tbsp oil, for cooking

Combine the egg, egg whites, water and hot sauce and whisk in a small bowl. Pour the crushed cornflakes into a shallow dish. Heat the oil in a large frying pan.

While the oil heats up, pound the chicken breasts to ~1/4" thickness and season with pepper and garlic powder. Dip into the egg mixture and coat in cornflakes. Cook in pan, about 4 minutes on each side or until cooked through.

I'm Feeling Hot, Hot, Hot!!

After last weekends Salmon Mousse disaster, I was ready for something a little less . . . mousse-y. So I was psyched to try Paula Deen's recipe for Poblano Chicken Chowder. It looked much more appetizing!

I pre-chopped all of the veggies before I left for South Carolina so they wouldn't get all soft and limpy and it ended up being a huge time saver! I also decided to use cornstach because the whole butter and flour roux looked like too much work and would dirty another dish. I subbed fat free half and half for the heavy cream and omitted the salt.

The original recipe called for 3 quarts of chicken broth. Even though I normally cut the recipes in half, that still seemed like a ton of fluid, so I cut it back to just one quart. I usually like my soups thicker and less runny.

And here's the final product:


Looks good, doesn't it?! It was SUPER HOT! I couldn't even eat it and I eat just about everything! I ended up baking a potato in the microwave the next night and added it hoping it would reduce the spice and it helped a little bit. But still hot enough to declare this a failure. Argh!!!

How do you bust out of a recipe rut of failures??

Here's the stats. I know normally Kat and I complain that the original recipes underestimate serving sizes, I think this one actually overestimates with 12 servings! I double checked the ingredients in our recipe calculator because ~100 calories seemed kind of low, so I think the serving size is just super small (so keep that in mind if you decide to try this recipe).

Nutritional Information (OLD)	Nutritional Information (NEW)
Servings Per Recipe: 12	Servings Per Recipe: 12
Amount Per Serving	Amount Per Serving
Calories: 278	Calories: 103
Fat: 21 g	Fat: 5 g
Sodium: 1238 mg	Sodium: 386 mg
Fiber: 1.6 g	Fiber: 2 g

And here's the recipe, if you like things HOT!!

Chicken, Potato and Poblano Chowder

1/4 c olive oil
3 large carrots, diced
2 large onions, diced
5 stalks celery, diced
1/8 c garlic, minced
2 to 3 poblano peppers
1/2 tsp white pepper
1/4 tsp ground cumin
1/4 tsp dried thyme
1 tbsp chicken bullion granules
1 quart low sodium, fat free chicken broth
1/2 bunch fresh cilantro leaves, minced
3 c diced chicken2 tbsp cornstarch
1 c fat free half and half
1 medium Russet potato, baked

Heat the oil in a large stockpot over medium heat. Add the carrots, onions, celery, garlic, poblano peppers, white pepper, cumin and thyme. Saute for 7 to 8 minutes or until the veggies begin to soften. Stir in the chicken bullion, chicken broth, cilantro and cook for 10-12 minutes, or until the carrots are tender. Stir in the chicken and cook until the chowder is thick and the chicken is heated through.

In a separate bowl, mix ~1 c broth from the soup mix with the corn starch until smooth. Add to the large pot and mix.

Remove the pot from the heat and add the half and half. If it's too hot, chop up the baked potato and gently mix in.