Fried Chicken Strips with Honey Mustard Sauce

For this recipe you will need: 

• Boneless skinless Chicken Strips (enough for your size family, I use a little over a pound for 4 people), 
• flour, 
• eggs, 
• milk, 
• vegetable oil,  
• your favorite seasonings, I used garlic powder, seasoned salt, chicken seasoning and soul seasoning, (whatever seasonings that you have and like will be fine) 

Directions: 

*Wash chicken strips, shake off excess water and set them on a plate, place some flour in a gallon size plastic zip bag, set aside

*Beat the egg and about a Tablespoon of Milk in a wide shallow bowl or deep plate, set aside 

*Season chicken strips generously with seasonings, and dip them in the egg/milk mixture 

*Now put a few in at the time in the zipper bag of flour, zip and coat chicken strips, then place on a plate until ready to fry. 

*Now put enough vegetable oil in a deep skillet, to fill it about 1/3 of the skillet, see my pics and judge how much oil to put in the skillet, you don't want to put too much oil, because adding the chicken is going to make the oil rise and you don't want the oil to overflow at all. 

*Now heat oil on Med-high heat for about 5-7 minutes until it's hot enough to fry in....you can test the grease to see if it's ready to fry in by placing a pinch of flour in the skillet after several minutes of heating, when the flour sizzles, it's hot enough to fry in. Note: As a safety precaution, never turn your back on grease or leave it unattended, it can get hot quickly. 

*Now, carefully place each chicken strip in the grease, once they are all in, time it and cook it 3 minutes on each side for approximately 12 minutes or until no longer pink. After a few minutes of cooking on Medium-high heat, You can reduce the heat to medium, if the grease seems to be getting too hot.  

Drain on a paper towel lined plate

Serve with Honey Mustard Sauce or your favorite dipping sauce. 

*************************************************************

Honey Mustard Recipe (below)

My sweet oldest son came up this Honey Mustard recipe himself years ago, when he was only around 14 years old...he came up with this, because we could never buy one that we all really liked....I thought he was so smart to think this up, and I must say that it's the best we have ever had, and I make it all the time. Special thanks to my precious son, for inventing this recipe for us to enjoy and for always being such a joy to us all of these years that have seemed to have flown by.  If we knew how, we'd bottle your honey mustard, and market it, and sell it with your name on it, but the best I can do is give it honor here on my blog for all to enjoy!  It will always have your name on it Austin. Love you :)

For this Honey Mustard Recipe You Will Need:

• 2  Heaping Tablespoons of Mayonnaise (just use a spoon from your regular silverware drawer)

• 2  Heaping teaspoons of Mustard (just use a spoon from your regular silverware drawer)

• 1 to 2 Tablespoons of Honey (add Tablespoon to taste until desired sweetness)

• Sprinkle Seasoned Salt, and Pepper to taste

Mix ingredients together in a small bowl, serve as dipping sauce for chicken strips.

NOTE: For an optional different twist on this sauce, I sometimes add about a 1/2 teaspoon of prepared Horseradish to the honey mustard to give it a kick, I'm the only one in the family that likes it with a kick though lol.

Enjoy!

Powdered Sugar Donuts

 For this recipe you will need:

• A Can of Refrigerated Biscuits
• Vegetable Oil
•  Powdered Sugar
•  A Top to a water bottle or drink bottle

You'll be using this bottle top, down below to cut the donuts...Let's get started...Separate the biscuits, you'll cut the center of the biscuits and save the centers too, these are your donut holes...

  After you cut a hole in center of each biscuit with the bottle top....set them aside, you are going to fry them... 

 *Pour some powdered sugar into a gallon size plastic zip bag

*Now, pour some vegetable oil into a skillet, fill the skillet a little less than half full, remember the donuts will make the oil rise in the skillet and you don't want that oil to overflow. 

*Let oil heat for about 3-5 minutes on med-high heat, stay near the oil, (note: as a safety precaution, never turn your back on oil, it can get hot quick), after a few minutes of heating the oil, test the oil to see if it's hot enough to cook in, you can do this by sprinkling a little pinch of the powdered sugar into the oil, it should sizzle when it's ready,this is how you will know that the oil is ready and hot enough to add the donuts.  

*Now, gently add the donuts to the oil (note:when you first add the donut, if the donut doesn't begin immediately cooking and bubbling, your grease isn't hot enough, take it out and wait a little longer before adding the donuts) 

*After adding the donuts, be ready to turn them with thongs or a fork, because they will brown on bottom quickly.  You can turn down the heat to medium now...


*Flip the donuts once they are golden brown on bottom, they won't take long to cook maybe 20-30 seconds to brown on each side. You'll want to stay right there with them and keep a close check on them

*Drain them on paper towel lined plates....

 Now cook the donut holes....and drain...

Then immediately put donuts and donut holes in the powdered sugar that you have ready in the gallon sized plastic zip bag. Zip the bag and shake until well coated. You can do this in batches, I usually coat half of them and then the other half....the sooner you can get the donuts in the bag of powdered sugar, the better the coating will stick...

They will look something like this when they are done...

Enjoy!

Special thanks to my beautiful mama for cooking this for me when I was a little girl and for passing this easy recipe down to me, so that I could fix it for my family too....these donuts have always been a favorite...the kids love it. She would cut her center hole with a knife, I got inventive with the water bottle top! It makes it easier, and I'm all about making things easier! 

Potato Salad

You will need:

• 6 Potatoes... peeled, washed and diced  into small cubes and cooked until tender. (I use 1 potato for each person that I'll be serving, then I usually add one more just for good measure) To cook the potatoes, I put the diced potatoes in a large saucepan, cover them with water, and add 1 tsp. Salt, bring them to a boil, on medium-high heat, and boil them uncovered for 12 minutes or until fork tender.

• 3 Boiled Eggs..... cooked, peeled and diced (To cook the eggs, I put eggs in a medium saucepan, cover them with cold water, bring the eggs to a boil on medium-high heat and then boil them on medium high heat, timing them for 12 minutes. After they are done, I put the pan in the sink and run cold water over them for a couple of minutes. I immediately peel the eggs while they are still a little warm, so that the peeling doesn't stick to the eggs. NOTE: To save time....If you have a big enough saucepan, you can cook the boiled eggs together with the diced potatoes, just make sure to put the potatoes and water in the saucepan first, then carefully add the eggs so you don't crack the eggs, and be sure you have enough water to cover it all.

• 2 Tablespoons Sweet Pickle Relish

• 1/4 of a yellow onion, chopped into tiny pieces

• 1/4 tsp. yellow mustard, you can add a little more to taste

• Sprinkled Black Pepper to Taste

• Seasoned Salt to Taste

• Mayonnaise, you'll use about 3-5 Heaping Tablespoons of mayo, just add the mayo until it is the desired consistency and creaminess that you like.

Mix all of the ingredients above in a large bowl, adding black pepper and seasoned salt to taste.

Serve with Barbecue and Baked Beans 

Enjoy!

This post is dedicated to my sweet Grandma C. I used to love to get in the kitchen with her as a teenager, she made everything so easy. She would let me help her and taught me so much about cooking. She's the one who taught me to make this potato salad,when I was 18 years old. 

Baked Pork Chops

 This is easy easy, line a cookie baking sheet with foil and grease it.

You will need:

• Thin Center Cut Pork Chops
• Worcestershire Sauce
• Seasoned Salt
• Garlic Powder
• Black Pepper

Wash pork chops, then put them on the pan, carefully pour worcestershire sauce over each pork chop, sprinkle one side with seasoned salt, garlic powder, and black pepper.

Bake in a pre-heated 350 degree oven uncovered for about 30-40 minutes. Timing will really depend on the thickness of the porkchops. For this recipe I like to use the thin pork chops, they turn out so tender and just right.
 

I like to serve these pork chops with green beans and mashed potatoes topped with saurkraut. You can find these two side dish recipes here on my blog, by continuing to scroll down the blog page.
Enjoy! 

Sauerkraut with Mashed Potatoes

Here's what you will need below:

• Homemade Mashed Potatoes are used for this recipe, you can use your own favorite recipe or you can get my recipe for Homemade Mashed Potatoes HERE (you'll have t scroll to the bottom of that post to find it)
•  You'll also need,  1 can of sauerkraut (drained, but I don't drain all of the juices off of the sauerkraut, I like to leave a little. I drain the can just by leaving the opened lid of the can on the can and then simply draining the liquid off into the sink)
• 3 Smoked Bacon Strips
•  1/2 teaspoon Salt
• Sprinkled black pepper
• enough water to cover the sauerkraut

Place bacon strips in medium saucepan, cook on med-high heat until there is some grease in the pan, but "not" until the bacon is crispy. Add slightly drained sauerkraut, salt, and sprinkled pepper to the saucepan, then cover with water. Bring to a boil, then cover pan with lid, and reduce heat to low to med-low and cook for an hour or so.

Use a large spoon to spoon saurkraut and juices over homemade mashed pototoes.

Enjoy!

*For a healthier lower saturated fat version, leave out the bacon and use beef broth instead of water. 

Special thanks to my sweet German Mother-In-Law, who has always cooked this during the holidays and she finally got me to try this a few years ago. I'm glad I got brave and decided to give it a try.  I had been missing out on such a delicious combination ....I'd never even wanted to try sauerkraut​ before, and who'd have ever thought that mashed potatoes would be great with sauerkraut? I sure would have never thought that I would like it, but I love it and it is one of my favorite dishes. I cook it all the time. 
I believe she uses a different pork meat in her recipe, but I used bacon (if you've looked much at my recipes....I use bacon to season a lot of my vegetables and foods)  

Green Beans seasoned with Bacon

You will need:

• 1 Can Green Beans (drained and rinsed, use the amount you need for your size family, 1 can feeds 3 people)
• Slice of Bacon
• 1/2 teaspoon Salt
• 1/4 teaspoon Garlic Powder
• Sprinkled Pepper to taste
• teaspoon of white vinegar (optional)
• enough water to cover the beans

In a saucepan, cook the bacon on medium-high heat until there is some grease in the pan, but "not" until the bacon is crispy. Add the green beans, and salt, sprinkled pepper,  white vinegar (optional)  then cover with water. Bring to a boil, then cover and reduce heat to low and cook for about 30- 45 minutes.
Enjoy!

For a healthier lower saturated fat version, leave out the bacon, and add beef broth to the pot instead of water. You can do this to help give flavor to any vegetable (chicken broth works great too). 

Tender Brussel Sprouts seasoned with bacon

You will need: 

• A family size bag of Frozen Brussel Sprouts
• 2 slices of Smoked Bacon
• 1 teaspoon Salt
• Enough water just to cover them in the pan

In a medium sauce pan, place bacon slices on med-high heat, and cook them a few minutes,  until you have some grease in the pan, but not until bacon is crispy,  then add the brussel sprouts to the pan, add salt and enough water just to cover the brussel sprouts. Stir. Bring to a boil, reduce heat to med-low and cover with a lid. Cook until desired tenderness. I like mine real tender, so I cook them for about 20-30 minutes.

Enjoy!

Cheesy Veg-all Casserole

You will need:

• 3 cans Veg-all Vegetable Medley mixed vegetables, please note: I usually don't recommend a certain brand for my recipes, but for this recipe, I do recommend using the Veg-all brand, because I have tried regular canned mixed vegetables in this recipe and it doesn't taste the same, and to me it isn't as good made with other brands)
• 1 cup Mayonnaise
• 4 oz. Mozarella Cheese (fresh grated)
• 4 oz. Cheddar Cheese (fresh grated)
• 1/2 a stick of Margarine
• 1 roll of Ritz Crackers  (that you have crushed, I put mine in a large zip bag and crush them)

Grease a 13 by 9 inch casserole dish or baking pan. Drain the juices from 2 of the cans of veg-all, you'll need the juice from one of the cans, so don't drain one of the veg-all cans. Put it all in a mixing bowl. Add Mayo, and both grated cheeses. Gently stir it all together, put it in the pan, then  put the crushed Ritz crackers on top. Slice margarine and put it randomly all over the top of the crackers.  
Bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes.

Enjoy!  

This recipe is one that my Mama and her Mama always made during the holidays. 
 

Sweet Potato Casserole

Grease a 13 by 9 inch casserole dish or baking pan this recipe will be a two step...a filling and a topping

For the filling you will need:

• 4 cups Cooked mashed sweet potatoes....I used 6 medium sized sweet potatoes, I washed and dried them, then greased them with cooking oil, then I baked them in the oven, on a foil lined cookie sheet at 400 degrees for an hour, then let them cool. Then I pulled the skins off and placed them in a medium mixing bowl and mashed them with a pototoe masher)

• 1/2 cup to 1 cup SugarStart with 1/2 cup, then just taste it and judge the amount you want to add by how sweet you would like to make this dish

• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

• 1/2 cup milk

• 2 eggs (beaten)

Mix ingredients together in a bowl until mixture is smooth, put it in the greased baking dish and make the topping now

For the topping you will need:

• 1/2 cup melted butter or margarine plus a tablespoon more

• 1/3 cup flour

• 2/3 cup brown sugar

• 1 cup chopped pecans

Mix ingredients and spread over and top the casserole...

*Important Note:

•  You will also need a Bag of Miniature Marshmallows for this recipe, you will not need the whole bag though, and remember not to top the casserole with the marshmallows until it's almost done cooking.

Bake in preheated oven  350 degrees for 30 min. then take it out of the oven and top with miniature marshmallows, then cook an additional 5 minutes or so until the marshmallows are  golden brown. You'll need to keep an eye on it, you know how fast marshmallows can burn.

Enjoy!

Special thanks to my friend Ann for sharing this recipe with me in 2004..... I've been fixing this during the holidays, every year since then and my family and I love it.