Make it Yourself Monday - Fried Catfish

Today is Make it Yourself Monday!! What is Make it Yourself Monday, you ask?? Well.... Make it Yourself Monday is a time set aside for me to make something instead of running to town to buy it. After you try out my make-it-yourself idea, go make something yourself. Blog about your make-it-yourself project. Leave a comment on my blog with a link to yours, and be sure to link back to my blog from yours. Simple as that!

For the last several weeks, I have really been craving some good fried fish from one of our local restaurants, Catfish King. But, they are WAY across town, AND they are expensive. I suppose they are no more expensive than any other restaurant, but when you're talking about paying for 6 people (yes, Baby Girl eats as much as the other kids, and Little Man eats as much as an adult!), you're talking about a LOT of money. On average, when we all go out to eat, we spend AT LEAST $50 or more. So, even though I have been really wanting some fried catfish, I have not wanted to drive or spend the money.

I got to work pulling out all my ingredients and getting the oil hot! What I ended up with is this:

I started by mixing up some hot-water cornbread and frying it. Then, Brient put in some breaded okra to fry. (I had to start over with my oil at that point, because it had too much cornmeal in the skillet and was starting to burn!) Next I dropped in the fish. All this time, I had a pan full of frozen french fries in the oven baking, which is much healthier than fried, although who's really keeping up with that considering all the other fried foods I made! I heated up some pinto beans I had cooked a few days earlier, pulled out my own homegrown, homemade green tomato relish, and washed up a few cherry tomatoes straight from my garden. YUM!

Everyone at the table, including Baby Girl, said it was so delicious! Baby Girl kept saying, "Nummy, nummy, nummy." Everyone kept thanking me for cooking! (You'd think I never cook anything for them!) It was all a big hit! And I didn't have to drive to get it, didn't have to sit in a restaurant waiting on food, and spent a fraction of what I would have paid for that meal. It was delicious!