Fried Chicken

Okay, now this would have made any of my country friends very happy. I have never made fried chicken before and had always been scared to make it. It seems like it is always tricky. But this was so easy. Ruben brought home a whole chicken all cut up. I rinsed the chicken and set it in a bowl of milk. At my mother's suggestion I would have used buttermilk, but as is a typical situation, I do not have buttermilk and I am not even sure if they have it at the store. I doubt it. In another bowl I threw in a bunch of flour, salt, pepper, a good amount of paprika and just because I had it some Mexican oregano. This was so simple I could not believe it was so tasty. I just rolled the chicken in the flour and gently put them into a large pan of hot oil. I thought that it would splatter a lot more then it did but it was very easy. The chicken fried for about 7-8 min and then I flipped it over. I did about 3 batches in the pan and let each batch drain on a towel.

I served it with some mashed potatoes that I cut up and boiled in some stock that I had saved from when I last made chicken soup. The broth was so flavorful that I did not add anything after mashing the potatoes. I did try to make a little gravy. This did not turn out great because I do not have a whisk so the flour was a little clumpy, but it was still good.

For the gravy we emptied almost all of the oil that had cooked the chicken, threw in about 2 cups of stock that I had saved, added a little butter and some flour. I would have added milk if I had it but I was out. So anyway... there you go.

Good old fashioned fried chicken and mashed potatoes. Needles to say, this took less effort then going to KFC. I cannot wait to make it again. And as usual, it was great cold the next morning.

Speghetti with bacon and peas

This dish was very easy to make and looked great. When I get my camera up and going I will make it again and take pictures. The recipe calls for a cup and a half of parmesan cheese. We did not have that but it would have made the dish much better. Once again I prepared everything. I think this makes the difference in my enjoying cooking. I even start to enjoy the prep. My hands have been having a very hard time keeping up with all of the things that they need to continually do here so prep takes a while- but hey... time is what I have.

I chopped up the rest of the bacon slices that I had (after making a much needed BLT) and set in 1 bowl, thawed the frozen peas in another bowl and in a 3rd bowl I had 3 eggs, milk, salt and pepper. On the back burner I started the noodles while in my skillet I cooked the bacon on medium (mostly as to not burn the shit out of my arms.) Once crispy, I set it aside and got rid of most of the drippings. I threw in some garlic to soften and drained my noodles. I used a little of the hot water (about 1/2 cup) to temper the egg/milk mixture. I then threw the noodles, tempered egg/ milk situation and the peas into the saute pan to heat through.

This was my first time tempering eggs and I did not do it that well so they did harden up in the pan. That was okay though, it was still very good. At the end I threw in the bacon and if I had it this is when I would have added the cheese as well.

It was a very good dish, easy to make and the kids loved it. I wish there was a picture. It was nice looking. And I like pretty food.

Well... problems

We have made some great dishes lately but I do not have a camera that is working. From what I have heard the humidity is a big problem. I will update with some upcoming dishes but I am sorry that there will not be pictures. and that is my favorite part.