Fried rice!

So this girl ventured into cooking fried rice! I found a recipe on Pinterest and then I tried it. I love that website. 

So enough jabber let's get down to it. 

You will need: 

3 Tbs Sesame seed oil

1 cup of the mixed peas and carrots thawed 

1/2 an onion or one whole smaller one

2 teaspoons minced garlic

2 eggs 

3 cups (cooked) white rice. I made mine right away but the website I went off of said to use day old rice because it works best. 

1/4 cup soy sauce (I did use the less sodium soy sauce and it still tasted great) 

Start off with your burner on medium-high heat. Use either a large skillet or wok. (I used a large skillet) Add in your sesame seed oil and let it heat up a little. Then add your mixed veggies, garlic, and onion sautée until soft. This is the part where if you needed to cook some white rice (because you don't have any leftovers)- do it. I just used minute rice. Three cups of that stuff is 1 and a half cups of uncooked rice and 1 and a half cups of water. Follow their cooking instructions on rice. I find that 5 minutes does not get y rice the right texture so I usually wait about 8 minutes until I am at fluffy consistency. 

In a bowl LIGHTLY scramble the eggs (don't go all crazy now). In the pan push the veggies, garlic and onion over to one side and pour your lightly scrambled egg on the empty side of the pan. This part sould only take about a minute but you are cooking the egg-scrambling it. Once it's no longer runny you mix all of it together. Turn your heat down to medium-low. By this time I am

Pretty sure your rice is either about done or completely done- so were going to just pour it in the skillet. If you want to follow it just like me then you don't even mix it yet- pour over the soy sauce then mix it all up. Now all you are waitin for is it to be heated thoroughly. 

I am pretty sure I you used leftover rice then you would be waiting for it to heat up but since our new rice was just made it's basically done unless you want the flavors to mingle ;) a bit. Viola!!!

Homemade chicken tenders

Now this ladies and gentleman is my recipe for some homemade chicken tenders. I'm talking breading them and frying them yourselves. ALL THAT JAZZ. 

You will need:

1lb boneless chicken tenderloins (or breasts just cut in strips) 

3 cups canola oil

2 large eggs

1/3 cup milk

Salt and pepper

2 cups flour

1 cup progresso bread crumbs (I used garlic&herb)

1 tbls cayenne pepper 

1/2 tbls garlic powder

1/2 tbls parsley 

The process!!

-Wisk together in a bowl the eggs, milk and some salt and pepper.

-On a plate I pour the flour And then use my finger to create a volcano to pour the garlic, parsley, cayenne and top it off with the progresso breadcrumbs. I used my hands to mix those together. Get them nice and incorporated. ITS A BREADING PARTY! 

-Now I use my Paula Deen skillet to use for the frying, mind you I have a deep fryer, (actually it's my father in laws) but it smokes a lot and makes the house smell so I opted for pan frying these babies with my overhead fan blasted. Now for the people like me who don't have an oil/food thermometer I just put my burner on medium and allowed my oil to heat up for a bit. Pretty much by the time it takes you to bread all the tenders your oil should be good and hot. So pour the 3 cups of canola oil in there and turn your burner to medium.

Let's bread these things

Take a tenderloin piece and coat it with the egg and milk mixture. Then place it in the flour/breadcrumbs mixture and coat evenly. THEN> put that tenderloin back in the egg and coat, then back into the breadcrumbs for a second visit!! So we are going to DOUBLE COAT all the tenders. Set them aside.

-Now a way to make sure the oil is hot enough for frying is (while your fingers are coated in breadcrumbs and egg) shake your hand over the oil allowing some tiny pieces of breading to fall into the oil. They will instantly start to sizzle if it's been long enough. 

-I placed about 3-4 tenders in my pan at a time. Too many will lower the oil temp and increase cooking time and might dry out the chicken. So 3 was the majority unless they were tiny end pieces. 

-I cooked each for about 2 minutes on each side until golden brown. If you are paranoid like me the first couple batches I was taking a tender out (the thickest one) and cutting it at its thickest point to see if it was cooked all the way through. It was for the record. I just am scared to accidentally feed my son undercooked meat and causing food poisoning. So if you want to do that too I do not blame you at all!! 

-After the chicken is nice and cooked I placed them onto a plate covered with a paper towel to soak up the excess oil. 

This is what mine looked like after they were all done. 

I am that weirdo that when I am given extra dipping sauces at like those fast food chains I save those suckers for times like these. My husband makes fun of me but WHO CARES! I paired mine with some honey mustard and zesty dipping sauce. Mmmmmm. 

I hope yours turn out wonderful!