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

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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.
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Creamiest 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)

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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.
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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.

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