(for the real chefs, real recipe. … or as real as I ever get is at the very bottom...really waaaaay down, honest)

Cornmeal crusted chicken

Step one: Read recipe from fancy swanky magazine for people with too much time on their hands.

Step two: decide there is no way I have time for 3 separate containers, one with egg, one with just flour and one with flour and cornmeal. Though pouring the flour cornmeal and egg sounds a bit messy, not workable, so one for flour/cornmeal, one for err...you know I am out of eggs again , so milk it is.

Step 3: Look for spices... contemplate using the ones listed in the recipe for about 4.6 seconds ... Then grab lemon herb, onion powder, and pepper instead.... reminisce about the pre kid days when I breaded lemon herb chicken and deep fried it....

step 4: Preheat oven to 425… Score one point for remembering to check for foreign objects in oven.

Step 5: Open pack of chicken one handed because UE is firmly ensconced in his place of honor on the other arm. Briefly consider the physics of cutting the chicken into strips (one handed) like I used to (and like this recipe says to do) Decide a trip to the emergency room would really delay dinner, and bread them as is.

Step 6: Remember that a meal consists of more than just chicken, decide pasta is relatively quick and take a break from chicken to put a pot of water on to boil.

Step 7: Bread chicken, while keeping a squirmy one year old from trying to help, but is unable to stay on the floor by himself. Place chicken in pan lined with foil, pat self on back for getting the foil in the pan one handed.

Step 8: Notice the water is boiling and try to figure out what sort of pasta. Finally decide on whole-wheat egg noodles will make up for the lack of egg on the chicken.

Step 9: Put the chicken in for 10 minutes like the recipe says, make mental note that there is no way it will be done in time since you didn’t cut the chicken, remember the cardinal rule of making chicken … it is never done!

Step 10: grab a vegetable and put it in a bowl in the microwave.

Step 11: decide all that spiced milk and flour shouldn’t be wasted and make a ‘roux’ err rue, err butter and flour gravy starter, melt butter in cast iron pot, add some flour, looks purty…then realize there is way too much flour for that kind of sauce ….. Add chicken bullion and a cup of warm water. Discover that a slotted spoon works well to remove lumps (and thank the one year old for stealing the usual spoon leaving only the slotted one available)

Step 12: Add milk to sauce like stuff, keep stiring like mad.

Step 13: check chicken since the timer dinged like forever ago sometime in the middle of the delumping process. Notice the chicken is well covered in dry flakes…drizzle some olive oil on top, run out of olive oil, make mental note to put it on the grocery list (yeah like that will happen!)

Step 14: wonder why the vegetables are not done yet …. Discover they were never started, put on for 3 minutes, stir noodles and wonder if they are done, Mutter under breath about how annoying whole wheat noodles are, they never look ‘done’ like regular, wonder if I will eventually develop a trained whole wheat ‘eye’ since I do recall the days before I knew noodles were done by looking …

Step 15: rescue sauce like stuff, taste test … Mmmmm lemon herb chicken, brings back memories.

Step 16: Put vegetables back in for 2 minutes, get strainer out to drain noodles, lock children out of the kitchen, leave strict orders to entertain one year old. Drain noodles, check chicken ... Turn chicken over and shake up olive oil to find more for the other side. Go rescue one year old and wait for Daddy to come home.

Step 17: Kiss Daddy ‘Hello’. Start getting into it then … yep that’s the timer for the chicken, just like old times.

K so that is the weird nightly thing going on here, last night it turned out very good, though I think I might try egg one day to see if it is crispy, I will prolly keep the rest pretty much he same, maybe more water in the sauce.


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Baked Lemon herb Chicken

1-cup flour
1/3-cup corn meal (yellow)
2 tsp ish lemon herb
Sprinkle pepper
Sprinkle or two of onion powder

Mix them in a flattish pan to ‘dredge’ the chicken

Cup o milk (or a bit less)

Flour dish then milk, then flour again, pat seasoning in crevices and stuff.

Drizzle pan with olive oil, Put in chicken, drizzle tops with more olive oil
Bake 425 for umm. Till it is done! OK about 20 minutes, maybe 30.

For the ‘sauce’ I think cup of water, to one bullion, a pat of butter, mix another cup of water with flour in Tupperware shaker then add in, pour milk on tip stirring all the while.