Chicken Fried Steak

Chicken Fried Steak! One of the most famous of the southern foods. Back a couple of years I did not even like this dish. I had never tried it either until one day I got a wild hair and decided to make it. WOW was it good. So this is not my first rodeo with this recipe. So here are your ingredients:

Beef Cubed Steak
Flour
Egg (1)
Milk
Season Salt
Pepper


This recipe is really easy. You start out with a cubed steak, or you can use any thin sliced steak you want. I like this one because someone already pounded the heck out of it.


Then you make your flour mixture. I put season salt, ground black pepper and flour together and mix really well.

Now you have to watch how much season salt you put in it. If you put too much it will be really salty.

Next do your set up. Put the milk and eggs in one bowl and your flour mixture in another. That way it goes from the milk to four to pan. I like useing a paper plate for the four, that way you don't have to clean another plate.

Before doing the assembly line you need to heat your oil. You can put the oil on high for a little bit but turn it down on medium when the steaks are in the pan. We want to cook the meat not burn it.

Now start your assembly like. First dip the steak in milk, then flour and then the pan.

After you fry those babies up real nice and brown you can take all of the grease out of the pan. Don't throw it away just yet but you will have little pieces of broken off steak in the bottom of the pan that you can use for white gravy!!

First get the grease that you are saving and pour about 1/4 a cup into the pan.

Next put some four, about 1/4 cup into the pan.

This mixture needs to cook a little to get the flour taste out. You will cook this until a nutty smell comes from the oil and four mixture.

Next pour in some milk to thicken the mixture.

Stir untill it becomes thick. If it gets too thick you can pour in more milk. Salt and peper to taste.

After that is done you plate your work of art! I made mashed potatoes and corn. It was the best Sunday dinner I had made in a while. Enjoy!

P.S. CLOSE UP!

New Year 2012!

WELCOME 2012! This looks like a good year so far. Throwing out the trash and starting fresh. That's what is so great about a new year. You can forget all of the bad things you have done and all of the bad things done unto you. Or as they say...Whipping the slate clean. Yesterday I spent about 4 hours cleaning my house. I did my room (which was a mess), bathroom, eating area (another disaster), kitchen, and living room. I have yet to put up my Christmas decorations but plan on doing that today.

Another good thing about a new year is the resolutions. I have quite a bit and hoping to accomplish all of them this year. Here is my list:

1. Lose 20 lbs by May
2. Stop cracking my knuckles
3. Stop biting my nails
4. Do laundry at least once a week
5. Go to church at least once a month
6. Graduating from college
7. Blogging more....

Here are the challenges that I face with each one.
I know what you are thinking. 20LBS!! I don't look like I need to lose 20 lbs because I hide it real good. The challenging part is the bad weekend food and drink. To loose 20 lbs by May would be easy if there wasn't any weekend. I lose 3 lbs a week until the weekend hits. It is my only time to cook and eat bad (yet tasty) food and drink just a little too much. I have given up alcohol till I loose the weight and will try my hardest to workout 3 time during the week. I will update you after the first 10.

Cracking my knuckles is a nervous thing for me. I have already done it twice this morning. My hands are starting to hurt in the morning and I think a contributing factor is cracking them daily. I will try my hardest but not going good so far. I don't want to be a 50 year old woman with arthritis in the hands.

The biting of the nails is another nervous habit. I always wanted long nails like my sister but developed this nasty habit a while back. If I just remind myself of the biting I can stop, if I can't I might revert back to hot sauce in the nail polish. You know what they say...17 days to break a habit or start a new one.

Doing the laundry is something I detest. I have clothes in my washer and dryer right now as I am typing. I hate that I always have so many dirty clothes and the clothes that are clean are to tight because of my weight. For this issue revert back to weight loss goal paragraph.

Going to church is something that should be automatic. I shouldn't be telling myself to go to church once a month but should be every Sunday. When I was going regularly there was this inner peace that no one could touch. I was not as judgemental, hurt by what other said or did, and would be happy 99% of the time. I miss that and would like to get back to that place. I also have been having a hard time forgiving some people and I need a little help in that area too.

Graduating from college would be my greatest accomplishment this year and maybe for the rest of my life. In my family my grandpa has been the only one to graduate from college and for me to be the second one would be a great honor. Everyone else has quit by choice or being forced to stop going. I hope to get my class ring in a couple of weeks.

Blog more...My sister will be leaving her sweet family to board a ship once more. I am going to go visit her in a week in San Diego. Blogging is just a form of entertainment but keeps her happy.

Though most of these tasks are really mental, I just need to put myself in the right frame of mind. If you just put your mind to something it can get done. Wish me luck in the new year and good luck to your resolutions! HAPPY NEW YEAR! 2012

Homemade Chili

Chili is one of those meals that you can just throw everything in one pot, let it simmer for an hour and its ready to eat. Chili is also good for nice cold days or nights. This unfortunately was not a cold night when I made this but I had some hot dogs in my fridge and no chili to put on those suckers! So I decided to make homemade chili. It is easier to go to the store and buy a $3 can but I like homemade better. (I think) So here we go...

Get some ground beef ( I like 93% or better but you can use whatever you like) and brown it in a big pot. I used 2 lbs of beef because I always like to have some leftover for a friend or two.


You also need an onion. I like onion if it is nearly invisible or I just use the powder kind. Since it is always better with the real stuff I ground my onion up in the blender. Good trick for kids that don't like veggies but you want to sneak in the good stuff with a meal. (Not that onion is good for you...)

Just like I said in the beginning..Throw everything into one pot..One can of tomato sauce, one teaspoon of minced garlic

A couple pinches of oregano

A big can of pinto beans ( if you don't like beans you don't have to put them in.)

And this...Basically it is chili powder, cumin, paprika, red pepper flakes, and probably some onion and garlic powder. If you don't have this just do 2tablespoons of chili powder and 1 tablespoon of everything else and just a sprinkle of pepper flakes.

Mix it all together and let simmer for 1 hour. Then have it alone, with some rice, Frito's, fries or...

Chili cheese dogs!!! Yummy and enjoy!

I'm Back In Town...

Huge Ass Beers! That could be the phrase for the entire trip we took a couple of weeks ago. My boyfriend and I decided it was time to pack up for a couple of days and head down to New Orleans for a fun filled weekend and some good ole football. We spent the entire time eating good food and making new friends. We spend 5 days down in the Quarter right off of Bourbon St. so you can imagine what we did....

We stayed at the Dauphine Orleans Hotel. It was a great stay. There were some hiccups on my part but the hotel staff fixed them right away. We stayed in the Deluxe Main House room. It was a king size TEMPURPEDIC!! The pillows were soft and the bed sheets were white. Just what I love.

The room itself was not very big but still enough room to move around with free wireless and cable. There was a desk, which was useful since I brought my laptop.

A mini fridge was in the room also. We bought a case of water for when ever we didn't want to pay 1.50 for a bottle downstairs.

The bathroom was decent but not a lot of counter space. I did not like the fact that the shower liked to surprise you with either super hot water or cold water. I found out how fast I could take a shower on that trip.

There was also a TV and coffee maker. I usually use the coffee maker when I go to hotels but we just decided to go eat breakfast the whole time we were there so there was no need to use it. The storage underneath also provided extra space for us to put our clothes.

Of course New Orleans is knows for their strong drinks and good food, and we had both. There was this little place down the street from our hotel that served breakfast. We had to wait a little bit (which was aggravating) but it was good. And the funny thing about breakfast in LA is that there are always grits served with it. Since I love grits I had no problem scarfing them down every time.

We went to dinner one night at this place called Pat O'Brien's (apparently they are famous all over the US but it was the first time I heard about it) I got a trio of goodies. Red beans and rice, jambalaya, and crawfish ettoufee. And of course couldn't miss out on the HURRICANES!! WOW was it good.

And of course beingets with chicory coffee and steamed milk. Just as good as I remember when I last had it.

Another breakfast..See what I mean about the grits?!

SO I guess this is the part that I tell you what happened each day we were there. It took about 5 hours to drive there and when we got to the hotel the first day, we were ready to hit bourbon and start the drinking. Another thing about New Orleans is the music. Jazz and Cajun bands everywhere. It's all about the old school music and maybe a few clubs had rap music along the way.

When we got to bourbon it was around 4pm (HAPPY HOUR 3 for 1) and all of the bands were already playing in the bars and the bartenders where ready to get people drunk. This first bar we went to had a Cajun band and we sat down to have a grenade and listen to the good music.

When we were finished at the first bar we went a little down the ways to another and met this couple that was from England. It was their last day and we just decided to buy each other a round and talk it out. They were telling us that it would be nice for us to come to England and we agreed but it was a shame I didn't get their email. It would of been a great trip and to see them again. That night we went to bed at 9pm.....Great first day.

The next morning we got up (with my hangover and all) and went to Cafe Du Monde...Had the usual and walked around to see some sights.

Painting and street performers where already out at 9am in the morning. I always love going past the paintings and seeing how talented all the artist are.

Also went into see St.Luis Cathedral. It always takes my breath away on how beautiful this place is. The last time I went into this place was with my mom and I thought about her when I walked in there. You can pay to light a candle for a loved one or just walk around and look at the beautiful sculptures and front alter. Breathtaking!!!



The next night we wanted to hit bourbon again...I asked my childhood friend if she would meet me there because she still lives there and I hadn't seen her in 10years. We went into another bar and a band was playing. We sat down and just waited for her and met a girl there that had worked there before and was just hanging out. I struck up a conversation with her and she was just the nicest person...

This is her and as you can tell I am a little buzzzzzzed! HA! Good Times! Unfortunately between me trying to find my friend (who had made it down to the quarter ) and my boyfriend thinking I ditched him I didn't get to see my friend till a couple of night later. That night we went to bed at 11pm...Learning to pace ourselves each night we went out haha

The day after we decided to meet a couple of Texan fans (Houston Texans football team name) at this place called Rita's Tequila House. My boyfriend is a member of texantalk.com and was talking to a couple of people that said they were going to the game in New Orleans like us and wanted to meet up and maybe tailgate on Sunday.

Margarita!!! Strong!!!

Here is everyone... getting to know each other. GGOOO TEXANS!!

Afterwards we decided to go to a bar (AGAIN) and just drink and have a good time. This one was playing rap music and of course some skanky girls decided it was time for a booty contest. Kind of funny to watch. After we got tired of that we decided to go upstairs to the balcony and just do some people watching.




After that we decided to go take a nap because later that night we were meeting my friend to do some more partying. Here we are at about 1am having a good ole time. I missed her so much and really wish I could see her more often. Oh yea and that's a daiquiri in my hand (another famous drink besides the hurricane) Did you know that in New Orleans they have drive through Daiquiri places that sell the alcohol daiquiri's by the gallon??! I did but thought I throw that out there.

Another fun thing about my boyfriend is that every time through out the whole trip he saw someone with Texans gear on "representin" he said TAKE A PICTURE!! I thought it was the funniest thing...Take a look (this is only half the people I shot with Texans gear on)

The next morning was game day...Back in Houston my boyfriend email the St. Arnold's ( a beer brewery that makes specialty beer) and got us passes to the tailgating in New Orleans..It was huge and had everything there from drinks to food. AND IT WAS ALL FREE...My kind of party

This was the food station. There was red beans and rice, seafood, wings, and the best barbecue and potato salad I had in a while (sorry Texas it really was good).


A live band with a great music, the lady sang old and new music with a little Cajun twist.

And there where plenty of firefighters and policeman there soaking up the fun as well...Minus the beer



During the tailgating we saw a familiar face...I don't know what his name is but the guy on the left (Texan colors) is famous at the home games. He always sits in the bullpen (section right behind the goal line that everyone stands up for) and I guess New Orleans' famous representative "The Pope". Of course he is not a real representative of the pope hence the beer in his hand. He goes to all of the Saints games and sits in the front row with his wife in the Super dome. He was even asked by the mayor or New Orleans to say a prayer before that party after the Saints won the Superbowl a couple years back.

This is us...Very nice man and his wife. And sorry about the pic of me the sun was in my eyes and I hadn't started drinking yet..It was 10am

On the way to the stadium we came across this site. This is something New Orleans decided to build after they won the Superbowl. It is called Champion Square. The funny thing was is you see the while building to the left?..You pay 75.00 to go in the air conditioning and sit. That's what the "Pope" said anyway. He thought it was hilarious.

This is the inside of the dome. It was really crowded and I was glad Houston has such an open stadium. I was a hassle trying to get around everyone and find our seats. The onther thing that was bad were the steps going down to find our seat. I twisted my ankle trying to step down and no people I was not drunk. I swear!!

It was increadibly loud in there and I think it wasn't because the people are loud I think it's because of the dome shape. We did loose the game but it was a fun time.

There were somethings that I wish that I did like hang with my brother more, see someother friends, and maybe look at my old neighborhoods where I grew up but that just means that I will just have to make another trip down there next year. We decided that since we had such a good time in New Orleans that every year we will go to an away game in another city...Next year San Diego.....Hopefully