Before the latest price and availability freakout with chicken and eggs, I got it in my head to make a whole bunch of gluten-free fried chicken strips that I could then freeze and reheat in the air fryer in onesie-twosies. A few weeks ago, I got the Costco pack of chicken tenders, but I never had all the pieces align to do the big batch frying. I had to have a clean kitchen, including a clear stove top and counter space, no kids in the way, time, and energy, all at the same time. Funny, that was hard to make happen.
As the kids were getting picked up, the Mr was making "is this ever gonna happen" comments, so I got up to set out ingredients, and to soak the chicken in buttermilk (well, milk and vinegar). I was pleased to learn that although the chicken was a little past its sell-by date (oops), the Costco packaging kept it all perfectly edible. I made a chickpea flour batter, but the first couple didn't turn out well. I dug in the pantry and found some bread crumbs, and that was the magic trick. They were great from there. What we didn't eat for dinner, I flash froze on trays, and now I have a big bag of chicken strips ready for those lazy days when the kids wear me out too much to feed myself. I even made a facsimile of Cane's dipping sauce that was decent.
The bonus side effect is that it aligns perfectly with this year's theme of using things I already own, and clearing out clutter. I ended up combining three different types of oil (canola, shortening, and coconut), to have enough to fry in. I also used up other ingredients, freeing up some pantry space. I nearly waited too long on the meat, but I got to it in time. It all feels like I've saved money and stuck to my resolutions.
And if that wasn't enough to lighten the burdens here, the Mr cleared a bottleneck too. Our son-in-law's Jeep has been stuck in our driveway since his front axle tried to eat itself before Christmas, right as he pulled up in front of the house. The Mr swore he could fix it, once he finished grading for the end of last semester. Then it got freakishly cold and snowed a bunch, over and over, and it wasn't until this weekend that we had enough time above freezing to make it possible to work in the driveway. Now the Jeep is fixed and home, and he moved on to loading up an engine and transmission he wants to swap out in his beater 4runner, so that is now out of my garage. Maybe things are finally going to start moving again!
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