Homemade Chicken Fried Steak

My man had a craving for chicken fried steak. And while I generally avoid breaded things, chicken fried steak is really one of the best inventions ever.

It's one of the best comfort foods - the kind of food that you eat when you're bummed or after a great hike because you feel justified after burning 1,000 calories.

Thing is, there really is no good reason to make chicken fried steak. You can get pretty good chicken fried steak for not a whole lot of money at any good - or even decent - breakfast place. It's far more time-consuming and expensive to make it yourself.

Still, though it'd be easy enough to go buy chicken fried steak, I thought it'd be fun to make chicken fried steak. But I wasn't sure where to start.

A quick Google search turned up Alton Brown's chicken fried steak recipe.

I was introduced to Alton Brown while I was in the Peace Corps. My friend sent me videos of Alton Brown's show Good Eats on CD, and I watched them on my laptop.

I figured he'd have a good chicken fried steak recipe, and I was right.

Eggs with Fresh Parsley, Monterey Jack & Ham = Delicious

Fresh Italian Parsley, ready to chop and add
to my eggs.

One of my new favorite ways to cook eggs on the weekends is with fresh parsley.

Yesterday I snipped a couple sprigs of parsley from my deck, chopped it up and threw it in with scrambled eggs. I also added cubed monterey jack cheese and chopped deli ham. I seasoned the eggs with Lawry's Seasoned Salt.

Delicious!

I love fresh herbs. In fact, I'm planning to go out today and purchase a few more to fill in the empty slots on my deck.

As a related tip, I saw an episode of America's Test Kitchen where they made the "perfect" scrambled eggs. I have not followed their recipe perfectly, but their approach - cooked on lower temps, slowly, constantly moving the eggs around the pan - results in a delicious, fluffy and moist breakfast!

Zucchini Muffins in Parchment Paper Baking Cups

Love my zucchini muffins. I used up the rest of my shredded zucchini from last summer's harvest the other day to contribute to my work's breakfast potluck.

I used the recipe I outlined in this blog post and added golden raisins. I wish I had had walnuts to throw in because I love the crunch of nuts in muffins.

My New Pancake Tradition: Banana Walnut, Strawberry Banana, Apple Pecan and More!

I'm starting to love my pancakes.

It's now a tradition in my small family - myself, my husband and my chihuahua (who, to be clear, sticks with dog food and only gets to watch us eat pancakes) - to have pancakes on Saturday or Sunday mornings. It heralds in the weekend. It's a nice lazy, relaxing food to cook as I drink my first cup of coffee.