Recipe of the Week: Buttermilk Chicken Strips

I love making fried chicken but I hardly ever make it with the bone in. The reason for that is that I hate eating bone-in chicken. And so does my husband. But we love chicken strips so I came up with this yummy buttermilk marinade to soak my chicken in and it makes the meat so juicy and moist. Try this marinade out for when you make fried chicken next time. You'll love it!

What you'll need: 

1 tablespoon black pepper

1 tablespoon salt

1 tsp cayenne

1 tsp garlic powder

2 tsp lawry's season salt

boneless skinless breasts

2 cups buttermilk

What you do:

Take your chicken breasts and cut them into strips that are about an inch and a half wide.

Throw the strips in a bowl and pour buttermilk over them until they're completely covered.

Add the salt, pepper, lawry's, cayenne & garlic powder. Toss to combine and coat. Let them soak for at least 2 hours but up to 24. You don't want to soak them longer than 24 hours because the buttermilk will start to break down the meat and it'll be mushy.

After they have soaked for the alloted time, take them and dip them in flour mixture. I mix all the same seasonings that I have in the buttermilk in the flour as well. Chicken can tend to be a tad bland at times so the secret is to season them well along the way.

Heat your oil in a large skillet and fry the strips for about 3 minutes on each side or until the juices run clear. I served mine with mashed potatoes and gravy on this particular night. 

Enjoy!

Happy 1st Birthday Rylee Girl!

May 24, 2011 at 11:41pm I held my sweet girl for the first time. When I think of her, I can't help but see her beautiful smile, hear her adorable giggle and think about her sweet little kisses. She is such a happy baby. When I hear other moms talk about how hard motherhood is and how they're always tired, I have a hard time relating. She really is such an easy baby and unless she's feeling bad she's always happy. She is a momma's girl 100% and I love it. My dream has always been to be a mother and it has been everything I thought it would be and more. She is my JOY and I count it a blessing to be able to be her momma.

Last weekend, we took her out to Challenger Park in League City and let her have her first taste of cake. She loved it!! Here are some photos I snapped. I hope you enjoy!

She is always pointing her finger like the picture on the left.

Time to smash a cake!!!

 Look at that face on the right!!

Happy birthday sweet girl! Momma & Daddy love you so very much!! You are so special to us and an answer to prayers. Xoxo.

Recipe of the Week: Rudy's style cream corn

Who loves Rudy's!? I sure do!! One of my favorites from there is defintely their creamed corn. I am very particular about cream corn. My Granny Taylor used to make a homemade type that is similar to what you can buy in a can at the grocery store and it was always my favorite! After having Rudy's I embarked on the mission of creating my own version that was similar to theirs and my husband thinks I have succeeded :) I hope you try this one out and I know you'll love it!

What you need:

1 bag of frozen sweet corn(if your grocer doesn't have sweet just add a tablespoon of sugar.)

1/4 cup milk

1 8oz pckg cream cheese

1 stick of butter

3-4 dashes of hot sauce

2 tsp salt

3 tsp pepper

1 1/2 tsp cayenne pepper

(Sometimes I chop up a jalapeno and add that in.)

 What you do:

Throw corn, cream cheese, butter & milk into the crockpot. Turn on low.

After the ingredients have been cooking for about an hour and the cream cheese and butter are melting, stir it all together so that it's all combined. Next add in hot sauce(to taste for however spicy you like your food), salt, pepper & cayenne. Put lid back on the crock pot and finish cooking on low for up to 6 hours. You can also cook on high for 4 hours.

I served mine this time around with fried pork chops and mashed potatoes. Although I serve it with everything from steak to fried chicken to grilled chicken. It's such a yummy dish and I know you'll love it! Enjoy!

Senior session: Julie Liang.

Last Thursday I headed out to Friendswood to do a senior session for a young girl that attends my church named Julie. The weather was looking very gloomy but it turned out to be a nice afternoon for some photos. Her friend Tabitha joined us for the photos. You might remember her session that I shared a few weeks ago. You can check that out here.

 Here's a preview from our shoot together. I hope you enjoy!

For info on booking a session & pricing, please contact me at larissafloyd@yahoo.com

Recipe of the Week: Red beans & Rice

Life has been so crazy lately!! Jeremy's been working a lot and I had a baby shower to plan on top of working on Rylee's birthday party along with all my regular duties :) So that's the reason I haven't had a recipe of for a week or two... BUT IM BACK! And I am back with a super delicious meal that you have to try for your family.

This recipe comes to you from my sweet friend Dollie Branson. She is an amazing cook and we are always swapping recipes. I hope that you try this one out for your family. It's a crowd pleaser for sure!

What you need:

2 cans kidney beans (red or light)
1 Green bell pepper-chopped
Garlic salt to taste
2 tsp. Tony's Creole seasoning
Hot sauce (to your taste. I do about 4 shakes.)
1/4 cup vegetable oil
2 Tbsp. flour
1 pkg  Smoked sausage or Andouille sausage - chopped.

What you do:

Heat your oil in a large pot. Once it's hot stir in two tablespoons of flour and stir constantly to make a rue. 

Cook until the color of peanut butter, set aside.

Chop your bell pepper & sausage.

Cook in skillet together until pepper is tender and sausage is browned just a tad.

Combine sausage, peppers, beans (with their juice), hot sauce, Tony Chateres & garlic salt. Cover and simmer for 20 minutes.

I served mine over rice and with a slice of cornbread! So delicious!! You HAVE to try this one out. And if you do head back over here to let me & Dollie know how you liked it! :) Enjoy!