Chicken Fried Chicken with chicken gravy and Country Green Beans with Bacon

I have been on vacation for quite a while. My kids started school yesterday and I wanted to treat them to a nice home cooked dinner. That being said. I have only been home a week, and I'm trying to clean up the house from traveling, and my wonderful husband didn't even do dishes while I was away for two weeks. So, I've been trying to dig out of the mess that was and is my house. I don't like having a messy kitchen, it just makes it so hard to get anything done. Especially in my small kitchen. My counter tops have been taken up with mail, dishes, trash, and just stuff... It's been fend for yourself for a few days, while I have been trying to motivate myself to get it cleaned up so I can cook again. I'm back to using plastic and paper for eating off of while I'm trying to dig my way back to normal. I think it also doesn't help that since I sold my kitchen table, I haven't replaced it yet. While I have more room, I have no space. Does that make sense? It does to me. Well. I finally broke down and made a home cooked meal. It was so tasty! I made chicken fried chicken (using chicken breast cutlets) and country green beans with bacon. mmmmm I made extra so I could have seconds and leftovers for lunch today. My husband had two pieces of the chicken. One son had two pieces too... I had one and a half. I made a total of 9 chicken fried chicken's and can I just say, some of the best yet! I think part of what helps them be so tasty is that I brined them for 1 hour before I breaded and fried/baked them. I have a recipe for brining here.

Ingredients for Chicken Fried Chicken

9 chicken breast cutlets

1 brine (can be found here)

2 1/2 cups self rising flour

1 cup corn meal

4 Tbsp seasoning of choice 

1 1/2 cup buttermilk

1 egg

10 shakes of tabasco sauce

3 tbsp salt (kosher)

3 tbsp black pepper

5 shakes of the cayenne pepper

oil for frying

Directions for Chicken Fried Chicken

Brine chicken cutlets in brine in refrigerator for 1 hour. Remove chicken from brine. Set aside. 

Heat oil in skillet, while dredging chicken cutlets:

Flour Dredge: combine corn meal, self rising flour, seasoning of choice, salt, cayenne, and black pepper. 

Buttermilk dredge: combing buttermilk, egg and tabasco sauce, mix well.

After chicken has been removed from brine, dredge in flour, then buttermilk, then flour again. Set aside. 

repeat until all the chicken cutlets have been dredged. 

check oil to see if it's hot enough by sprinkling a little water in the pan to see if it dances. if it dances then it's hot enough.

*My pan holds three chicken cutlets at a time. 

Preheat oven to 400F. 

While the chicken cutlets are frying about 3 minutes on each side. Until browned. Place foil on a cookie sheet and set aside. After removing browned chicken cutlets from oil. Place on prepared cookie sheet. Once all chicken cutlets are browned from frying. Place cookie sheet with cutlets in the oven to finish cooking for 23 minutes (depending on oven). My cutlets were moist and crispy. 

In a different skillet combine 4 tbsp butter (melt) and 4 Tbsp flour, whisk and then add milk consistently mixing with a whisk until boiling and desired thickness. Add salt, pepper and seasoning to taste. Set aside until chicken cutlets are cooked through. 

Remove cutlets from oven. Serve Warm/Hot. Top with gravy. Enjoy! :)

Country Green Beans with Bacon

Ingredients:

3 cans cut green beans (do not drain)

5-6 pieces cut cooked bacon

2 tsp apple cider vinegar

4 tbsp butter

Combine all ingredients and simmer 10 minutes. (the longer the simmer, the better the flavor)

This is so tasty, I love the slight tang and flavor of bacon that are present in this dish. 

Turkey Brine

This year is my first year to EVER make a turkey... I know shocker... Well, since we are not really having family over for Thanksgiving this year as we are in Utah and they are in other parts of the country. We are going to try our hand at a traditional Thanksgiving. I have made hams in the past as my husband isn't a turkey fan. So, this year, I got a turkey and decided it was time I try to make a yummy turkey. I had been reading about the best way to prepare a turkey. The census was to brine the turkey. Monday I started thawing my turkey in the sink with cold water. Rotating my turkey every few hours to evenly thaw. Today is Wednesday, tomorrow is Thanksgiving and I decided that since my bird is thawed I should start brining it. I watched a video of how to brine a turkey, and they said it should brine for 3 days! UGH!!! I don't have three days to brine a turkey. I had my mini heart attack and then read further brining methods and realized it was anywhere between 12 hours and 3 days depending on how long you wanted to brine it. Luckily, my sister called and helped calmed me down... So I stopped stressing and got to work on my brine. This is a compilation of things I read that sounded good and what I had in the house. So, I will post how it turned out. Also, stay tuned for the final turkey preparations in a future blog posting.

Ingredients:

1 12-14 lb turkey, thawed and at room temperature (Not a Kosher or prebrined turkey)

1 cup kosher salt

1 cup granulated white sugar

1 gallon water

6 cups of ice

1 turkey bag

1 cup chopped carrots

1 cup chopped celery

1 cup diced onions

3 Tbsp Rosemary and Garlic seasoning

1 tsp old bay seasoning

1/2 tsp thyme

1 tsp course ground black pepper

1 cup apple cider vinegar

Ingredients in my Brine

In a large pot, bring to boil the 1 gallon of water. Once the water has a rolling boil, stir in the sugar and salt. Once dissolved turn off the stove and add in all ingredients EXCEPT the turkey bag and the ice. Stir to incorporate all ingredients. Once all other ingredients are incorporated add the ice and stir until dissolved. This will help bring the mixture to room temperature, so that you can start brining your Turkey. In a large 5 gallon bucket. (One I had on hand from Food Storage). I lined with the turkey bag pulling sides up and over the outside of the bucket. Then pored the brine mixture in the bag. Made sure it was room temperature.

Turkey Brine in the Turkey bag inside the 5 Gallon Bucket

Then placed the prepared bird in the brining mixture. Making sure it was completely covered.

Turkey Brining in the Turkey Bag in the Garage

Closed the bag over the turkey and placed in the garage. (We have below freezing temperatures today and tomorrow,) so I am using my garage as the refrigerator today. My refrigerator does not have enough room for the bucket. The other option if you do not use the bucket is to place the bird in the bag with the brine and keep it in your meat drawer turning the bird over half way through the brining process. To ensure even brining. Brine for 12 hours to 3 days, depending on your time and preference.

Once you are ready to cook the bird, remove from brine. Throw away brine (pour down the sink or toilet). Pat turkey dry and then either cover with seasoned butter or canola oil, for a nice brown crisp skin. :) Cook per package directions. Enjoy!

I am hoping this turns out yummy. It sounds good. I will let you know how it goes tomorrow. I am looking forward to a delicious turkey dinner. :)