Herbed Seafood Casserole & Parmesean Crusted Chicken

This post is about two different recipes I've tried in the past week. I put these together just to catch up on the blog since I am behind. I've been sick for two days with strep and finally got to the dr yesterday to get meds. No time for Mom to be sick, that's for sure!

Herbed Seafood Casserole

Although I think the name doesn't do this dish justice, (Shrimp Linguine would sound more appetizing) both hubby and kids liked it very much! Hubby gave it an 8, which is the highest he's given anything so far! It is basically angel hair pasta, a sauce made from sour cream, milk, and eggs with a bunch of different herbs (oregano, parsley, thyme, etc.), layered with salsa, then layered with shrimp and topped with cheese (we used mozzarella).

TIP: don't use frozen shrimp or at least thaw and drain it before you use it. The extra moisture from the melting process made the sauce thinner than it should have been, causing the flavor to be less bold.

Parmesean Crusted Chicken Strips

The prep work -
4 dishes of things I had to mix together -
the flower mixture, the egg mixture, the crumbs mixture and then of course the chicken strips.



This is more than I usually am willing to do for a recipe, but my kids have enjoyed similar dishes in the past, so I figured I'd give it a try. Plus, I saved time by buying the chicken strips already cut in the package at Costco - and it costs the same per lb as the regular full size chicken breasts. Since I had several days off from cooking, due to being sick and having prepared meals in advance (just pure luck, not good planning), I was in the mood to do something extra tonight.

The cooking - now before you judge me too harshly on the frying of these, let me explain how I tried to make these a little more healthy than the average deep fried chicken strips. First, I replaced the saltines in the recipe with whole wheat crackers. Second, I replaced all the cooking oil with extra virgin olive oil (EVOL for those Rachel Ray fans out there). Third, I used only 1/2 the amount of butter it called for. I figured since it called for both butter and oil there must be some point to the butter.

TIP: I need to use more oil/butter for the 2nd batch of frying so that it doesn't stick. I also think my fry pan is bigger than the one the recipe is meant for since I can cook 6-8 per batch.

So, I'm elbow deep in chicken and frying oil and Brian comes in carrying Dennis. The kids had been outside riding bikes/trikes/skates in the circle at the end of our cul-de-sac and Dennis did a header over the trike and fell down the hill. He has a nice shiner over his right eye (see our other blog for the more "manly" details and a photo). A couple minutes later Ashley gets her skates off and comes inside ... leaving Sam & Amanda outside without supervision ... a big NO NO! {redacted} Sam comes in and says Amanda won't come. We tell Ashley to go back out and get her. She comes back and says she won't come, even though she "yelled" at her that she would be in big big trouble! That she will be!

I say I'll run out and get her and Brian suggests that I sit with Dennis and he'll get her. I told him I've only got a couple of minutes since the chicken is frying. SIDE NOTE: this is another area where I tend to mess up a perfectly good recipe ... LIFE gets in the way of when I want to cook dinner! Something inevitable happens and I get interuppted and I can't get back to the cooking fast enough before I have burned food or overcooked pasta!

Well, fortunately a little over frying didn't hurt this one and everyone liked it. We started a new rating system, one where the kids and Daddy both said my vote doesn't count! So, all votes tallied this one ranks 9.2 out of 10! Best so far overall. I will go back and rate the other dishes and post it on the sidebar so you can see them in order.