Chicken Tenders

Suanne's fast food of choice is fried chicken (specifically nuggets at Wendy's! So this week, when Steve had extra chicken and Suanne had extra breadcrumbs, we decided to be evil and make our own!

Chicken Tenders

2 chicken breasts, cut horizontally into strips
1.5 cups of breadcrumbs
3 or 4 eggs
seasonings! 
2 cups corn or veggie oil for frying (optional - baking is better)

1. Prep the chicken
2. Put the breadcrumbs in a bowl. Add dry seasonings as you like. Maybe a teaspoon of curry, or paprika. Maybe rosemary and thyme. How about garlic pepper? Have some fun with it! Plain is cool too. 
3. Crack the eggs into a bowl. If you have it, add a few tablespoons of milk. Mix well!
4. Heat the oil in a pan on medium high heat - be careful since frying creates a lot of smoke. We only used about 2 cups so the oil would come up halfway a piece of chicken.
5. Dip the chicken into the egg, then into the breadcrumbs. Place the chicken off to the side as you continue dipping your strips.
6. When the oil is shimmery, and a drop of egg in the oil sizzles, the oil is ready. Take the chicken tender and dip it once more into the egg, then into the oil.
7. Fry until dark golden brown, then flip so the other side cooks too.
8. Remove from the oil and place on a paper towel lined plate.
9. Mix up some spicy ketchup and enjoy!

Basic Fried Rice

Every Chinese kid has nostalgic memories of their mom/grandma/aunt/dad/etc making fried rice. Fried Rice is a staple of Chinese food. Its also a great way to utilize tons of extra rice and food you have into a convenient meal! And as complicated as it may look, its actually super super easy.

Fried rice, in my humble opinion, should always contain the following:

- Something fatty (bacon for me, lap cheung for my mom, spam for Perry)

- Something crunchy (celery, shrimp, carrots, or onion)

- Egg - the creamy protein draws the rice together

- Soy sauce. The rice really needs a good slosh of it to bring out the color people expect of fried rice, but more importantly, to bring out all the flavors of the ingredients. Carbs always need a lot of salt.

 

Suanne's Fried Rice 

Serves 3-4, all ingredients (minus rice) are optional and exchangeable. Took me about 45 min.

1/4 cup of pre-diced bacon (probably amounted to 3 strips of bacon)

1 red pepper, diced

2 stalks celery, diced

big handful of frozen spinach (chopped, not whole leaf. defrosting is good, but not 100% necessary)

3 cloves garlic, minced

2 eggs, beaten

8 oz diced chicken, pre marinated (optional)

3.5 cups of already cooked, been-sitting-in-the-fridge-too-long, dry rice

2 scallions, diced

1-2 tablespoons of soy sauce - you'll need more than you think

dash of sriracha (why not?)

1. Heat a large wok (or in my case, a stainless steel pot) until hot. Take the bacon and saute until almost crispy and dark red.
2. If you have extra meat, add here. If you need extra oil, please add it.
3. Add celery, red pepper, and the spinach. Hm. Tomato paste would be good too... Saute and scrape the brown bits from the bottom of the pot. 
4. Add the garlic and an extra drizzle of oil - olive or canola. The next steps will make a lot of stuff stick to your pan - you're hereby warned.
5. Add the rice. Break up the large chunks with a spatula, but don't crush the rice. You want the grains to stay whole. Fry with the existing veggies and such, but keep the rice moving - if you let it sit it will stick to the bottom!
6. When the rice is dry and fully incorporated with the veggie mix, pour the eggs over the rice. Again, keep mixing - eggs will stick to the bottom of the pan too!
7. As the egg cooks, add the scallions, soy sauce, sriracha, and any other flavorings (I added a pinch of curry). 
8. Turn the heat off the pot. When the egg is fully cooked (you may not even see it since the rice soaks it up) serve.
9. Enjoy!

Tropical Paradise Muffins, or Kelly's Fruity Muffins

It's finally fall! I love fall - the beautiful, cool weather; the changing leaves; the hearty foods! And of course, now that the weather's cooling off, it means a lot more baking.

I woke up this morning and wanted something sweet. I thought about pancakes, but they can be so cliche. So, as I surveyed my kitchen (and found an overabundance of fruit), these muffins sort of materialized in my head.

They're a perfect transition from summer to fall: they take the tropical flavors of summer and marry them into a very dense, sticky, baked treasure of delectable yumminess. Mmmm!

Ingredients:
1 1/3 cups cubed watermelon (all seeds removed!)
1/3 cup of strawberry-banana juice
2.5 ripe bananas

1 1/2 cups flour
1 tsp. baking soda
1/4 cup sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar
2 heaping tbs. apple sauce
3/4 cup shredded coconut, unsweetened
1/2 cup oatmeal

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit.
2. Grease muffin tin. (I used muffin liners, but they stuck to the muffins big time. Therefore, I highly suggest greasing your pan instead!)
   
3. In a large bowl, combine flour, baking soda, sugars, and applesauce.
4. In a blender, puree watermelon, juice, and bananas.
5. Add half of the puree to the flour mixture and blend well, making sure to scrape down the sides. Repeat with second half of puree.
6. Fold in coconut and oatmeal.
7. Pour into muffin tin and bake until top is dark golden brown and springs back when pushed. You can also use the toothpick test - insert a toothpick and if it comes out clean, the muffins are done! **Note: This batter doesn't rise very much, to fill your pans almost to the top.

Yields approximately ten to twelve muffins.