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I’m gonna get to the “redneck” part of this post shortly but let me tell ya, this picture does not do the flavor, texture, and incredibleness of this chicken justice. Boneless, Skinless chicken breasts, breaded in crushed Ritz crackers (oh yeah, I just said that!), fried, and then stuffed with pimento cheese….

Voices from the back of the room shout: “But Christy! In order to be a true Chicken Cordon Bleu it must be stuffed with ham and swiss cheese!”

Christy: Yes, but this isn’t a true Chicken Cordon Bleu, this is a REDNECK Chicken Cordon Bleu

Voices from the back of the room shout: “But Christy, you can’t call it Cordon Bleu unless it follows the rules!”

~Christy goes to check the Constitution of the United States of America and finds no law pertaining to this~

Umm…I just did.

And now a history lesson about the term “Redneck”…

As a descendant of a long line of proud rednecks, I thought I’d use my airtime today to explain the origination of the term and the honor that rests in it’s history.

Redneck began as a literal term, describing the sunburned necks of people who spent their day bent over working in a field in the hot sun.

This insult came from the elite who, as my mother points out, “would have starved to death if it wasn’t for the rednecks working all day to support them.”

My grandmother was born to one of those families and spent her childhood being one of those people. She worked out in the fields from the time she was old enough to walk and take orders, alongside her brothers and sister, behind her mother and father, each member of the family needed to tend to the cotton crop of the landowner.

Grandmama spent her childhood picking cotton for families while those family’s children played, and then wearing long sleeve shirts in town in the middle of the hottest days of summer to help hide the field tan on her arms because she dreaded hearing that term by the folks who wanted to make sure the kids knew they were different from them.

However, my great granny raised her kids to know full well that they had dern well better be different from them.

Looking back, I think my great grandmother understood a simple truth often goes unnoticed by some.

You see, there is only one point to insulting someone and that is to tell them that they are not like you.

Generally, there are two types of people who insult. One is a person who does it on dire occasions, when they feel it is absolutely necessary in order to defend themselves. The other type are those who make a living out of it. The ones who do so very little of value in their lives that, in order to elevate themselves and become “better” people in absence of real worth or usefulness in the world, they have to lower others around them. Now, if this is sounding familiar, it should, because this doesn’t just apply to folks who call others “redneck”. This also applies to folks who insult others based on their appearance, skin color, beliefs, etc. There are bullies for everything under the sun, and most of us will be subject to at least a few of them in our lifetimes.

But next time you’re facing one of those people…The next time someone decides to judge, condemn, belittle, or otherwise go out of their way to prove to you that you are different from them, rebel against the ridiculous urge to go on the defense.

Don’t bite at whatever bait they put out. Whether they call you fat, skinny, dark, light, redneck, ignorant, hick, trash or any other of the names they’ve been coming up with for thousands of years…ignore it. That’s just their language, but the translation is the same: You’re different from me.

And really, when faced with people like that, don’t you want to be?

Then Prove them right.

Be different from that.

And thank the good Lord you are.

Then make ya some redneck chicken in honor of some folks who were “different” before you were even born.

You’ll need: Ritz crackers (generic are fine), oil for frying, eggs, boneless skinless chicken, and some pimento cheese.

You can make your cheese from scratch using your own recipe, my spicy pimento cheese recipe, or my grandmama’s recipe, or you can just go buy some.

This recipe is going to be for two boneless skinless breasts so double it if you want to make four. Now keep in mind that you don’t have to stuff all of your chicken, you can just fry some and leave it be. I say this because my daughter loves fried chicken but she is at that point in her life where, if it looks funny, she won’t  eat it. So I just stuff enough for me and the hubs and leave the kids as is.

 Before you get started: Pour oil to a depth of 1/2 inch in a large skillet and put it over medium high heat.

Set up a little breading station with a bowl of crushed ritz, a bowl of beaten eggs, your chicken, and a plate to put it on.

Dip each piece of chicken into beaten egg on both sides…

Then press it into the cracker crumbs

Try not to make as big of a mess as I do.

I doubt you can, though, I’m pretty gifted at making messes.

Reduce the heat under your skillet to medium and carefully add your chicken to it. Cook until well browned, about 7-9 minutes, then turn and cook until well browned on the other side and chicken is no longer pink in the center.

 Like this.  

 Remove to a paper towel lined plate.

Now keep in mind that we just removed this chicken from hot oil, where it spent a good bit of time so consequently, this chicken is going to be of considerable temperature.

If you are someone who has ever ordered hot coffee and then felt tempted to file a lawsuit when you took a sip and it was, in fact, hot, recipes like these (and cooking in general) is not a recommended activity for you. Please view this post (and others like it) as purely a voyeuristic activity and find you a good old redneck to take care of you.

Using a fork to hold the chicken rather than your hands, cut a nice sice slice into the side of each piece to form a pocket.

Like so.

Carefully stuff that pocket with a few tablespoons of pimento cheese. This puppy right here is holding about four tablespoons.

This smaller guy on the left has about 3 tablespoons.

I just put a big old spoonful in there one at a time until I feel like I have all I can get in there.

Prop stuffed chicken pieces up on their sides in a small baking pan or an 8×8 baking dish.

Put this in a 350 degree oven for about 5 minutes, or until the cheese is melted a bit on the outside. Since the chicken is hot, you know it will be nicely melted on the inside, too.

Enjoy

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“Courage is what it takes to stand up and speak. Courage is also what it takes to sit down and listen.”

~Winston Churchill

Submitted by Tamela. Submit your quote by clicking here.  

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