Our House

Life has been rather busy lately. Work always keeps us busy, but lately it's been working on our new house! We closed on our house this past Friday.  So we have been rather busy getting things turned on and cleaned up, buying this and that, and, of course, painting. I do not have any pictures yet but will....eventually. Needless to say, my WEEK off for Thanksgiving will be filled with more painting and MOVING!

Two-Thirds Homemade and Our House

Tonight's dinner was two-thirds of the way homemade. We had fried chicken, mashed potatoes, and macaroni and cheese (the non-homemade portion).

I wish I had an exact recipe for the fried chicken and potatoes, but I don't. They're both things you have to just keep trying until it's perfect (or, nearly perfect).  We know from experience--the first time we tried frying chicken, the pan was way too hot. The kitchen and living room were full of smoke. We had to open windows and doors. The first few times we (well, technically, me) made the potatoes, they were the consistency of glue (those are Bailey's words). Bailey is now responsible for making mashed potatoes--his turn out much better than mine.

Here are some guidelines/suggestions for making the fried chicken.

• You'll need: chicken (I don't do bone-in chicken--just make my own chicken tenders), flour, an egg, milk, and some oil to fry it in. And, any seasonings you'd like to add to the flour--I like to add some paprika and/or Tony Chachere's seasoning, but you could just do salt and pepper.
• Cut the chicken into tenders/strips.
• Mix the egg with some milk (enough to dip the chicken in before dipping in the flour mixture).
• Dip chicken in egg mix and then flour mix (repeat, if you'd like). Then I let the chicken sit for about 10 minutes so the breading sticks.
• Pour some oil in a pan (enough to coat the bottom plus some). Heat oil over medium heat (again, I remind you--don't let it get to hot).
• Once oil is hot, start frying chicken. (I usually test it out with one piece). Fry chicken on each side for a few minutes--until golden brown, or cooked through. Try not to touch/flip chicken too often--that causes the breading to fall off.

Yum!!

A few guidelines/suggestions for homemade mashed potatoes.

• 
  
  You'll need: several potatoes, milk, butter, salt and pepper to taste
  
  
  
• 
  
  Peel potatoes and cut into bite-size pieces. Put potatoes in pot and cover with water. Bring to a boil and let boil until tender, about 15 minutes. (As I said, this is Bailey's job so he's the judge of when they're tender enough).
  
• Drain potatoes and return to pot. Then mash them up--we use our handmixer. It does a fabulous job. While mashing, or mixing, add a splash of milk and some butter (as much or as little as you'd like). Season with salt and pepper, if desired.
  

Recipe for macaroni: Kraft Macaroni and Cheese from a box. However, I'm planning on trying to find a homemade recipe for this too.

Moving on to something else....we found out earlier this week that we may be closing on our house within a week or two. Now, I've got to decide on paint colors and a few appliances. Hopefully, more on this subject later.