Chicken Fried Steak - Texas Comfort Food

Let's call this Texas comfort food. And the gravy.... oh the gravy is oh so wonderful. Chucked full of spicy flavor and creamy goodness.

After I did Iowa comfort food, the tenderloin sandwich, I was looking for more and chicken fried steak (AKA Southern Fried Steak) came to the top of the list. It has a lot of similar techniques to the tenderloin. Coat and pan fry. Then serve with gravy instead of the sandwich like the tenderloin. For inspiration I used several recipes but really The Homesick Texan was the best so check out the great discussion

Chocolate Chip Cinnamon Banana Bread

Chucked full of chocolate, topped with cinnamon sugar and infused with banana. This is a different take on banana bread. Like all quick breads, an easy beginner recipe.

This is sometimes call "Willie Nelson’s Famous Banana Bread" and the first post I find about it is at Everybody Likes Sandwiches . There are some variations but really they are all about the same.

Creamy Crock Pot Macaroni and Cheese

A creamy tasty mac and cheese recipe that is slow cooker simple. Good enough to make my "in-house mac and cheese expert" go back for seconds and talk about variations we can try with glee in her voice.

UPDATE Jan 13,2013: Newer version available with even less work and just as creamy.  

Creamy Crock Pot Mac and Cheese with Uncooked Macaroni (linky)

Iowa Breaded Pork Tenderloin Sandwich

An Iowa classic. A tasty tender fried pork tenderloin sandwich. The perfect recipe for the opening day of the Iowa State Fair.

For you non Iowans, this is a small town classic. Almost every small town in Iowa has a restaurant who will claim to have the best, most award winning or the biggest tenderloin sandwich. You don't need to say pork, it is understood. The pork producers have a yearly contest to pick the best restaurant version. There are web sites dedicated to this much celebrated delicacy.

Oven Baked Blackened Tilapia

Bursting with spicy goodness, everybody will love this easy recipe. This is now the current leader for recipe of the year and it is FISH.

Do you want grilled version? Try my Grilled Blackened Tilapia

I have been thinking of doing this for awhile. I had 5 or 6 recipes saved in my file with one over a year old. I looked at Paula Deen but really lots of thyme and no pepper. It just didn't seem right for me. I ended up with an Aaron MaCorgo Jr (Food Networks "Big Daddy") recipe. This man can really cook and is a joy to watch, highly recommended. Only a few changes. I use spanish paprika instead of smoked. I just like the taste better. I cut the cayenne pepper a little. It was just right for me and my wife. The whole teaspoon would have been way too much for me. The big change was going from fry pan to oven. See my reason below.