Winstead Wandering

Prone to Wander

Fried Pepper Rings with Spicy Dipping Sauce

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Wrapped in a crispy breading and served with a spicy dipping sauce, Fried Pepper Rings are the perfect crunchy side dish or appetizer.

Wrapped in a crispy breading and served with a spicy dipping sauce, Fried Pepper Rings are the perfect crunchy side dish or appetizer.

I spend approximately 73 percent of my time dreaming of new ways to cook with peppers. In addition to my poblano obsession, I’m a big fan of jalapenos and cubanelles. I bought a couple cubanelles at the grocery store a while back without any real plans for using them. They sat in the fridge for a few days, I brainstormed ideas, and then I had a light bulb moment.

Why had I never made fried pepper rings before? I’m talking onion rings, but with peppers. Genius, right? I’d had fried jalapeno slices, but I’d never seen it done with milder peppers. Once the idea came to me, I couldn’t get it out of my head. I had no choice to but to make them.

I chose to use mild peppers, but I still wanted a little kick of heat. I whipped up a spicy dipping sauce and, I’ve got to say, please don’t make this recipe without the sauce. Fried Pepper Rings were made for so much more than boring ketchup; let them swim in the spicy sauce they deserve.

Wrapped in a crispy breading and served with a spicy dipping sauce, Fried Pepper Rings are the perfect crunchy side dish or appetizer.

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Copycat Chick-fil-a Nuggets

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A surprising secret ingredient makes these copycat Chick-fil-a nuggets a tender, mouthwatering substitute for the real thing.

A surprising secret ingredient makes these copycat Chick-fil-a nuggets a tender, mouthwatering substitute for the real thing.

I was 18-years-old the first time I ate at Chick-fil-a. I’d just moved to Mississippi to attend college and my cousin and I were driving home- to her house- after orientation. When she realized I’d never heard of Chick-fil-a, let alone tried it, she decided to remedy that immediately. We went through the drive-thru and got nuggets, waffle fries, and lemonade.

I was hooked. Not nearly as much as J, though, who has a love for Chick-fil-a that rivals his love of oxygen. For the three years we lived in Oregon, our semiannual trips to Mississippi were filled with as many nuggets and waffle fries as we could cram in. I’m convinced the restaurant is one of the main reasons he wanted to move back.

A surprising secret ingredient makes these copycat Chick-fil-a nuggets a tender, mouthwatering substitute for the real thing.

If, like me, you’ve been on Pinterest for any length of time, you’ve seen copycat recipes for these nuggets floating around. I’d never made them before, though, mostly because I was certain they’d fall far short of the high expectations we have for the original. If I’m being completely honest, this copycat version isn’t going to fool anyone. It isn’t identical to the real thing, but it is really darn close. I’d say it’s as close as you can get without visiting Chick-fil-a.

The strange thing about this recipe is that it calls for pickle juice. The recipe I adapted mine from didn’t use pickle juice, but I’d heard rumors that it’s the “secret” to getting them as close to restaurant-quality as possible, and since my pregnant self happened to finish off a jar of pickles a couple weeks ago, I went ahead and marinated the nuggets in a combination of the juice and milk.

It made all the difference. The pickle juice provides an interesting tang, a little bit of a bite to the nugget that, if you didn’t know about the juice, you wouldn’t be able to place, but that makes them so close to the Chick-fil-a version. J hates pickles, but he never guessed the juice was there. Trust me- don’t skip it.

A surprising secret ingredient makes these copycat Chick-fil-a nuggets a tender, mouthwatering substitute for the real thing.

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Southern Fried Okra

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Tender pieces of okra are breaded and fried until fluffy and crunchy for traditional southern fried okra.

Tender pieces of okra are breaded and fried until fluffy and crunchy for traditional southern fried okra.

I didn’t grow up eating okra. I was exposed to it as a kid, but I was definitely of the I don’t know what that is and I’m not going to try it mentality. The older I got, the more I came to understand that fried = delicious, with very few exceptions. By the time I first tried one of these crunchy morsels, it was with little trepidation.

Okra is hard to describe. It’s a pod-like vegetable that tastes vaguely like eggplant, though the texture is not at all similar. Like eggplant, okra is mild and tends to take on the flavors of the foods it’s cooked with.

In this case, those are the time-tested flavors of flour, oil, and salt. The okra gets tender inside a crunchy, puffy shell. Here in Mississippi, southern fried okra is a staple at any self-respecting southerner’s supper table. Even B, at three years old, knows its rightful place is squeezed between the homemade chicken nuggets and the five cheese macaroni and cheese.

Tender pieces of okra are breaded and fried until fluffy and crunchy for traditional southern fried okra.

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