Homestyle Fried Chicken and Green Beans

I grew up in a country style family. I remember eating fried chicken and garden grown green beans at my great grandma's house. Tonight, I made a dinner that reminds me of those times.

I love homegrown green beans the way my grandparents used to make them---not so politically correct in these days of the tender crisp veggies. My great grandma cooked those babies for hours, and wasn't too shy to use real bacon grease. Nothing can duplicate that flavor except some time on the stove and the leftovers from this morning's bacon. I use frozen green beans, add a tablespoon of bacon drippings and a bit of salt. Then I cook them the whole time I am making a triple batch of fried chicken...or about an hour.

For the chicken, tonight I was aiming for flavor. I sprinkled the chicken breasts with rotisserie seasoning and let them rest for about 30 minutes. When I was beating the eggs, I added some more seasoning and a tablespoon of mustard. I even added some rotisserie spices to the soy flour. That's three layers of herbs and spices. The Colonel couldn't ask for more. I simply dipped each boneless breast into the egg mixture, then dredged in the flour. Tonight I fried in coconut oil, but any would do. Remember that soy flour browns more quickly than wheat flour, so don't use the color as a measurement of doneness. I fried mine with the lid on the skillet in between batches.

Even though I planned this chicken as a Multiply Meal, enough for three entrees, plans change. My oldest son made a suprise visit home, and chicken is his favorite. Then, all my men liked it so much, they had seconds. Now I have just enough for one lunch meal. Oh well, I am glad that they like my cooking, even if I don't have anything to add to the freezer.

Teamwork

This past weekend, I got my dear hubby to pitch in on Prep Day. It is so much more fun to share the cooking chores as a real team effort. He has been fighting cravings lately. Oh, have we all been there. He usually leaves it up to me to plan the menu for the week, but when cravings hit, some suggestions for the cook can prevent a binge! His weakness is fried chicken. My weakness is handling raw poultry. I just don't like it. I don't care for pulling the meat off the bone either. Most of my recipes call for boneless, skinless breast meat. We compromised. Chicken strips and nuggets were in order.

Now, I don't have a recipe in the cookbook for these. We pretty much follow George Stella's version. Check out his cookbooks, they are wonderful. Basically, we follow the standard technique for making fried chicken, simply substituting soy flour for regular flour. John agreed to cut the chicken. I dredged and fried. We made up six pounds worth. After all, if you are going to drag out the frying equipment and use all that oil, you might as well do a Multiply Meal or a Triple Play meal. We are doing a Triple Play meal plan. We ate some Sunday Night. Today, we are having Fried Chicken Salad. On Thursday, we will have Chicken Strip Roll Ups like you can get at McDonalds or Sonic. Yum.

Here are a few tips about frying with soy flour.
**Be careful, because the soy flour turns darker than regular wheat flour. It is easier to think your food is done before it really is. Although the chicken may appear nearly burned, it does not taste that way.
**The soy flour seems to cause a bubbling action in the oil after a few batches. This is no problem unless your oil is too close to the top of the pan. Always leave about 3 inches for the bubbles. You can lower the heat also if this becomes a problem.

Like to try my breading recipe? This is not exact (I didn't measure)
1/2- 2/3 cup soy flour
1 Tablespoon Barbeque seasoning (this had salt already in it)
1/2 teaspoon black pepper

I'll try to post a photo later.