Jim's Birthday aka the 4th of July

We tried out some new recipes throughout the 4th of July weekend but I think our favorite recipe was one we adapted from Food Network Magazine. I guess it was about 2 years ago that we had a subscription to the magazine and as I would read it I would cut out recipes that caught my eye and put them in a binder. This was one of them and I'm so glad we finally tried it! We had a good assembly line going with me covering the batter (getting my hands dirty) and Jim doing the frying. I think it would have been more of a challenge had we done it alone. Here are some pictures of our yummy pickle chips and the recipe (with our modifications) for the chips and the dipping sauce.

For the chips:
- Vegetable Oil for frying
- 6 Large dill pickles, sliced diagonally into 1/4 thick rounds
- 1 1/2 cups of salted mini pretzels
- 2 large eggs
- 1/2 cup all purpose flour

* Heat 1/2 inch of oil in a large skillet over medium heat.
* Gently pat pickle slices dry.
* Crush pretzels in a Ziploc bag using a rolling pin or meat hammer then transfer to a plate or bowl
* Whisk eggs in a shallow bowl & put flour in another bowl
* Dredge the pickles in the flour, then egg, then pretzels turning to coat.
* Work in batches to fry the pickles until golden & crisp (about 1 minute)
* Drain on paper towels

For the Sauce, mix the following ingredients together:
- 3 tablespoons spicy brown mustard
- 1 1/2 tablespoons yellow mustard
- 3 tablespoons mayonnaise
- 1/2 teaspoon paprika
- 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
- Pinch of onion powder