Chicken fried chicken

Last night dinner time was rapidly aproaching and I had no clue what I was going to make. This happens sometimes. I do like to be like Gayle and make a menu but this week that didn't happen so it's more of a fly by the seat of my pants kind of week. I remembered that my hubby likes chicken fried steak and it sounded pretty good but the only meat in my house was chicken. So, I zipped on over to recipezaar (that site has saved me many times).

There I found that people make chicken fried chicken, SCORE! Browsing through the recipes though I realized that they all called for crushed saltine crackers...something else I didn't have. I didn't want to give up though as all the pictures now had me salivating and craving this yummy fried food. I got up and looked through the cupboards wondering what I could use as a substitute. Bread crumbs, maybe but I wasn't sure it would give the crispy crunch I was envisioning. And then I had an idea....Funyuns.

The kids had asked me so very politely to put them in the cart (cough, cough) that I caved and bought them.

So here's what I came up with.

Chicken fried chicken:

3 large boneless skinless chicken breasts
3 cups funyuns crushed to smitherines
2 eggs
1 cup milk
1 cup flour
salt and pepper
oil

Gravy:
2 cans cream of mushroom soup
1/2 cup milk
Heaping spoonful of sour cream

I wacked the chicken really well with my rolling pin until it was nice and flat. Lined up 3 plates: one with flour, salt & pepper
one with egg & milk
one with crushed Funyuns

I heated up my wonderful cast iron skillet (LOVE that thing!) with about 1/2 inch of oil. Dipped the chicken in the flour, then the egg mix, then funyuns and plopped it in the pan. I fried them up about 3-4 minutes per side, removed them onto a plate with a paper towel to remove some of the grease and then plated them up with some gravy.

The verdict: DELICIOUS! Crispy, crunchy, full of flavor....everything I was hoping. The best part though, everyone liked it. It's hard to please the entire crowd here so that's saying something.

I will be making this again.

Now, head on over to the Grocery Cart Challenge and find some more good food!

Skating Fun

This weekend we got the chance to take the kids skating for the first time. My husband's company offered it as a Valentine's Skate and each person got to skate, eat pizza and pop for $4...so we took the whole family. :)

The three oldest kids did pretty well, though Amanda did come away with a pretty bruised up knee.

It wouldn't be much of a skating rink experience without a couple of video games...

The little ones and a parent (we switched off) hung out in this crowded area, enjoying the pizza.

And don't let this cute photo fool you, he was NOT a happy camper most of the time. He didn't want anything to do with the skates and cried until I took them off him, and then he cried more. :( Somehow Ian got him to smile for this picture though.

Attention cloth diaper mamas:

There is a great giveaway going on


here

but today is the last day to enter so


hurry on over!!

How in the world did that get THERE?

This morning I got the kids ready and treked off to our homeschool group. We spent a few hours there and then came home to eat lunch. The kids came in the house and removed their shoes, went up the stairs and ate. A few minutes later I told everyone to get ready, we needed to go back into town to the store.

After searching and searching for Abram's shoes (which he just took off!) we could only find one. Fine, I found a different pair and off we went. Into the store, got what we needed and drove back home.

About two blocks from home I was about to turn down our street and I saw something off to the side of the road.


A shoe.


Abram's shoe.


Two blocks away on the side of the road.


HOW IN THE WORLD, DID IT GET THERE??


I'm sure there's some logical explaination, like it was on top of the van and slid off or something, but it just boggles my mind.

Photo fun

I'm still playing around with my camera, but after Carrie's suggestions over at her blog I decided to play around with some of the picures after they were on the computer. I like the black and white and soft focus...I'll try something different next time.

What do you think?

Noah's commentary

Yeah, I'll pose for you...

Hey, this is my photo shoot!

Well, if you're going to stay, let me get ya!

Who wants to join me?

I found this idea over at Beth's blog and couldn't resist playing along...

Lucky you!

The first FIVE people to respond to this post will get something made by me!

My choice. For you.

This offer does have some restrictions and limitations:

1- I make no guarantees that you will like what I make!

2- What I create will be just for you.

3- It'll be done this year. (might be a little while)

4- You have no clue what it's going to be.It may be a story. It may be poetry, shoes, bags, or a little invention of my own! I may draw or paint something. I may bake you something and mail it to you. Who knows? Not you, that's for sure!

5- I reserve the right to do something extremely strange. Believe me... it may blow your mind!

The catch? Oh, the catch is that you must repost this on your blog and offer the same to the first 5 people who do the same on your blog. The first 5 people to do so and leave a comment telling me they did win a FAB-U-LOUS homemade gift by me! Oh, and be sure to post a picture of what you win when you get it!

Sounds like fun, right? So, let's play!

Pictures!!

I am so happy to have a camera again!!! We just purchased this guy: the Nikon D40. Definitely enough camera for me, yet not complicated enough to confuse me :)

So for the next week or so you'll probably be seeing more pictures of us as I play around.

I'm thoroughly convinced with these pics that this camera was worth every penny. You see, in these two of my boy...he's jumping up and down in front of me...and they are NOT BLURRY!!

And as a final one I'll show you my new hair do and my glasses (which are fun, teal and patterned on the side that you can't see)

Now I'm off to get every one going for church this morning.

Happy Birthday Stephen

6 years ago today Stephen was born.

He is my boy...ALL boy.

Full of energy,

cart wheels everywhere,

running,

jumping,

lots of noise

and fun.

I love him!!

(we're surprising him with a trip to Chuck E. Cheese for dinner

...shh don't tell, k?)

More randomness, this time about my kids

At our homeschool group yesterday Abram and Josiah were at a table coloring. Abram would take out crayons by the handful and dump them out, Josiah would get down and pick them all up.

Stephen is my super finder. If something's lost ask him, he'll find it. Need something obscure from the other room, ask him he'll be able to get it. Kenny on the other hand...ask him to get you a diaper, he'll probably come back with the baby wipes.

We have a family time several evenings a week where Amanda reads out loud to us, I think she has a real gift. Her inflection is incredible and she's very enjoyable to listen to.

Kenny is my helper. If I ask for a volunteer to help, he's the one who responds first.

At least ten times a day I'm asked to spell something for Jessica. She's at this stage where she wants to label every thing. If she draws a princess she wants to write 'princess'. She's a sponge and soaking up so much before we've even formally started school with her. I LOVE it.

If Abram thinks he's in trouble, he stalls. He'll look at me and say, "Mom, I need to tell you something....why'd the chicken cross the road?"