Fried Chicken (Oh my!)

This was so good. It's hard to believe since the inception of this blog with my dear "vastly different" friend Tali that I have not posted any deep fried meals. We love our deep fryer. LOL

Fried Chicken

Virginia's Best Seasoned Flour
Egg
Water
Lemon
Chicken tenders (hormone & steroid free! Did you know Perdue chicken claims that? Yep, they do.)

Dip chicken in water, lemon, egg mixture. Dip in flour. Drop in super hot oil. (We have a little deep fryer that is cool to the touch and closes - got it at Target for $20 I think.)

Delicious!

We also had salad and steamed peas to cancel out the bad. Oh, and homemade fries with skins on.

I told Emma that the peas turn into magical dragons in her tummy and she couldn't shovel them in fast enough. ;)

Wild haired girls demand dinner!

Chicken and Salad

Pictures don't do this justice. My salad was delicious. I bought organic greens on sale today and layered it with rotisserie chicken, mandarin oranges, cheese, tomatoes, cucumbers, broccoli, celery, Chinese noodles and some Asian sesame dressing.

Cate liked it. My other daughter is sick so she only ate the oranges.

I'm really craving the dressing at this Japanese steakhouse we love but nothing I buy at the store even comes close.

Slop Sloppy Joes

I feel like the Lunch Lady - we had sloppy joes (aka Manwich) on some french bread, chips and corn.

Early Dinner

My husband is working late so I decided to feed the girls early since I was hungry. We had macaroni and cheese that I make from scratch but on the stove top, melon and home grown tomatoes. I'm going to be so sad when all the garden veggies end. Tomatoes are so nasty when they aren't in season.

You will also see on Emma's plate some ham because she loves it. ;) Look at that face and you can see how mad my firstborn daughter gets when I turn OFF Dora the Explorer!

On the Grill

Tonight we had pork chops grilled with rosemary, salt and pepper. They were so flavorful and delicious! I also made smashed potatoes (red potatoes cut up in cubes and smashed with milk, butter, kosher salt and pepper) and for something green, steamed broccoli.

The kids loved this meal and were actually quiet during dinner. Thanks, Dana, for the suggestion of using rosemary on pork. It was a great tip!

Spaghetti

Well I apologize for not posting on Friday but we went out for Chinese and I just couldn't take a picture of my food without people staring. It was good but probably not worth the calories and fat we consumed.

Tonight I made spaghetti and salad. We also had a piece of garlic bread (not pictured). A friend of mine came over and our three year old daughters helped make a cake and cupcakes this morning so we had that for dessert. I should have snapped a pic because it was so pretty but I didn't.

The meatballs are not from scratch. I'm lazy. They were frozen from Krogers but very good.

Kids loved this meal.

Tacos Again?

This is taco salad. I use a pack of taco seasoning with lean ground beef and cook it in the microwave in one of those handy dandy Pampered Chef pots. Dump some meat onto crushed tortilla chips and added more yummy vegetables from the garden. I like light ranch dressing on mine. My husband prefers sour cream. It's another easy meal that you can adapt to fit the picky people in your house easily. Even my almost 16 month old daughter ate this.

For dessert we had some fresh fruit.

Meatless Meal

For tonight's meatless meal, I made Stove Top Mac & Cheese (and no it does not come from a box nor does it contain Velveeta). For the recipe, I used this:

From Good Eats

1/2 pound elbow or corkscrew macaroni
4 tablespoons butter
2 eggs
6 ounces evaporated milk
1/2 teaspoon hot sauce
1 teaspoon kosher salt
Fresh black pepper
3/4 teaspoon dry mustard
10 ounces sharp cheddar, shredded

In a large pot of boiling, salted water cook the pasta to al dente and drain. Return to the pot and melt in the butter. Toss to coat.

Whisk together the eggs, milk, hot sauce, salt, pepper, and mustard. Stir into the pasta and add the cheese. Over low heat continue to stir for 3 minutes or until creamy.

I'll be honest though, I alter those measurements a little, leave out the hot sauce, used less cheese, 2% organic milk instead of evaporated and added a little bit of mozzarella. I love that recipe because it's so easy and you do not have to turn on your oven. I also used tiny shells pasta instead of elbow macaroni.

The broccoli I steamed in the microwave and drizzled with a little butter. The cherry tomatoes are from my in-laws' garden.

For dessert, we had sugar free orange jello with Cool Whip. Not that you really need a picture of that, but I took one anyway.

My girls loved this meal and polished off everything on their plastic plates. ;)