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! 

Dear motherhood...

Dear motherhood,

    I don't think I'm doing this right. According to standards I am supposed to not give my son extra sugar, or processed foods, or anything from china, or too much attention, or hugs, or kisses, or BAH! 

I am sorry if I treat my sons call through the baby monitor of "mommy hold you" like my own personal "bat call". I'll barrel roll off the bed, pop up with comfy sweats, shimmy to the door, throw my hair up (this mommy stuff- means business. Can't have no rogue hairs in my face), dodge any toy car or block that my son has left as a possible land mine in my living room and/or hallway, until I reach my sons room where I slowly open my sons door and scoop him up in my arms and settle his fears while reminding him that mommy is here for him. What I hear is my son asking to be held and gosh darn it I'm going to hold him as much as I humanly can before he resents me for being "lame" and "mean". Motherhood, it just so happens I don't like when my son is playing and another child shoves/pushes/hits my son for no reason and their parents do nothing- so pardon me while I:

1. Block a kick/hit or two going in my sons direction

2. Sternly tell some other kid "ABSOLUTELY NOT! It's not okay to hit"

3. Deflect the disapproving looks from said child's parent that magically now is paying attention to them. 

4. Retaliate the look with an equally nasty look of "if your kid touches my son again I will THROW DOWN and make a scene due to your blatant negligence".

Motherhood your tougher than I was warned. Let me explain. Being pee'd on and puked on, and woken up at all hours of the night (for what seems like no reason), messy diapers that smell like rotting vinegar with a hint of "oh my good lord!!", and the all the blood curling screams was something I hadn't planned for. I got through it though. 

However -on the other hand-your way more awesome than I was warned too. Snuggles, kisses, hugs, compliments from strangers of having the cutest baby ever and OH unconditional love- blessings. 
Is it standard to become super maternal? From nuzzling my son like a mama bear would nuzzle her cub, to falling asleep with my son so close to my side you almost cant see him. WhatEv's 

As for the standards that I appear to not be conforming to-You know where you can put those. Motherhood you and I are similar in some ways. You're one tough bitch... But I am tougher. 

I am doing this my way. 

Oh My Breakfast Bake

• 6 eggs
• 3/4 cup milk
• 6 strips of bacon cut into chunks (cooked)
• 1/2 lb sausage (I used ground but you could buy the already cooked kind in the links and just microwave it- if its raw you need to cook it before adding to breakfast bake
• Day old french bread 
• Shredded cheeses (any type you like- i used cheddar, and swiss because its what I had on hand)
• Salt and pepper
• 4 tablespoons butter

Since I used a 9x9 baking dish my amounts might be need to be doubled for a family larger than 4.
OPTIONAL Add-ins
red onion ( I added this )
garlic powder
mushrooms
spinach
peppers
frozen/thawed hashbrowns (I think these would be best if they were thawed and water drained from them)

The more items you add to the bake the longer it might take to bake in the morning. (you could manually adjust the baking time if you were to sautee the mushroom/peppers/onions before so they were already soft)
NOW this is what I do and my breakfast bake was nice and fluffy. PREPARE THE NIGHT BEFORE COOKING. Stick it in the fridge overnight with a cover like saran wrap or press n seal and allow the flavors to get real comfy and nice with one another.


SINCE THIS IS THE NIGHT BEFORE:
Spray or grease 9x9 baking dish
Cube (or tear up) french bread and cover the bottom if the 9x9 baking dish with it. You might not use an entire loaf if you are only making a 9x9 size bake.

Add the sausage and bacon to the top of the bread.

This is when i add the cheeses just CHEESE that sucker up.

whisk the eggs and milk together add salt and pepper to taste
Pour over the top of the bake

Then put butter on top of the bake just take either the spoonfuls or squares and place them on top of the it all, no need to spread it around.

Cover and place in the fridge overnight. Now if one of your kiddos wakes up at like 6 or 7 am it would be a good time to place the bake in the oven.
THIS GOODNESS takes 45 minutes to bake properly in the oven at 350.
after the bake comes out you will want it to rest on the counter for about 15 minutes.


Now the the additions that you may or may not have added all are depending on your preferences. If you don't like sausage and you would much rather load it up with bacon -by all means- GO FOR IT! If you wanted hashbrowns i am pretty sure you need to put those on the bottom of the pan though.
Or you would like a veggie version get creative and put your veggies in there. This isn't rocket science...its science for sure, but not rocket science. If ANYONE wants me to make something before they try it leave me a comment and i will let you know how it turns out with pictures. Or if you want to share what you tried and loved, or didnt love I would be happy to hear about it!