Better-for-you Fried Chicken

Here is my attempt to be like the Pioneer Woman (http://thepioneerwoman.com/) and write up a recipe with pictures. Please excuse the picture fuzziness, as my camera doesn't do well with low light and my kitchen is basically a galley.

This recipe is one of Keith's favorites and I think it's somewhat healthier than regular fried chicken, but I haven't done the calorie count, so who really knows?

First, you cut up your boneless, skinless chicken into smaller pieces. Then, get out two random dishes. I used a bread pan and a strange-shaped bowl. One is for your wet ingredients and the other is for the dry stuff.

The wet ingredients: one egg, some buttermilk (1/3 cup? I don't measure), season salt and ground pepper. Mix together with a fork.

Here are your dry ingredients. You can leave stuff out or add other stuff in as you see fit. You can see that this is a very precise science.

Bread crumbs- I use panko, will be the the bulk of your dry ingredients. Maybe 1 cup? Parmesan cheese will be next- maybe 1/4 cup (forgot to add it to the lineup for the picture), then ever so much season salt, garlic powder, ground pepper, cayenne pepper, and just a little Italian seasoning. Don't overdo it on the cayenne.

Next, heat an iron skillet on medium and heat some olive oil. 3 TBSP?

Then, dip your chicken into the wet stuff.. There you are, parmesan! You missed your group photo.

Then the dry stuff...

Then you put it on the pan. The real trick of this recipe is getting all of your chicken pieces to fit on the pan. Success!
You'll cook them for 5 minutes or so, then flip
Cook on that side for another 5 or so minutes. I usually turn on the oven at the beginning to 375 or so and stick the pan in the oven after the chicken is brown on both sides because I'm psycho about overcooking my chicken so I don't get salmonella. Better safe than sorry.

Here's the finished product:

For this particular meal, I just cooked up some broccoli to serve with it. Other times, I have served the chicken with baked beans, baked butternut squash, potatoes, etc.

Now, go get cooking! My next cooking project? A cheesecake. We'll see how it goes. Or if it goes at all.