Fried Chicken Tenders

While I am an Army brat, and did not grow up in the South, both of my parents were from the South, so you could definitely say my roots are Southern. That being said, what is more Southern than fried foods??? My dad always prepared the fried chicken when I was growing up, and I took his recipe and tweaked it a little, and now I use the same batter to make my fried chicken tenders. And they are sooooo good. I guess I'm partial, but I have had plenty of compliments on it, so I'm going with yummy! 

Chicken

Season all salt

Poultry seasoning

Black pepper

Tabasco sauce

Flour

Egg

Milk

I usually buy my chicken in the large bag of frozen breasts from Walmart, and then cut them when I want tenders. However your chicken starts, place the tenders in a Tupperware container side-by-side and evenly lightly coat one side with season all salt, black pepper and poultry seasoning. Take the Tabasco and dash liberally over the chicken ensuring that you hit each piece with a little. Put on the lid and SHAKE so that everything spreads out evenly all over the chicken. I then let mine marinate in the fridge for a couple of hours when possible before I cook them.

Next, prep your flour and egg mixture. I liberally salt and pepper my flour with season all salt and black pepper. Stir the flour to make sure everything disperses. The egg mixture is usually 2-3 eggs and a dash of milk.

Get your oil hot. You can use a deep frying pan or a deep fryer. Just make sure if you use a pan that it has sides high enough so that you don't splash oil and that the oil can be deep enough to reach about halfway up the chicken slices. I start my oil on med-high, and then usually turn it down to close to medium to make sure that the chicken cooks completely but the breading doesn't burn. Take each slice of chicken and dredge in flour. Then cover each slice completely with egg mixture, and then dredge with flour again.

Fry the chicken on each side for several minutes, until a nice golden brown.

Place chicken on paper towel to drain. Serve!

Carrot Cake

Growing up I always liked carrot cake, but I honestly never knew how good it could be until I found this recipe in Favorite Brand Name Bake Sale Cookbook and gave it a try. This recipe is soooo moist. Everyone who's tried it has loved it. I think one of the secrets to it is that I use about double the cinnamon that the recipe calls for.

Cake

4 eggs

1 1/2 cups vegetable oil

2 cups all-purpose flour

2 cups sugar

2 tsp baking powder

2 tsp baking soda

2 tsp ground cinnamon

1/4 tsp salt

3 cups shredded carrots

1/2 cups coarsely chopped pecans or walnuts

Icing

8 ozs cream cheese

1/2 cup margarine or butter

1 tsp vanilla

4 cups powdered sugar

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease and flour bottom and sides of pan. Please note, if you use one 9X13, it makes the cake VERY thick, especially once you add the icing. I've made this cake with three 8- or 9-inch rounds, and this last time I made it with a 9X13 and an 8X8 and it came out rather perfectly. Next, shred the carrots.

Beat eggs and oil in large bowl.

Combine flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and cinnamon in a small bowl.

Gradually add flour mixture to egg mixture and stir until combined.

Add carrots and nuts and mix well.

Pour into prepared pans and bake 30-35 minutes until toothpick inserted into center of cake comes out clean.

While cake is baking, start icing by placing butter and cream cheese into bowl to soften. Once cake is baked, let cool completely before icing. While cake is cooling, cream butter and cream cheese. Add vanilla and mix well. Gradually add powdered sugar and mix well after each addition. Frost the cake, and enjoy your first amazing bite of from scratch carrot cake!

Jeweled Grape Salad

Every once in a while, I'm able to talk my kiddo into joining me in the kitchen and helping with some recipes. There are a few items she's getting to the point of taking over - prepping our manicotti/stuffed shells, orange salad, and now we can add Jeweled Grape Salad. I actually didn't FIND this recipe to try on Pinterest. My mom made this several years ago and has made it a few times since, and my daughter LOVES it. But I couldn't find the recipe in my recipes, so I searched on Pinterest and found this one for Grape Salad. My daughter helped me with this last weekend for my mom's birthday party. I love when the kid joins me. It's so easy to make, and makes a nice addition to a dinner party.

2 lbs red grapes

2 lbs green grapes

8 oz cream cheese

8 oz sour cream

1/2 cup sugar

1 tsp vanilla

1 cup brown sugar

1 cup pecans or walnuts

First thing you have to do is separate the grapes. We used a colander to hold them. Wash them thoroughly.

We let them drip dry while she mixed up the creamy mixture. Initially, we just put all the main ingredients - cream cheese, sour cream, sugar and vanilla - together. Lesson learned... for a creamier mixture, use an electric mixer and cream the cream cheese. Then add the sour cream, vanilla and sugar, mix completely.

Once the mixture is prepared, take some paper towels and carefully dry the grapes and put in a bowl large enough to hold the grapes and allows room to stir them.

Add the cream mixture to the grapes and stir them gently, but completely, making sure all grapes are covered.

Finally, mix the topping together - brown sugar and the nuts. We transferred in layers the grape mixture with a thin layer of the topping to a bowl that we could seal, finishing with a slightly thicker layer on the top. Chill for an hour or two and serve!