My Cooking Adventures

From: Better Homes & Garden special issue - Holiday Cooking

Time: start to finish, 20 minutes
Makes: about 2 1/4 cups

Pan drippings from roasted turkey, goose, or chicken
Chicken broth
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
2 tbsp apple brandy, brandy, or chicken broth
1 tbsp snipped fresh thyme or 1 tsp dried thyme, crushed
1 tbsp snipped fresh sage or 1 tsp dried sage, crushed
Salt
Ground black pepper
Sprig of fresh thyme (optional)

**These are the directions from the magazine; but just an fyi, I basically just took these things and started throwing them together, and it turned out great. I am no expert at thanksgiving cooking, so the whole fat-separating-pan-drippings-idea was hard for me to figure out!

Pour pan drippings from roasted bird pan into a fat separator or a large glass measuring cup. If using a fat separator, pour off fat into a glass measuring cup. (If using a large measuring cup, use a spoon to skim and reserve fat from the drippings.) Pour 1/4 cup of the fat* into a medium saucepan; discard remaining fat.

Add enough chicken broth to the drippings to equal 2 cups liquid. Stir flour into fat in the saucepan. Stir drippings mixture all at once into flour mixture in the saucepan. Stir in brandy, thyme and sage. Cook and stir over medium heat until slightly thickened and bubbly. Cook and stir for 1 minute more. Season gravy to taste with salt and pepper. Pour gravy into a gravy boat or bowl. If desired, garnish with a sprig of fresh thyme.
*Note: If there is no fat, use 1/4 cup melted butter.

Spicy Chicken Strips

From: Amber

Ingredients
- 1 lb thin sliced chicken breasts, trimmed and cut into long 1-inch wide strips
- 1 cup Italian bread crumbs
- Spices (about 1-2 tbs each): garlic powder, cayenne pepper, red pepper flakes
- Dried parsley
- Option: ¼ c finely shredded Parmesan cheese
- 2 eggs, beaten
- 1 cup flour
- Cooking spray

Directions
- Preheat oven to 400 degrees
- Spray a cookie sheet with cooking spray
- Mix bread crumbs with spices; add in cheese if you are using it and mix
- Dip chicken strips in flour, then egg, then bread crumb mixture; put the strips on the cookie sheet
- Bake for 7 min, flip the strips and bake for 7 more minutes; then turn the broiler on for 1-2 min