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. 

Chicken Fried Steak

I had bought some cube steak this week. I thought they were fairly cheap, and if I could find a new recipe to use then I'd be a real winner. I think tonight is a winning recipe. At least my family thinks so. I searched online for cube steak recipes. Then a friend of mine said that she makes stroganoff and chicken fried steak with cube steak. That got me thinking, I Love chicken fried steak, but I have never made it from scratch. I read a few recipes of how others made chicken fried streak. Then I was off after my husband got me some buttermilk. That seemed to be the common thread with most of the recipes. So I hope you like what I made for dinner tonight, my husband and my kiddo's loved it!

Ingredients:
2 lbs of cube steak
2-3 cups of flour plus 3-4 Tbsp for gravy
2 cups of buttermilk
salt and pepper to taste
2-3 Tbsp Seasoning of choice
10 dashes of tabasco sauce
1 quart milk (whole or 2%)

Directions:
Let the cube steak come to room temperature. Have a container that you add your flour and seasoning. Mix to incorporate the seasoning and flour set aside. Pour the milk in a container to dip the cube steak in.  Set a thick bottomed skillet on high heat with about 1/2 inch of oil in the bottom to fry the cube steak in. You'll know it's ready for your steaks when you drop a droplet of water in the oil and it "dances" around. You want to make sure the oil is nice an hot, we don't want the oil to be too cool, then it just soaks in to the meat and doesn't brown the batter on the steak. While the oil is getting hot, dip the cube steak in the flour, then the buttermilk, then the flour again. Set aside until the oil is hot enough. then add as many of the battered cube steak to the oil that will fit in your pan at one time, I was able to cook 3 at a time. You may only be able to cook 2 at a time. Once both sides are browned, set on a paper towel to soak up some of the oil. If your cooking the steak in batches or ahead of time you can store them in the oven at 325 for about 10 minutes to keep them warm, while you make the gravy or finish up the rest of your dinner.

After you have cooked all of your cube steak. Drain off most of the oil, trying to keep most of the bits and pieces in the pan for the gravy. Once you've drained the oil, set back on the fire, adding the Tbsp of flour and stir around to mix all together, cook the flour a little to take the flour taste out of the dish, then gradually pour in the milk, stirring frequently, until thickened and the drippings incorporated in the gravy.

Remove the fried steak from the oven, pour the hot gravy on top, and enjoy! so delicious.

Verdict!

My husband and kids loved it, I even had one piece left and my middle son said he wanted to take it as leftovers for school lunch tomorrow (eating it cold). I'd say it was a huge hit! So this might just be a new addition to our monthly menu, it may be on there more than once a month :) Enjoy!