Don't Try This At Home!

We had a whirlwind weekend with our friends so I am exhausted! Friday night we loaded up the horses and went for a fun ride up by the dam at Flaming Gorge with the Labrums. The views were spectacular, but we were riding mostly in the pine trees so we didn't get to enjoy the autumn colors. Renegade had thrown a shoe and I didn't realize it until right before we left so I put a boot on her. She kept stumbling with it on and almost went all the way down and scraped her nose. Poor thing! After that we went to the Flaming Gorge lodge and I had the best chicken friend chicken. If only I could make it like they can!

Saturday, our friends from high school, Matt and Tracy Hansen came and stayed with us on their way home from watching their oldest daughter, Ellie play softball in Rangly, Colorado. We had tons of fun riding the horses. We even got Matt on a horse. He was swearing the whole time because he was so scared whenever Ellie came along side and made his horse run. It was hilarious! Cute Ellie was still wearing her softball uniform from her games, it was quite a sight to see!

Darren took Matt on a wild ride in the razor to see the petroglyphs up the canyon, they came back with huge smiles covered in dust. The weather was perfect for sitting out on the porch laughing and talking for hours. Alex took Ellie, who is sixteen, to a bonfire with a bunch of his friends. Afterwards, he received a bunch of texts from the guys asking if Alex could get them her phone number for them. Ellie and Alex hit it off pretty good and spent the evening texting each other.

I tried to make a funeral potato casserole for dinner Saturday using zucchini instead of potatoes. I would highly NOT RECOMMEND trying this because there was too much moisture from the zucchini and it was more like cheesy zucchini soup. Next time I will probably just add 2C. of zucchini into the potatoes.

I keep thinking about the yummy dinner Friday night so I found this recipe for the chicken fried chicken - hopefully it will be as good as the one I had at the lodge!

Chicken Fried Chicken

Beat together 1 egg and 1/2C. milk and set aside. Then mix together 1/2t. salt,
1/4t. paprika and 1/4t. pepper and sprinkle on both side of four boneless skinless chicken breasts.

Dredge the chicken breasts in a bowl filled with 2C. flour, shaking off the excess then dip it into the egg/milk mixture and back into the flour.

Heat some cooking oil that is a half an inch deep in a heavy skillet over medium heat. Place the chicken into the hot oil and fry until golden brown. Reduce heat to low and cook for 15 minutes until the chicken pieces are cooked through. Drain on paper towels.

Serve with this cream gravy recipe:

After the chicken is done, pour off all but about 2T. of the oil trying to save as many of the browned pits in the pan. Heat over medium heat. Sprinkle 3T. of the left over chicken flour into the hot oil. Stir with a wooden spoon, quickly, to brown. Gradually stir in 3/4C. milk and 3/4C. water, mixed together, stirring constantly and mashing out any lumps. Lower the heat and continue cooking until it reaches the desired consistency. Add some salt and pepper to taste.